Why Should Webmasters Publish Ezines?

If you are a Webmaster, you must have wondered about this question, especially if you are too busy to publish an ezine. After all, what is so great about publishing something that no one pays for, and which usually gets deleted without being read? Here, a few webmasters discuss their experiences with us.

Webmaster:

I disagree about a newsletter being essential. It couldn’t hurt but people are being inundated with ezines and newsletters, and most people AUTOMATICALLY delete newsletters without even opening them.

BizTalk:

I agree that most newsletters are deleted without being read. But perhaps, that has something to do with those newsletters themselves. Maybe they are too boring or too long or too frequent. How many times have you read each and every article of a magazine you bought? Ezines are the same and only worse because they are free.

Webmaster:

So, why publish them? Isn’t it simply a waste of time?

BizTalk:

Hardly. It’s up to ezine publishers to make their ezines inviting to the reader. Ezines, which are being read by their subscribers, are highly popular, and their publishers enjoy a lot of benefits.

As a webmaster, your biggest concern should be to encourage repeat visits from your website visitors. Most people don’t buy the first time they visit a website. The only way you can do this is by capturing their email addresses, and sending them occasional reminders.

Webmaster:

But I have no idea how to go about publishing an ezine. Besides I get little spare time from running my web business.

BizTalk:

Publishing an ezine is not such a difficult task. Moreover, if you feel that you are too busy, you can have an update/announcements list, instead of a full-fledged ezine. Once you get the hang of it you can graduate in to full-fledged ezine publishing.

Simple update list is easier to maintain and, you would only be sending messages to people, when you have to announce something about your business like new products, website updates, contests, special offers etc. This sort of mailing list would increase the chance of repeat sales with current customers and remind your prospects of your existence.

Ezines contain more general information, which might be related but not specific to your business, like articles that are of interest to your target market. This ezine would be published at regular intervals, and would take more time and effort to maintain.

Putting out an interesting and informative ezine is hard work and requires commitment, and not everyone can do it, or would want to do it. But everyone can definitely have an updates/ announcement list on his or her website. It is essential because you need to capture email addresses through it.

Webmaster:

Ok, so I can have an announcements list to capture email addresses and remind people of my business. Why would I want to graduate to a full-fledged ezine later on

BizTalk:

There are many advantages of having a full-fledged ezine:

If you have an ezine which has information of general interest (ie not limited to info about your products) you have a chance of promoting it extensively, and would gain general subscribers, which can later turn into prospects for your business.

Webmaster:

Ok, people might read the information in my ezine. But would they really read the ads that I have included? I mean, does ezine advertising work?

BizTalk:

It definitely works compared to all the other forms of Internet advertising. And it is also cheaper than most methods of offline advertising. The response rate is quoted as 2-3%, which is one of the highest, when it comes to online advertising response rates.

Just to give you an idea of the real picture, here are two ezine publishing webmasters, sharing their experiences:

We asked Nancy Cowan of The Ship’s Store about whether an ezine has benefited her business.

Nancy Cowan:

I doubted the worthiness of newsletters for ages. Then, I decided to one for fun. I love contests so I made sure I had lots of contests and freebies as well as very few ads. I don’t normally read them so why include them?

I have to say our newsletter is now a huge success. We currently have over 8500 subs and our sales this year are already just about what our entire gross sales for 2001 were.

So, do newsletters work? YES but only if you can keep your readers interested. Give them what they are looking for. Don’t glog up with ads. I have yet to get a referral or sale due to an ad in a newsletter. In my opinion, get them to your site and if they like what they see they will come back.

I get most of my sales from: customers that entered our contests, site referrals, and returns to check out the new arrivals. Did my customers order the first time they entered our contest? NO. It took time. Quite often people will wait to see if you are still there in a year. With all the fraud these days, I’m leery of placing an order with someone that is “new” because I don’t know if they are going to be there to send my order. Once I get to “know” a person, such as on a list, that’s different. ”

We asked Shannon Jarvies of A Mom’s Joy about whether ezine advertising works.

Shannon Jarvies:

I’d have to say yes! I’ve been publishing for two years and have just in the last month started being serious about accepting paid advertisers. Now that I have done this, it has been the most successful thing I have done online.

I offer contests in my newsletters, fresh articles I’ve written and links back to my site to more articles and recipes. The contests are popular. And the recent advertisers I’ve had say they are getting a good response.

My goal is to “lock in” my ad prices even though my subscribership is growing. I feel I will be successful in this because I’m offering something valuable at a reasonable cost. I hope to help other moms in their home based businesses by doing this.

Hence, if you are a Webmaster without a website mailing list or ezine, maybe its time to start one. Once you do, you won’t regret it.