It's been 10 years since I launched my web page, which because of its high amount of written content, mostly fiction and reviews could be considered an e-zine. At that time, I used a simple, cheap HTML editor I really didn't understand on a computer three years behind the times. I used Windows 3.1 in a Windows 95 world. I had no sound system or a CD player, and forget about a CD burner. When I uploaded a MIDI file to my home page, I'd have to go to a friend's house or the university's big lab to check it.

It began as a few quick comments on my daily activities, and a few links to my favorite web pages. Once I figured out how to add pages and embed photographs, then site grew. Before long, I had regular content featuring movie and music reviews, some limited previews on my two novels, and political commentary, mostly, anything to annoy politicos I found annoying.

My e-zine wasn't fancy, but it did get a decent readership. It wasn't until I decided to make it a full-fledged vehicle to promote my novels did I really ramp up an advertising campaign.

Alas, my novels project became stillborn. The plans for promoting the e-zine, however, seemed to work as they came to fruition.

First, I met the folks. I spoke to the people. I made a point to spend a little amount of time each day in chat rooms, especially with folks who had their own home pages. We would exchange links, and agree to sign each other's guest books. In time, I would get a limited readership from my repeat viewers. If I got lucky, they'd introduce my e-zine to someone they knew, and they'd read it. If I got really, really lucky, they'd past it on.

The next step took a little more work for me. I actually registered it with every search engine I could find. Obviously, I was doing this before the Google revolution. Back in those days, you had to help the engines along. One the plus side, at that time, most every place you went to log onto the Internet, you automatically got six different engines. I registered with as many as I could, and got decent results.

I was negotiating with a local graphics designer to make a logo for my e-zine. A good friend of mine had a similar e-zine and did this with good results. I planned to market a line of T-shirts, caps, mouse pads, and posters boasting my e-zine's new logo and registered domain name.

Finally, the best thing I did to promote my e-zine was buddying up to others more popular than me. I accepted an invitation to contribute to a very popular site, and my readership soared.

Learn more about this author, Cato of Kentucky.
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