You've got a terrific idea for a new ezine. You've done all your homework... there's no one else in your niche. You dream of making big money selling your backend products as well as others to your subscribers. This one can't miss!

Well... before you hire a new accountant, let's talk about a very practical decision you'll make early on that can dramatically impact your success. How to manage your new publication?

After coming up with that "killer idea"... most people start looking for ways to cut costs in any business. The same holds true for starting your own ezine.

It was the same for me when I had the idea for Unlimited Traffic! Every place that I could, I took costs out of my business. But when it came to management of my ezine, I decided to use a mailing list management company... one that I had to pay for!

SAY WHAT! What happened to my cost-cutting campaign?

Unlike many people that start their own ezine, I was blessed with a mentor that really understood what it takes to run a successful newsletter. And today, I will share some of his valuable advice with you.

Do-It-Yourself?

When just starting their newsletter, many people are tempted to handle all of the publishing duties using their existing email program, such as Eudora.

I was headed down this road until Greg Landry helped me stop and think about my decision. I really didn't understand two things well.

First, I didn't know how much effort goes into the management of an ezine. And the second thing that I didn't know was how much time it would take to build my subscriber base.

Managing Your Ezine

Here are just a few of the tasks that you have to contend with each and every day when running your own newsletter:

- Adding new subscribers
- Sending confirmations to new subscribers
- Removing subscribers
- Changing subscriber addresses
- Formatting the text of your messages
- Removing old or invalid addresses
- Gathering statistics for your mailing list
- Supporting requests for archived newsletters

Now you can automate some of these tasks using a simple email program like Eudora. But what I soon found out was that all of these tasks could be done AUTOMATICALLY using a server with software to manage mailing lists. These are sometimes called mailing list servers or list serves.

You can get your own list server software and install on your own server. Packages range in price from FREE to very expensive, and in complexity from manageable to complex.

A second choice would be to use one of the many online mailing list management services. Again... there are a number of choices and there is quite a variety in both price and performance.

So many choices... what's a person new to publishing an ezine to do?

I would be remiss if I did not specifically mention the service that Greg recommended to me. One that is simple to use, reliable, and inexpensive.

The mailing list service I use is run by Mark David McCreary, at http://www.mail-list.com. Mark has been there for me since day one. I just can't say enough about Mark and how he has helped me and what I have learned from Mark about the online publishing business.

So... I'll shut up and let you hear it from another source :-)

Kim Skinner is the publisher of the popular ezine, Answers, http://www.advertisingtips.net. Here's what Kim has to say about Mark:

"I recommend Mark at Mail-List.Com to everyone who asks. His service has literally saved me hours every week. Superior service, inexpensive, and customer service that is second to none."

What To Do With All That Time?

Like Kim says, using this service has saved us a LOT of time. So what did I do with the time that I saved? And why was I willing to trade the money I paid each month (only about $10) for this extra time?

It's simple. When you are getting your new ezine off the ground, there's one thing that you never have enough of... TIME!

That's the second thing that I wasn't aware of. How much the success of my ezine was tied to the time and effort I spent promoting it.

So... with the time that I saved on managing my list and publishing my newsletter, I put more time into promoting my new venture.

I placed ads online, exchanged ezine ads with other publishers, listed my newsletter in online directories, sent out press releases, posted in discussion groups, worked on developing my web site and writing the original articles that appear in Unlimited Traffic! each week.

That's why I have been successful in building my subscriber base. And I would not have had the time to do all those "little things" if I was spending all of my time managing my mailing list.

Parting Comments

So... if you want to start your own newsletter... I say "GO FOR IT!"

Don't listen to those out there that say "You can't make it work" or "There are too many ezines out there already."

There is always room for one more ezine that has great content and is promoted and run effectively.

Hindsight being as good as it is... "farming out" management of my mailing list might have been the smartest move I ever made.

Until next week...

Chris :-)

PS - Things have been so good at Mail-List.com, that Mark is not taking on any new clients at the moment :-(

Unless... you are referred by an existing client :-)

So... use my name (or Kim's for that matter) when you sign up and you should be OK.

Nothing tricky going on here... no referral bonus or affiliate income for me. Just a sincere desire on my part to see you succeed!

Good luck!

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Chris Ayers is an Internet Marketer and publisher of the FREE newsletter, "Unlimited Traffic!" Put his 10 plus years of experience in Direct Marketing and on the Web to work for you. Visit his site at http://unlimitedtraffic.com or subscribe to his newsletter with message to traffic-on@mail-list.com