People are always asking me if they should have their own Ezine. They figure that since there are lots of them out there already, that creating their own newsletter would be a waste of their time!

I couldn't agree with this ... Less! Creating your own newsletter is one of the components in building a successful online business. Why?

Good thing you asked! There are two reasons why you need your own Ezine or newsletter.

1. The first is in order to be able to contact your customers again and again. This allows you to build credibilty and rapport with your customers, something that will keep you in business! You want to remind them that you are still in business, that you have more products or services for them, that your website is filling up with all sorts of useful information for them.

2. The second reason for your own Ezine is so that you can capture the names of visitors who have not yet made the decision to buy! Once you have their email addresses you can contact them again and again, reminding them of your original offer and telling them about all the other goodies you have for them.

The reason you need your own Ezine is so that you can put yourself in front of your target market time and time again!

What do you need in order to create a business building Ezine?

1) You must determine the focus of the Ezine. The Ezine should provide relevant and timely information to your target market. Your Ezine should share a parallel focus with your products or services. What I mean by this is, if you are selling an information product to veterinarians, your ezine should provide information of use to veterinarians ... not pet owners!

2) Design a format for your Ezine. There are lots of people out there who use email software that will accept only plain text. Design a plain text ezine template that you will feel comfortable using over and over. Your design should not only take the physical look of the Ezine into account, but should include a layout you will use for each newsletter you send.

To continue using our veterinarian example. Business Building New for Vets could have standard sections including: an opening editorial statement you could use to introduce topics in the newsletter; a table of contents; a section called "In The News"; a section on Business Building Tips; a section of classified ads; a guest article; and so on.

Standardizing these sections will make your job easier. You will know what kinds of things to be on the lookout for and what kinds of articles you need to write, or contract out.

Part of your format is the size of your newsletter. If you make it too long, people won't have time to read it unless you have killer information and content... if it is too short people will have the perception that they aren't getting their "money's worth" ... even if it is free! Some email programs will not "collect" messages that are too big. Look in your mailbox and see what sizes of newsletters you are getting. What is your favorite length? Try and keep it consistent. Of course ... if your newsletter is online, like ours ... you do not have to worry about it being too long and that they won't receive it, one of the reasons we have gone this route!

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