How to Start Your Own Newsletter

Starting your own newsletter is a perfect business to start at home. You can publish a newsletter about your particular interests, or publish newsletters for other businesses. It's important to choose a topic where you can always depend on regular subscribers. If it's something that people are always dropping, you'll always have to keep promoting the newsletter to get new subscribers.

Costs
Direct mail-$3,000-$10,000
Online-Free

On the Internet you can get a free auto responder, load it up with your newsletter, and sign up at free newsletter directories to get subscribers. The only cost would be a web host, if you already have a computer.

Pricing
Read The Pricing Guide For Desktop Publishing Services by Robert C. Brenner.

Marketing
Sending your newsletter by direct mail, you would need to buy a mailing list, or build your own for free; hand out copies at trade shows; place ads in business and trade magazines.

Equipment
Whether you publish your newsletter online or off, you need a computer, broadband or high speed Internet access, desktop publishing software, a fax, scanner, laser printer, business phone with an answering service, and a photocopier. You can save money and eliminate buying a copier if there is a copy center in your area.

Training
The best training to me are books. One good one is Desktop Publishing Success: How To Start A Desktop Publishing Business by Felix Kramer and Maggie Lovass. If you have some money to spend, you can take a desktop publishing course at your local college or university. You should have expert skills in desktop publishing to start this business. Knowledge in graphic design and journalism is helpful.

Salary
You can expect to make between $15,000-$100,000 a year, considering the number of your subscribers.

Best Customers
To find customers you should focus on businesses, and familiar and unfamiliar places to find your target market. Having a list is very important, without it you'll have no customers. If you want to buy a list, the best place to look is the SRDS(Standard Rate and Data Service). If you need free ones, there are plenty of them online, here are a few of them.
www.tripleyourlist.com
www.yourluckylist.com
www.emaillistbuilder.com

You want to make sure that you include information in your newsletter that your readers simply cannot find anywhere else. Make sure there are lots of things in each issue that helps, and it doesn't hurt to add in free ideas or offers.