Get Creative About Creating New Ezine or Blog Content

The quality and value of your content will determine how your subscribers feel about you and your business. When we talk about starting a blog or an ezine, our clients will often express anxiety about generating quality content on a regular basis. When I started my first ezine - long, long ago! - I was a little worried, too. But I soon realized it wasn't that hard if I kept in mind the various formats I could use. Your content can include one or more of the following formats: * Editorials You will become seen as an expert in your field. Use editorials to express an opinion and share your viewpoint on a topic. You can also write a chatty, personal piece to establish a rapport with your readers. * Feature articles These can be by you or other people. The best length is 300-700 words - long enough to have valuable information and short enough to get read. The topic should be related to your business. * News clips or stories This can be timely news in the area your business covers that would be of interest to your subscribers. * Aggregating other content As an expert on your topic, you can research and gather information from books and/or websites and present it. This can save your subscribers a great deal of time and be seen as quite valuable. * Reviews Beyond listing sources of information in your area, you can do in-depth reviews of books, websites, software, etc. This can be a great tie to affiliate programs to which you belong. Tell your readers specifically what is good and bad about the thing you review, making sure to be balanced. But do offer a recommendation about it. Should your reader check it out, or is it a waste of time? * Announcements These can be about your company, website updates, or new products or services you're offering. * Website updates I've separated this out to mention it again because it's key. You want to get people to keep coming back to your website. The more they visit, the more likely it is that they will buy something. So, mention new articles, new topics you're covering within your theme, a contest, a free giveaway, a special discount, or a seasonal offer. Anything to get them to come back! * Interviews Publishing an interview with an expert is valuable content and not hard to create. You'll just need to plan ahead a bit. Pick an expert and get to know a bit about him or her so you can be a knowledgeable interviewer. Decide on a topic for the interview and prepare a list of questions. Ask your expert to do the interview. Usually, they'll be willing in order to get the visibility as an expert in your blog or ezine. Email a copy of the questions to your expert and review the reply. Prepare the article with the responses and get final approval from your expert. * Q & A You can have a regular or occasional article where you respond to questions your subscribers or clients ask. You can also make up your own questions and answer them! * Entertainment It can be fun to occasionally offer a joke or story. On my blog, I'll sometimes post a funny story, jokes, or a thoughtful story or article that reflects my own philosophy. You can do this instead of a business-related piece, or in addition to one. You just want to make sure you have the right proportion of business content to entertainment content over time. * Quotes Many publishers include quotes that are relevant to the topic(s) covered in the current ezine or blog post. If you keep a list of these presentation styles handy, you'll have an easier time creating content for your next ezine issue or blog post.

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