Operating an ezine isn't easy. Work is involved and careful planning is key.
(1) Write the content yourself.

Publishing an article from an outside source every once in a while is fine. Just keep in mind you want to attract business to you and establish yourself as the source not someone else.

(2) Don't over advertise to your list

Publishing advertisements about products and services to your list is fine. In order to keep your subscriber's you should only do it sparingly. You can add a little blurb at the top (or bottom) of your ezine about your products/services and that will work wonders for promoting your business and keeping subscribers happy.

Another idea is to add a little blurb just after the article about yourself and a little tag for your product/service. Placing it right after the article will give reader's no chance to get distracted and they will see it.

(3) Keep solo mailings down to 1-2 per month

By keeping your solo ads, which is an ad that goes out to your list unscheduled you will keep more subscribers. 1 or 2 per month is what works for me. However I've also waited 5 months before I mailed a solo ad to one of my lists.

Keep your newsletter intact and add the solo ad to it. Your mast head and other ezine designs shouldn't change. This way your reader's will not think it's spam.

(4) Offer value

Each issue should offer value to your readers. The content should give value and not the advertisements. If reader's like your content and view it as valuable the odds of them coming to you and buying is increased. As an ezine owner mixing value driven content with value driven advertising is a tight rope walk. Careful attention needs to be taken when developing your ads and content to retain as many reader's as possible.

(5) Understand people will unsubscribe

I have a friend who started an ezine and after his first mailing he lost 5% of his subscribers. He called me on the phone and complained that his article must have driven off these people. Well truth be told maybe that was the case, but people sometimes subscribe to an ezine, find they don't like it, unsubscribe and that's that. Nothing personal that's just the way it is. Once you understand that you will lose subscribers with every mailing the stress will be reduced.

Operating an ezine isn't easy. Work is involved and careful planning is key. However, if you think before you publish, direct each issue towards your goals, and write value driven content for your ezine the road will have a lot less bumps in it.

About the Author

Jason Mann is a profitabililty consultant who works with small and medium online business to increase profits using unique and powerful strategies. Visit his site and subscribe to The Inner Sanctum E-zine for more free strategies.