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Part of Internet marketing involves promoting your business. E-Zine lists are a great way to start marketing your business. But first you need to get people interested in signing up for your e-zine. Using your small business customer list to build your e-zine list is a great place to start.

E-mail your current customers to let them know you are launching your first e-zine. Keep it simple; a couple of paragraphs are fine. Don’t over sell yourself, but do let them know why they should sign up for your e-zine.

Spike their interest by enticing them with "something for them" or "how unique" your e-zine is and what makes it so different from other e-zines. You might even want to include a sample of your first issue or simply include the entire issue as a special promotion introducing your first e-zine.

Make sure you give specific directions on how to sign up for future e-zines. You can tempt your readers with what they will be missing if they don’t sign up. Include a link in your e-mail that takes them to a sign-up form for your e-zine. The easier it is for your customers to sign up, the more likely they will.

Offer free and useful stuff that you know your audience needs and wants that you give them when they sign up. You can make it a free report, e-book, helpful tips, or other important resources you think your reader might be interested in.

Let's say you own a Dog Grooming and Supplies business, and you want to launch your new e-zine. You might offer a free e-book on dog nutrition or dog safety (what's "ok" for your dog to eat if he does so accidentally, and what you should rush him to the emergency vet for). By giving your customers something of value to them, they will gladly give you their e-mail address to receive more of your valuable tips in your weekly e-zine.

Not everyone will sign up for your e-zine the very first time they see it, so it is important that you provide other ways for them to sign up if they want to.

You can do this by providing your website address on your business cards with the e-zine information. Make sure every page on your website has a link or a sign-up box that takes them to a form where they can sign up for your e-zine.

Design a page on your website devoted specifically for your e-zine.

Have a sign-up sheet that you carry with you so that when you are talking to your customers about your e-zine you can sign them up then and there. Or, have them give you one of their business cards and write "e-zine" on the back of it. Then you can sign them up when you get back to your office.

Promote your e-zine in your e-mails with a signature file (small text file) that can be automatically attached to the end of e-mail messages you send and place a link in your e-mails that takes them directly to your sign-up form.

Write articles related to your industry and publish them in article directories. Give other people approval to use your article as long as they give you credit for writing the article by including a link to your e-zine sign-up form.

Submit your e-zine to websites with databases for articles and e-zines.

Exchange your e-zine with customers who also have e-zines by being a featured guest author in their e-zine.

If you belong to other groups that have newsletters, be sure to mention your e-zine and why it is valuable.

Include a free subscription to your e-zine for current customers.

One of the most challenging tasks in building your business is marketing. With a little persistence, consistency, and by using your small business customer list to build your e-zine list, you will be off to a great start to building a steady stream of new customers.

The greatest thing about publishing an e-zine is watching how your customers will forward it to their friends and associates – people you would never have contacted. When they sign up for your newsletter and forward it to THEIR friends and associates, you will start to see the power that writing a weekly e-zine has to increase your customer base and grow your sales as a result!

Keywords: Small Business Marketing, Small Business Internet Marketing,E-Zine,Marketing,E-Mail,Customers

About the Author
Caroline Melberg, Minnesota, USA
carolinemelberg@hotmail.com