Other good days are Wednesdays and Thursdays, according to other sales pros. However, I ignore all this and publish on Fridays, simply because it's my favorite day. ; )

5. Once you've set your schedule, stick to it! Setting a schedule suggests to your readers that you're organized and can meet deadlines. No matter how busy you are, sending out your e-zine at random looks flaky and unprofessional.

Now, we're all human and take vacations, get sick, and get plain busy. So what do you do when you just CAN'T get that new issue out? Do a rerun. Choose a past issue from more than six months ago that you got great feedback on. Republish it with a little intro that says something like, "Hey folks, right now I'm sipping drinks on beach in Bali, so by popular request, here's a rerun of one of our best articles. We'll be back next week with fresh, insightful content!" Of course, only say something like that if you are actually on vacation -- people do understand that you take time off.

Otherwise, never share that you're behind schedule or too busy to write your next issue - that would tell your readers that they come last on your list. If you must, stretch truth a bit, and say you're at a conference, traveling, etc.

6. Try to have one or two issues completed in advance that can be sent out at a moment's notice. This is great for those times when an emergency strikes or you're too swamped to write a new issue. The next time you get a few ideas at once (and don't they seem to come in multiples?), get psyched up and whip out a few at once. You can always edit them later - just get ideas out of your head and onto your screen.

(E-zine Queen Secret Tip: Need a little extra inspiration? Try whipping up a fresh margarita - works for me, every time! Just be sure to do an extra proofread later on. ; ))

7. For a low-maintenance e-zine, tip well! Who says you need to write in-depth articles? Everyone's time is short, so readers LOVE quick tips. Tips are easy to put together when you're close to deadline, also meaning you'll be more likely to stay on schedule. So if you're tight on time, publish simple monthly or weekly tips instead of detailed articles.

STEP #4: Ad Swap With Other Newsletters & E-zines

A great trick for increasing your subscriber base involves contacting other newsletters that relate to your target market and offering to swap ads with them.

Tell newsletter owners that you'll promote their newsletter to your subscriber base if they'll return favor. This is a great way for both of you to INCREASE YOUR READERSHIP!

Subscribers will appreciate recommendation of another source of QUALITY INFORMATION, and as long as sites you swap with are complementary and not competitive, it's not going to hurt your business at all.

STEP #5: Promote Your Newsletter In Newsgroups, Discussion Lists, and Forum Postings

Another good place to promote your newsletter and locate targeted potential subscribers is in newsgroups, discussion lists, and forums that relate directly to your industry or niche. Simply post a brief description of your newsletter and a link to your subscription page.

STEP #6: Offer Subscribers The Opportunity To Give Gift Subscriptions

Offer or announce "gift subscriptions" in your newsletter that encourage your current subscribers to send gift subscriptions to friends.

You can automate your web site to send gift subscription with a little blurb stating whom gift is from and what they will be receiving (and opportunity to unsubscribe, of course!).

A friend of mine has built most of his mailing list doing this alone. He went from 5,000 subscribers to over 16,000 subscribers in less than a year just using this one technique.

STEP #7: Renting Opt-in E-mail Lists

Renting e-mail addresses from third-party list providers is a route that some new newsletter owners choose because you are given QUICK ACCESS to a list of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who have "opted" to receive e-mail on topics that interest them.

You can usually expect to be charged 5 to 20 cents per deliverable message, and you should expect any e-mail addresses that are "bad" or that "bounce" to be replaced by addresses that are current.

If you decide to use a service like this, it's ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that you find out how e-mail addresses were obtained.

You want e-mail addresses that have been collected ethically and responsibly, and this means that you want e-mail addresses of people who:

a) are directly interested in your product, industry, or field of expertise, and b) have given their permission and "opted-in" to list.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you buy lists of e-mail addresses that have been "harvested" from newsgroups, classified ad sites, online services, etc., you’ll be accused of spamming!

These people have NOT given you permission to contact them, and you can get into a LOT of trouble this way. Again, I can’t overstate importance of making sure that e-mail addresses you rent have been collected ethically and responsibly!

A few reputable third-party list providers who offer targeted opt-in e-mail lists are:

Postmaster Direct http://www.postmasterdirect.com YesMail http://www.yesmail.com E-Target http://www.e-target.com Targ-it http://www.targ-it.com Focalex http://www.focalex.com TargitMail http://www.targitmail.com

Buying or renting e-mail addresses this way can get very expensive, so you need to be sure that your entire sales process (i.e., your web site, your sales copy, your ordering system) has been tested and tweaked before you roll out an e-mail campaign like this in full force.

Do some tests using a few thousand addresses and you should get a fairly accurate picture of how successful you're going to be.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Ultimately, your goal should be to develop a relationship with your subscribers through quality articles in your newsletter before you even *consider* trying to sell them anything.

Give them quality information that they will benefit from in order to establish your credibility and develop a rapport with them.

Remember that true value lies in RELATIONSHIP that you develop with person who owns e-mail address -- not in e-mail address itself.

It will be relationship that you develop with your subscribers that will result in big sales both now and in future -- an important point to keep in mind no matter how many new subscribers you attract.