So far, internet professionals have been able to narrow reasons to fear of unknown, extra work, no time, lack of trust, and 'pain-in-the-butt' factor. What does each of these mean and what can you do to ensure that you are getting as many sign ups as possible?

Fear of unknown. When a visitor fills out a form and clicks on submit button he/she has no idea where they will end up. Some forms redirect them to another website, some to a thank you page that leaves visitor hopelessly lost and others to an ERROR page. So why do some visitors hesitate to fill out forms? Fear of unknown.

Extra work. As a website marketer, I would like to know each of my customer's first name, last name, email address, telephone number, fax number, postal address, likes and dislikes and lots of other information. This way I can market to them more effectively. If I were to ask potential subscribers to my newsletter for all of information that I would like, do you think they would take time to fill out a 50 part sign up form? Not likely. It involves too much extra work.

No time. No one has time to waste these days. We don't have time to sleep, don't have enough time for kids, don't have time for spouse and certainly don't have time to fill out a form to receive a newsletter that we don't have time to read in first place.

So our challenge as internet marketers is to persuade our potential subscribers that this is 'must have' information that is easy to get, and doesn't take a lot of time to read.

Lack of trust. The internet is a faceless, almost anonymous way of doing business. You have to build a trust level with your visitor in shortest time possible. If your website has minimal information about you, your location, or your company and doesn't look 100% professional, it is hard to build up a trust level with your visitor. They are not sure what you will do with information that they give you. You have to overcome their lack of trust.

But let's think about WHY you began your e-zine in first place. It was likely to use it as a vehicle to promote you and your services/products, right?

You have every right to toot your own horn in your e-zine, as long as you don't drown out useful content your readers are looking for.

You work hard on your e-zine, so let's make your e-zine work FOR you!

** Here are 7 simple ideas on how to accomplish this: **

1) Make sure your MAIN ARTICLE always provides information that your readers will find valuable.

By having a main article as foundation of your issue, readers will feel they got what they came for - helpful information. Try a list of top 10 tips, a "how-to" article, a list of resources, a review of a trend in industry - that sort of thing. (For a free copy of my article, "11 Quick and Good E-Zine Content Ideas," send a blank e-mail to mailto:ali- 14285@autocontactor.com)

So remember, if your e-zine is tonight's meal, your main article should be entree. Any promotional info should be your side dishes!

2) Begin each issue with an "EDITOR'S NOTE" or "PUBLISHER'S NOTE."