by: Marvin Nolan Moore

One of the greatest ways of marketing your business is by starting a newsletter or e-zine (electronic magazine). Imagine people actually wanting to hear about your business and what you have to offer! An e-zine, which is an online newsletter, can keep people informed about your business, services, products and your industry.

What Are E-zines?

The electronic age has been a boon to marketing. Everything imaginable can be found on the Internet – this is where a savvy Internet-marketing plan can put you ahead of the competition.

E-zines are sent out by e-mail or published on a web site, and they’re usually free to subscribers. People subscribe to e-zines as they would any other publication. The topics are endless. Whatever you are offering, there will be people interested in it. And people want their information fast – that is what the Internet is all about.

Planning Your Own E-zine

What kind of business do you have? Is there something you could write about it? Are you an expert on the subject of your business? Would you like to offer web-site reviews on your subject? You may want to join some similar e-zines to get a feel for what is going on in your industry or specialized field.

There are many reasons you may want to publish your own e-zine. It will keep customers up-to-date on your business, products and services. You may want to market other products and services as well. It is up to you to decide the reasons and purposes for starting your own e-zine.

Are you going to write the whole e-zine yourself? You may want to consider the time involved in constructing the e-zine. You may find people who would be willing to share their own articles, thoughts and content with you. I receive dozens of articles a month from people wanting their articles included in my monthly e-zine. I probably have a year’s backlog! Therefore, finding content isn’t necessarily very difficult. Contact people from other web sites or e-zines about using their articles, news, etc. More than likely, they will oblige you.

How often are you going to publish the e-zine? Will it be monthly, quarterly, weekly or biweekly? Determining how much time you have to devote to your e-zine will help to determine the publication period. Personally, I usually write one article a month and use two articles that other people have sent to me. I also place classified ads about my business and affiliate programs I have joined. I usually spend 7 hours per month on the newsletter – including efforts in placing new subscribers into my mailing list.

I also add time in for the marketing and the actual mailing time of the e-zine. Marketing is essential to gain new subscribers on a daily basis. I place a few new classified ads and newsgroup postings every week.

Getting Subscribers for Your Own E-zine

Getting people to subscribe can be done in several ways. You can have a form field on various pages of your site, with a brief statement as to what the e-zine is about. The form may simply consist of a place to add one’s e-mail address to your list. On my site, I also provide my e-mail address in my classified ads asking people to subscribe by e-mailing me.

The e-zine is another tool in marketing your product or service. Whatever you want to accomplish with your own e-zine is up to you. Success can be realized through careful planning and a strong commitment to your own e-zine.