The definition of an ezine has probably changed over recent times. It used to mean sending out quite a formally structured newsletter publication with separate sections for articles, FAQ and ads. Some are still used. But now it’s much less structured and can consist just of articles or even recommendations of products.

1 Build your list. The top reason for having an ezine is to build your list by offering subscribers valuable information. By doing this you’re able then to make offers as well as give help.

2 Your other sites. You can refer subscribers out from the ezine to your other sites and products. You can keep them in touch with what developments are taking place in your business. In other words, you’re gaining at least their tacit involvement in what you’re doing. In that way, you’re building relationships for long-term customer support of your business.

3 Ask them. A list through your ezine gives you a sounding board of what people in internet marketing want in their products. Once you know that, you can go off and create that product, so you know when you offer it that people genuinely will want to purchase it.

4 Link with a membership. If you set up a membership site too, it’s more likely that people on your list who have stayed with you over a period of time will be willing to join. By running both, you can begin to build up a community of your own based round your products and services.

Join GoldVaultZine for your free ecourse and the ezine that’s (almost) a continuous ecourse itself! You’ll think I should be charging for this! Click the link or sign-up on the right! Thanks!

The word ezine is derived from the offline word magazine. Usually there’s no real relationship between the two types of publication at all. One is relatively short, has few articles if any and maybe no ads. The other can have a lot of pages, many articles and many ads.

However, it is possible to publish an offline type of magazine as an ezine. This could be an alternative to differentiate yourself from all the other ezines, although it takes more work.

In effect, this is a full-time responsibility, unless you can delegate to someone else, so full planning and costing would be needed first, as well as checking the market for it.

1 You’d only need to publish once a month. There’s too much to do on it to bring out any more frequent issues.

2 You could use an ebook format. Do it in Word(TM) or Open Office first and then convert to a PDF. You can still include images, and various kinds of graphics if you want.

3 It could be differentiated by having a much larger number of articles than an ezine. These could be yours or they could be by guest writers.

4 Regular features might be news, reviews of internet marketing products and marketing tips. Again, you could have guest writers, producing sections on their speciality or interest.

5 If you could manage it, a regular place for interviews with or advice from successful internet marketers would be an obvious attraction.

6 Easy to include, would be choices of relevant and useful audio and video. These could either illustrate the articles and special pieces or be stand alones with interesting information.

7 This would be a paid ezine with a monthly charge and possible yearly payment discount.

8 You could charge for ads, which if it went well, could be a revenue earner in themselves.

Join GoldVaultZine for your free ecourse and the ezine that’s (almost) a continuous ecourse itself! You’ll think I should be charging for this! Click the link or sign-up on the right! Thanks!

The internet marketing tool you must have is an autoresponder. You can either pay a monthly fee for accessing one or run a script on your own computer. Aweber and GetResponse can ensure your emails and newsletter get delivered because of their relationship with ISPs. Others may now claim this too.

There are 5 benefits for you of using an autoresponder.

Firstly, you can run your own newsletter or ezine on a regular basis. This will allow you to build up a relationship with your subscribers, give them valuable information to help them, and make them offers which they might not normally see.

Secondly, as its name suggests, it automatically responds when asked, so that if someone signs up for your ezine by filling in a form and clicking the submit button, it can start to send  messages at set times, and starting immediately. As with the ezine you can have done the work once, set up your messages and their times, and it’s all automated.

Thirdly, it can ensure that your subscribers really are interested in what you’ll send them and that they have a reliable email address. This is done by double opt-in. They opt in once by filling in the form and pressing submit, and they confirm they want to opt in by clicking the link in the confirmation email they receive as their first contact.

Fourthly, you’re able to use a broadcast to all of your subscribers or a section of them. You could send your ezine this way too. This means that if you have a special announcement, for example, for all subscribers, including those not ezine subscribers, you can reach everybody. Or the announcement might be just for particular types of subscribers, such non-ezine subscribers.

Fifthly, if you were just starting your business and couldn’t yet set up the download of products, such as ebooks, you could attach them to an email instead. This still allows you to make offers or send freebies.

So, besides hosting for a landing page or a blog, you only need the key internet marketing tool, an autoresponder.