Publishing an eZine without a website is certainly possible since you really only need to be able to send your newsletter to your readers using email. However, most publishers like to post the past issues of the newsletters and this is usually done on a website. Also, in text email you cannot embed AdSense ads and other revenue generating items. In the HTML format of the website you are able to do this to develop some potential for revenue.

Also, the website gives you a location where you can post a form for new subscribers to complete for entry into your database. Having a web site is definitely an advantage in publishing an eZine, but it is not absolutely necessary.

A new concept that has recently developed is to use a blog to post past issues of the newsletters so people can read them in HTML format.

Let’s discuss a blog and blogging. Blog is short for web log. It is an online journal or newsletter that is published by someone on the Internet for public reading.

The largest blog site on the Internet is Blogger.com. This site started in 1999 and was purchased by Google in 2002. The site on the Internet that keeps statistics on the traffic for every site on the Internet is called www.alexa.com. Blogger.com always ranks very high on Alexa since it is so popular and has so much traffic.

Traffic to your site is the major factor for the success or failure of your site. Your site’s position on Google or Yahoo search engines for your key words will make or break you. Having your newsletter on Blogger helps since the Google spiders check the blogs quickly when new information is posted. This will give you much quicker exposure to the search engines than posting your newsletters to your own website.

Boomer eZine made a decision to continue to post copies of the newsletter on both the Boomer eZine web site (See link to site in resource information below) and also on the Boomer eZine blog on http://boomer-ezine.blogspot.com.

There are some great advantages of using a blog for the archives of your eZine.

1. It is free.
2. You do not have to worry about setting up a website.
3. Publishing on a blog is very quick and easy.
4. You can include AdSense or affiliate advertising on your blog to generate revenue.
5. Setting up AdSense ads on Blogger is much easier than setting them up on your own website.
6. Readers can leave comments about your issues and interact with you.
7. Search engines see your new content faster than on your own website.

Since AdSense is such an important part of this program, I recommend that you join it first and then set up your blog. AdSense is a Google program that you set up on your web pages. It reads the content of the page and automatically places ads on the page that match the page’s theme or content. When a reader clicks on an AdSense ad on your page and makes a purchase, you receive a commission on the sale. All you have to do is allow the AdSense program on your pages and Google does the rest. It is an ingenious system and one that has revolutionized advertising on the Internet. If you are not already a member of AdSense, you can join it at https://www.google.com/adsense.

Once you have set up your account, go to Blogger at www.blogger.com and follow the three easy steps on the page. Once you open an account, you will name your blog, and then choose a template. There are several templates to choose from which is the hardest part of the set up. Don’t get too concerned about the template since you can change it whenever you want to.

Now you can set up the blog for your eZine. (You can have multiple blogs in your account). However, I would recommend that you create a blog about your thoughts and experiences while you are planning your eZine launch and make daily entries in that blog. This will give you experience on how to maintain a blog. I think you will have fun doing it. Just remember that the world sees your information in the blog so don’t give away any confidential information about your new eZine.

Good luck with your newsletter and your blog.

Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc.