Choosing Your E-Zine Topic: 3 Hints for Making Your Decision

Choosing the topic of your ezine is no light decision. I have put together 3 hints to take some of the strain off your brain and get you going in the right direction.

1. Share your passion.

What are you passionate about? If you're publishing an ezine for your business, then I hope it's your company, product or service that holds your passion. But those aren't the only motivations for ezines.

Whatever your passion, writing about it will make your ezine strong. Passionate writing, whether it's about tying flies for fishing or piecing together heirloom quilts, is powerful writing. When you write with passion it ignites the page and excites your readers, making them want to read more.

2. Research the competition.

Get on the internet and search the ezine directories for other ezines with topics that are similar to yours.

There are many ezine directories with free access; all you have to do is put in the time and effort to research them. To find out which ones are free type "free ezine directories" into the search engine on your computer.

What will you need to research once you find your ezine competition?

Layout - Which layout was appealing to the eyes as well as user friendly?

Content - Did you find any of the content of value to you? Was it presented in an appealing way?

Length - What was the average length of the ezines that you liked the most?

Articles - Were the articles of interest and in keeping with the ezine topic? Were they well written and engaging?

Writing style - What type of writing style did your favorite competitor's ezine have? Was it a friendly, conversational tone or a preachy, soapbox one? How about your least favorites?

Advertisements - What was the ratio of advertisements to articles in your favorites? In your least favorites?

By studying the competition in this way you will get a strong idea of what you want your ezine to include or exclude and thereby sidestep potential setbacks.

3. Research reader interest.

There is a big difference in need to know and want to know. Most people read very little because they need to know something, they read because they want to know something.

Someone who needs to know something will only read enough to get the bare facts. Someone who wants to know something will read like a sponge, absorbing everything they can about the subject.

Find out what your subscribers want to know about your topic and you'll have a loyal following that can't wait to see your next issue in their inbox.

How do you find out what potential subscribers want to know about your topic?

Search the blogs - There are hundreds of blogs on every topic imaginable. A quick search of popular blogs in your topic will show you what people want to know about that topic.

Web traffic reports - If you have a website pertaining to the topic of your ezine, read your traffic reports. They will tell you which of your pages is most popular, thus giving you an idea of what your potential subscribers want to know.

wordtracker.com - This site accurately tracks what people are typing into their search engines. This will give you up-to-date information on what the hot topics are.

If you follow your passion, research your competition and research reader interest you will be head and shoulders above the crowd in publishing an ezine that gives your subscribers just what they want. And, I know that's just what you want.