There are three main distribution methods for an ezine.

• The first is an e-mail message from your private email address (hotmail, gmail or yahoo address) often an attachment to an e-mail message. In my opinion, this method should never be used. I don’t see a difference between this method and any other spam.

• The second method is to send your ezine through your web site mail server. The mail server attached to most web hosting services is basic at best. I say this as someone who has supported mail servers in large businesses for many years. The other drawback of this method is the lack of tools to measure the effectiveness of the ezine distribution.

• The third method is to use a service that specializes in ezine or email newsletter distribution (they often refer to themselves as email marketing services).

An e-mail marketing service is not expensive and the small amount is worth it if your ezine is read.

The features to look for in an email marketing service are:

• a good selection of templates that are easy to adapt to your ezine
• an easy to use contact management system with an easy interface to Microsoft Outlook
• an easy to use editor to create your ezine. You should be able to add a graphic, links and format the body of the ezine easily.
• an easy to use subscribe and unsubscribe functionality for your readers
• an easy to use tools to measure the effective of your ezine. how many people opened the e-mail, how many people clicked on the links your provided, how many forwards.

Your ezine looks more professional if you are using an email marketing service and you save time. Once you customize the template (one to two hours is usually required) you can add new content and you’re ready to go.

I write several ezine articles at one time and schedule them automatically. It’s good use of my time and my readers receive their Technology Tips fix regularly.

There are several good email marketing services, but I prefer Constant Contact. They are easy to do business with, their customer support folks are knowledgeable and their price is right.

What challenges did you face distributing your ezine? Do you use an email marketing service? Is there one you can recommend?

How often should you distribute your ezine? The most common answer is once a month, but financial ezines are generally distributed quarterly.

An ezine contains more information than a blog post, so your audience needs time to digest your message. My ezine is quite technical, so I distribute it once every four to five weeks.

TIP: I write several ezine articles ahead of time and store them. Some are just outlines and others are ready to be scheduled. I developed this habit because I’m always running into deadlines. If you have the idea for an ezine article, just do it.

How often do you distribute your ezine? How did you arrive at the distribution schedule?

I think the worst one I’ve received lately was a blatant sales pitch to everyone in a networking group from a personal e-mail address AND all the recepient’s e-mail addresses were displayed. This is someone I’ve met, so I sent a gentle e-mail explaining how to use bcc with a link to an article on e-mail newsletters.

Your newsletter should present the same professional image as your other marketing materials and use consistent colours and graphics.

The first consideration is your message. Your content has to be interesting enough that the recipients will read it. What’s your are of expertise? What’s new in the industry?  What tips can you give that will help them in their business?

I like to keep the newsletters short, no more than three main points in the article. No matter how riveting the topic, I lose focus after about 5 minutes reading an e-mail.

In my newsletter, Tips From the Technology Coach, I give recipients tips that help them to use their computer more efficiently.

My last newsletter explained what Microsoft Service Packs are and why it’s important to keep your system updated and I’ve recently added a "green computing" tip. The feedback from these basic computer tips has been positive and several people have commented on a particular topic they enjoyed.

I’m now known as the person to go to with questions about new technology and I’m able to keep in touch with my clients and contacts.

For the next several blog posts, I’ll discuss some considerations for your newsletter.

• how often should you distribute your newsletter?
• subscriptions methods
• statistics .. who’se reading? .. who’se clicking?
• spam? Not  me …
• adding offers, coupons, and links
• should I hire someone to write it?
• should it be sent from my web mail server?

Do you have an e-mail newsletter? How often do you publish it and how do you measure it’s success?