How to Start your own Ezine Part II

Part II

WELCOME EMAIL

Before you start advertising your new ezine and those subscribers come pouring in... you will want to get your autoresponder/mailer set up.  

You do not want people signing up, expecting to receive an email from you verifying their sign up, receiving it and then not receiving a follow up welcome email once they have verified.   These are your subscribers.  The lifeblood of your ezine.  Treat them like gold!  Do NOT ignore them.

And you DO want to send them a welcome email after you have sent them the email with the link in it to confirm their subscription.  This will avoid you being mistaken for a spammer, as you will have proof of double opt in.

Your welcome email should:
a) welcome them to the ezine
b) Tell them when they can expect their ezine (is it going to be daily, weekly, biweekly  or monthly?)
c) Give a little bit of background about what the ezine is about
and
d) Let them know about your advertising packages and prices

Once you've gotten the welcome email written, just load it into your autoresponder/mailer.  

One more important detail that MUST be included in EVERY communication that you have with your subscribers is an unsubscribe option.  The CAN SPAM act requires that a means of unsubscribing be provided in ALL email communications.

Single Or Double Optin

It is up to you to decide whether or not you want double optin or single optin.   Double optin means that after the person enters their name and email address, they receive an email asking them to verify that they actually want to sign up.  Then, after they click on the link in the verification email, they are added to your list and receive their welcome email.  

Single optin means that the person is added immediately without having to verify that they are actually subscribing to your list.

I highly recommend double optin as then the subscriber can't come back and accuse you of spamming them (sending unsolicited email).  This way you won't risk being labeled as a spammer.  This can totally sabotage any hope of branding yourself as a responsible marketer.

SUBSCRIBERS

There are a few hundred ways of getting subscribers (and future advertisers) for your ezine.  One excellent method is to join a few ezine co-ops.  

Ezine co-ops are groups of ezine owners that cross promote their ezines and offer free and/or low cost advertising in exchange for subscribers.  What this means is that somebody that subscribes to ezine A will also automatically get a subscription to ezines B and C.  

Some reputable co ops available online today are EzinesRus.com, SubscribeMe.net, ezineadhelper.com, MyWizardAds.com, EzineAd.net and
SoloAdsOnly.com.

Another way to get subscribers, if you are HTML/website creation savvy, is to create a web page and advertise that page on the Internet.  However this can be a very time consuming process and a slow builder for your new ezine . Therefore, I recommend doing both.  This way you will have multiple ways of gaining subscribers.

Get memberships in forums related to your ezine's theme.  Post often and use a link to your ezine in your signature.

Advertise in other related ezines or arrange cross promotional advertising with other ezine owners who offer the same venue.

You can also contact owners of other businesses, say stores which sell hang gliding products on the internet and offer them fre.e advertising in your ezine in return for a subscription box to your ezine being placed on their site.

The methods by which you can obtain legitimate subscribers is only limited by your imagination.

ETHICS/RULES

With the exception of laws in specific areas, there are no absolute rules governing ezines.  However, promoting anything like hate mongering will have you talking to the powers that be very quickly.  If you have an ezine dedicated to the Adult trade, make sure that minors cannot access it in any way.  

Common sense should rule what is and is not right, what you do and do not do.  This goes not only to your content but to any claims that you make, such as:

- The number of subscribers your ezine has.
- How often you clean your subscriber base removing the dead wood.
- How responsive your ads are.
- How long you've been in business.
- Testimonials on your site.

I have been publishing my ezine now for over 6 years.  It was slow going at first but it has grown to be known as one of the most respected and sought after ezines for internet marketing information.

Ready to start publishing!   Have fun!

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Michelle A. Hoffmann is a Work at Home mother of 4, author, website designer, internet marketer and ezine editor/publisher/owner. You can read more of her articles at www.24karatmarketer.com.