The e-zine, or newsletter, is a list of people that
you gather, and send information related to your target market on a
weekly, bi-weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. The idea is the useful
content that you send them will have them want to keep reading and
open your mail each time, keeping your response rates and read rates
high.
Expect to have to present an issue of your e-zine every week or two
weeks and avoid leaving long, long gaps in between mailings,
otherwise, quite simply people will forget you. This is a great place to
start if you're starting out, for the simple reason people like free info,
and it's so much easier to get people to subscribe to this type of list
compared to others, even when there's freebies involved. Of course,
you will have to know a lot about your field of expertise to present
regular useful issues, or even pull in outside articles from publishers to
use as content.
The catch is you'll have to be on top of things, and it does take some
time to come up with good content for issues. The up side to this is
people will be waiting for your e-zine. If it's good and keeps people
reading content wise, it's a surefire way to keep response rates up and
to make a connection with your subscribers, the personal touch, which
in turn will add up to trust and a higher purchase rate for your own
products.
Another great thing about the newsletter and e-zine is it can be quite
personal. As the readers and subscribers get used to you as a
publisher, and you become white listed (In their spam filers and in their
minds) you'll see a greater interest in your products, because after all,
you're not just another marketer out there spouting rubbish to everyone
to make a quick buck. You're a trusted publisher in an authorititative
role, and people will listen to you, and buy your stuff. This takes time
though. Don't expect to become well know to all your subscribers
overnight.
Unsubscription Rate: Many e-zines have become successful
because of their great response rates and low unsubscription rates due
to good content. A small lapse though and this can all go pear shaped,
especially when it starts to turn into an ad list and subscribers trust is
broken.
Subscription Rate: A higher than average subscription rate is
good news. Reasons for this include people liking to get useful content
for free.
Ad income: Excellent and steady ad income from your subscriber
base. Compared to other lists that don't even sell ads, this is a great
way to bring in the few extra thousand dollars per month. Be careful not
to over do this though, as subscribers may start deleting mail from you
on the basis they think it's an ad rather than anything useful.
Response Rate Over Time: Response rate over time is again
higher than average. Of course this stat varies a lot depending on if
your subscribers are actually interested in what you're sending them or
not.
General usefulness: Very handy to get that all important
information from your subscribers. Many have asked why their
subscribers never write to them. I tell them that they need to ask them
to write to them about something that effects them and they will. Again,
third party ads can be a distraction, but all in all, if your content is good
and people are reading, this is prime research material, albeit not quite
as personal as some of the other list types, which can bring in a lower
response.
Summary: A great place to start if you have no list at all right now. The
ease of pulling subscribers when you're giving them good content beats
any other type of list out there. If you don't mind high maintenance and
putting a lot of time into this, the e-zine or newsletter may just be for
you. If however you're short on time, or don't enjoy writing articles
particularly, the other lists may be more up your street. The results
however from running this type of list are plain to see, and are very
encouraging. Just be careful how you balance out ads and content. And
hey, if things get too much in the future, you can always slowly evolve
the e-zine into one of the other list types, which is indeed how many
marketers start out. Hard work, but a great little earner, and an
investment for the future.
About the Author:
Eugenijus Sakalauskas publisher "List Building Newsletter"
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E-zine - The Methods Of List Maintenance 
