An ezine is an effective tool for marketing a product, service, or idea on the Internet. Much like a newsletter, it allows people interested in your message to subscribe to your content; unlike a newsletter, an ezine allows for more interactivity, often functioning like a regular magazine by taking submissions and offering coupons or special offers. Creating an ezine will require a bit of computer savvy and dedication of your time.
Instructions
Creating an Ezine
1. Establish your topic; whether it's going to be an ezine about cats or about microchip technology, you will want to make sure that the content is consistent and on-topic. Your subscribers will not be interested in microchip technology in their cat ezine.
2. Decide how you're going to make your ezine available to the public. Generally, an ezine describes a periodical that is delivered by email alone. You can also choose to run what is sometimes called a webzine, which more closely resembles a print magazine and keeps most of the content on a website. Both these methods in conjunction can offer a comprehensive zine experience.
3. Establish the frequency and content of your ezine; articles, images, services, and anecdotes are all possibilities in your personal ezine.
4. Purchase webspace and a domain name, if you intend to use a website. Web Hosting Geeks, available in the Resources section, offers reviews and feature lists of popular web-hosting companies.
5. Choose an email client or service that will allow you to manage and send your ezine to subscribers. Popular services for newsletter creation and management include PHPList, SendBlaster, and Vertical Response. Each program is a little bit different: SendBlaster uses a client program that you download to your computer, Vertical Response uses a web interface, and PHPList is uploaded and configured on your personal web space.
Publishing an Ezine
6. Establish a subscriber list. Whether you do this by advertising your ezine on other websites, running a social media campaign, or simply by making the subscription links available on your website, you will want to make sure that your ezine has an audience.
7. Create the content your ezine based on your previous decisions; make sure that the format will be easy to read and view.
8. Check your ezine for factual or formatting errors before sending it out. An ezine that is poorly formatted, hard to read or full of errors will likely lose subscribers and earn you a bad reputation.
9. Send and upload your ezine to make it available to your subscribers.
