Do you market online? One way to make your website more interactive with your customers is to create an eNewsletter. You can send it out by email and you can put it online on your website or in your blog if you have one.

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Creating an Effective Newsletter

Creating a successful newsletter can be extremely rewarding. Subscribers and customers respond with glowing feedback, online sales jump and your customer relationships and brand loyalty strengthens. Here are some useful tips that will you create a successful newsletter:

Define Success

Ask yourself, “What is the purpose of my newsletter?” A newsletter is a substantial investment of company resources in terms of time and energy, and you need to define in as tangible terms as possible the purpose of your newsletter.

Voice and Personality

Establish a voice or editorial personality – whether newsy, serious, gossipy or funny – that is synergistic with the image you want to portray and connects with your audience. Remember that email newsletters aren’t email promotions designed to stimulate immediate action. Sales and promotional copy don’t suit e-newsletters. Nor does the traditional tone of broadcast corporate communications.

Think of your newsletter as a one-on-one conversation. Just imagine sitting in a coffee shop talking informally with a customer. That’s the starting point for your approach–a more personable and appropriate “human” voice will come naturally. Drop the jargon, drop the sales pitch, be as honest as you can, and talk like a human being.

You can have as much or as little personality as is appropriate. Consider including a brief editorial, a comment or two, an editor’s note, a couple of lines of commentary, a touch of opinion; add a little human element here and there. Sign editorials, give authors a byline, or list some names down in the administrative section of each issue to which your readers can relate

“From” Line

Whether a person’s name, name of the newsletter or company name – decide what resonates best with your readers and stick with it.

“Subject” Line

“Vol. 1, Issue #8” or “Company News” are not enticing subject lines. They are certainly consistent and simple, but they don’t tell your readers anything that will motivate them to open your email. Your subject line is your calling card - entice your readers with the most interesting or intriguing information in your newsletter.

Style/Format

Establish a format and layout of your newsletter’s various elements (table of contents, article, sponsor ad, “Tips”, subscription information, etc.) that is clean, simple and consistent with each issue.

Content

Figure out what your readers want and give it to them. Seek continuous improvement by obtaining reader feedback and monitoring click-through rates to determine what types of articles are most popular.

Another dilemma that we all confront is too much information and too little time. The newsletter’s job is to keep readers on top of trends and the latest developments in the industry. Aim for articles and feature stories to meet one of the following criteria by including either: major industry occurrences, forward-thinking industry ideas, education on issues or new techniques, or business opportunities.

Whether your customers work out of a corporate or home office, employees need answers to questions and tips for improving business activities. E-newsletters provide you with an opportunity to point out work inefficiencies, and share relevant best practice. When you create a newsletter, try changing your focus from selling products and services to solving your customers’ problems. Think about what they need and give options they don’t know exist.

Frequency

Determine how frequently your readers want to hear from you and what you can commit to. As a rule of thumb, a weekly newsletter is ideal. However, don’t launch a weekly newsletter if you are not absolutely certain that you can distribute a quality newsletter every week. A bi-weekly newsletter is a good option too.

Timing

Test and pick a day and time that works best and stick to it. Readers should almost be able to set their watches by the receipt time of your newsletter.

Make it Viral

Provide information to readers that inspires them to forward that information to friends and peers, which in turn stimulates purchases or requests for additional information. Make it easy for readers to forward articles and information to their circle of influence such as providing a “Forward to a Friend” link that enables readers to forward your newsletter with a personalized note.

Search

Make it easy to find articles of interest and back issues. Provide a table of contents and links to articles within the newsletter and to resources and past articles on your site.

Printing

Consider providing “printer-friendly formats” on your website.

Personalize

At minimum, address your reader by name. The most successful newsletters have a human being associated with them — and a personality. If possible, your newsletter should be written by a person at your company, not the company.

Write in Layman Terms with Simple Vocabulary

Not everyone has the vocabulary that you and editors do. Use words that are easy to understand, and if you do use technical terms, provide a definition that people can relate to. There is nothing more frustrating then a definition that makes less sense than the word itself.

Test

Test your newsletter on a few personal email addresses to check for errors and other issues before sending to the entire distribution list. If you lack experience in print media, seek out assistance if you know someone in the field. If not, don’t worry. The above-mentioned principles apply. Plan to research your material thoroughly and avoid factual or editing errors, as they will make you seem less credible.

Add hyperlinks and include updates on old material should new information surface. The typical form of newsletter is a one-way communication where you provide information to customers, such as product updates and announcements. You have the option of formatting your email by including colorized text and a variety of fonts, but not all email software supports HTML mail. Consider writing your newsletter in plain text or offer two mailing lists — one for plain text mailings and the other for HTML email.

Make sure you Include:

.. Table of Contents
.. Hyperlinks for customers who want more information for a featured topic
.. Exciting secrets or tips related to your product or service
.. Contact information

E-newsletters can take up a good amount of time if not managed correctly. The use of an autoresponder is a good option. It will automatically manage a list of email addresses and other important subscriber information that you’ve collected. Once your newsletter is ready, you can send it out to your entire mailing list (or sub-sections of your list) with one single click through your autoresponder, and message will be personalized to each individual subscriber.

Jeff Schuman publishes his make money newsletter Team-Schuman Marketplace every week to help people learn how to make money on the internet. You can get it for free here:

http://www.team-schuman.com/newsletter.html