Unfortunately, the explosion of new ezines also creates increased competition. What's more, many ezines don't result in much profit for their producers.

Naturally, opinions on what makes a "good" ezine vary widely. From a publisher's standpoint, most would say that a good ezine is "One that makes money!" Understandably, profit (directly or indirectly) IS the primary reason most are published. But that's not one of the criteria most readers base their judgement of a "good" ezine on.

Notice what Scott Owen, (whose web site at www.BestEzines.com is based on evaluating the quality of ezines) has to say:

"If you are like me, your e-mailbox is overflowing with ezines. Admittedly, I am an ezine junkie! I can't resist a FREE subscription. Unfortunately, there are very few quality ezines that I enjoy reading."

"I have spent the past twelve months reading *everything* I could get my hands on to learn as much as possible about marketing and publishing online. The majority of what I read was a waste of my time!

"The six ezines I have initially listed on my site were the ones that I looked forward to receiving each week, because that is where I learned the most! I believe there are many others who could benefit from a site that identifies which ezines they should be reading on a weekly basis."

I was flattered to discover that ProfitInfo Newsletter was fortunate enough to make Scott's small list of "the best" ezines. That made me think: "How could I help others benefit from my success in that area?" Hence, this article.

If publishers want to retain loyal subscribers - including a percentage who eagerly look forward to receiving future issues - and earn fair compensation for their efforts in the form of profit, they should seriously consider what a good ezine is from the READERS' standpoint.

For the most part, readers look for solid VALUE in an ezine; value in the form of helpful information, tips, news and other resources related to their specific interests and the ezine's theme. If an ezine doesn't deliver enough value, many readers will eventually cancel their subscriptions.

(Personally, I give most ezines I subscribe to a chance by looking over a few different issues, with the awareness that some will be more interesting than others. I eventually cancel most that are usually crammed with an inordinate amount of ads and recycled articles.)

Even if you never plan to publish an ezine, there's a lesson here for online entrepreneurs: Offer solid, valuable information of interest to your target market first. Then most won't mind if you toss in a reasonable amount of commercial blurbs for the products or services you promote. In fact, some appreciate commercial offers that match their interests.

Scott Owen currently has four criteria he uses to determine which ezines he considers the "best." They are pretty much parallel with the opinions of most ezine readers. Here they are, along with a few additional comments from him and I.

[My comments are in brackets.]

"Articles and features I can't find in 10 different ezines."

[That's one reason I almost always include a new informative article that has never been published elsewhere.]

"I don't have a problem with a large classified section, as long as it doesn't interfere with the content. I plan to use classifieds myself (we are in this to make money").

"I certainly don't believe classified ads should be placed before the feature article. That will automatically lead me to unsubscribe! I do like the practice of placing a sponsor at the beginning of the ezine. This is much more professional and it doesn't overwhelm your readers."

[There are some who feel that an ezine should only deliver loads of free, solid helpful information and that including any form of commercial offers is taboo. Frankly, in this commercial world, I don't know of anyone that can afford to (financially, or time-wise) to deliver large amounts of solid, helpful information completely free of any commercial motive. Chances are, those relatively few readers won't become customers anyway, so you probably won't lose much if they unsubscribe.]

"It is not necessary, but it does help to have a website to complement an ezine."

"If you tell your readers you send out the ezine each Tuesday, make sure your ezine goes out each Tuesday. If you change the day of publication, notify your readers."

One trick for publishers is striking a balance between an informative ezine that doesn't turn-off the majority of readers, and yet (directly or indirectly) promotes products/services to earn some fair compensation for producing it. (Even the rare few ezines that don't include any ads usually still have less obvious, but nonetheless commercial, reasons for their existence.)

Let me say from personal experience that ezine publishing doesn't have to be unprofitable for YOU, and yours CAN stand out from the majority. Hopefully this article will help you benefit in both of those areas.