I just spotted this tip about ezines on Joan Stewart’s Publicity Hound weekly ezine:
"Most ezines that find their way into my email box are garbage. The biggest mistakes publishers make are concentrating only on selling a product or service, and publishing on an irregular schedule, or less than every other week."
Joan advises, "At the very least, send a tip of the week to a list of people who have given you their email addresses and permission to market to them.
"Here’s what’s happened to me (and what can happen to you) as a result of publishing an electronic newsletter, almost every week, for six years:
–I’m invited to speak at conferences because people who read this pass it along to meeting planners in their trade associations who hire speakers.
–Almost every week, people I don’t know invite me to be a guest on their teleseminars. That means I get in front of their audiences, many of whom eventually subscribe to this ezine.
–The content-rich information in this newsletter gives readers a chance to know, like and trust me. Many Hounds are loyal subscribers, read every issue word for word, then pull out their credit cards and order products that solve problems they’re facing. In fact, I’ve made more than $10,000 a week, just from leads I’ve received and products I’ve sold through this newsletter. Yes, a week.
–Lots of media people, from freelancers to magazine editors, subscribe to this newsletter. And when they read about something that interests them, they’ll often ask if they can interview me for their publications. TV and radio show hosts extend the same invitations.
–I’ve positioned myself as one of the leading experts on media relations and publicity. I Googled myself just now using "free publicity" as the keyword phrase, and I was first on the list.
I’m fourth on the list for the keyword "publicity" but usually rank in the first, second or third position.
–I’ve attracted dozens of people who have signed up for the Publicity Hound Mentor Program at http://tinyurl.com/n22hn so they can have unlimited, long-term access to me. It’s almost filled to capacity, by the way."
Of course, some of what happens to Joan as the result of publishing her weekly ezine is due to the fact that her ezine is chock full of good information, it’s written in a friendly, down-to-earth tone, and it spotlights her genuine expertise in her niche. She’s got brand, as evidenced by the "publicity hound" theme.
You know you don’t have to invent the wheel…look at what a successful ezine has, then do your version of it.
Note that Joan publishes her ezine in plain text, no fancy HTML graphics, and people read it for the meaty content and enjoyable style. So no excuses – publishing your own ezine can be a whole lot easier, just do what the experts do!
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