Publishing Your Own Newsletter - Is It Worth Your Time?

Is publishing your own newsletter worth your time and effort? Most publishers will tell you the rewards are well worth the investment. By publishing your own newsletter you can build recognition and be looked at as an expert in your field of expertise.

This is also a great way to build your opt-in mail list and increase traffic to your website, not to mention that most publishers generate additional revenue by selling ad space in their publications. The bottom line here is that publishing your own newsletter is well worth the time you put into it.

Even though there are thousands of publications on the net today, not all webmasters publish a newsletter. Some people procrastinate on writing their own newsletter simply because they are not sure what to write about. Today you will find newsletters that cover most any topic, from marketing tips, business news, advice columns, health issues, resources, finances and even jokes.

With such a wide array of topics that one can use, you have to ask yourself how hard can it be to write your own publications? The truth of the matter is anyone can start to publish his or her own newsletters with a little dedication, commitment and knowledge.

You need to be dedicated to contribute enough time to be a successful publisher and commitment to follow through with your publication.

The knowledge that will be required is coming up with useful content to use in your publications and formatting your newsletter correctly. To start with, you can write about the inside knowledge you have from building your own business, or topics that you are well educated on.

You can do research in books, newspapers, magazines, Internet, etc. on certain topics, and use that knowledge in your newsletter (this would be what you have learned in your own words, not copy someone else's work). There are also many publishers that will let you use their articles in your publications providing the article and links are left intact. You can find many articles online by going to any search engine to search for articles or publishers.

When formatting, the best approach is to gather all the information you will be using and lay it out on a piece of paper first. Once you have all the information, use "word pad" or "note pad" as your editor to create your newsletter. You can also use "word" as your editor, but you want to make sure the finished product is formatted correctly.

Always use plenty of spacing throughout your newsletter, keeping your paragraphs to 5 to 6 lines with each line not to exceed 64 characters. Depending on how much material you will be using, try to keep the size of your publication under 70 KB, or no more than 6 to 7 pages in length (some mail programs will have problems sending out newsletters that are to large in length).

One-way to check the size of your newsletter is to use "word" as your editor and click on "file" than "properties", than on the "General" tab. This will show you the exact size of your newsletter in KB. If you are using a different editor, just copy and paste into word to check its size.

When publishing your newsletter, it is strongly advised not to just focus on pushing sales or having to many ads. What you should do is concentrate on building relationships with your subscribers. A person has to feel they can trust in you as a professional before they feel confident in buying anything you have to offer.

Keep in mind people will be looking for someone who can provide them with informative reading material, not a salesman. If you publish newsworthy newsletters and use compelling topics of interest, you will develop followers over the course of time.

Newsletters are usually sent monthly, weekly, daily or anywhere in-between. If this is your first time publishing, you may want to offer a monthly newsletter to start. The reason is, once you commit to a scheduled publication, it's important that they are sent on time and you meet the demand or you can loose subscribers. You can always increase your publications once you are more experienced and know how much time you can invest.

Guidelines:

By publishing informative newsletters with solid content can bring you a loyal following of subscribers as well as many referrals.

Give your visitors the option to subscribe to your newsletter from your website.

List your newsletter in as many ezine directories as you can.

Personalize your newsletter by adding the recipient's first name in the subject box and in the heading.

Do not just focus on pushing sales or have too many ads in your newsletters.

Omit any hype or misleading information.

Make sure you use your signature file in all your newsletters. Having a link to your website as well as contact information.

Out of courtesy always include an unsubscribe option in your newsletters for your readers.

Never rent, sell or give your subscribers addresses to any other party. With all the effort you put into developing a mail list, this is a sure way of loosing subscribers and destroying the trust they had with you.

John Kovacs is the CEO and founder of "A Home Business Opportunity". His website mainly focuses on supplying free marketing tips, resources and support for home startup businesses and Internet marketing. To get a step-by-step guide in building an online business, visit http://www.ahomebusinessopportunity.net