THE LATEST BUZZ around the internet about effective web business is all about e-mail marketing via newsletters and e-zines. We discussed the value of these approaches in last week's issue and have since received several requests for advice on how to set up and produce a regular e-zine like the Reading List. This week's guest column by Nancy Roebke discusses the first steps to take toward that goal.

This week I'll repeat one line from the previous issue to emphasize the importance of staying within sight of your customers. IT WORKS WONDERS AT ESTABLISHING AND KEEPING CLIENTS! You have no doubt noticed the increase in contact from online businesses in the frequency of their news and product updates that come via e-mail to your mailbox. This is only likely to increase as more of them establish and maintain a database of customers' e-mail addresses.

Heated debate over the issue of SPAM, even hair-splitting definitions have cropped up on forums and bulletin boards. UCE or Unsolicited Commercial E-mail, seems to be getting lots of attention lately as get-rich-quick-fly-by-night operations spring up to take advantage of the web and it's relative anonymity. Everyone seems to be taking a stand firmly on one or the other side of this splintered fence.

Responsible OPT-IN lists are the only way to avoid the anger and heat generated by the topic of SPAM. If you're planning on starting your own e-mail list, be sure that you use the opt-in model to establish your readership! Many list hosts like ListBot and Onelist as well as a new list server at Internet-Gazette require a follow-up reply from new members to confirm that they truly WANT to receive your e-mail. So there can be no confusion about subscriptions. The list server maintains secure lists that are protected from the SPAMsters.

Regular, valuable content is the only way to avoid ANNOYING your subscribers. Entertain, instruct, amuse or delight your list members with valuable offers like contests or freebies. You'll find that your e-mail is greeted like a ladybug or a fluttering butterfly by the recipients when you offer content. If you loudly buzz in and annoy them with "BUY YOUR WIDGET FROM ME!!" Your customers will delete your messages then swat you like a fly and unsubscribe.

Have found your newsletter a great inspiration over the months, and have always found time to sit down and read it. You have given me an idea about doing a similar thing within my own profession, with the aim of linking colleagues in the academic side with those in commerce, do you think it could work as a kind of forum for discussion, with contributions invited on a subject and responses published monthly on a linked website?? How would you go about it? At the moment we have no such link or network. Should I mass e-mail, where do I get the addresses from?

A. Here's a brief outline for getting an ezine up and running.

1. Determine the "topic" of the ezine. You have a field of expertise. That's a great place to start for the "topic".

2. Determine how you will deliver the ezine. You may need a list host to manage the subscriber base you will end up with. Some folks have started their ezine using their e-mailer program. Others have started one using free list hosting. Each one has it's challenges. I elected to pay to have this one hosted. I have never had any downtime, my subscriber addresses are "secure", and I find it easy to manage.
3. Determine the frequency of your publication.
4. Determine the format- What information will you share, where will you get it from, will you have ads, will you accept ads from other folks? You mention putting your ezine on a website.. good thinking.. but it shouldn't be the ONLY way to get your ezine. You'd be floored by the number of folks who only have/use e-mail. If your ezine is ONLY on a website, those folks can/will never subscribe.
5. You talked about a Q and A section. I find this format quite beneficial- to me as an editor and to my readers. I get to see what areas people would like help in and my readers get to find sources for answers to their questions.
6. Determine who you will get your subscribers. There are lots of ways to do that- put mass e-mailing to unexpecting folks isn't one of them. I took the subscriber base of this ezine from 0-5000 subscribers in ten months doing two things - promoting this in my sig and offering an interactive page on my site that states that participants will be subscribed. You can also run ads, do ad exchanges, write articles ... and a slew of other things... but do not spam.. It hurts you more than you realize.

Nancy Roebke
Execdirector@Profnet.Org        http://www.profnet.org
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