Definitely subscribe to those ezines you think will be best suited for your ad. Get to know kind of content ezines usually run. The fastest way to accomplish this is by searching through archived issues if ezine in question provides this. If not, subscribe and read a few issues to learn more about usual topics ezine covers.

After you get to know some good ezines, see if they have a recommended reading section that will lead you to other good ezines. Many ezines put a recommended reading or equivalent section right in ezine. However, be sure and judge them for yourself. Don't just follow recommendations blindly.

At this point, you will be able to make a short list of ezines to further examine. That's right, you still have some more examining to do before you will be ready to purchase advertising.

One thing to realize, however, is that subscriber count is not necessarily that important. Sure, it's great to find a large ezine that fits your ad perfectly and doesn't cost too much to advertise in, but quite often small ezines will represent just as good of a value.

The next article in this series will go further into analyzing an ezines subscriber base, type of ezine it is, and actual cost of buying an ad.

~~yahoogroups.com Yahoo Groups - When you use this service, you will have, for your readers, largest number of community building tools for members. These include a chat room, place to upload important files, automatic distribution of files you request, a calendar to send out reminders, and more. Allows you to automatically "subscribe" members who have requested you to subscribe them to your list. Each message usually contains at least one large ad.

~~www.bravenet.com Bravenet - Limit 500 subscribers per elist although you can set up additional elists on this service. Double opt-in for subscribers only. Easy system allows you to email yourself a copy of your subscriber list.

~~www.smartgroups.com Smart Groups - This is a newer service, very basic, no annoying ads on top. Your elist will contains a calendar that you can use for reminders of classes etc. The only way to delete your elist from this service is to contact smartgroups customer service.

~~www.coollist.com Cool List - Newer elist program. Ad is on bottom. Very basic service.

__Paid Services - - Prices start at approx. $20 per month for smaller ezines and end up in thousands of dollars for larger lists. Some have subscriber limits at that price, some offer free trials. Each company offers different services. ~~Topica http://www.topica.com ep/ ~~Yahoo http://e.gotmarketing.com/collateral/yahoo/smallbusiness/campaigner.html ~~Constant Contact www.constantcontact.com ~~List Channel www.listchannel.com ~~Web Valence www.WebValence.com ~~List Universe www.List-Universe.com ~~Spark-List www.Spark-List.com ~~List Serve www.listserve.com/ ~~Microsoft's B Central www.bcentral.com/services/lb/pricing.asp ~~Cartville is one of companies that also offers ezine mailing lists along with many of it's shopping cart packages. www.cartville.com ~~Comparison chart of ezine hosting companies by Gammadyne http://www.gammadyne.com/gm-comparison.htm ~~elist Directory of companies http://www.list-business.com/

NOTE: As a precaution against dot.com companies that end up out of business, make sure company you choose allows YOU to download email addresses of subscribers. Then download your list at least monthly.