From Ezine to Expert

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From Ezine to Expert

By Francine Silverman

When my first guidebook, Catskills Alive, was published in
2000, I became interested in book promotion. I read
everything I could get my hands on but found there was very
little written on how to market books. Most of the articles
were on business marketing – products and services. So last
March I decided to start a free on-line newsletter,
suspecting that I’d found a niche. My hunch proved right.
The ezine has grown from 10 subscribers to well over 1050
in nine months and the number continues to grow every day.

Told that I could not expect advertisers until I reached
1000, I haven’t made much money so far. Even though the
list has exceeded the magic number, the only advertisers
have been subscribers and it’s been sporadic. But I am
hoping that as the subscription list grows, so will the
advertisers.

Profits aside, the newsletter was the best idea I have ever
had. My subscribers look forward to the bi-weekly ezine and
my ego is constantly stroked with rave reviews. Moreover,
subscribers view me as an expert on everything. One asked
if I knew any publishers for his baseball book. Another
thought that because I live in New York City I have an “in”
in the publishing industry. Yet they do more for me than I
do for them. Whenever I’ve written to them asking for help
– in finding more subscribers or building my website – my
mailbox has been flooded with offers of assistance.

A key to my newsletter’s success is that it’s interactive.
I e-mail a Q&A to new subscribers and use the best
responses as fodder for the text. In this way, subscribers
really write the newsletter and look forward to seeing
their names and website addresses in print. I also answer
every e-mail and use the newsletter to accommodate
subscribers who wish to promote their seminars or are
seeking answers. I also honor those whose books have won
awards.

If you have a business and want it to grow, a newsletter is
the answer. First and foremost, you must have a
user-friendly website, which you can advertise in every
issue. (Remember, it’s YOUR newsletter). As Tom Person
wrote in “Starting a Newsletter,”
http://www.laughingbear.com/128_newsletter.html, “nothing
has come close to my website for drawing attention to my
letter.”

You’ll first need to find a theme – preferably one that is
not overused. (I read that there are more than 10,000
different newsletters in this country today). To find a
niche, draw up a list of questions and hand them out to
customers. Ask them what products they would like you to
carry, or services you should add. Put yourself in their
shoes. Then use the best responses in your ezine.

If writing is not your forte, the Internet is filled with
websites offering articles for free – as long as you print
them as written, with attribution. Here are a few sites to
get you started:

http://www.work911.com/articles.htm is geared to managers
and focuses on business communication.

http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm focuses on Internet
marketing and web business promotion. If you’re a local
business, scroll down to the article entitled “Has Website
Promotion Gone Local” for tips on getting your site
noticed.

http://www.workz.com bills itself as “the premier small
business portal” and is another good site for articles on
promoting a web business.

http://www.bizoffice.com is the Small & Home Based Business
Library covering business subjects from A to Z. Click “Biz
Office Library” on the right.

http://www.marketingbestpractices.com/articles.htm is for
small businesses. The article “Internet Marketing for Local
Small Businesses” by David Frey contains some really great
ideas on promotion.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the different methods
of registering subscribers and e-mailing the newsletter.
It’s a good idea to use a third party mailing list service
to do this for you. I use http://www.mailermailer.com,
which is free until you reach 500 subscribers – then
charges $29.95/month. There are several free mailing list
hosts, but like anything free, there are restrictions.
Christopher Cheng’s article, “Starting Your Own Newsletter
or Ezine” at
http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/newsletter.shtml has
links to his reviews of various free mailing list services.

As publisher of a newsletter, you will become a guru of
your industry. Customers will endow you with expertise and
seek out your advice. However, keeping a newsletter fresh
takes time and effort. If your business is important to
you, you have probably given it your all. A newsletter
requires the same kind of devotion.