11 Quick (and Good) E-zine Content Ideas
Publishing an e-zine is the ideal opportunity to showcase your business. By sharing your knowledge and expertise, you build credibility as an expert, while spreading the word about your services and products. While sometimes you'll have dozens of content ideas, other times you'll find yourself staring at a blank computer screen, grumbling that it's publishing time again. Well, have no fear! Here are 11 quick (and good) content ideas for when you're in a pinch. 1. Give real-life examples. Describe a problem you've solved for a client/customer, and use that as a springboard to offer more general advice. Show your readers how you've helped customers address challenges — "case studies" if you will. This positions you as the expert in your readers" minds more than your coming out and saying so. 2. Think of three areas in which you'd like your clients to think of you as a resource. Now develop content in those areas. For example, as a professional copywriter, I really enjoy working on Web sites. To help encourage my clients and prospects to hire me for these projects, I published several articles on how to write Web copy that sells. 3. Read industry publications for ideas. Are there any hot issues in your field right now? The more controversial, the better. Don't be afraid to offer your own opinion — your readers want to know it. After all, YOU are the expert! ; ) 4. Jot down 8 questions your clients have asked you in the past. You know, the ones they ask you over and over. Answer each in a short article. If you publish weekly, that's two months' worth of content, right off the bat! And if you can't think of any questions, send all your current clients/customers a quick e-mail, asking them what topics they're most interested in learning more about. 5. Learn anything neat lately from an industry conference, workshop, seminar, or insightful article? No one says you have to reinvent the wheel of information! Pass on any gems of advice you've learned elsewhere — just give them full attribution. Or give your opinion of the event or article itself — your readers will appreciate your frankness. 6. Offer a list of your top 5 or 10 tips on a certain subject. It's much easier to bang out a list of tips than to put together a real article. Of course, the tips can evolve into an article if you wish! Be sure to list your best tip first, or at least close to the top. (If you "fire your biggest gun" last, you risk losing your audience before they get to the good stuff.) 7. Interview associates whose expertise would interest your readers (while not competing with yours). E-mail interviews are incredibly easy to do. Just send your interviewee 3 to 5 questions via e-mail, edit their answers, and have them approve the final version. Be sure to give them a short plug in your e-zine as a thank you. (A one-sentence description of their business, phone number, their Web site URL, and e-mail address should be fine.) 8. Recommend books and resources that you use, and offer full reviews on them. In one issue of my first e-zine, "AKB MarCom Tips," I featured reviews of my favorite four copywriting resource books. I then later posted them at my Web site. 9. Invite readers to write you with their own questions, and answer one in each issue. Right after their question, publish the person's name, business, e-mail, and Web site address. They'll enjoy the attention/publicity! 10. Invite readers to send in profiles. Ask them to tell you about themselves — their names, businesses, locations, and how they use the information gained in your e-zine. Feature one profile in each issue or one every few issues. 11. When all else fails, borrow an article! There are dozens of Web sites offering hundreds of articles that you can use in your e-zine. The articles are free and available for you to use immediately. The only catch is you're required to leave the entire article intact, including the author's promotional information. Here are three places to check out for free content:
Business Article Announce List — http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aabusiness
Marketing Seek — http://www.marketing-seek.com
World Wide Information Outlet — http://www.certificate.net/wwio/index.shtml One last note: Keep in mind that if your e-zine's main objective is to get you more clients and customers, you should not feature other writers' articles more than once in a blue moon. Showcasing other professionals on a regular basis undermines the idea of establishing YOU as the expert in your readers' minds. (c) 2002 Alexandria K. Brown ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning manual, "Boost Business With Your Own E-zine." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
|
 |
|
|
MORE ARTICLES:
If Content is King, then surely Relevance is Queen!
There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in the searchengine world of late and there are lots of conspiracytheories as to why these things happen.
It is easy as a webmaster to get caught up in these webs ofintrigue.
Advantages Disadvantages Of internet marketing: The Good The Bad And The Ugly
The Advantages Disadvantages Of internet marketing are many.A few Advantages Disadvantages Of internet marketing are:* It's on the internet so it's low cost* Very fast* And you can reach a global audienceHowever it:* Can leave the businessman feeling isolated* Hard to tell if people are lying because you can't see their face* And you can be overloaded with information.
Software Companies: Generate New Revenue Streams and Decrease Costs with Custom e-Learning Content
It's no secret that Software Companies operate in a very competitive space where rivalry is increasingly fierce and where profit margins can be razor thin. New, smaller Software Companies are sprouting up each month and the leading Software Companies continually make strong advancements forward leveraging massive cash flow reserves.
Search Engine Marketing 101 For Corporate Sites
When most people want to find something on the web, they use a search engine. Millions of searches are conducted every day on search engines such as: google.
Where is King Content?
One bit of advice you'll read over and over about business websites is that "content
is king". Whether this is true or not is debatable, but most marketing and web
advisors agree that content is very important.
SEO 101 – The Basics of How to Get to the Top of the Search Engines
Depending on your site's subject matter, you might even be able to start earning a significant income purely from the popularity of your site. For example, if you have a site on jokes you might be able to get a substantial amount of traffic, but you're unlikely to earn a huge income.
Abandoned by Google! Googlebot, Wherefore Art Thou Googlebot?
As a search engine optimization specialist I often optimize
existing web pages for small business clients, upload them to
the site and see pages re-indexed by Google within a week.
This only happens with existing business sites that have been
online for a few years.
Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews
Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews
The easiest way to create content for your websites is also one of the best ways to create value for your clients. It's a wonderful technique that when used well can make a big difference to how professionally your work is perceived in the marketplace.
An SEO Checklist
search engine optimization is on every webmaster's mind these days. Achieving a favorable ranking for the right keywords can mean a steady stream of targeted traffic to your site, and all for free - that's hard to beat.
A Guide to Optimizing public relations Content
This guide to "SEOing" your PR efforts can help you get high-ranking search results for your press releases, marketing white papers and ezine newsletter content. Whether you are managing PR efforts for several online companies or just one website, you've probably wondered how you can increase your sites (more importantly, your work) overall impact in the Web community.
Why Some Experts Are Completely Wrong About linking
Why Some Experts Are Completely Wrong About linking And How You Can Get Your Website Marketing Back on Track! (Free Software Included)If you have read some information about reciprocal linking and other linking tactics in order to better promote your website, you have probably found some seriously differing opinions as to what the purpose of linking is.There are a wide range of articles and books about linking that come from polar opposite views as to why and how you should conduct a linking promotion campaign.
When internet marketing Gurus Sell Their Souls
If you're just getting started in internet marketing, you may be awed by the amount of "Internet Gurus" out there, each one making millions of dollars (or so they claim) and for some reason seem more than willing, for a fee, to teach you their biggest, most intimate secrets.
Well, I believe in one thing - "If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!"
While I have no doubt about the specialized skills and techniques used by these gurus, it can get a little too frustrating simply getting tangled and lost in all their hype, and find almost no value at the end of the day.
Adding Word Rich Content to Your Website
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.Adding Word Rich Content to your Website.
linking for Traffic not Positioning!
With more and more experts and search engine enthusiastsclaiming the right way and the wrong way to handle linkswapping, link exchanging or reciprocal linking!
You can tell something is important when there is more thanone name for it! GRIN!
There are also two schools of thought on the reasons linkswapping.
The first reason for link swapping has always been to carryfavour with Search engine rankings.
Are Keywords Destroying the Flow of Your SEO Copy?
With all the shuffling that's been seen in the search engine world within the last year, the issue of obvious optimizing has become a hot button. The current line of thinking is that most engines (especially Google) are on the lookout for sites that purposely make an effort to optimize their pages in order to get high rankings.
|
