I am a stickler for backing up after two huge computer crashes and a domain company going out of business and BOOM! all of their customers’ files being ALL GONE with NO warning.

I always rename a page on my site that I am updating as “name2.html” – always – BUT, last night, being careless and in a hurry to update my rates page, I neglected to do so and …

what happened next was a near disaster!

ONE teeny tiny error messed up the entire page AND since I had recently cleared my web cache as well, I had no previous instance of the page to copy and start over. I do USUALLY remember to update the files on my laptop, which I use pretty much exclusively for my Twitter tweeting, Facebook commenting and my Facebook Fan Page , BUT, as luck would have it, I had not updated my laptop as I had not used it except to do client work for the past week!

Thank goodness I did make a CD backup the last time I updated the site and added the new Social Media Assistance Package or I have no idea how I would ever have fixed things on that messed up page.

So, please, take a lesson from MY mess up and make sure you:

Name any page you are updating, for example, rates.html – to rates2.html and keep checking that one as you work before making it a permanent change to rates.html

Copy your web site pages, blog posts, etc. to a CD and if possible have them also backed up to another computer or spare room on your domain

Double check that your backups are correct before you do anything permanent that can not be undone or fixed.

Enjoy your wonderful web site and/or blog!

Happy 2011 to all of us! May this be our most successful and wonderful year yet of many more to come that just get better and better!

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing, proofreading
and transcription assignments along with research, blog posts, article submissions
and social media maintenance!

Why not Schedule a Project now?

1. Give Incentives

Give people an incentive to subscribe to your eZine.

Offer them a freebie if they subscribe. It could be a free e-book, free report,
free advertising, etc. Make sure the freebie will attract your target audience.

2. Joint Venture

Joint venture with a similar eZine. Combine your subscriber bases together
and publish one eZine. Edit and publish each issue together.

You will both be promoting the eZine, which means more subscribers.

3. Allow Archiving

Allow your subscribers to archive back issues of your eZine on their web sites.
If people visit their web sites and like your eZine, they will subscribe.

4. Form An eZine Ring

Form an eZine ring. Team up with 4 to 10 similar e-zines.

All of the publishers would agree to list each others’ eZine names
and subscribing information in every issue.

You could call this section “Other Free eZines You Might Enjoy”.

5. Ask Subscribers

Ask subscribers to forward your eZine to close friends, family, or associates.
If they enjoy your eZine, they will subscribe.
It’s almost like your subscribers are endorsing your eZine.

For more tips & tricks and to see MY eZine, visit our Rim Digest eZine website today!

I have some tips here on this site on the do’s and don’ts of having an ezine.

I do not claim to be an “expert” on anything, but having had my OWN eZine,
Rim Digest eZine, for over ten years, I do know a little bit about this subject.

I have been asked more than once about where to get really professional,
yet affordable eZine templates so after doing an extensive search, I found
this wonderful set of templates to share with my readers.

I introduce the Ultimate Newsletter Templates!

These are so awesome, I am going to use one myself for MY newsletter.

If you try this great collection, with either personal rights or the great reseller rights option, please let me know how you like them!

I just got permission to use this great article by Jimmie D. Brown
and could not wait to share it.

I have edited it a bit to be for both eBooks AND eZines.

Jimmy says:

Many information marketers have the erroneous belief that if they find a market
with too many competitors, they shouldn’t write an eBook or publish an eZine
for that audience.

To the contrary, competition can be beneficial for a variety of reasons including –

* Researching.

If there IS a lot of competition, you can reasonably expect this to be a lucrative marketplace.

Generally speaking, a large product and service line means there is
large consumer interest and demand.

I encourage you to LOOK for markets with lots of competition,
as it’s a shortcut to researching where revenue is available.

* Partnering.

The more competition there is, the more likely you can find other like-minded marketers
to partner with in cross promotion efforts, co-op advertising, and other related joint ventures.

This is especially true if your eBook or eZine is “related” to other eBooks or eZines
without DIRECTLY competing with them. (I.E. Raising metabolism is “related” to
cutting calories in that they are both agents of weight loss.)

* Educating.

Another reason why competition is good is simply because your target audience is educated,
at least in part, on someone else’s dime. That is, the marketing materials of your competitors educate the market on why the products are necessary or beneficial.

A good example is this: many marketers “educated” consumers on the need for using audio
and video on their web sites, opening the door to a variety of related products and services
to be sold.

So, competition isn’t always a bad thing.
It can be a good thing for these reasons and a handful of others.

But …

The challenge comes in when you want to stand out among the competition
so YOU can get marketplace interest.

There are many ways to stand out by creating your own “USP” (Unique sales proposition)
that could be covered here, but what I want to mention is this –

Create a demographical version of your ebook.

Let me give you an example –

Let’s suppose you are going to write an ebook entitled, “Weight Loss Secrets”.
So, you write it and then you create a “demographical version” that is entitled,
“Weight Loss For Christians”.

Other examples might include –

* Time Management For Homeschoolers
* The Internet Marketer’s Diet
* The Senior Citizen’s Guide To Investing
* How To Ace Your First Teacher Interview
* How To Get A Hot Date: College Student Edition
* Fundraising For Youth Groups

All you would need to do in order to create this “demographical version”
of your eBook or eZine article is take the same exact eBook or eZine article
you’ve written (your “regular” version) and add some specific references
and ideas that relate to the particular demographic you’ve chosen.

* If you decide to create “How to Get A Hot Date: College Student Edition”,
then you’d add in a few references to specific places a college student
can find a date that wouldn’t apply to your regular audience (I.E. Frat party),
as well as pick-up lines, first-date ideas, practices and other content that apply
only to college students.

In other words, you share the same content, but you speak THEIR specific language
and provide ideas that THEY can put into practice in their setting.

The PRINCIPLES of finding dates may be the same across the board,
but the PRACTICES of finding dates are completely different for
college students and widowed senior citizens!

And if you can get creative in your content, you can make
your demographical version even more appealing.

Your “regular” version may have 5 main practices for time management.
But in your “demographic version” those practices become 5 “Homeschooling Habits”.

So, what’s in this for YOU as the author?

Let’s take a look at a couple of noteworthy advantages -

Firstly, you STAND OUT among your competition.

As a Christian, I can tell you that if 20 ebooks were available on weight loss
and one of them specifically mentioned being for believers, I’d immediately
take a look at that one.

Secondly, you EXPAND OUT among your competition.

Now you can market your eBook or eZine article to TWO entirely different audiences.

For example: You can look for “weight loss” ezines and buy advertising in them.
But, you can also look for “Christian” ezines (that have NOTHING to do with weight loss)
and buy advertising in them.

This allows you to reach audiences that you likely would have never been able to reach!

Then, it’s simple a matter of doing it again for other demographics.

Rinse. Repeat. Reprofit.

Start with ONE demographic and move on to many others …

* Christians
* Homemakers
* Senior citizens
* Students
* First-timers
* Newlyweds
* Office Workers
* Teachers
* WAHMs

The list could go on and on.

Most information products can be custom-tailored for different demographic groups
to STAND OUT among the competitors … and open up the door to new contacts
that might never be reached through other means.

If you want to STAND out and EXPAND out then create one or
more “demographical versions” of your eBook or eZine.

Like a screaming child at the library, you’ll get attention!

Jimmie D. Brown is one the most famous internet marketers of all time!

Jan Tallent is the editor of Rim Digest eZine for marketers and small biz owners
and has been for over ten years and is also a Virtual Assistant who specializes in
proofreading, editing and transcriptions .

I have shared several articles on how TO publish an eZine, so this time I thought it might be interesting to talk about how NOT to publish an eZine.

Sometimes it helps to learn things when you can look at both sides – the right way
and the wrong way. So here goes – what NOT to do when publishing an eZine.

1. Leave out your name and contact info – Who would want to get in touch with you anyway? Your readers don’t care if there is a real live dependable person writing the eZine. NOT!

Your readers definitely want to know that there is a real person there that they can contact
if they want or need to. This helps establish trust.

2. Put as many squiggles and decorations in your eZine as possible – So what if your readers
get a headache while trying to read your eZine, deal with it. NOT!

Squiggles may look cute, but they could make it hard for many people to read your eZine.
Keep the design neat and clean for easy reading.

3. Load the eZine with ads – I mean after all, isn’t that why you are publishing your eZine? NOT!

No, you are not publishing an eZine to run tons of ads. You are publishing an eZine to build that important relationship of trust and respect with your readers. This helps build your business and your reputation.

4. Don’t bother sending it out regularly – After all, most people can’t read it every time anyway. NOT!

How can people trust and believe what you say when they can’t even depend on you to send your eZine on schedule?

5. Don’t add any original material – Just use all the same material other publishers are using.
It works for them, why not for you? NOT!

Always have original material in your eZine, even if it is just an editorial or some tips.

6. Why bother with a disclaimer or privacy policy – Readers know their email is safe with you. They also figure if it is in your eZine, you recommend it. NOT!

Never assume anything. Your readers want to be assured that their email addresses are not being handed out for profit or promotion. Also, you want your readers to know that they should check out all offers, opportunities and ads. Just because it is in your eZine, that does not mean you are recommending it.

7. Content is content, right? – As long as your eZine is full of “stuff”, it is helpful. NOT!

Try to give your readers basic, straightforward, helpful information that they can actually use
to benefit them. Don’t use hyped up ads disguised as tips or articles. Quality content is key.

8. Don’t let your readers get to know you – They are interested in your eZine, not you. NOT!

Your readers need to know you so they can trust you and know that they can depend on you
to publish a consistent, quality eZine.

9. Don’t bother formatting the eZine correctly – Who cares how many characters are in each line, it all reads the same. NOT!

Definitely format your eZine uniformly and evenly. You want to produce a clean, sharp, professional eZine.

10. Don’t waste time proofreading. Everybody makes mistakes, right? What is a mistake or two – nobody is perfect. NOT!

Take the time to make sure all spelling and grammar is correct in your eZine before you send it out. After all, you are a professional, right?

I hope these tips have given you a good idea on how NOT to publish an eZine and a fresh perspective on how to correctly publish an eZine. Producing a quality eZine that your readers
can depend on will be a very big business booster!

After all, I have been doing MY eZine, Rim Digest eZine for marketers and small business owners for ten years and I DO know how TO and how NOT TO do this

If you are ready to start your OWN eZine, here is a valuable resource you might be interested in …

SEE Why The Gold Is Found In Publishing Your Own Online E-zine Today…
with the Crash Course Guide To E-Zine Publishing!