I have been on the Internet for 3 years and have been asked this

question numerous times. I also did not know what an ezine was

when I first came aboard. I will attempt with this article to

explain what an ezine is and why it is so important for your

online business.

First of all, an ezine is an electronic newsletter sent out by

email at intervals of your choice to a list of subscribers. The

ezine can deal with many subjects depending on what your

business deals with. There are ezines on how to publish an

ezine, how to run an online business, how to build websites,

decorating your home and so on.

Ezines can and should contain lots of helpful information and

resources for your subscribers. You also want to reserve room

for a few paid ads, but to no overdo with the ads. I would say

from three to five ads is plenty. There are also solo mailing

ads which are mailed out as a separate mailing. Usually one or

two of these a week is sufficient. These are the most popular of

ads amongst advertisers.

Ezines are very important to your business because they allow

you to keep in contact with your potential customers and

advertisers. Providing a good ezine with effective content can

also build your credibility and also your reputation. Along with

good content you can also promote your products and services. In

essence, the ezine is the lifeline between your prospects and

your business.

Publishing an ezine is not as hard as you might think. The first

thing you might want to do is design the template. Take a look

at this example:

http://www.websuccesscentral.com/ezinesuccess/part1.html

Always keep a template saved on disk and on your computer for

easy use. Each issue of your ezine can then be fitted into the

template saving you LOTS of time. Keep all general information

such as subscribe information, title and publisher, privacy

policy and so on in the template at all times to save more time.

When you first start your ezine you can choose to manage the

list yourself, use a free list manager such as Yahoogroups or

Topica, purchase list manager software or use a paid list

management service. I personally recommend starting out with a

free service such as Yahoogroups. I started with them when it

was still Onelist a few years ago and have never had any serious

problems. They inform you when a person subscribes or

unsubscribes, distribute your ezine to your entire list, send

out a welcome and goodbye message of your choice and more. If

you would like to have a look visit http://www.yahoogroups.com

Finding a list manager and designing your template are just the

beginning steps. In Part 2, I will explain ways of promoting

your ezine and how to get subscribers for FREE. I know when I

first started Web Success, I was on a zero budget and through

experience learned how to build my business for free. That is

one of the wonders of the Internet. You can start, build and run

your own business for very little capital.

What it does take is commitment, time, work and passion for what

you are doing. Although the road may be long, the journey is an

experience I would not want to miss!

Join me next week in Part 2 for promoting your ezine and

building your subscriber base.

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com

MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which

provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help

you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can

contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe

at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit

http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.