by Joe Reinbold

Do you take that extra step when you are getting ready to email your ezine? Or do you just hit the send button after you cut and paste it?

I subscribe to many fine online newsletters or ezines as they are called and for the most part they look pretty professional when I receive my copy. There are some that could use some help in regards to format and spelling and that is what prompted me to put some thoughts together on the subject. I also thought that these tips might help some of you that might be thinking about publishing your own ezine.

I have been publishing my own ezine now for over two years. Over that time I have tried to publish a timely and quality
document twice a week. Along the way I have developed certain habits that I believe are key to putting out a professional ezine. I am not covering content here, that can be a whole topic in itself, so let's assume that you have quality content within the scope or theme of your ezine.

Here are tips that you may find useful:

Line Format -

Keep your ezine lines at or below 65 characters per line. This will maximize the professional look. I receive many ezines
where there is one long line then a line with one or two words and then a long line, then short line, etc. Using 65 characters will work in most email browser windows without the longer lines wrapping to the next lines.

Graphics/Characters -

Keep the use of graphics or miscellaneous symbols and fancy characters to a minimum. Remember that not all email browsers are able to read things the same way. What may look great to you might look like garbage in some other program.

Spell Checking -

Please use your software's spell check process. If you are using something like Notepad that doesn't have spell check then use the one with your email program or run it through another program that has one. It doesn't look very professional to publish a document that has misspelled words in it. You be surprised how many articles I receive for possible publication that have misspelled words in them.

Test Mailing -

When you have your ezine ready to go and you think it looks great, send it to yourself before sending it to the thousands on your subscriber list. It takes less than five minutes to do this and can be well worth it. Every once and a
while, after I send it to myself, I will find that there is this one or two lines of text that go beyond the 65 character limit and wrap around to the next line because I missed a hard return. Or something I thought I had centered isn't.

Check the links -

I hate to get an ezine where I might see something interesting and when I click on the link it doesn't work. So after you send it to yourself, check all the links, especially the ones in your advertiser ads. They are paying customers and you should insure that their links work. In fact, as a matter of practice, I check all ad links at the time I receive them whether they are submitted by regular email or through a web based order form. That way if there is a problem you can email the customer and make sure it gets corrected way before it is ready to go out.

Send Courtesy Copies -

I don't know how many publishers do this but back about a year ago I started sending a courtesy copy of each issue, at the same time as I sent the issue out to all subscribers, to all advertisers in that issue and to any author whose article I might have used in that issue. It may be a duplicate if they are a subscriber, but in many cases they may not be. And when you get to a subscriber base of thousands, you really can't keep track of who is and who isn't a subscriber.

If you promote advertising from your web site, some of your advertisers may not be subscribers. And as far as authors go, there is a good chance that they may not be a subscriber if you are on lists or groups where hundreds of authors send you their work on a regular basis. I simple change the Subject to "Your Ad in...." or "Your Article in..." and follow it with a "Thanks!".

Some of these may seem like things that you might normally do, but you should get in the habit of doing them, especially those involving the format and appearance of your ezine. All of the above items make for good quality control and customer service!

Article by Joe Reinbold, Publisher of Home Income Quarterly E-dition, a free weekly online marketing newsletter. To subscribe just subscribe@homebizlink.com with "Subscribe" in the subject. Or visit The Entrepreneur's Home Business Link where you will find the solutions to your home business needs at: http://www.homebizlink.com

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