I’ve been sending out an online newsletter, or e-zine, for more than six years. It’s a terrific way to keep in touch with our IAPQ members as well as other professional quilt, fiber or mixed-media artists, and creative entrepreneurs who use our resources. Here are six tips to make your e-zine work for you.

1. Clarity. Be clear about your goals and your audience for your ezine. Why are you creating this e-zine and who are your writing it for? If you start with that in mind, you’ll find that it’s easier to write your articles and include relevant materials. You can even keep a specific person in mind (someone in your target market) and write directly to that person.

2. Content. People read your e-zine for the content you deliver. The more relevant it is to their lives and/or business, the more likely they are to continue to follow you. Readers resonate with how-to’s, lists, problem solving. It’s OK to promote yourself or your products, just don’t let that be the focus.

3. Consistency. Be sure your e-zine has a consistent look issue to issue. You also want it to go out the same day of each week. Your readers look forward to its arrival and notice if it doesn’t come as expected. This one currently goes out on Wednesdays. The best days for delivery are said to be mid-week. That may not be true of your audience. How do you find out? Survey them. And, how often should you send your e-zine? Weekly gets the best results, then bi-weekly.

4. Call to Action. Every e-zine should include a call to action (CTA). What do you went someone to do after reading your e-zine? It could be to apply a tip you give them or it could be to look at your art or it could be to take you up on your special offer on quilting.

5. Connection. We all like to connect with like-minded people. After all, we buy from people, not an invisible company. Start your e-zine with a brief story about yourself to connect to your readers. Don’t just connect on a personal level, connect also to the issues of your target market. And, speaking of connection, look for ways to make more connections. This could be by using a “forward to a friend” method or including a signup form on the home page of your website.

6. Compelling title. Your e-zine title should make the topic clear and compel the reader to open it. Spend some time looking at the titles of e-zines you get. Which ones were you curious to open and which ones did you ignore? Just as with the content, people like how-to’s, numbers, benefit statements.

Please share your thoughts on e-zine success on our blog. And, if you don’t have an e-zine yet, be sure to check out our upcoming Internet & Social Medial Marketing Teleseminar. We start with getting your e-zine in place. In case you missed it, that was my CTA.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?
Please do! Just be sure to include the blurb below.

Morna McEver Golletz is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Professional Quilters, an association to help quilters, fiber artists and other creative arts entrepreneurs build business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://www.professionalquilter.com.

Tags: e-zine, IAPQ, social media

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 at 10:00 am and is filed under Business, Marketing, Productivity, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.