A lot has been written lately about the importance of networking to
build your business. When marketing expert Leslie Speidel polled hundreds
of successful entrepreneurs on what they attributed their growth to,
most replied "networking!"
Nothing helps you network like your own email newsletter. Your ideas
and expertise along with product news and tips from customers go out
to everyone you know and do business with. It's also OK to include some
ads for yourself and associates. Readers don't seem to mind ads if they're
packaged along with helpful articles.
People on the Internet are usually in a hurry, so keep your e-zine
short. One or two articles coupled with two or three short ads may be
all your e-zine needs. Keep lines short enough to fit into an email
browser and put a hard return at the end of each line (to keep them
from breaking up when emailed).
For starters, you can send your e-zine out with your favorite email
program (a great free one is Eudora.You can download
Eudora from our site.Later, when your subscriber list grows, you
may want to use a majordomo, most likely provided by the same company
that provides your website space. We offer majordomo to our hosted clients
for only $10.00 per month.
Get subscribers by placing free ads on classified sites, ads in appropriate
newsgroups, and announcing your new e-zine to firms that specialize
in keeping track of various lists of subscribers. Start with liszt.com
and The List of Lists (Listserv@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU). Send a description
of your newsletter to gapach97@aol.com for inclusion on the "Yoken"
list. Be sure to mention your new email newsletter in all your print
and broadcast advertising and add a place for people to subscribe on
your web site. Your subscriber list can easily grow to include a few
thousand within a year. An audience that size will be a continuing source
of sales, contacts, and insights.
If you don't fancy yourself a writer get someone to write your articles
for you. I'll write them for you at a very low-cost and put your
name in the by line, so it looks like you wrote the article. No one
will ever know the difference! Send me an email now and I'll get started
right away!
Consider incorporating e-zines into your on-line marketing now! It's
currently the best marketing tool available for small businesses.
