This tutorial is going to cross over a few lines, but its purpose is to introduce you to some concepts and resources, which are somewhat interlinked.

Many businesses can profit from producing an eZine, as a marketing and informational tool. It is a means of sharing your expertise, and thus establishing credibility, and a means of advertising your products or services.

A good eZine is founded on solid and useful information, with advertising as a secondary emphasis. Too many ads hurts your credibility.

You can create content for an eZine through a number of ways. You can write articles, review almost any kind of item, provide links to resources, or use articles written by others. You can find many articles online in databases created specifically for this purpose. And where you can find articles, you can often submit articles!

This brings us to the second focus of this article: Writing articles, and using them for marketing.

If you are able to outline a concept, and convey the rules or importance of the concept to other people, then you can produce an article. That article then has value. No one is going to pay you for it in this day and age of information overload, unless you are already an established expert. BUT, there are ways you can use that article to your own benefit.

First, you can post it on your own site. There, it becomes an informational resource which helps establish your credibility.

Second, you can publish it in your own newsletter or eZine, and there it becomes another means of establishing credibility, and it can provide the means for in-context advertising.

Third, you can let other people publish it. Once in a while someone will come to you and ask if you can use your article. Mostly, you have to go to them, and let them know it is available.

In order for an article to benefit you, it must focus on the message, not on you. And it must include a signature line - Written By Laura Wheeler, Adventure Tech-Web, http://www.adventuretech.us ~ Small business instruction, consulting, and affordable web design, work at home reviews, and home business profiles - That is a signature line. This is your means of advertising and getting your URL out there.

If you have an article or instructional page that has general application for many people, you can submit it to online article databases. There are a number of them available, on all sorts of subjects, as well as many general databases which have all sorts of categories.

Most have rules you must follow. Some limit length. Some limit how long your signature line can be. Some will have limits on subjects. Virtually ALL of them have a limit on advertising. The general rule is that the primary focus of the article must be useful information, not just advertising.

The third focus of this article is to outline low budget ways to market your eZine.

One is to include the signup URL in your signature line. This is especially important if your eZine is the primary marketing tool of your business.

Another is with ad swaps. You can swap ads with other eZine owners. Some just do a straight issue-for-issue swap. Others want viewer exposure equivalencies, so if they have 2500 subscribers and you have just 100, you are going to have to run their ad 25 times for every one time they run yours. There are programs you can join for this, or pages you can register on where you do the negotiating yourself.

The third major way to advertise an eZine for free is to list it in an eZine directory. There are many online, but they tend to come and go in the web world, so you'll need to keep looking for them and listing. Make sure they are there to help you get subscribers, not there to promote their own eZine. eZine directories often have article databases as well, so look for a "submit article" option on their sites, as well as "submit eZine".

That said, here is a collection of URLs you can explore to see how you can use your eZine or articles to benefit your business.

• http://www.ezinearticles.com/ - submit articles
• http://www.e-zinez.com/ - publishing info
• http://www.zinebook.com/publicz.html - promote info
• http://www.ezinesearch.com/search-it/ezine/ - ezine directory
• http://www.ezineworld.com/ - directory and articles
• http://www.cumuli.com/ezine/ - directory
• http://www.emailuniverse.com/bestezines/ - articles, directory
• http://www.connectionteam.com/current.html - articles
• http://www.adswap.net/ - banner exchange, ad swap
• http://www.bizpromo.com/ezinetrades.htm - ezine ad swaps
• http://new-list.com/ - directory
• http://www.netterweb.com/ezines/ - directory, articles
• http://www.ezinelocater.com/ - directory
• http://www.freesticky.com/stickyweb/ - articles
• http://www.searchwarp.com/ - article submission and article database
• http://www.marketing-seek.com/index.php - articles
• http://www.upromote.com/newsletter/submit.html - article submission - very tight length limitation
• http://www.pagecrafters.net/newsletter.html - article submission
• http://www.powerhomebiz.com/archives/articles2.htm - article submission
• http://www.smarteremarketing.com/ - article submission
• http://womans-net.com/directory/ - directory, articles
• http://ftos.searchking.com/ - directory
• http://www.supermomunlimited.com/editors.htm - Volunteer to edit a section in SuperMom Unlimited site (home, family, and small business, including special needs, homeschool, adoption, single parenting, and more). Good exposure, credits given with link, good experience to build credibility, training if you need it.
• supermomnewsletter@adventuretech.us - submit home business, family, or web related articles.

This resource list is by no means comprehensive, but it does contain enough sites to get you well on your way to using the power of the pen to attract business.

More information specifically on publishing an eZine is found at: http://www.skinnyshoestring.com/sohotools/ezine.htm

Written By Laura Wheeler

Adventure Tech-Web offers a wide variety of web design and graphics services. If you need to hire something out, check with us before you decide it is not affordable!

Find more ideas on using email for marketing in the Website Marketing Handbook.