Interview with Judith Scwader, after reviewing In Focus
ezine from www.ClarityofVision.com
PATSI: Hi, Judith. And thanks for your note. Always
good to know people are there and reading what I write!
JUDY: It’s my pleasure.
PATSI: At first glance I like the way you’ve laid out
topics and features with
links to the web site presentation.
J: 🙂
P: I’d be interested in knowing if you experimented
with other forms of
formatting and distribution and what decisions led you
to this formatting.
J: We originally planned on using HTML, but two people
in our company have Macs, and we discovered to our
dismay that the formatting didn’t come out the same
with Macs as PCs (at least not with the tools we were
using). There were so many problems with getting the
formatting to look good for both Macs and PCs – it was
too much tech to learn to be worth it to me. Then,
when I realized all the other attendant hassles to do
with filters, AOL, etc., we decided to forget about
HTML altogether. However, I had already invested a lot
of time in branding: (the logo and the banner and the
colors) because we thought we were going to go with
HTML. That’s why we decided to go with the web site
version.
P: I personally like it, and find it easy to use. It is
a great way around sending out a long text ezine, and a
nifty way of getting around the html problems.
J: I’m very glad you found the layout of the text email
easy to use. I wish there were some way to make the
text email more visually appealing.
P: What other formats have you tried? I’m also doing a
sort of survey, informal, asking people the histories
of their ezines and how they started, what numbers they
started with and how they grew their lists, and how
quickly, that sort of thing that would be helpful to
new coaches starting their ezines.
J: Very interesting that you should be looking into the
question of how coaches build their lists. I am at
this moment coordinating a cross-promotion of our 47
Author-Coaches. One of my main purposes, (in addition
to promoting our book series), is to help our clients
build their lists.
P: Would you share yours with me? I’m gathering info
for an e-book and would love to put something in there
about yours, with all contact info too.
J: Yes, it would be my pleasure to relate our
experience and perhaps give others some mistakes to
avoid and ideas to try.
I’ve only been with this company since May. When I
entered the picture, the list had about 100 opted-in
members for a sporadic text newsletter. It wasn’t the
founder’s focus: she didn’t have time as sole
proprietor then.
Then we were very fortunate to be included in a couple
cross-promotions much like the one I am coordinating
now. That built the list to almost 400. That’s when I
took over the ezine and decided to make it official and
regular. Our first monthly issue was August. We also
have issued 7 mid-month, shorter version “e-notes.”
Now that we’ve got it set up, and I am focused on it,
I’ll build the list steadily through sign up forms on
every page of the site, creating more traffic there,
and pop-ups on some of our sales pages. As well, I’ve
got some JVs in the works in which I’ll promote
subscribing.
It’s a lot of stuff to put in place, and gradually is
coming together. Once it’s all in position, much of it
will be on auto-pilot (except creating the content, of
course.)
P: As far as a more thorough review of your ezine, I’ll
read the content more thoroughly tomorrow when I have
some time….I can’t see anything glaring that bothers
me, and I usually do in most ezines. Keep up the good
work.
J: Thank you!
P: Some of the formatting is uneven, but I know that
happens with everyone even using a formatting utility.
Do you use an online one or other tool?
J: I’d be grateful if you would tell me about the
specific uneven aspects of the formatting so that I can
fix it. I don’t use a formatting utility – I didn’t
know that was possible.
P: I use http://www.formatit.com/
because I can set the
width. You still have to go through it when you paste
it to make sure the quotation and apostrophe marks
haven’t been transformed to things bizarre, but it does
a good job of formatting and it’s free! Look forward to
hearing more about your experiences with ezines.
J: I hope what I’ve shared is useful. Let me know if
you’d like some specific information about our
experience should you decide to use part of our story
for your e-book, etc.
And thank you, Patsi, for the opportunity to have your
professional review of our ezine.
Best Regards,
Judith Schwader
Judith Schwader [judith@clarityofvision.com]
To read IN FOCUS Ezine, see below:
=====================================
*IN FOCUS* E-Zine
September 7, 2004-Vol. I, Issue 2
brought to you by Clarity of Vision, Inc.
Read more here…
http://www.clarityofvision.com/ezine/
=====================================
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