How to Build Your Ezine List
by Stacey Morris
Published on this site: August 9th, 2005 - See
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Out of respect to your mailing list, and the CAN-SPAM laws,
only mail your ezine to those who have requested it, or opted-in.
Even if you have compiled a list of contacts, prospects, and
clients that is 2000 strong, you can't just start entering
them on your list.
So how do you access your current list of ezine addresses?
Start With Your Friends
I'm using "friends" liberally here, to mean all
contacts with whom you're on a first name basis, and who recognize
you apart from your business card.
- Send out an email announcing the launch of your ezine.
Make it simple, 2 paragraphs. Make it low-hype. These are
your friends-they don't need a sales pitch, but they do
need to know why they should join. So. Make it benefit-oriented.
What's in it for your reader? Does the ezine address specific
problems of a target market? If it's a general "good
life" ezine, how is it unique? What makes it different
from the thousands of other ezines like it? Include a sample
issue, or your launch issue. Give crystal-clear directions
on how to sign up for future copies, and make it clear that
your reader will be missing out on this great information
if they don't go to the site and sign up.
- Develop a free report to give to all new subscribers.
The report could be a document, a short lesson series, an
audio of a class or seminar you've given, a workbook of
some kind, a top ten tips sheet, or a checklist related
to your market. Emphasize the report-not the ezine. This
report should be perceived as valuable enough to subscribe.
Make it less than ten pages. Don't spend more than a few
hours on this. Develop a short sales-copy of 2-3 paragraphs
outlining why this report is so valuable.
- Make it easy to sign up. Your business card should have
the address of the webpage with the ezine information. Every
page of your website should have an ezine sign-up box. Develop
a website page or even a website devoted just to your ezine.
Mention your ezine at every networking event you attend.
Every time you give a talk, have a signup sheet available
for anyone who wants to sign up. Use your email-SIG file
to advertise your ezine, and place a link to the sign-up
box.
- Get your articles out there. At the end of each article,
put a blurb at the bottom giving permission to anyone to
use the article, as long as they give you attribution. Subscribe
to a article distribution service that will send out your
articles automatically to dozens of article databases. Offer
to exchange articles with a colleague who also has a ezine.
Guest articles can be very effective. If you belong to any
discussion lists, let other forum members know that your
site is a valuable resource. Offer a free subscription to
members of organizations related to your industry. The newsletter
editor can place a notice of your site and ezine.
This article is not intended to address the technical issues
involved in setting up an ezine. If this is a new area for
you, you're welcome to contact me for more information on
resources and next-steps. If you are able to update your own
website, you may just want to sign up for a basic email distribution
program (listserve) once you have over 50 subscribers. Until
then, Microsoft Outlook or another email manager is the easiest
way to start.
Stacey Morris http://www.ServiceBusinessCoaching.com
[email protected]
212-989-1398
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