| |
| |
|
Ezine Publishing Information |
|
21 Questions to Ask Any List Service Before You Sign on With Them
If you publish an e-mail newsletter, or "e-zine," you'll need to sign on with a list service (or "listserve") to manage your subscriber list. There are many types of listserves out there, so here are some guidelines to help you choose one that's right for you. You'll need this if you want to publish an HTML newsletter. Otherwise you'll have to send out multiple versions for users who can read HTML, users who can't read HTML, and users on AOL. If you're new to the game and/or technologically challenged then you'll appreciate any type of help they offer for new clients. Are they prompt to get back to you via e-mail? Can you call them if you have a problem? Are they available more than standard business hours? What about weekends? Contact them and see how long they take to get back to you -- if it's longer than 24 hours, definitely keep looking. If so, how, and how quickly? Or even better, client references? Contact some of these folks to see how their experiences have been. If most of their clients are large corporations, small businesses like yours may not get the attention they deserve. Meaning is it easy for you to setup and launch each issue of your e-zine. They should offer a demo or let you access the 'mission control' area that you'll be using to test it out. Sometimes you'll need to do this, so you'll want the answer to be "yes" -- especially if you're moving over a list you've already collected. How and how often? You'll want to know on a regular basis how many subscribes and unsubscribes you've had since the last issue. You want it to be YOUR name if possible. Some spam filters screen out e-mail that does not appear to come from an individual person. You want it to be the person's name if possible. Along the same lines, some spam filters screen out e-mail that does not appear to be addressed to the individual person. Anytime you hand over your customer list, you're taking a risk. You don't want your service or anyone else using your list for spamming purposes. These are also called "bounces" or "bounce-backs." You don't want them to automatically remove names for "soft bounces," which are due to temporary conditions like full mailboxes. Do they have to visit a Web page or can they do it via e-mail (best if both options are available). Is the process single or double opt-in? (Double is better for more security - the user has to respond to a confirmation e-mail before she's added to your list.) Is the process kept simple? This means messages like your subscriber welcome and goodbye messages. (You'll definitely want to be able to do this, since the prewritten messages many list services use are horribly cold and confusing.) Not necessary, but a very nice feature. For example, if your e-zine came to me, it would start off with something like, "Hello Alexandria!" It should be at least once every day. Also ask if you can download your lists to back them up on your own, as a backup to their backup! You'll definitely want this because it's the best way to see how your e-zine looks on the recipient's end, do a proofread, and check all your hyperlinks. If you publish in HTML, you should be able to see how many people - and even exactly who - opens your messages. Some services will archive your e-zines at their site, others can configure it so they're archived at your own site (which is better). If so, it may mean they've been reported for allowing spammers to use their network. You don't want to work with any list service that's been blocked anywhere, because it means that your e-zine won't reach all of your readers. (c) 2002 Alexandria K. Brown ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning manual, "Boost Business With Your Own E-zine." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Email Filters Catch Dolphins Along With Sharks What's the point in spending hours preparing a newsletter, message or report if it's automatically filtered into the junk folder before the recipient even sees it? Spam threatens to choke the communication channels promising global freedom of expression. Internet Service Providers (ISPs), corporate server administrators and end users are increasingly using new anti-spam technology to try to stem the relentless tide of junk email flooding the Net. Does Your Subject Line Do the Job? It's proven that the FROM field of your emails is the MOST important factor in getting your messages opened. But after that, it's surely the subject line. Putting the YOU in Your E-zine I get many e-zines in my inbox every week, and they all offer useful information. But there are some I enjoy more than others. Covering All The Bases: How to Make Sure Your Newsletter Gets Opened and Read It's not enough to prepare and distribute a monthly newsletter, one that offers information of genuine value to your market. You also have to make sure your newsletter gets opened and read! Covering letters provide reasons for recipients to open, download and read your newsletter each month. Write Your Weekly Ezine in 5-Minutes! (or better yet, dont write it at all) How to write your ezine in 5 minutes by legally and ethically stealing other people's articles.. 5 Essential Online Tools for Writers and Publishers Writing a newsletter or article can be very time consuming.First, you have to create your content. Email Newsletters: Privacy and Unsubscribing As you likely know from personal experience, the value of email has been greatly tarnished by spam, unsolicited messages, online junk mail. So, many subscribers and would-be subscribers care very much about the exposure of their email addresses. How To Make Money Online With A Newsletter Many online internet marketers tell us "its all in the list"and many people lap up stories of guru's emailing thousandsin their online list and making a huge profit in theprocess. Actually you too can start your own email list andmake money from it as well. Ebook Rebranding - The New Ebook Marketing Power? Well, it is definitely yes!In the early day of internet marketing, giving away ebook free was a very good list-building strategy. It worked extremely well. Convert Your Newsletters into Immediate Cash One-Page Newsletters can do more than help you keep in constant touch with clients and prospects and educate them to desire your products and services. Each issue can also generate immediate sales!Simply combine the educational content of your newsletter with a monthly promotion described in the covering e-mail or on the page of your website where readers can download each issue. Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Ezine? There are two reasons to publish an ezine. 1. Don't Distract Readers from What They are Doing I'm working on a report for a company that puts out a newsletter on a monthly basis.Their open rate and clickthrough rate are somewhat above industry averages. How to Get E-zine Subscribers From In-Person Events While I run my business completely online, I really enjoy attending in-person events and seminars here in Los Angeles and around the country. I'm sure you find these events valuable too. Create An Ezine To Get People Back To Your Site I know you've worked hard on your website. I know it looks pretty good - in fact, it's fantastic. Why Dont My Subscribers Listen to Me? I received a very good question froma subscriber and I wanted to share it with you:"I have almost 500 people sigend up to receive my newsletterbut each time I send it 8-9 open it and 1 =3 click onto thewebsite. Now what do I do?"Honestly, there could a lot of factors involved in the lowopen rate. Newsletter Name Ideas - Creative Ideas to Choose A Good Name for Your Newsletter When you want to choose a name for your newsletter, you should come up with as many newsletter name ideas as you can think of. Because the more ideas you get, the easier it will be for you to choose a good name. 10 Winning Ezine Publishing Tips 1. Share your personality with your subscribers. Tips on Using Constant Contact to Create Your Company Newsletter If you run your own business like I do, you don't have much time to spend fudging around with new programs. Here are some tricks I picked up while using Constant Contact's email marketing software to create my company newsletter. Subscriber Incentives: Are They Effective? Peter Boulder of Pepper and Rodgers Group tells a story of a friend of his who recently visited New York City. His friend spotted an ad that read something like: "Buy at our grocery store and if the cashier doesn't smile at you when you check out, everything in your cart is free. Publishing Your Own Newsletter - Is It Worth Your Time? Is publishing your own newsletter worth your time and effort? Most publishers will tell you the rewards are well worth the investment. By publishing your own newsletter you can build recognition and be looked at as an expert in your field of expertise.
|
| home | site map | Contact Us |