Class Notes, Session #1 Selecting the Topic and Focus of Your Ezine Thomas Leonard, moderator TJL: Hi, welcome to E-Zine in a Week, where we promise everything! We'll be starting in about 30 seconds here. Okay, we're going to begin. This is a 5-day E-Zine in a Week promise, and I know I'm behind. This is the first time we've offered this course in terms of a 5-day format. This is your chance to be incredibly selfish and demanding, so ask away. Again, I ask you to email me, and ask away - this is an immersion week. Glad you're here and glad you like the topic. Whether you're starting with zero subscribers and want to go to 500,000 or are working to increase your current subscribership, this is for you. Our focus today is to select the focus and the topic for your e-zine. I thought I'd start with a list of the best e-zine topics - these are ones people recommended today; this may not be what you intended to write on, but I thought it would be something you need to know, just to know what's popular out there.  - web sites - home business opportunities - marketing, website promotion, search engines. - quote a day or word a day - these are very practical. I used to get something called a word a day - the guy who runs this had 25,000 subscribers then, and now has 500,000 at this point.  Also, jokes are popular, and free things are popular, among others. Again, these are just an example, you don't have to do a lot of research to get information to include in your e-zine; this is literally something you can do in 20 minutes. Whatever I can help you with your e-zine, just let me know. I'd like to hear from you about the e-zines you're planning, and working with you on titling your e-zine, etc. We'll continue on through the week with all the steps, culminating in Friday as "launch day". Let's talk about the topic or focus first. If you'll give me your title or focus, I'll do my best to help you to package it. Gail: I currently have an e-zine "Tips for Teachers"', but only have 50 subscribers.  TJL: How long have you been doing it? Gail: About 2 months; it's about how to interact well with kids. TJL: There are 2 reasons why it wouldn't be a runaway success - it's really a niche, and you probably aren't in the loop yet, and 2nd, you might want to make it more specific and work on the title. That type of e-zine is so tightly focused that it's going to take a little more to get it going. Also, if you get even more specific, it might help potential subscribers see how they're going to benefit. Let me come up a couple of titles - they won't be right, but they'll give you an idea of where I'm coming from - "Teaching the Ultra-bright Student", that could be a real niche, for teachers who teach these types of students are probably looking for a network. It seems like going the wrong way, getting more specific, but it's really better. One of the benefits of creating an e-zine is that you're creating intellectual property. After about a year, you'll have information available to start creating a e-book on the subject, or package this in some way to a new market. If you wanted to run an e-book on a subject, you could set up an e-zine for a year or so, and gather data - then you're not just running an e-zine, but doing R&D as well. Does that help? Gail: It does. TJL: How so? Gail: The idea with the students, really focusing on a niche market. TJL: You could even focus on a different topic each day; you won't know until you start. You never know where a winner's going to come from unless you're willing to experiment; that's the best way to do it. (bad reception; everybody hangs up and calls back again) XXX: How about a daily surf report? We're sitting on about 100,000 emails right now. Over the past few months, we've collected that 100,000 - we have properties on Netscape, etc. and give away things every month.  TJL: Sounds great. What are you looking for? XXX: Nothing; you asked us to share.  TJL: How are you going to do it? XXX: We're thinking about doing it hourly with the current surf conditions, etc. between sunrise and sunset, maybe incorporating some advertisers geared toward the Gen Y crowd, etc.  TJL: Great ideas; thank you. Who else? Winona: The question is, though, in the benefit part - in your title can you have a negative? I'll give you an example - "Home building while saving your sanity" or "Home building while saving your marriage". TJL: What I might do - I hear your point - as the tagline, you can weave in the negative. The negative sometimes locks in the negative, and helps the customer lock themselves into this- they think "Wow, that's me". Or, you can take this to the high-end of this process. You can make it targeted by saying it's the first or the best. Winona: I didn't feel comfortable using that, but could see that it was going to be a benefit. Thanks. Tina: I have an idea for an e-zine that I wanted to call "Career-vaulting". TJL: The focus? Tina: People who are looking for a job and haven't found the right thing, people who have been overlooked for promotions, and similar groups of individuals.  TJL: Promotion - is that the common denominator for everything? Tina: Yes. TJL: Then I'd call it something like "Accelerate your Promotion". There's a way to use an adjective that would give it punch. I would target it on getting promotions. Those that subscribe will be hungry for those tips or advice you'll be offering. You could say get a promotion faster... you're basically selling your results. Tin: Thanks; great. TJL: Who's next? Lisa: "Inspiration station - seeing the extraordinary in ordinary things with a sense of humor and spirit." TJL: So you want to do what? Lisa: I want to inspire them to do great things; I want to inspire them to laugh. TJL: Okay, you want to inspire them in positive ways; that's a bit tricky. So then you're going to be presenting a story a week with someone who's come from behind....? Will there be tips or stories? Lisa: I can envision stories, maybe a quote, and links to some websites. TJL: I think the title is great; have you checked out the dot com? Is it available? Lisa: Actually, I think it's already taken. TJL: You don't have to have your website be the same as your e-zine, it just helps people find you more easily. I think a tagline orients a person better; my thought - would it be daily or weekly? Lisa: Initially, weekly.  TJL: I think I'd say what it is... you get 3 good things in the title that way, and you can extend your marketplace at the same time. You're never going to know what the best one will be - it's just to get started and find out what works. Mary Allen (MA): My title is "Soulfully Living." TJL: Okay, and the content is? MA: Ways to living a fulfilling life, etc. TJL: Why not use fulfillment rather than soulfully, if that's what you're offering? MA: Good question. TJL: Have you checked your market to see if they like the word as well? MA: I've checked it with a few people and they like it. TJL: Then, go with it. You may end up changing the title or adding another e-zine since the topic is so restrictive. MA: What about "Fulfilling Lives"? TJL: I'd tend to go with that. People who want fulfilling lives want examples. You want to have it be meaningful to you, and you want it to be popular, etc. Sometimes it's better to use more generic terms. You may want to link your title with an existing trend; people can see the connection between this and that; they'll be interested in one term, that'll bring them to the site, and then they'll get the other info as well.  MA: Cool.  TJL: What I'd do is ask around. You probably have a list of anywhere between 10 - 1000 people on your email list, and I'd ask them what they think. Plus, you get them thinking about your new e-zine. Also, they may stimulate you in some way to thinking in different directions. There's gold in there everywhere, if you're willing to look for it. When I first began writing e-zines in 94, I was a bad writer, and the first 50-100 writers that subscribed told me all about it. I figured out all the "bad email" was giving me some good information and prodded me to become a better writer, and drop the arrogant thing I'd had all my life.  MA: That's great. TJL: Who's next? Mike: This is actually something I wrote you - "Understanding Money", and you wrote that people don't care so much about understanding money as making or using money. What I wanted to do was work more on negotiation and engineering or investment strategies. TJL: Well, I think money's been overused, I'd use wealth or something like that. What you're talking about is a set of money skills. You could do this in a set of 20 or something - how do you decide to do with the next $25,000 in your savings, etc? Is that it? Mike: Yes, that's very accurate. My background is that I take things a little philosophically - TJL: Again, it's an example that you've been through the process of understanding, they may not want to read that, they'll want to know how you create that wealth. What you might want to do is to package it as an e-course (basically the same as an e-zine). You could call it the money course, or something along that line. Identifying all of something in a particular category and offering an e-zine or e-course on that subject makes you an expert. We're saying we're the experts, just follow the steps, and you can take that approach with your e-zine. Start looking at it from that perspective that you're going to start a beginning, middle and end to the course, rather than an e-zine of interesting thoughts. Is that helpful? Mike: Yes. TJL: Why? Mike: It'll force me to crate an entire system, rather than just some skills. TJL: Yes - once you've mastered that, you'll be on the hunt for other opportunities that you can turn into similar types of courses. Anybody else? Again, you may not know your title until you've done a couple of issues.  Trish: Looking at life, business and balance. I'm still trying to work this out. TJL: What's an example of advice you'd give to people coming to your site? Trish: Just looking at needs and the best way to get those. TJL: What have you been able to do in your own life in that area? Trish: Time management - time for my personal life, time for my business, etc. TJL: I can tell you're still discovering it, so keep going in that area. I'd choose a title like "Having it All Without Paying the Price" - something that points to the benefit they'll receive from your advice and e-zine. Trish: Thanks. TJL: The thing is you may not know what to call it when you first start. Who's next? Carol: I'm writing an e-book on how to lose weight without dieting. I thought of the title "Sstop Dieting, Lose Weight". It's trying to help people to lose weight permanently, and get off the diet treadmill.  TJL: This is another take - I have not scientific way of doing this, other than intuitive - "Slim Forever" - show the byproduct or benefit, and show that you'll transcend the whole diet thing, and that's implied in the title. Who wouldn't want to be slim forever? See the difference?  Carol: Yes, thanks. TJL: You're giving them the carrot - you're going to appeal to a higher end market that's probably more motivated. Carol: Yeah, that sounds good. TJL: We've got a few minutes left; we're going to de-brief; who wants to go first? Cynthia: I was thinking a broad e-zine on me and my coaching, and that should be enough. It's like we talked about earlier, about not be too specific to attract a bigger audience. Carlton:  In anything, articulate it by asking what the benefit is, and having the title do that. TJL: The "How to" also works very well. You can make it a long title, which leads to an e-book that people won't forget. Gail: I like the whole idea of a situational e-zine. TJL: You could also take the notion or quotes and match that up with your niche, like your teacher idea - take quotes and weave them in. XXX: The synergy between e-zines, e-books and 5-day programs. Sharon: Ask people what title works for them, and what other things work or them. TJL: Then you start in a collaborative process, rather than thinking you've just got to come up with every idea. If I would've just asked what they'd like me to write about, I could've gotten several ideas. XXX: As I've been listening to this, I've been trying to decide what to do for my e-zine. TJL: Again, don't feel bad. Believe me, we're all learning at this; it just takes trial and error and some experimentation with this. You can't make a mistake by starting. Carol: Just focusing on the benefits just by switching the title. Mike: Using subscribers as your R&D team. TJL: Yeah, and it's more fun for them and for you. They get a sense that somebody's there and listening.  XXX: How do you get them enrolled in that? TJL: Just by asking them the question - something like, "I've got 10 topics I'm thinking about for the next couple of months' issues - which topics would you like to see, or if you have other topics you'd like to see that aren't on the list, let me know." Peggy: Would you ask that in your e-zine or in a separate email? TJL: You could do either - at the bottom of your e-zine or a "Special Issue" on just that topic. Thank you all for calling in; we'll have most of the checklist done by tonight so check your website, and again, ask away if you have any questions or want feedback. See you again tomorrow. END