Top Ten Reasons to Start an Ezine by Cynthia Sue Larson editor of RealityShifters News Cynthia Sue Larson Why I Got Started Have you ever wondered what the big deal is about ezines? They seem so ubiquitous these days, with hundreds more starting up every week. I once wondered the same thing myself, until I realized what a golden opportunity they present for anyone interested in doing business on the internet. Just a little over two years ago, I started an ezine called, RealityShifters News, so I could stay in touch with people who signed the guest book at my web site. RealityShifters News subscribers share a common interest in metaphysical subjects, and look forward to reading new stories from around the world about miraculous healings, things vanishing and appearing, changes in time, and transformations and transportations. Each issue also includes book reviews, with hot links so people can go directly to an online bookstore to purchase the books. From the humble beginnings of just a few dozen subscribers, this ezine rapidly gained thousands of subscribers, and is still growing! One: Build A Community When you start an ezine, you stay in regular contact with people who share a common interest. Your ezine creates a community of individuals who can take joint action on issues of interest, be informed about events from a specific point of view, and share their experiences with one another. Two: Let People Know You Offer Valuable Products and/or Services By offering something of value to people that they can use (such as information on areas they are interested in), they will treasure your ezine and forward it to their friends. The more kinds of services you can think of to provide inside your ezine (such as news, horoscopes, or jokes), the more people will look forward to receiving your ezine. Three: Establish Credibility as an Expert When people see that you are starting a new venture, they want to know they can trust you. You can demonstrate your reliability and credibility as an expert in your field by publishing a quality ezine, and by posting previous issues of the ezine on your web site. Four: Open New Markets An ezine provides you with a tool for reaching people you might never have communicated with otherwise. Ezines are often posted on bulletin boards and forwarded to others, gaining a life of their own. Like coconuts floating on the ocean waves, your ezine issues will land on new shores! Five: Let Your Web Site & Ezine Pay for Themselves Your ezine is a reminder for people to come back to visit your web site, and make more purchases. Even if you do not offer any products or services, you can become an associate for merchants such as amazon.com, and make a percentage of what people pay (5% to 15%). These purchases pay for the costs of running both my web site and my ezine. Six: Find Collaborators You can find online friends and collaborators when you start an ezine. Both contributors who wish to write articles or give you other kinds of ezine content, and web site owners who wish to post your ezine on their sites will be very interested in what you have to offer. I have been thrilled that collaborators are finding me now -- I don't even need to go looking for them! Seven: Build A Loyal Following You can find rapid growth in your number of ezine subscribers, and those subscribers can become a loyal following for the products and services you provide. Regular subscribers gain a better idea of who you are as a person, and get to feel that they know you personally. Eight: Build An Opt-In List with No Spam You can avoid the pitfalls of spam (buying lists of names and sending unsolicited advertisements) by only sending your message to those gave you permission. By not abusing this privilege (be SURE to stick to your promise of how many emails per month you will send), you'll develop an attentive, appreciative audience who wants to hear from you on a regular basis. I use this simple kind of ad on my web site's main page: Would you like to receive the free monthly RealityShifters News? If you sign up, your email address will remain confidential (it will not be shared or sold), and you will receive one RealityShifters News email each month! Nine: Keep Traffic Flowing to Your Site It is easy to find wonderful web sites, only to forget about them later (even if you have bookmarked them). An ezine from your favorite site acts as a reminder to stop by again for another visit. More traffic will flow to your site every time people get your ezine! Ten: Access the Most Powerful Marketing Tool on the Internet Ezine publishing is one of the most effective marketing tools -- and it is not expensive! You will find that you can generate increased hits to your site with less effort, and that other ezines will run ads for your ezine in theirs. You can start by personally inviting people to subscribe -- or you can get help from sites like freetrafficbuilders.com, who I find to be invaluable. This web site © copyright 1999 - 2010 by Cynthia Sue Larson RealityShifters® is a Registered Trademark All Rights Reserved Privacy Statement