1. Either do it right or don't do it at all Don't create an
ezine just because you're reading or seeing that others are
creating them. While ezines can be a way to market your
business, they are also time consuming. Remember to always
market your business while keeping your integrity intact.

2. Tell them and then do it Create a schedule for your ezine
and stick to it. If you'll be providing additional mailings
- such as I do - for important Internet announcements,
monthly specials, etc. tell people. On your web site, in any
advertising, and then include the information in the welcome
letters, too. At a minimum, send out a message to your
readers at least monthly.

3. Don't use BCC In 1995 or so, most email programs added "BCC"
as a way to send email. BCC is short for blind carbon copy
or blind courtesy copy if you have never placed a piece of
carbon paper between two sheets of regular paper. Using BCC,
email is distributed to "undisclosed recipients" and you can
see why it was the way to send out ezines. However, now if
you use it for sending more than 20-40 emails at a time, you
can get your email account closed. Why? BCC is the common
email choice of s-pammers and your email company watches out
for "batches" of BCCs.

4. Do use double opt-in Opt-in provides your ezine readers with
the option of subscribing either at your web site or via
email. The system also may send a subscriber an email
letting them know that they subscribed (just in case someone
else subscribed them). It is better is to use a double
opt-in system sends an email to a subscriber requesting that
they re-confirm their subscription.

5. Design It Your Way Of course, you want to reach your ideal
clients, however, more isn't necessarily better. Create an
ezine you can consistently produce and one your readers will
consistently read.

6. Who is your ideal reader? Knowing who your ideal reader is,
helps you determine the best places to

7. Low cost ezine hosting If you have more than one ezine, you
know how expensive monthly ezine hosting services can be. An
inexpensive program I recommend for do it yourselfers is
MOJO http://mojo.skazat.com/ It allows you (or your Virtual
Assistant) to create as many ezines as you'd like, on your
server, using one control panel. If you don't like touching
your hosting server, ask me for my programmer
recommendations.

8. The box vs. the link In an unscientific experiment I
conducted last year my research showed that people prefer to
add their email addresses to subscription boxes than to
click a link to send you the same information. Create
informative ezine subscription boxes and post them
throughout your web site.

9. Don't bother using these Members of yahoogroups,
smartgroups, topica, cool list and other no-cost (with ad)
ezine hosting program, offer a large number of elists
especially for ezine publishers. They are places you
advertise your ezine and take it from me, are not worth the
trouble signing up for or using.

10. Easy way to add ezine subscribers Gain ezine subscribers, in
person, with permission based forms. Design postcards, index
card or add an area to your evaluation sheet providing the
name and content of your ezine, how often they'll receive
it, and request at least their full name and email address.

© 1999-2003 Maria Marsala. I help US owned business owners have more free time as they operate more efficiently, reduce costs, and increase productivity. Request a complimentary consultation or subscribe to Elevating You and Your Business Ezine at http://CoachMaria.com