Bob's Home Business Blog

You’ve probably seen websites where you’re asked to leave your name and email address to subscribe to their weekly or bi-weekly newsletter and perhaps because of this you’ve thought about creating your own online home business periodical.

Unfortunately many of us talk ourselves out of the idea for different reasons when we really should be planning how we’re going to do it. There are many more positive reasons why we should do it than negative reasons why we shouldn’t attempt to publish our own newsletter.

First to dispel some of the myths about why we shouldn’t or why we can’t do it. You don’t have to be a literary genius to write a weekly newsletter. As long as you have a topic or theme that you’re knowledgeable about you should be able to write a column about it once every two weeks.

If you’re providing quality content that your readers need and want to learn more about you’ll succeed with your new found writing career. Even if a weekly or bi-weekly publication sounds too daunting for you a monthly newsletter would also be acceptable.

By providing actionable information in a concise format which is grammatically correct and spell checked your readers will look forward to your next editorial and will be asking for more. You should also, occasionally, include your affiliate product offers so you can make some sales and increase your income.

There are several advantages to having your own publication including the fact that people will begin to see you as an expert in your field because of the quality information you write for them and provide to them on a regular basis.

This will also help a great deal with your relationship building process because when your prospects begin to feel that they know you and respect your opinion they will be more inclined to do business with you and your Internet enterprise.

By providing excellent content regularly you’ll improve your return traffic numbers because people will start coming back looking for more. When your potential clients and your current customers are happy with your website and your content they are usually anxious to let others know about it, so word of mouth advertising is another positive by product of having your own online home business newsletter.

Also by giving your visitors a valuable tool free of charge you can build a targeted, responsive email list of prospects by asking for their contact information in return for your free bi-weekly or monthly editorials.

These are just some of the benefits of creating your own newsletter for your prospects and customers and you’ll soon see the results in terms of increased sales and profits for your online home business.

Bob Withers

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Many Internet marketers and home business owners online offer free subscriptions to their ezine, or online magazine or newsletter, to their website visitors in return for their email address in order to build their list of potential customers. This is a very effective strategy to employ to gather your visitor’s contact information so you can follow up with them and try to persuade them to become paying customers.

However, you can also charge a fee to your website visitors for subscribing to your monthly or bi-weekly Internet publication for various reasons which will ultimately benefit your online home based business.

1. Not only will you be collecting a monthly fee for delivery of your ezine but you will also have the opportunity to advertise your products to your subscribers on a regular basis. This provides the possibility of creating a dual income stream from each member of your email list if you’re successful in persuading them to also become paying customers of your enterprise.

For example, not only will you be receiving a monthly revenue stream from your Internet magazine but you’ll also be collecting regular payments for your merchandise if it happens to be access to your membership website.

2. Ezine subscription fees are one of the most cost effective ways to create a monthly income on the web. By emailing your periodical to your members, the only personal costs involved are your time and energy dedicated to writing your editorials. There’s no overhead in terms of inventory expenditures or shipping and delivery charges as there are with some  other Internet businesses.

3. Residual income is one of the most effective ways of ensuring long term success on the web; and by subscribing people to your monthly newsletter for a fee you’re creating a regular and ongoing revenue stream for your home based business. Your main objective now is to keep your subscribers interested by providing quality content on an ongoing basis.

4. By selling your online magazine to your potential customers you’re beginning to establish yourself on the web as a professional writer. Your website visitors will start to perceive you as an expert on your chosen topic which will help enhance your reputation personally and will help establish your enterprise on the web. When people feel they know you and trust your home business opportunity they will be more inclined to do business with you than with a perfect stranger.

5. You can create a spin-off of your original monthly publication in order to create yet another income stream. We’ve all heard of spin-offs of television shows where the creators decide to expand their market share by creating a new series based on one of the original characters; well, you can apply this to your monthly newsletter after you’ve published enough periodicals by turning them into another product. For example, you can produce an Internet course related to your topic or fashion videos and or audios of your original ezines to promote online.

There are many ways to create a home based business income on the web and instead of giving away your monthly newsletter you can charge a fee for your efforts and create another revenue source for your enterprise.           

Bob Withers

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When you’re just starting out online with your home based business you’re always looking for ways to get known and to get established on the web. For this reason, and several others we’ll examine later, you should consider publishing a newsletter from your home page on a regular basis. For the uninitiated a newsletter is a printed report giving news or information of interest to a special group, namely your customers and potential clients who make up your email list.

There are 4 main benefits for creating and distributing a newsletter on a regular basis, ideally once or twice a month, for your home based business online:

1. As mentioned in my opening paragraph newsletters are a great way to establish relationships with your current customers and your potential clients on the web. By contacting these people at regular intervals and providing quality content via information packed articles and by keeping them updated on any special events or offers from your home business you are building credibility and a feeling of trust with your list members.

This is an excellent technique for convincing prospects to become paying customers and for up selling your current customers to turn them into repeat buyers as well as insure they are satisfied clients. Remember people are more likely to buy from someone they feel they know and trust rather than from a perfect stranger.

2. You can generate an additional income stream from your newsletter by selling advertising space to other online businesses. You need to build your list to an acceptable size before other enterprises will consider advertising in your publication but when they do you can generate several hundred extra dollars per month from this mailing alone.

3. By delivering quality content on a regular basis to your readers which is helping them with their business problems or helping make their lives a little easier in some way you’re establishing yourself as an expert in your particular niche. For example, if your topic is Internet marketing and your niche is people considering starting or have just begun a home based business career online and you’re frequently solving their problems and providing Internet marketing tips for them they will soon view you as an authority on setting up and marketing home businesses on the Internet. This new found respect can translate into increased traffic, more sales and higher profits for your enterprise.

4. After you’ve established these new relationships and built your reputation as an expert in your niche word usually gets around online normally via word of mouth and this can translate into more traffic, increased sales and higher profits for your home business. Your current list members tell their friends and family how much they enjoy your information and these people visit and sign up for your publication and help grow your list.

As you can see publishing a newsletter for your list offers many rewards for your home business and is well worth the work involved publishing it at regular intervals and maintaining an updated email list for your enterprise.

Bob Withers

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