Taking the car in for a routine service call can be so frustratingly time consuming and upsetting! I will sometimes put off that trip for the regular oil change or the simple tire rotation for too long because I'm certain there is going to be something else wrong with "Old reliable". She has a few miles on her now and I just know the mechanic will pop up from under the hood, as I return to pay for my tune-up, to tell me that I have to replace the timing belt. Okay, go ahead and do it and call me later to tell me when I can come in and pick it up. Well, guess what? While he was working on that, he found a crack in the water pump and needed to replace that. Then he discovered oil in the water and found that the head gasket had blown and had to fix that. Now he'll have the car for two days before I can have it back and the costs are adding up faster than I can calculate them! Man, if I had just waited to go in there, it would have been all right for a few more weeks. AND THEN IT WOULD HAVE DIED ENTIRELY!

You know what's coming don't you? Keep your website tuned up and do regular maintenance to avoid costly repairs and big overhauls. I've known for months that I should be adding a section to WebSite101 on how to set up and implement an e-zine and haven't done it because it leads to further work, specifically on the site navigation and links structure. Then I'll notice that I need to add another page to discuss promoting and marketing your e-zine, another to list the names of e-zine directories and other publishing resources such as list servers and advertising resources.

I now know I'll have my work cut out for me for the foreseeable future in designing those pages and several more to discuss that increasingly important web marketing standard, e-zines and newsletters. Well, to make up for my laziness, I will send you elsewhere to find this important information so you don't have to wait for me.

Readers of this column will remember that just last week I railed against the lowlife types that use Unsolicited Commercial E-mail or Spam sent indiscriminately to every e-mail address that they can get their sweaty little hands on.

Why do they do it? E-mail marketing works. It's that simple. That is why advertisers pay good money to place ads in e-zines with substantial mailing lists of targeted prospects. Makers of dog biscuits know that they will find 1000 potential buyers of Bow-Wow Biscuits on the Bow-Wow Bulletin weekly dog-lovers list. They will pay a premium to reach that very targeted list of people that they KNOW are potential regular customers for their product. On the flip side of that, it's the classic win-win situation since it is those same dog lovers who're actually INTERESTED in the advertisers product! Your web site caters to a very clear and specific group of people, whether it is dog lovers or small business webmasters. You should take advantage of having that group of interested buyers gathered in one place reading your complementary businesses advertisements. Dog collars, dog houses, dog toys, dog kennels and dog groomers will all be interested in advertising to *your* readers.

There are many good resources for the development of a quality e-zine. Here are a few to get you started:

► Lifestyles Publishing at: http://www.lifestylespub.com/ offers a place to list your publication or a way to purchase advertising with targeted prospects of other publications. ► E-zine Factory at: http://www.ezinefactory.co.za offering advice for getting started with your e-zine and resources for increasing your circulation along with articles posted by successful marketers of e-zines. ► Listbot list server at: http://www.listbot.com - There is a free and a paid version of this service. I'm a very happy user of their "Listbot Gold" premium service. ► E-zine Money at: http://www.EZineMoney.net/sgx/d.cgi?1566 - An e-book about how to make a fortune using Free E-zine advertising.

Get started with those while I go do a little web site maintenance and install a few accessories to keep my motor running smoothly at WebSite101. Don't forget to change your oil and rotate your tires.