15 Commandments To Submitting Articles – Article Submission Sites

By: Martin Lemieux
1) Don’t use all capitals in your title:
People don’t like to be yelled at. USING CAPITALS is the same as yelling and looks awful. There aren’t many article submission sites that accept ALL capitals in your title.
2) Only use HTML when asked:
There is nothing worse for an editor when he/she has to strip out HTML because you failed to follow the guidelines. If the website asks for NO HTML then don’t add any.
3) Only use simple HTML:
If you are allowed to use HTML, just use the basics. Ex. (P)aragraph, (B)old, (I)talicized, (LI)st bullets, (A)link, etc. These HTML codes are considered basic and are usually accepted when submitting your article in HTML format.

Submitting Articles

4) Don’t use articles to advertise your services within the content:

There is nothing worse than reviewing an article and seeing 5/10 links that are owned by the author embedded within the content of the article. Granted, sometimes you have something unique to help others with and you need to get the word out, I like to see such promotion but ONLY if it is useful for the readers and it is FREE, not a paid service or product. Try not to use this unique information within every single article that you write. This info will then become a little useless for the editors and they may even delete that section. Please remember to READ the “Author Guidelines” before you start submitting your articles.

5) Don’t submit press releases as tips:

There is a distinct difference between a press release and an informative article. Press releases are strictly for announcing news about your company. Informative articles teach people about a specific subject (not about your company).

6) Have your articles edited by editors:

These days, there are so many authors trying to make their mark. It is imperative that you get your article edited by an editor, friend, colleague, or someone who is really good at checking for spelling and grammar.

7) Try to write something unique to the industry:

People all over the world are writing about the same thing. If you truly want to shine, try writing about topics that aren’t covered by everyone. If you discover something new, do some research on what people are saying about it. If you can’t find any other content, you may have found a gold mine.

Don’t copy other people’s content:

This topic is seriously funny. We have caught people actually stealing our articles and simply changing the title of the article to call it their own. How pathetic! If you use someone else’s content, only use it for study, not for your own promotion and recognition. If you “quote” someone else, make sure to give credit where appropriate.

9) Find 5 new article submission sites to submit to:

If you submit articles once a week, try and make it a habit to find 5 new article submission sites to submit to. I guarantee you that new article submission websites popup almost weekly. We are still finding new sites to submit to, there is no limit to your search. Go within Google and do a search similar to “article submission sites”, or “Where to submit articles to?”.

Here are 5 newer article submission sites:

9.1) http://www.article99.com

9.2) http://www.a1articles.com

9.3) http://www.activeauthors.com

9.4) http://www.articlepros.com

9.5) http://www.free-articles-zone.com

10) Keep your author bio short & sweet:

Try keeping your author biography short & sweet. There is nothing worse than seeing an article submission and realizing that most of the article content is within the author bio. Use one sentence and a couple of links. Most submission sites will accept up to 3 links within your resource box.

11) Don’t buy articles from other companies and call them your own:

Commandment #11 is sweeping the world and is giving the article writing industry a bad name. Please don’t even consider buying articles from people that claim that they will write a “UNIQUE” article for you to promote. Trust me when I tell you this, the article that you buy has been sold and re-sold many times. You will be doing your company no justice at all by buying articles. Article submission websites frown down on this method and will ban you from ever submitting articles again if you are caught.

12) Try not to attack others within your articles:

Being libelous is not good karma. Attacking others will give a negative effect for your articles. In fact, most article submission websites won’t accept articles that are libelous.

13) Use copyright information at the bottom of your article:

Adding your copyright information at the top won’t help you at all. I’ve come across many websites that simply delete your copyright information if it is listed at the top. That’s what your author bio is for. Add any reprint rights and copyright information within your bio.

14) Affiliate links should never be used:

DO NOT USE AFFILIATE LINKS PERIOD! Promoting affiliate links within articles is a no no. Most article submission websites have a rule against listing affiliate links within author’s articles (body content) and your author bio. If you absolutely need to use an affiliate link, try creating a “short link” that simplifies the link into a smaller, more compact link.

15) Setup For Manual Submissions:

Most link submission softwares aren’t the answer. There is nothing better than personalizing your submissions by submitting them manually. Granted, this can take up to 2-4 hours per week if you write one article a week BUT submitting manually will get your article listed within two times as many article submission websites than the software’s can. Many websites require a login or show you an image to “enter the characters shown” to login and submit articles. By using a software, you will never be able to submit to such companies.

Many article submission websites have different and unique fields that they require for you to enter. If you use a software, you will never have that personal touch that each individual website & editor is looking for and your articles will never be accepted.

If you follow these commandments, you should have no problem getting your articles listed on 1000′s of websites and get a great deal of promotion for your company.

Keep writing and keep submitting!

About The Author:

Martin Lemieux is the president of the Smartads Advertising Network. Smartads is dedicated to helping you expose your business online and offline.

International: http://www.smartads.info

Article Submission Website (Beta): http://www.article99.com

Canada: http://www.smartads.ca

Copyright © 2005 Smartads Advertising Network – Reprints Accepted – One link must be active in the bio.

Do you read all your Ezines? Or do you file them

away in special folders and then forget about them?

I used to be like that.

When I first started subscribing to ezines I was

amazed at the quantity of valuable information that

was available for free.

But I soon became complacent about it. If anything,

the 60-odd newsletters I was receiving each month

became a burden. I was suffering from ‘information

overload’.

Ezine Encyclopedia

Ezines contain a wealth of information. Every week,

in hundreds of newsletters across the Web, experts

share with their readers the latest tips, techniques

and resources they’re using to succeed in the world

of online business.

But if you don’t have a system for processing and

organizing that information, you’ll quickly become

overwhelmed by it.

I use a system that I call the ‘Ezine Encyclopedia’.

This is how it works:
1. Open a document in Microsoft Word. At the top of

this Word document, type in 15 to 20 ‘Category

Headings’, one per line. These are the categories I

use:
Ad Tracking

Affiliate Programs

Auction Sites

Auto Responders

Banner Advertising

Copy Writing

Credit Card Processing

Discussion Boards

eBook Compilers

eBook Promotion

eBook Publishing

Email Marketing

Ezine Advertising

Ezine Articles, Writing and Publishing

Ezine Promoting

Ezine Publishing

Free Classifieds

Free Software

HTML coding

Internet Marketing

Java Script

Joint Ventures

Online Community

Portal Websites

Search Engine Positioning

Traffic Building

Viral Marketing

Visitor Management

Web Hosts

Website Design

Website Promotion

Webstats
2. Now highlight all of these category headings.

Then go to the toolbar at the top of your Word screen

and click on ‘Format’. In the drop-down menu, click on

‘Style’. A new window will open with a box titled

‘Styles’. Click on ‘Heading 1′ and press ‘OK’. These

category headings will now all appear in ‘Heading 1′

format.

3. Now place your cursor at the end of the first line

(in my example, ‘Ad Tracking’) and press RETURN twice.

Two paragraph marks (in ‘Normal’ style) will appear

beneath your first category heading (this is where you

will insert the text of your articles). Repeat this

for each category heading (place your cursor at the

end of the line, and hit RETURN twice).

4. When you see an ezine article that contains

valuable information, highlight it, copy it, and paste

it under the appropriate ‘Category Heading’.

5. Highlight the title of the ezine article and use

the same procedure described above, but choose

‘Heading 2′ (instead of Heading 1).

6. Now click on INSERT in the toolbar of your Word

screen and go down to ‘INDEX AND TABLES’. In the new

window that opens up, click on ‘Table of Contents’. In

the lower right of that window is a box with a white

background that allows you to set the levels between 1

and 9. Choose 2. Then click ‘OK’.

You’ll find that your ‘Information Categories’

appear as Chapter Headings and the Title of the

ezine articles appear as a Sections within a Chapter.

Notice that the page numbers at the far right of your

Table of Contents are hyperlinked; you can go to any

ezine article with the click of a mouse.

This Word document will become your personal ‘Ezine

Encyclopedia’.

It will contain everything important that you’ve ever

read in an ezine. Isn’t that better than having that

information scattered amongst 20 or 30 ezines?

When you have in place a well organized system like

this, it changes the way you view new information.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by new information,

you’ll simply place it under the appropriate

Information Category.

And when you need that information, instead of

searching through dozens of folders in your email

client, you’ll know exactly where it is. This system

has saved me an enormous amount of time.

Eventually you’ll end up with a large document that

contains as much valuable information as any web

marketing book. And it’ll be much more up to date!

by Michael Southon

If you’re like most people starting out on the

Internet,you’ve been along this well-worn path:

You try free classified ad sites and get bombarded

with spam by people trying to sell you stuff.

You try banner exchange programs and get a handful of

click-throughs.

Ezine Advertising

You finally get into the top twenty results in the

Search Engines, and then a week later your site has

dropped back to number 150.

The Internet may the largest market in human history,

but how on earth do you reach those millions of

people?

Well, the answer is ezine advertising.

Its the surest way on the Web of reaching your target

audience.

Ezines (short for ‘electronic magazines’) are email

newsletters that are sent out regularly to

subscribers, like the one you’re reading. They’re

sometimes called ‘opt-in’ lists because everyone who

receives an ezine has chosen to do so.

And that’s why ezine advertising gets results. People

read ezines and they’ll read your ad. And if you’ve

matched the ezine to the product you’re selling,

you’ve reached your target audience.

Have a look at the ads in your favorite ezine – why

are they there? Because they get results.

There are currently around 90,000 ezines being

published every month. So whatever you’re selling,

there’s more than likely an ezine that will take your

ad straight to the audience you want to reach.

Ezine advertising is not only effective, its cheap as

well. A 5-line ad in an ezine that goes to 3000 people

will cost you between $5 and $20 per issue.

As a general rule, you’ll always get back at least the

cost of the ad, and usually much more. So there’s very

little risk.

But there are some tips for successful ezine

advertising. Here they are:
1. The first and most important rule in ezine

advertising is: “Track your Ads!”. You might place

your ad in 5 different ezines and get a hundred

responses, but if you don’t track your ads, you won’t

know which ezines were pulling responses and which

weren’t.

To advertise effectively in ezines, you must learn

from experience – its a process of trial and error.

Eventually, you’ll end up with a handful of ezines

that you know are bringing you a high response rate.

After that, just keep placing your ads in those ezines

and you’ll have a guaranteed stream of customers.

But how do you track your ads?

The simplest method is to place a key or a code at the

end of your email address. If your ad was in this

ezine (for example), this is the email address you’d

place with the ad:

yourname@yourdomain.com?subject=freezine

Then, when you get a reply with ‘freezine’ in the

subject field, you’ll know which ezine it came from.

For a URL, it’s the same principle:

http://www.yourdomain.com?freezine

However, if you’re going to code your URLs, you’ll

need a sophisticated webstats program to track the

coded URLs. Here are a couple of free ones:

http://www.hitbox.com.

http://www.openwebscope.com.

Here’s another way to code your URLs : for every ezine

ad, create a duplicate of your homepage and name the

page after the ezine that your ad will appear in. So,

if the ad is appearing in Ezine A, this is the URL

you’d place in that ad:

http://www.yourdomain.com/EzineA

Again, you’ll need to use a good web stats program to

track the hits to your coded URLs.
2. The second rule is to target your audience. It may

seem obvious but some advertisers overlook this. If

you’re selling a web-marketing course, don’t advertise

in an ezine that deals with stock options; they

probably won’t be interested.

Use the ‘subject categories’ in any ezine directory to

find ezines that relate to the product you’re selling.

You can find a list of 60 ezine directories in ‘The

Free Directory of Ezines’ at:

http://www.netmastersolutions.com/more-directories.html

3. Once you’ve chosen a number of ezines that target

your audience, subscribe to them and examine the ads

closely. If you see an ad that keeps repeating issue

after issue, you can be pretty sure that its getting

results. You’ve found a good ezine to advertise in.
4. Check to see how many ads are in the ezine. You

don’t want your ad lost in an ezine farm at the bottom

of the newsletter. You probably won’t get much

response from an ad in an ezine that has 15 or 20 ads

per issue. Readers of those ezines have become

hardened to the ads and have learnt to skip them.
5. Check to see if the ezine publisher has a policy of

never running ads for two similar products in the same

issue – your ad will be much more effective if its the

only one of its kind in that particular issue.
6. Small ezines vs. Big ezines: bigger is not always

better. The big ezines with 1000′s of subscribers tend

to have more ads than the small ezines. Also, small

ezines with only a few hundred subscribers often have

a much more targeted audience than the big ezines.
7. Repeat your ads. Research shows that off the Web,

an ad has to be seen about 21 times before someone

acts on it; on the Internet its about 9 times. If your

budget allows, try and have your ad repeated at least

three times in a particular ezine. Most ezines offer

discount packages for bulk advertising.
8. Email address vs. URL. Opinions are divided on

this; some people prefer to give an email address,

others prefer to give a URL. The advantage of giving

an email address is that it gives you the opportunity

to send a powerful sales letter to the person who

responded to your ad. Its also much easier to track

your ads with an email address than a URL.
9. Offer something free in your ad copy. It’ll often

tip the balance between a response and no response.
10. Keep your ads short, even if you’re not using the

number of words you’re allowed. Short ads are more

likely to be read. Keep your sentences short too; they

pack much more power. Use the word ‘You’. Don’t

describe your product but tell the reader what your

product can do for them.

What’s the most powerful marketing technique on the

Web? Search Engine positioning? Perhaps. But did you

know that some of the most successful web marketers

don’t bother much with the Search Engines?

They put most of their effort into another technique

that’s just as powerful and is much more under their

control.

Ezine Article

They write Ezine Articles.

There are tens of thousands of Ezines being published

every month, with a collective audience of millions.

And the editors of most of those Ezines are all

looking for quality content for their newsletters.

If you master this technique you can get your name

and your website URL in front of 100,000 or even a

million readers.

Right now there’s a shortage of good Ezine Articles.

So, if you write well and you know how to do research

on the Internet, there’s a huge market waiting for

you.

But there are some tips for writing and publishing

Ezine Articles. Here they are:

(A) Writing Your Ezine Articles:
(1) Pick a topic that you know something about

(however little) and then go to the Search Engines and

find as many websites as you can that deal with that

subject.

As well as collecting information for your article,

make a note of any URLs that offer free resources

dealing with the topic of your article. Include those

URLs in your article.
(2) Once you’ve done the basic research, write the

title of your article in the middle of a blank page

and circle it. Then jot down your information in lines

that radiate out from your title, like the spokes of a

wheel. This technique is called ‘Mind Mapping’ and

it’s a very effective way of organizing your ideas.

You can find more information on Mind Mapping at:

http://www.mind-map.com/

(3) An increasing number of Ezine Publishers will not

accept articles that are promoting a product you sell.

So, keep your article free of affiliate links; avoid

mentioning any products or services for which you

receive a commission.
(4) At the end of your article, attach a 5- or 6-line

‘Resource Box’ that includes your website URL and/or

your email address.
(5) When you have finished your article, do NOT send

it off straight away. Let it lie fallow for 2 or 3

days and then come back and read it again. You’ll be

amazed at the improvements you can make. Those final

improvements are what makes the difference between an

article that gets published and one that doesn’t.

(B) Publishing Your Ezine Articles:
(6) There are two ways of getting your articles

published: ‘Individual Submissions’ and ‘General

Distribution’.

‘General Distribution’ will get your article in front

of many more readers, per unit of effort expended,

than ‘Individual Submission’, and I suggest you use

this method before making Individual Submissions.

There are basically two kinds of ‘General

Distribution’: Announcement Lists and websites.

Here are some Article Announcement Lists:

article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

free-content-subscribe@onelist.com

publishinyours-subscribe@onelist.com

articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com

Here are some Websites that provide Free Content to

Ezine Publishers:

http://216.147.104.180/articles/submit.shtml

http://www.ezinearticles.com/

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

http://www.isyndicate.com/ http://www.mediapeak.com

http://www.MakingProfit.com/articles/

http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm

(7) Once you’ve used these ‘General Distribution’

techniques, then submit your article to individual

Ezines.

However, before making individual submissions, find

out (a) if the Ezine Publisher accepts article

submissions, (b) what the Publisher’s guidelines are

for article submissions.

My free Ezine Directory gives you this information,

‘The Free Directory of Ezines’:

http://www.netmastersolutions.com/

I have also produced an eBook called ‘Get Published!

The Directory of Ezines that accept Article

Submissions’ and you can download it free at:

http://www.netmastersolutions.com/getpub.html

(8) Format your article to 65 characters per line and

make sure it contains no spelling mistakes. With the

availability of spell-checkers there’s really no

excuse for spelling mistakes. If your article does

contain spelling mistakes, many Publishers will just

discard your article.
(9) Don’t submit articles to the same Ezine Publisher

more than once a month.
(10) Address the Ezine Publisher personally, and make

sure that the message accompanying your article is

very courteous – you’re asking the Publisher to read

your article and give you some of her valuable time

and she probably gets dozens of article submissions a

week.

Every success to you!

If you want to make more money in your online business, or have recently started a business and are not seeing much sales, one of the best ways to improve your results is with opt-in email marketing.

Opt-in marketing is a form of email marketing that gives you permission to email a targeted prospect. This is very different from spam since you’re not randomly emailing names, and is also different from a conversion rate point of view since opt-in email conversion rates are far greater than spam.

You want to do opt-in email marketing for a few reasons. The first is that it’s safe. No one can accuse you of spam since they voluntarily signed up to your newsletter, and if you implement something called “confirmed opt-in email marketing” – then complaints are virtually zero since you have on file that they confirmed their subscription to your email list.

Email Marketing Tips

Another reason to do opt-in email is that it can be more profitable than just sending prospects to your website. By frequently following-up on your prospects, you can close more sales because you put your offer in front of them more than one time, thereby increasing their likelihood of buying from you.

You also want to do opt-in email marketing for trust building. If you’re in a niche where you sell only a certain type of products are vary price points, then this could be a good strategy for you. You could introduce your prospects to your $20 product and give them some good tips via your newsletter. Then once they buy that product, introduce them to your $50 product and give them even better tips via your newsletter. Then once they buy that product, introduce them to your $100 product, and give them some of your best tips via your newsletter.

They’ll be more inclined to by your $100 product since they know you and like your information, as opposed to someone who landed on your website and has never heard of you before.

It’s not hard to build an email list of alot of highly-qualified prospects. It just takes time, alot of traffic to your website, an effective lead capturing system, and great email marketing content. If you have the patience to do all of these, then you can literally take your business to the next level.

Alot of marketers do these thing in many different ways, so all ways are valid. But I will share with you 3 of my favorite ways to get subscribers and make my list profitable that has been proven to be effective for me. Here they are:

1) Design your homepage to inspire the opt-in

This is fantastic for capturing as many subscribers as possible. You will want to place your opt-in form somewhere near the top and bottom of your homepage, to give your prospect as many chances as possible to subscribe.

On the web form itself, you should know that the more information you ask for, the more qualified your leads will be – but this will dramatically decrease the number of leads that you receive. As a general rule of thumb, simply ask for their first name and email address. This way when you email them, you can personalize the message – and personalization is great for increased conversions.

2) Put your opt-in form on every page of your website

If possible, include an opt-in form on all pages of your site. Some people when they visit need to get a feel of if your information will benefit them, and when they make the decision that it will – you want to be there to offer them more great tips and information. And you can do this via your email newsletter, and via the opt-in form on whatever page of your site that they’re on. This way, they don’t have to go back to your homepage just to subscribe to your newsletter. They can do it quickly and easily.

3) Email your list every 3-7 days

Depending on what kind of business you’re in and what kind of products you sell, the frequency of your emails to your subscribers will differ. However, one thing is certain: do not email your list everyday.

Some marketers do get sales from emailing their list everyday, but it’s not an effective way of building the relationship you need with your list. A relationship from your list is all about wanting to hear from you. And if you email them everyday, then all you’re really doing is subconsciously annoying them by spamming their inbox everyday – whether your information is good or not.

The best gift you can give your subscribers is the gift of missing you. This will go a long way in boost your email open rates, response, and receptiveness. Keep these 3 tips in mind when building your list and making your email marketing campaigns profitable.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adrian Hargray is the publisher of a free 10-part email newsletter that shows you opt-in email secrets you can use to make more money from your email list. To learn more, visit the following website for more details: Opt-in Email Marketing

Are you aware of how vitally important and valuable CONTENT is to your online business? In fact, content can do more to build your business and profits than just about any other resource or service available.

Following is a list of 5 key ways that content can help build your traffic, subscribers, and customers starting today!…

Internet Marketing Strategies

1. Boost your search engine ranking and daily visitor count by posting keyword rich articles and content on your web-site. For example, if your business involves offering products and services related to fitness, posting fitness related articles and content will attract unlimited prospective customers on a regular basis!

2. Generate double or even triple the number of newsletter subscribers you do currently, simply by offering content in the form of “special reports” or manuals as bonuses for subscribing to your publication. People love freebies, so give them what they want and watch as your results increase!

3. Create an automated cashflow by using content to formulate multi-part email training courses with related web-site or affiliate links “sprinkled” throughout each course. Use an autoresponder service to automate the delivery of your training course (such as a 5 part training course delivered over a 5 day period).

Training courses can also serve as excellent bonus offers for your prospective newsletter subscribers.

4. One of the most important keys to a successful online business is not JUST having a list of mailing list or newsletter subscribers… It’s about building a trusting relationship with your subscribers (ie, “cultivating” your list)…

By sending informative articles (content) to your list on a regular basis you will establish yourself as an expert on your topic of business, as well as gain the trust of your subscribers over time. As a result, your subscribers will be EAGER to take advantage of your “paid” product and service offers. (Just make sure that you NEVER take advantage of the relationship you develop with your list by offering products or services of poor quality just to make a quick buck!)

If there is one “constant” in Internet marketing, it’s this: A cultivated list of subscribers is as good as money in the bank. Write that down and never forget it!

5. Another excellent way to generate no cost traffic is by submitting ready-made articles to “content hungry” web-site and newsletter publishers with your “resource box” attached. A resource box is nothing more than a little 3-6 line “bio” about you and/or your web-site – including a link to your site (or even instructions on how to subscribe to your newsletter)…

When submitting or offering your article(s) for reprint purposes, just make sure to specify that each article is to be reprinted “as is” with your resource box attached.

…Even one article can go a LONG way towards generating no cost traffic and visitors for you. Just imagine your article being sent out to a newsletter subscriber base of 100,000 individuals – many of whom will be reading YOUR included resource box and clicking on your URL to learn more about what you have to offer!

Well there you have it, 5 sure ways to build your online business exponentially with the help of articles and content…

With the declining effectiveness of many of the online advertising methods that we’ve relied on in past years, content is only strengthening its position as the ultimate KEY to generating unlimited traffic, subscribers, and customers!

Leigh Everett – Home Business Consultant

http://www.work-from-home.com.au

-This article may be freely distributed with authors signature-link

What’s in a name, a newsletter name?

When I wrote a plan for my e-mail newsletter, developing a name was a critical part of the planning process.

To develop the name, I used a strategic approach. In other words, worked backward from my objectives to produce a newsletter name that would help me achieve those objectives. Of course, you might also consider other methods…

Other Newsletter Name Methods

Newsletter

For example, the two-column menu method. Take a word from Column A, let’s say the company name, and a word from Column B, perhaps one of the standards like Gazette, or Chronicle, or Times. That gives us a utilitarian newsletter name like The Acme Gazette (assuming Acme is the company name).

Then there are reader contests. They work well for employee newsletters and member newsletters because readers get involved, making them feel they’re part of the newsletter.

Or how about the clever method? Using brainstorming and creative thinking; the outcome a clever play on words or concepts.

And, then there’s the benefits approach, a good tactic for customer newsletters. Take the product name plus a word or phrase that describes its most important benefit, and you’ve got a high-potential newsletter name.

The Strategic Newsletter Name Method

I decided, though, to use the strategic approach, which builds on objectives, and that seemed appropriate since this newsletter would explore the strategic side of organizational communication.

The newsletter has three objectives:

1. Supporting sales of my book, A Manager’s Guide to Newsletters, by directing readers to the book’s website,

2. Creating additional streams of revenue by selling ads in the newsletter, and

3. Associating my name (Abbott) with the idea of strategic communication.

Let’s start with an easy one, objective 3, which calls for building an association between my name and the concept of strategic communication. So, my last name, at least, should go into the newsletter name.

Second, every newsletter or e-zine name should include some functional information. That way readers get an immediate idea of its content. Objective 3 refers to communication so the word ‘communication’ should get into the title.

That also helps me connect with objective number 1; as you will have noted, the subtitle of the book is Communicating for Results.

But, should it say communication, or more specifically strategic communication? Obviously the latter describes the content more precisely, but, the newsletter will be distributed by e-mail, so shorter is better. Second, the idea of strategic communication is a relatively uncommon one, and might reduce advertising sales (the second objective).

Focusing on objective 2, it helps if the type of medium (in this case a newsletter) is immediately identifiable. But, should I call it a newsletter, or should I call it an e-zine, which refers to an online newsletter or magazine?

I prefer ‘newsletter’ because my target audience is comprised of managers, who spend a limited amount of time online, and may not know what ‘e-zine’ means.

But, the length of the word ‘newsletter’ is an issue, because we want the name to fit in the subject line of an e-mail reader. So instead of ‘newsletter,’ I went with just ‘letter.’ That also adds a degree of personalization, because letter suggests a one-on-one relationship.

Pulling the pieces together I end up with Abbott’s Communication Letter. I think the name satisfies all the objectives, and aptly describes a newsletter that explores how managers can use communication to help achieve their goals.

When you start looking for a newsletter name, think strategically before making a final decision. Not all newsletter names have the same potential.

Download three free chapters from Robert Abbott’s book, A Manager’s Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results; it’s the first step toward creating a powerful and sustainable newsletter: http://www.managersguide.com/free-sample.html (and it will help you develop a strong newsletter name, too!)