If someone wants to leave your mailing list there is no point in trying to hold on to them, they have already made the decision not to buy from you. To give one last professional impression of your business you can at least make unsubscribing from your list easy and straightforward. It is ethical to include an unsubscribe link in all your ezines and this should link to an automated system that will remove them quickly and painlessly. Wish them farewell and get on with providing quality content to those who do want to receive it.

If you go to the effort of writing an ezine, don’t forget to tell you readers what you want them to do next. You are writing in order to build a relationship so do you want them to go to your website to read the rest of the articles or download something for free, do you want them to buy a product or service? If so give them a reason to do it now and a link to click so they can make the purchase now. If you don’t tell them what to do next, they won’t do anything apart from read your ezine then delete it. Tell them what to do and if they are interested, they will.

Don’t forget to ask your readers for their comments, questions or future topics they’d like to see covered. The whole point of writing an ezine or newsletter is to build a relationship with your prospects and invite further interaction. You want them to take the next step by picking up the telephone or dropping you an email. Let them know it’s not only OK for them to do that but how and where they can contact you.

One of marketing’s basic rules is to know your target market well. Know their interests and what else they like to be kept informed about. If you see information that would be useful to your target audience then add it to your ezine (crediting the author or source of course). The more useful the information you provide, the more likely your readers are to stay subscribed.

It can be very tempting to fill each of your ezines with information about your latest service or product, and indeed, your readers will be expecting to hear a certain amount of that. But don’t forget also to include some free tips or an advice spot. Giving a measured amount of information for free marks you as an expert in your field. And a generous one at that.

Don’t use your ezine in the same way as you would a Twitter account or a blog. Your subscribers have given you permission to send them information, but if you abuse it they’ll soon be sorry they did and they’ll leave your list just as quickly as they subscribed to it. Send updates once or twice a month and leave it at that.

When you first start sending out email newsletters it’s very tempting just to send them out using your normal email delivery service such as Outlook. After all, it’s free and already sitting there on your desktop. However, Internet service providers frown upon mass mailing and you will find that very quickly your email address will be blacklisted and you be banned from sending any email. There are may legitimate ezine delivery services available and the costs are minimal. Use one to manage your mailing list.

If you use a proper ezine delivery service such as Constant Contact, Aweber or Vertical Response, your subscribers will go through what is know as a double opt in. That means that after submitting their email address through your web site form or other link asking them to sign up for your newsletter, they will receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription by clicking on a link within it. This is key as it stops third parties from adding subscribers without their knowledge.

Just a quick note so you can all put the date in your diary…

The UKAVA’s founder Justine Curtis will be part of a panel of experts taking part in a discussion about the virtual assistant industry on Radio 4’s Womens Hour on Tuesday 12th January between 10am and 10.45.

Tune in if you can!

As promised this months sees the launch of a new series about our Top Ezine Housekeeping RulesWe spent the last series looking at great ways to get more subscribers to your ezine or electronic newsletter, but in the following series we’ll have a look at some of the housekeeping rules that are not only ensure to adhere to the strict etiquette of Internet marketing, but ensure that you present yourself and your business in a professional and ethical way.