The internet newsletter, also known as the ezine, is arguably the most cost-effective marketing tool on the net. You can deliver timely information to your subscribers without spending a penny, and as your subscriber base grows, it is possible to earn a healthy income with each publication. Let's cover the basics of ezine publishing:

Getting Started:

To start your own list, you can either purchase a listserver or use a free service such as One List or Egroups. The free services should be more than adequate to fulfill your needs.

Promotion Tips:

1. Offer a contest for your subscribers. A weekly/monthly contest will attract subscribers and will keep them on the list, too. We offer a Free 1500 Promotion in every issue that seems to be doing well (http://www.goldvisions.com/ezine.html).

2. Promote to ezine directories. List-Universe is a great listing of directories where you can promote.

3. Trade ads about your new publication with other publishers.

4. Apply for a few awards as well. The Golden Pen is a new award we offer at Goldvisions for excellent newsletters.

5. Finally, the most effective list-builder is writing for other newsletters.

Frequency:

Publication frequency is dependent on two factors: Time and Quality. If you have the time, you can publish weekly, or if not, then monthly is just fine. Publishing daily will likely dilute your quality, unless you have a strong base of guest columnists.

Format:

Plain ASCII Text is best for ezines, since most people will use Eudora or MS Outlook rather than browser-based email clients such as Rocketmail or Hotmail. If you are going to publish in HTML, make a text version available also. Be sure to keep your characters per line at or below 65 to prevent lines from over-running. A badly formatted ezine makes a terrible impression on the reader.

Content/Information:

The content of your newsletter should reflect that of your website, although minor excursions into other areas can add life to your writings. Ideally, a good portion of the articles should be yours. Guest articles should be published, but kept to a minimum. Most importantly, do not insult the subscribers' intelligence by stuffing your ezine with self-promotion. Informative and helpful writings will establish your expertise and lead to client trust. Prosperity will come in due time.

Revenue:

Once you have established a good-sized list, consider selling 3-5 ads per issue. E-target is an excellent service that connects publishers with advertisers. Another way to earn revenue is to advertise your products/services, but as stated earlier, keep this to a minimum.

Conclusion

If you still haven't started publishing, it's never too late. If you're a beginner, then write from a beginner's perspective. Share your experiences and discoveries on the net with your readers. Your ezine will grow in subscriber base and quality with time. In the long run, the result will be a marketing tool with unparalleled personability and revenue generation.

That my friend, is the Power of the Pen!

Fawad Ahmed is webmaster of Goldvisions (http://www.goldvisions.com) and a 3rd year medical student at the Univ. of FL. For excellent promotion tips, subscribe to the Traffic-Builder weekly newletter by sending a "subscribe" email to webmaster@goldvisions.com