Tip Four-Publishing a Winning Newsletter: Content
Learning the ins and outs of doing an email newsletter takes time. When I first started publishing email newsletters, I made many mistakes. I want to save you some time and headaches. Last week I covered links and images in Tip Three-Publishing a Winning Newsletter: Links & Images. This week I will talk about content. I hope you find this information helpful.
Content
The purpose of your newsletter is to keep in touch with your email list and to provide information. If you are blogging and article writing regularly, then you will have content that can be used in your newsletter. You can take parts of your article and/or blogs and create tips or take actual questions you receive from clients and create a question and answer segment. If you are an avid reader, book reviews is something you can provide to your audience.
I have seen newsletters being done many ways. Some are very simple and provide only one item a month like an article or a tip. Others are longer and have everything in them. I personally prefer and recommend short newsletters because they are more likely to be read. I subscribe to many newsletters and find that when I am going through my email newsletters I tend to read the short ones first and put the longer ones on the back burner to “read later” when I have more time. I find that when I finally get to them, if I get to them at all, the information may no longer be relevant. I have also found that if the newsletter sits in my folder long enough, I will sometimes end up just deleting it because it has gotten old. This may not be your experience, but it is mine and I can’t help but believe that with how busy people are today, that many newsletters are being put on the side for a “later time”.
Whatever you decide to do, weekly or monthly, long or short, make sure you are giving your email list something. Selling your products and/or services is a goal but should not be done in every newsletter. If you are providing good information, you will sell your product and/or service. I have been receiving an email newsletter for a while now that I don’t even open anymore. Sometimes I will open it just to see if maybe it will be different this time, but no.. she is doing the same thing each and every time I get her newsletter. All she does is sell, other than the initial ebook that I downloaded when I joined her list, I haven’t received any more information. Her emails are always about trying to get me to buy something. The reason why I don’t unsubscribe is so ever time I see her newsletter I am reminded about what NOT to do. I am also hoping that one day she will “get it” and provide me with a snippet of information. I am by no means saying you shouldn’t promote your products, what I am saying is that is not all you do. Promoting your products and/or services in your newsletter is fine but sprinkling it throughout the newsletter along with solid and interesting content will make for a more successful newsletter.
The bottom line is you want to give your audience a reason to read your newsletter and visit your website. If you are providing good content in your newsletter then you are not only selling yourself, but you are establishing yourself as an expert and ultimately that will lead to sales.
Next week I will be talking about listing services. It will be my final post in the Publishing a Winning Newsletter series.