Ten Ezine Startup Tips

If you need some content ideas for your newsletter, try these:

• Write a "how to" article. After all, you are the expert. Give your readers a guide on how to perform a specific task.
• Publish an interview with someone in your field that is considered an expert. This will also help lend credibility to your ezine.
• Write an editorial on an important current topic in your field.
• Provide the results of polls that pertain to your field. They can be either independent polls or the results of an email poll you conducted yourself.
• Provide links to important articles in your field. Your customers will appreciate that you have their best interests in mind.
• Publish question & answer topics you get from your customers. If one customer has a particular question, chances are others will have the same question.
• Provide reviews on specific products and resources in your field. Feel free to promote your own products but make sure to weave your product links within meaningful and relevant content.

Take a look at my newsletter landing page and work to create something similar. I recommend you create a navigational link from your homepage to your newsletter landing page. In addition, I suggest you incorporate the following elements.

1. List out the types of content visitors can expect with each issue.

2. List out the benefits of subscribing.

3. List out any incentives you are offering.

4. If possible, offer a few testimonials from actual subscribers.

5. Optional: Create an audio or video message about the benefits of signing up.

Ezine Startup Tip #3: Offer an incentive for signing up
Offering an incentive to visitors is a great way to increase your newsletter signup rate. Here are some ideas inspire newsletter signups.

• Free demo
• Free service
• Free tip sheet
• Free informational CD, DVD, MP3
• Free sample
• Free shipping on next order

It's always nice to provide something with instant gratification. That way, as soon as the visitor signs up, they are able to access whatever it is you've offered as the incentive. Experiment changing the offer from time to time to see how your newsletter signups are affected. Whatever it is you decide to provide as an incentive, make sure it has a high perceived value and state that value upfront (e.g., a $97 value!)

Ezine Startup Tip #4: Create a Cover for Your Newsletter
Creating an actual ezine cover can really help make your landing page look professional. Keep your ezine cover simple but be sure to state what it is about. Below is what my current ezine cover looks like.

I'm not much of a designer so I hired a company by the name of Killer Covers to design one for me. I highly recommend them!

Ezine Startup Tip #5: Include a Unique Recommendation
I like to include a small section at the end of my newsletter that gives a fun non-business recommendation. Obviously, I try to make it somewhat relevant but the point here is to point people to interesting stories, events, music, or blogs that might help enrich their lives. This can be a great way to make your newsletters a bit unique from your competition. However, don't overdo it!

Ezine Startup Tip #6: Create Compelling Subject Lines & Test Them
One of the first things your readers will see when they get a new issue is your subject line. Try to create interesting subject lines that make people want to open up the newsletter and read more.

One great way to zero in on compelling subject lines is to simply test them. Doing this is quite easy. You simply split your recipient list into two equal but random sub lists. You will send the same exact newsletter to both sub lists but one group will get one subject line A while other gets subject line B. In a few days, you can compare statistics two lists to see which subject line resulted in a higher open rate.

By testing subject lines on a regular basis, you will get a good feel for crafting great subject lines that get your readers to click. You can also test your newsletter content but only test one parameter at a time. This is helpful for when you want to test the appeal of one offer against another.

Ezine Startup Tip #7: Include Links Back to Your Website
One of the great uses of a newsletter is to generate enough interest to get people back to your website. Within your newsletter, think of ways to link back to more relevant content on your website. At the end of your newsletter, if you have any special offers, go ahead and mention them, providing links back to your site for more information.

While it's important to make free relevant content the focus of your newsletter, it is perfectly fine to weave in references to your products and services. Just make sure these references are relevant within the overall content. Remember, people do not like subscribing to content and then being constantly sold.

Ezine Startup Tip #8: Reuse Your Newsletter Content
There's no reason why all the good content you write for your newsletters has to be lost with each passing month. Instead, review your past newsletters and see if there is any content you can flesh out as additional content for your website.

In addition, you can also rework your main articles and submit them to article sites, making sure to include a link back to your website in order to help grow your link popularity. One popular site for submitting your articles is EzineArticles.com.

Ezine Startup Tip #9: Place Your Subscription Box in Multiple Areas
Even if you have a dedicated landing page for your newsletter, you still need to provide multiple subscription boxes in other areas of your site. My recommendation is to place a subscription box at the upper right or upper left of every single page. You never know where someone will enter your site and you never know when someone will be ready to subscribe. Make it easy for anyone to register no matter what page they happen to be viewing.

A subscription box doesn't need to take up a lot of space. Take a look at mine towards the top right of this page.

Ezine Startup Tip #10: Survey Your Readers
Once or twice a year, it's a great idea to survey your readers. Create a survey on your website or with an external service like SurveyMonkey and simply provide a link from your newsletter.

I recommend you also provide some type of incentive for completing the survey. Surveying your newsletter readers is a great way to help determine the type of content THEY want to see. It's easy to assume you know what your customers want to read about, but the only accurate way to really know is to simply ask.

Below are areas of questioning to get you going. I would suggest using drop-down menus in order to make it easy for readers to respond. However, you should definitely throw in a few questions that require the reader to type a response. This is where you can get some very valuable information.

1. Ask about the relevancy of the newsletter.
2. Ask about the frequency. Should it be more/less frequent?
3. Ask about the quality of the writing and the general layout.
4. Ask about the usefulness of the information provided.
5. Ask them for specific article topics they would like to see in future issues.
6. Ask if there is any regular content that they would like to see removed.
7. Ask them to rate their overall satisfaction level of the newsletter.
8. Ask them if they have any ideas for improvement.

For incentives, I recommend keeping it simple so that you don't have to mail out anything. Offer free shipping on their next order or a product/service discount. A free download of some type is always good as it is "instant gratification."

Following these ten ezine startup tips will help ensure your small business ezine launch is a successful one!