E-zineanomics (Part III)

Your e-zine is probably one of your best tools to constantly build your community of buyers. Because of this we are going to spend one more posting on this all important New Media Marketing tool.

Now that you have created your e-zine and have it ready for posting the next important question is How do I get viewers to read it?”

The first answer is obvious but often overlooked – build your database of email names (remember just taking names and sending an email can be considered spamming).

• Add the opt-in names from your web site
• Get your contact lists that you use for business and personal and go through that list for candidates
• Join professional and civic group and use their membership list (check on membership list policies for each organization)
• Collaborate with businesses that service the same audience but our not in competition with you. Adding information to the e-zine for them provides the ability to use the names that your collaborator can provide.
• Provide a description of your e-zine in your web site opt-in registration page that provides a simple but direct benefit of the e-zine.
• Register with an e-zine directory. Many such directories often offer categories that you can register with.
  

Some such directories are:
The Directory of E-zines (www.directoryofezines.com)
E-zinelocater (www.ezinelocater.com)
BestEzines (www.bestezines.com)
New-List (www.ezine-universe.com)

The last two blogs we provided some suggestions on writing your e-zine content and how to build an e-zine skeleton layout.

Well here are some E-zine Do Not Dos:

• No generic greetings. Remember in the world of web 2.0, viewers are looking for collaboration and personalization.
• Do not have your e-zine look totally different from your web site
• Do not use a free e-mail domain. It makes you look “mom-and-popish”.
• Do not write long articles. Be brief. Viewers are often time starved.
  
• Do not try to show off by trying to demonstrate how much you know.
• Content should not be all self-serving. So often in corporate story telling, we advise our clients: you know your story (we hope) the task is to tell it to others in a way they understand it. This is the same with e-zines. Readers are interested in information of value. Make it relevant. If not viewers will unsubscribe.