Ezine Publishing - Building From The Ground Up

Ezine publishing is a great way to earn revenue online. As an Ezine publisher you can earn profits by selling ad space and/or selling subscriptions. The greatest advantage of Ezine advertising is that the audience is laser targeted. It is not uncommon for larger Ezines to rake in high six to seven figure yearly revenue.

There are many routes one can take when starting a successful Ezine publication. The common problem most people have is finding out exactly where to start. In this post I'm going to outline where to begin as well as strategies to help you grow your Ezine into a success.

Pre Planning

Grab a pen and notepad and start brainstorming. Here are a few questions you need to answer.

1. What niche will your Ezine cover?


2. Who is your target audience?


3. How often will your Ezine be published?


4. Where will you generate content from?


5. How will you distribute your Ezine?


6. How will you generate subscriptions to your Ezine?

What niche will your Ezine cover?

Before you get started with your Ezine you need to identify the niche it will cover. You want to choose a niche you are very knowledgeable about. For example if I were to start an Ezine today it would be about making money on the internet. It is imperative that you choose a niche you are passionate about. Every step after this will be built upon your choice niche. Choose carefully because there is no changing your niche once you start building your Ezine.

Who is your target audience?

The success of your Ezine rests upon how accurately you define your target market. Your target audience has a direct effect on a number of choices you will make including artwork, content, advertising, etc. I suggest being specific as possible. Below I have compiled some questions that will help you narrow down your target audience.

What age group are you targeting? No more than 5 years apart.


What gender are you targeting?


What special interest do they all share?


What is the average salary you are targeting?

These are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you be as specific as possible. Challenge yourself to come up with more questions that will narrow down your audience even more.

How often will your Ezine be published?

Ezines are usually published Weekly, bi weekly, or monthly. When first starting your Ezine publication it's a good idea to publish bi weekly to monthly. I always recommend monthly for the first six months. This gives you enough time to organize and take care of unforeseen problems. The worst case scenario for a new Ezine is to miss a publication. Whichever publishing schedule you choose be sure you can stick to it.

Where will your content be generated from?

Content is the backbone of your Ezine. There are different sources you can use in order to get content for your Ezine. The main point I want to stress is quality. You want your content to be of the greatest quality possible. If readers find they enjoyed the content there is a good chance they will be reading the next issue.

Article directories are a common source for many Ezines content. Some of these directories such as Ezinearticles.com have hundreds of thousands of articles in their database that you may use as content. Even though many Ezines do it, I personally don't recommend this way. 99% of these articles are low quality. Many authors write these low quality articles for the sole purpose of generating traffic to their website. This usually results in rushed and not very informative articles. Another disadvantage is that many of these articles have already been recycled many times by other Ezine publications.

Writing your own content has always been the best way. You always want your content to be creative and have a distinct personality. Pasting together articles from random authors usually results in a lack of writing consistency. I suggest starting with a small team of great writers to help provide content. This is very useful because writing every article yourself can be very time consuming. Also you will still be able to publish your Ezine when you experience periods of writing blocks.

How will you distribute your Ezine?

Ezines are usually distributed to subscribers via email. You will need an auto responder to save and manage email lists. I use aweber.com for all my email list needs. However there are different formats you must consider when sending out your Ezine. I've seen many Ezines send html code directly in the email. I strongly recommend not doing that. I prefer putting together a great .PDF and sending a link to the .PDF in the email. This is great because you can format the Ezine to your desire, and you get more control as far as graphics, layout designs, etc.

How will you generate subscriptions to your Ezine?

Generating subscriptions can be the most difficult task if you don't have a plan. There is always the advertising method, which can get a bit costly. If you're on a tight budget and can't afford advertising I suggest building traffic through great content. I would hold off on starting an actual Ezine until I got enough traffic to continuously generate subscriptions.

I suggest starting off with a blog. Buy your domain than install Wordpress.org on it. Start updating your blog everyday with great articles you've written for your niche. Sign up for social book marking websites such ass blogcatalog.com and mybloglog.com. Visit similar blogs and exchange links. You want to get your blog popular in the blogosphere of your niche. Commenting on similar blogs is a great way to start networking and generating targeted traffic to you blog. Make sure you update as much as possible with great content. This process may take 4-6 months before you start generating enough steady traffic to start publishing your Ezine.