Creating Your Own Ezine

Creating Your Own Ezine

Of the following profit centers we have discussed earlier:

Profit Center #1: One Time Offer
Profit Center #2: Advertisements and Recommendations in Your Free Viral Report
Profit Center #3: Back-end Links in Your Thank You Page
Profit Center #4: Links in Your E-zine Issues
Profit Center #5: Sending Your Endorsement E-mail Messages
Profit Center #6: Selling Advertising Space in Your E-zine

You have to decide which profit center you want to build into your E-zine. Note that you do not necessarily have to include ALL of the above mentioned profit centers although the more profit centers you build into your E-zine, the more chances you can get in making your money.

Here, I describe to you step-by-step on how you can create and run your own E-zine with all of the above mentioned profit centers incorporated into your E-zine.

-------------
Insert Ad
-------------
Hi {FirstName},

Insert Content Here

Regards,
{Insert Your Name Here}
-----------------------------------
Include Your Resource Box & Links
-----------------------------------
Include Unsubscribe Link

Your Subscriber Base – Quality vs. Quantity

This is the age-old battle question that has been ongoing for as long as every Internet Marketer can remember.

Is it the size of your subscriber base or is it its quality that matters?

If you would ask me, I would say that both of the factors really matter just equally.
Having a mailing list without either one of the criteria is not going to make you and your Internet Business profitable. You may have a list of 100,000 subscribers but if hardly anyone of them even reads your endorsement letters let alone purchasing any product or service from you, you would be broke.

Or you may have a list of 100 subscribers but most of them are responsive to your offers and that they buy from you. However, you wish that the list could have been bigger with the same subscriber quality.

While you do not necessarily have to build your subscriber base in six figures, building a mailing list of your own with at least 1,000 to 30,000 subscribers, well harnessed and responsive, can spell profits for you.

Establishing Your Credibility and Building Relationship with Your Prospects

There is a big possibility that your subscribers do not know you. If you are brand new to Internet Business, establishing your credibility should be one of your top priorities. People prefer to buy from someone they like and trust. Let that person be YOU!

Another school of thought says that people like people who are like themselves. I guess that is how the saying “birds of a feather flock together” came about. I tend to agree with them especially when it comes to cultivating your own mailing list.

Injecting your personality into your E-mails and E-zine issues is a sure way of bridging yourself to your subscriber to share what you both have in common and that your subscriber knows that you really care for his needs. More on building your relationship with your prospects later.

B. Decide on the Theme of Your E-zine

The more focused your theme is, the better. Because with a more focused theme, you
can very well rest assured know what most, if not all, of your prospects have in common and so are their needs. Quite simply, your subscribers’ needs are more “predictable”.

For example, if you have an E-zine dedicated to dating tips, your subscribers are
probably people in the early stages of their relationships. If any of them are not having any plans on dating, want to stay single, or are ready to cut their wrists, there would not be any reason for them to even subscribe to your E-zine in the first place! Also, with a more focused E-zine theme, you can easily decide what type of products or service to endorse to your subscribers. Using the same example above, it would be wise if you endorse products or services related to dating.

It is preferable that you focus your E-zine’s theme on an existing hot demand or growing market that people usually search for on the Internet. If you are planning to sell advertising space in your E-zine, you can charge your advertisers a higher rate because of how responsive and concentrated your subscribers are to a certain advertisement or offer.

A school of thought: Prospecting is a broad subject by itself but you need to know that if the person is not interested in what product or service you have to offer in the first place, he is NOT your prospect. For instance, if your product or service that you are offering is related to dogs, and that the person does not own a dog, there would be no reason for him to subscribe to your E-zine in the first place let alone purchase your product or access to your service. On the other hand, if the person is interested in what you have to offer and has the money, he can very well qualify as your prospect. Now chances are that you do not know who has the money or not but what really matters to you is that the person is looking for solutions or something he wants and you have them.

Examples of E-zines You Can Publish

Resell Rights Tips E-zine
Internet Marketing Strategies E-zine
Dating Tips for Beginners E-zine
The Nastiest Insults E-zine
Home Business Tips E-zine
Photoshop E-Courses for Graphic Designers
Success Stories E-zine
My Ghost Stories E-zine
Blogging Tactics E-zine

C. Formatting and Writing Your E-zine Issues

Formatting Your E-zine

E-zines can come in the following formats:

Text

This is most common format used by E-zine publishers. When writing your E-zine
issues in text format:

Format your text fonts to Courier New Size 10.
Format your message width to 60 characters per line.

This is because almost every E-mail program sends and interprets text messages in
Courier New, size 10, and 60 characters per line. Therefore, if your text E-zine issues follow the above mentioned formats, your issues would not end up in a mess like the example below by the time it reaches your subscribers’ inbox:

Example of text in Courier New Size 10
---------1---------2---------3---------4---------5---------6
Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert
text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here
Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert
text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here
---------1---------2---------3---------4---------5---------6
Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text
here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Insert text here Your entire text E-zine format can be like the following:

Pros

1. Not much work commitment is required on your part compared to the other two E-zine formats.
2. This format is the easiest to do among all formats.
3. You can easily develop and build trust, relationship and rapport with your
subscribers through this format.
---------1---------2---------3---------4---------5---------6
==================
Yours Truly E-zine
==================
-----------------
{Insert Ad} (OPTIONAL)
-----------------
Hi {FirstName},
Insert Content Here
Insert Content Here
Insert Content Here
Insert Content Here
Regards,
Your Name
--------------------------------------------------
Insert Your Resource Box Here
Insert Your Links Here
--------------------------------------------------
==================================================
Unsubscribe link here

Cons

1. Subscriber response rate can be lower compared to HTML and PDF formats.
2. If your affiliate links are long, you will have to source for a way to shorten your affiliate URL. I recommend TrackThatAd service where you can shorten your
long affiliate links.

This format is for you if:

You are not well-versed with HTML.
You do not have the time commitment to write your E-zine issues in PDF format.
You are not good at writing. You can source for other people’s articles and publish
them in your E-zine as long as you have their permission and include their
resource box.

HTML

Your E-zine issue in HTML format may look like the following:

Title of Your E-zine
Insert Ad Here (optional)
Insert Content Here
Regards,
Your Name
Insert Ad Here (optional)
Resource Box goes here
Unsubscribe Link

Pros

1. You can freely edit, change font colors and sizes, and make your E-zine issue
more presentable.
2. You can include images into your E-zine issue to make it more interesting.
3. You can easily shorten your affiliate links without showing the obvious.

Cons

1. HTML format E-zines usually get trapped into the spam filters before reaching
your subscribers’ mailbox.
2. Writing your E-zine in this format requires HTML knowledge on your part. If you
do not have any HTML skills, this format is not recommended for you.

This format for you if:

You are well-versed with HTML.
You have the time commitment to write your E-zine issues in HTML format.
You have the creativity to make your E-zines interesting and appealing to your
subscribers.

PDF

Your E-zine in PDF Format is similar to E-books. The only difference is that you release your E-zine in an “E-book” format on a periodical basis (e.g. once a month).

On a periodical basis, you send the download link to your E-zine in PDF format to your subscribers and let them know what you have to share with them in your latest issue. Your subscribers will download the E-zine and open your issue in Adobe Acrobat
Reader.

You can include your own advertisements or sell advertising space with your PDF Ezine
Issue. To create your own E-zine issues in PDF format, you need:

1. Word Program. Open up your Word program and create your E-zine issues.
2. Adobe PDF Converter. Convert your .doc file into .pdf format using your Adobe
PDF Converter software. If the program is not pre-installed in your computer,
use the free Adobe PDF Converter service at http://www.pdf995.com/. Regardless of any Adobe PDF Converter program that you use, be sure that you set your options to disable the copying and editing functions to the contents in order to protect your product from being altered by your customers. However, you must enable printing
by your customers so that they can print your E-book contents for easy reading.

Pros

1. You can freely edit, change font colors and sizes, and make your E-zine issue
more presentable.
2. PDF E-zines usually rope in more response rates as a lot of effort can be seen put
into catering to subscriber needs.
3. You can easily shorten your affiliate links without showing the obvious.
4. You can freely place your advertisements in strategic places in your E-zine.
5. If you allow E-zine issues to be distributed by your subscribers for free, you can
charge advertising fees to potential advertisers for placing their ads in your E-zine
issues.

Cons

1. Creating your E-zine issues in PDF format is time and effort consuming.
2. You need to have good writing skills to couple with creativity in making great Ezine issues.

This format for you if:

You have the time commitment to write your E-zine issues in PDF format.
You have the creativity to make your E-zines interesting and appealing to your
subscribers.

You plan to release your E-zine issues in a long frequency i.e. once a month. Of all the three formats, writing your E-zines in text format is mandatory especially if
you are planning to send endorsement letters to your subscribers. Writing your E-zines in either HTML or PDF format is optional.

Writing Your First E-zine Issue (a.k.a. Confirmation Mail)

Do not take your first E-zine issue lightly. It is more crucial than you think. If you are a salesperson by profession or have joined a Network Marketing company, you probably have learned that you have only 10 seconds to impress your prospect because that will be his impression towards you for the rest of as long as your prospect can remember!

That is the case with your first E-zine issue. You have only your first E-zine issue to impress your subscriber or propel him to unsubscribe from your E-zine or ignore any mails with your name on that enters his Inbox.

Most of the time, your first E-zine issue (or also confirmation mail) is sent to your
subscriber to confirm his subscription to your E-zine. Most E-zine publishers follow an almost same format and concept when it comes to sending out their first confirmation mail to their subscribers like below:

Subject: {FirstName}, Thank You for Subscribing

Hi {FirstName},

Thank You for your subscription to {Your E-zine Name}.

You are subscribed as {FirstName} {LastName} at {Email}.
If you don't remember subscribing to this list, somebody
else could have misspelled his e-mail address when he
subscribed. In this case, please accept our apologies. You
can easily unsubscribe by clicking on the unsubscribe link
below.

Otherwise enjoy your power-packed issues of our {Your E-zine Name}!

Sincerely,
{Your Name Here}
{Domain}

An E-mail like the above is very much of a standard confirmation mail.

Build a Bond with Your Subscribers and Understand Their Needs through Your First E-zine Issue

You have paid good money to listen to sophisticated advice. Here is one you should take. Earlier, I have stressed the importance of building a relationship with your subscribers (and you know subscribers = prospects). Rather than writing your E-zine issues in a oneway relationship manner (like most E-zines), write your first E-zine issue to let your subscribers know that you are open to subscriber replies and that they are not reading just any pre-written issue that you have stored into your Auto Responder.

In other words, write it in a “Yes, I’m talking to you!” manner. Also, you can take the chance to understand your subscribers and their needs better by including a set of survey questions into your first E-zine issue. Not everyone will reply to your E-zine issue, but you will definitely get enough answers from your subscribers in order to understand them and their needs as a whole if done right.

Below is an example of a champion first E-zine issue you should model after for your
own:

Subject: {FirstName}, Your Subscription to {Your E-zine Name}

Hi {FirstName},

This is {Your Name} here. :)

Thank you for subscribing to {Your E-zine Name}.

You are subscribed as {FirstName} {LastName} at {Email}.

If you don't remember subscribing to this list, somebody
else could have misspelled his E-mail address when he
subscribed. In this case, please accept my apologies.

Otherwise please check out for your first power-packed
issue of {Your E-zine Name} tomorrow.

To help me understand you and your needs better, I would
like very much for you to introduce yourself.

1. How are you? How are you feeling? Great?
2. Please tell me more about yourself. What do you do for a
living, what do you dream to achieve, etc.
3. What do you need for your {Insert anything that has to
do with your business} at the moment?
{Ask 2-3 more questions that will help in your survey on understanding your
prospects better}

You can simply reply your answers to this mail.

I don’t know of too many E-zines that care about who their subscribers are
let alone their needs. I also hope that if you have any questions, I would be the first person you would go to!

Remember, {FirstName}, YOU are the very reason why this newsletter exists! :)

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,
{Your Name}
{Domain}

Notice that:

1. This letter is like a built-up version of the previous standard letter. You not only confirm your subscriber’s subscription to your E-zine, you are also giving your
subscriber a chance to be in the limelight of your E-zine rather than firing away
what YOU have to say. You are actually encouraging your subscriber to reply!
2. You are approaching your subscriber to cater to his needs with the above letter.
Given the questions in a neat sequence, your subscriber will answer accordingly.

An example of a subscriber reply may go like the following:

1. How are you? How are you feeling? Great?
Your Subscriber: I’m doing just great. Thanks for asking,
and how about you?

2. Please tell me more about yourself. What do you do for a
living, what do you dream to achieve, etc.
Your Subscriber: My name is John Doe and I am a writer by
profession. I live in New York, US.

3. What do you need for your {Insert anything that has to
do with your business} at the moment?
Your Subscriber: I am looking for tips on how I can use a
Blog to make my money and I figured that your E-zine shares
decent tips and strategies on using one. I look forward to
learning from you.

3. This letter is written with personality. It is obvious that there is a lively person on the other side of the line thus encouraging a decent percentage (as in 3-10%, this pre-written template is proven) of your subscribers to reply to your letter and you can communicate with your subscribers from there.

4. You have saved your money from conducting a paid survey. You can gather your
own survey answers and understand your subscribers’ needs better for free within
your own E-zine.

5. This is the foundation of building your very own mailing list fan club! This is
your golden chance to prove your credibility in your own field and give your
subscribers every reason to read your E-mails when you send an E-zine issue or
endorsement letter into their Inbox!

Warning! In your attempt to build relationships with your subscribers through your first E-zine issue, some subscribers are worth ignoring and even deserve to be removed from your mailing list! This may sound harsh but the truth is that there various characters out there in cyberspace and some of them are those you wish you have never known. When you write your E-zine issue in this manner, be ready to expect a variety of responses from your subscribers with its share of pity or even nasty ones.

Dear {Your Name},

I have something to share with you. I am a graduate in economics and am
currently unemployed. I would like to enter into Internet Marketing. The
problem is that I don’t have the money to order E-books on how to start my
own Internet Business. I have a great product but I don’t know how I can
market it to the Internet marketplace.

The US currency is bigger than my local currency therefore it is very
difficult for me to raise the capital amount from my pocket. So, can you
please tell me how to make money from Internet Marketing for free. I expect
your valuable A-Z advice. Please reply.

Regards,
{The Poor Subscriber}

Find it hard to believe that you might be getting mails like this? Nonetheless, this is one of the many mails that some top E-zine publishers and Internet Entrepreneurs receive almost often in their mailbox.

In my opinion, when you get a mail like this, it is best to ignore it rather than try to be helpful because as I have said in another place in this book, if the person is not willing to buy from you, he is NOT your prospect in the first place! So when you are thinking of helping such people for free, think about your own commitments and maybe the family you are supporting, if you have one. You are in business, not charity.

Creating Content for Your E-zine Issues

In your E-zine issues, you can share information with your subscribers – information
that is helpful and useful to them. Since you are not going to dispense time-sensitive information to your subscribers (and I highly recommend that), you can write your E-zine issues in advance thus it is possible for you to compile a month’s content in just one day. You can’t send out the latest football scores in advance, can you?

Inject Your E-zine Issues with Personality

With so many stiff E-zines flooding into everyone’s mailbox, writing your E-zine with
personality is more important than ever.

Just so I prove my point, which of the following E-zine issue would you continue
reading on?

E-zine Issue A

Subject: {FirstName}, Using a Blog

Hi {FirstName},

A blog is a webpage where a blogger posts his news and updates. Blogs are
perfect leverages for Internet Marketers in sharing information, driving
targeted traffic and even making money.
[Read more]

Boring!

This E-zine issue is stiff and obviously too mechanical. But if you can rub in your
mixture of personality and taking your subscribers’ needs into consideration:

E-zine Issue B

Subject: {FirstName}, Ever Thought of Using a Blog?

Hi {FirstName},

Ever thought of using a blog towards your marketing advantages? If you
haven’t just yet, you are obviously behind the latest trend!

In a nutshell, a blog is a webpage where a blogger posts his news and updates
(that’s going to be YOU, {FirstName}!). With a blog, you can leverage your
marketing efforts in sharing information, driving targeted traffic and even
making money!

[Read more]

Putting yourself in the shoes of a subscriber, you will be inclined to read E-zine Issue B more than E-zine Issue A. The fog is cleared! So, be friendly and approachable in your E-zine issues. Some times if time and room permits, you can give your personal opinions on a certain topic as long as it is constructive and that it matters to your subscribers.

A common mistake you MUST avoid! If you are working alone, write your E-zines
from the perspective of “I”. For some very strange reason, most one-man Internet
Business novices write from the perspective of “us” or “we”. I assume that the “we”
and “us” includes the one-man Internet Business owner and his Internet Business as if
it is a “living entity”?

Another common mistake you MUST avoid, too! Remember at all times that the very reason your E-zine exists is because of your subscribers and their needs (okay, and so is your motivation of making money). When you write your E-zine issues,relate them to your subscriber. Don’t get trapped into a world of your own and forgetting all about your subscribers in the process!

If You Do Not Have Good Writing Skills

If writing is not your forte, you can still publish your own E-zine and believe or not, you can do it without having to write if you want to! Here are some other ways you can get content for your E-zine without writing:

1. Source for articles written by other writers with reprint rights, allowing you
to publish their articles as long as no changes are made to their articles and their
resource box are intact. You can source for quality articles in article directories
such as eZinearticles.com.

2. You can hire a ghost writer to do the writing for you. You can search for ghost
writers who can write your E-zine issues for you at eLance.com. However, hiring
a good ghost writer can be costly and if you are on a strict budget, this option may
not be for you.

3. Alternatively, you can buy Private Label Rights to articles on your topic of
choice. With Private Label Rights, you can edit and put your name as the author to
the articles. In more ways than one, buying Private Label Rights to articles to be
included in your E-zine is cheaper and affordable than hiring a ghost writer to
write your E-zine issues.

Examples of Types of E-zine Issues You Can Write and Compile

Tips
Short Stories
E-Courses
Lessons
The Interval between Your E-zine Issues

You have to decide the frequency of your E-zine issues. Are your subscribers going to
get your issues five days a week? Once a week? Once a month? That is up to you to decide the interval (or frequency) of your E-zine issues. If you are prepared to E-mail your subscribers an E-zine issue five days a week, great. Just make sure you have the time and effort commitment to have that accomplished. If you do not have that kind of commitment, send your E-zine issues out once a week, twice a month,
or maybe once a month.

However, I urge you not to go beyond the frequency of once a month as your ubscribers
can quickly forget your E-zine or even you for that matter!

Profit Center Numbers 4, 5 & 6

Here is how you can build in the profit centers mentioned earlier at the beginning of this chapter into your E-zine issue.

A word on advertising: at this time of writing, advertising rates are becoming more
competitive and low in prices. If you have decided to build in Profit Center #6 into your E-zine issues, study the latest advertising rates and offer a better price for your advertising customers (example: $100 for 5 days).

Profit Center 5

You become an affiliate or Joint Venture of other people’s product or service that you can recommend to your subscribers. Usually, the endorsement letters are already pre-written by the principal thus you only have to make minimal editing, copy and paste the template into your E-zine format and send to your subscribers.

If they buy the product or access to the service as a result of your endorsement, you
make your commission! An endorsement letter may look like the following:

===========================
The John Doe IM Tips E-zine
===========================
---------------
Insert Ad Here
---------------
Insert Content Here
-------------------------------------
John Doe has over 4 years of
experience in Internet Marketing and
Direct Response Marketing.
John Doe IM Tips
http://www.johndoeIMtips.com/
John Doe Copywriting Secrets
http://www.johndoewrites.com/
Unsubscribe Link Here

Profit Center 6

You can sell advertising space to interested advertisers who are looking to advertise to your subscribers in your E-zine. The more subscribers and targeted they
are, the more you can charge your advertisers for advertising fee.

Profit Center 4

You include links to your other web sites or sales letters in your resource box.
The success factor in profiting from sending out endorsement letters lies in your
relationship with your subscribers and how much they trust and bother reading your
mails.

Warning! Beware of some words you include in your E-zine issues (text) that are
usually perceived as spam (Solicited Pornography and Marketing) by spam filters.
Here are some words you should be wary of that make spam filters catch your E-mail
letters and dispense them into your subscriber’s bulk folder before reaching them.

Free
Guarantee
Money
Multi Level Marketing
Income
Work at Home
Bonus
Cash Bonus

Hi {FirstName},
I've had the pleasure of reviewing the latest manual
called "Jane Doe's Guide to Article Writing" recently. It
must be the greatest bargain of the writer’s landscape!
Jane tells you how you can write like a professional and
make money from articles even if you are a poor, hopeless
writer!

I'm absolutely delighted by its content and highly
recommend that you buy it. It's something I really wish I
had when I had troubles figuring out how to write my own
articles and the logic of profiting from article writing
just couldn’t get into my head! I've never seen anything
like it anywhere else!

Click below to see what I mean:
{Insert Affiliate Link}
Regards,
{Your Name}
Gift Certificate
Make Money
No Investment
No Selling
No Recruiting
Direct Selling
This Is Not Spam
Serious Cash
Financial Freedom
Financial Independence
You Have Won
(Porn words are not included into the list)

Where possible, try not to include the any of the above words. But if you have to use any of the above words, you can still make sure that the E-mail you send to your mailing list does not end up in their spam filters or bulk folders by adding characters within the suspicious characters.

Example:
Free – f*r*e*e
Guarantee – G.uarantee
MLM – M/L/M

The Bottom Line

Make sure that there is always at least one way for you to make money from every Ezine issue or E-mail you send out to your subscribers.