How To Start An Email Newsletter
Copyright Jason OConnor 2005
Here are the goals:
You regularly send out relevant and anticipated email newsletters to
your ever-growing list. You have a form on your website that asks
people to sign up for your email newsletter. When someone signs up,
they give you their name and email address and they receive a few
automatic and customized emails that you previously crafted while
they wait for their first newsletter edition. You have a database
that stores each person's email address and you have a way to send
out regular emails to them all, including beautiful HTML newsletters
(e-zines). You watch the list grow over time and watch readers turn
into customers.
Here are the benefits:
• You are continually building a list of loyal readers that grows
over time
• Your readers spread the word that your organization is helpful,
knowledgeable and experienced.
• Your readers are regularly reminded of your organization's
continued existence, growth and relevance.
• Some loyal readers will turn into loyal paying customers.
• You learn more about your customers and site visitors by asking
them to communicate with you through the newsletter.
• You generate a new income stream by selling advertisement space
• You'll have a regular source of fresh and original content to add
to your website which will help search engine rankings.
There are two distinct, but equally important aspects of starting an
email newsletter that need to be addressed for you to accomplish the
goals and gain the benefits listed above. First, you need the
infrastructure and functionality to make all this happen, such as a
database, an HTML form, a method for sending out emails in quantity
and so forth. Second, you need the content that will be in each
newsletter. This article will explain how to do both.
The Needed Infrastructure & Functionality for an Email Newsletter
Does getting the infrastructure sound difficult? Does it sound like
you have to know a lot about programming? Neither is true. This
wheel doesn't need to be re-invented.
There are a number of websites that offer paid services that provide
the entire infrastructure for you. The cost is a fraction of the
cost of developing the infrastructure yourself. Two good examples of
this type of service are Constant Contact and Aweber. I prefer
Aweber and find its interface intuitive and easy to use. I use
Aweber for our company email newsletter and suggest it to all our
clients.
Using a browser I can log into my Aweber account and create text or
HTML email auto-responder messages for people to receive when they
visit our site or sign up for our e-zine. I can create a simple HTML
form that asks for people's name and email as well. In fact, the
html code for the form is created for me and all I have to do is cut
and paste it into my site. No programming needed.
Each person's information is stored in a database on Aweber's
servers. I can manage my leads list in my browser and sort by
different ways. It also allows me to see how many of my auto-
responders have been sent already. And every email that we send out
has a personalized first name greeting.
There is a place in Aweber where I can manage my messages, whether
they are regular emails to part of the list or a newsletter that's
sent to the entire list. And there is a place where I can enter my
messages, edit them, check to see if they will trip any sp@m
filters, I can test the messages by sending them to my own email
address first, and finally I can send them all out at once with one
simple click.
The Needed Quality Content for an Email Newsletter
It's not good enough to just have the infrastructure and
functionality. You need content that makes people want to accept and
read your newsletters over and over again.
Your newsletter ought to be related to your website and
organization. Every person and organization has valuable and unique
knowledge and experience to offer others. And you'd be surprised at
how many people want your unique knowledge. Sharing this knowledge
and experience with your existing and potential customers is what
the Web is all about. People use the Web for getting information. So
make your newsletters about various aspects of your business or
organization, and make them educational, so that your readers come
away with more useful information than they had before.
So if you're a Web design firm, write about Web design in your
newsletters. If you're a small local bookstore, write about how to
become an author, or how to start a local bookstore. If you're a
financial advisor, write about how people can make sound
investments. If you're a furniture builder and seller, write about
how to fix up old pieces of furniture on your own.
Newsletters that are just extended advertisements don't cut it. If
your newsletter only has announcements of new or improved products
or services, or specials that you're running, then you're missing
the boat completely. There is so much more you can offer.
Creating newsletters that contain useful, relevant and anticipated
information for your readers is what to aspire to. You want to give
away ideas and concepts for free that can be used to help improve
some aspect of your reader's lives. You obviously don't want to give
away the whole farm since a lot of your expertise is what you charge
for in the first place. But giving some information away for free is
a win-win.
Most often, your readers don't care about you or your company or
your specific products or deals, they only care about what you can
do for them. If they take the time to open your email newsletter and
read it, it better provide them with some real value or they won't
bother again and your list will not grow, but eventually wither away
into oblivion.
In return for providing useful, original content, you develop a
constantly growing list of loyal readers who will spread the word
that you are an authority in your field. Your readers may eventually
buy from you if they haven't already. And you can use your list to
occasionally sell your products or services, but do this very
sparingly. You can use the newsletter for selling advertisement
space, but again, use sparingly. Finally, you can use your list to
learn more about your customers and site visitors. You can ask the
people on your list to fill out an online survey, but be sure to
offer them an incentive for their time.
If you don't know any programming or HTML but want to send out a
regular newsletter, you can use Aweber to create text-only messages.
If you want to send out professional HTML email newsletters, then
either learn HTML and design (which is obviously time-consuming, but
certainly possible), or hire a Web firm to do it for you. I would
also suggest hiring a firm to help you with writing the content as
well if you're not comfortable with writing.
But as you can see, you don't need much to get an email newsletter
going. If you can regularly create quality content, just sign up for
an online service like Aweber and away you go. An internal customer
email list is a very valuable asset for any organization. Handle it
with loving care. Never sell or rent your list to anyone, try to
offer value in your writing, and don't overuse it as an
advertisement medium.
Good luck and happy e-zining!
Article Source: http://www.intelliwebtools.com [1]
About the Author:
Copyright Jason OConnor 2005
Jason OConnor is president of Oak Web Works, LLC
http://www.oakwebworks.com/email-newsletter-services.htm [2], a full-
service Web firm. Learn more about Aweber at http://www.aweber.com/?
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