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Tips Provided by Dan Janal, author of
Branding the Net
The number one reason why people don't join newsletters is
because they're afraid of being spammed.
One of the most effective ways I've found of staying in touch
with customers and prospects over a long period of time is with
my newsletter, which I send by e-mail every month. If people
read it, they get great marketing information and I build my
brand image with them. Even if people delete the newsletter,
they still have to read my name and that makes an impression.
If, for any reason, you are unable to write a newsletter, you
can get the exact same benefits by writing a "Tip of the Day,"
or "Tip of the Week," or "Tip of the Month," and sending it to
your list by e-mail.
One very important way to get people to return again and again to your
website is by publishing an ezine. This is by far the best way to get those
visitors back for a number of reasons. First, by publishing an ezine and
gaining readers you have a direct communication path to your audience. You
can tell them whatever you want, whenever you want (within reason), and
they have actually volunteered to receive it.
By committing to a publishing schedule you are committing to adding new
content to your site (hopefully) at least on that schedule. New content is
really the key to getting people to return, and your ezine is a way to
inform them that you have new stuff for them to look at.
It adds a bit of professionalism to your site to publish an ezine. It makes
you appear like you are going to be around for a while. In addition, you
are telling your visitors that not only do you have something to say, but you
will continue to say it.
Spend some time thinking about what you want to accomplish with your ezine.
What is your primary goal? Is it to inform people of changes to your site
or to sell them a product? Perhaps you want to make them laugh? Ask yourself
questions to be sure you understand your purpose.
Once you've got the goal understood, think about what you are going to be
doing for content. Are you going to include your own original articles or
reprint articles from other sources? Writing your own articles is ideal
(since presumably people want to read your ezine because they want your
opinions and information, not some other persons), but failing that you can
easily find other sources for free content (article_announce@egroups.com is
a very good place to start).
One thing you will want to decide is how the content will be presented. You
can (a) include all of the articles completely in your ezine, (b) only
include a few paragraphs, then a "continued" link, or (c) just include a
brief description followed by a link. Personally, I prefer options (a) and
(c). I strongly dislike reading a few paragraphs only to find I have to
click a link to finish up.
Always be sure your ezine is "opt-in". This means your subscribers choose
to receive your newsletter and can stop at any time. Never, ever even think
about sending your newsletter unsolicited ... you will get slammed for
spamming very fast if you do this.
I always include a link at the bottom of the page which, when clicked,
causes the person to be unsubscribed. It is always a good idea to make this
link very obvious. Be absolutely sure that it is simple and straightforward
to stop receiving the newsletter - this is your best way to prevent anyone
from saying you are spamming.
You will need to promote your ezine vigorously. You should put the
subscription address everywhere you include your web site address. This
includes your email signature, web site, classifieds, FFA listings,
business cards ... everywhere. In fact, you should have a subscription link on every
single page on your web site. Remember, everyone who gets your ezine almost
certainly will visit your website, but the reverse is not true. What I mean
by this is someone who subscribes is far more valuable (by an order of
magnitude) than someone who merely visits your site.
You need to choose a format. You can publish in plain text or HTML, and
each method has it's advantages and disadvantages. HTML tends to look better
and more professional, while plain text can be read by any email client.
Publishing your ezine is simple. Some people use tools to publish through
their web provider - personally I would recommend strongly against this
method. The reason is simple: web providers are not mass emailers, and
they tend to have problems sending to more than a few hundred addresses. They
are also far more sensitive to spam reports than mass emailing companies. Mass
emailers tend to get this kind of report all of the time and know how to
deal with them. Thus, you will not have your emailing privileges suspended
for false accusations.
When you begin publishing your ezine, a service such as Bravenet makes
sense. You can send your newsletter to as many as 500 subscribers, and it
supports both plain text and HTML. Once you have more than 500 subscribers
you can find a different service (or use Bravenet's paid service) which
supports more addresses.
One fact you had better understand from the beginning - creating and
maintaining an ezine can be a heck of a lot of work. In fact, depending
upon your publishing schedule it can be far more work than maintaining your web
site. So before you begin, be sure you are willing to put in the time.
The first (and often the only) thing that people see when they read your
ezine is the subject line. A good subject tells your reader exactly what is
inside the ezine in terms that make him want to open it up right away. A
poor subject line probably means a quick trip to the trash can - unread and
unwanted. A spam-like subject line can cause your email address, regardless
of it's innocence, to be added to spam filters so nothing of yours is ever
read by that person again.
If you want to increase the chances that your ezine is read, be sure and
create a meaningful subject line. This is true regardless of whether you
are selling something or writing a love poem to your honey - create a
meaningful subject and your email will get read.
If you've got a very long ezine, then it is probably a good idea to start
with a table of contents. This makes a lot of sense if the ezine is in HTML
format, as you can include hyperlinks to each article.
I like to include mostly, if not all, original content in an ezine in most
instances. Why? Well, when I sign up for an ezine, I am interested in the
knowledge and opinions of the ezine publisher (usually a single person or a
small group). Unless the third-party articles are very well focused, I am
very likely to delete or unsubscribe if there is not enough original
content. This also holds true of websites - I will probably not visit a web
site a second time if the only thing it contains is regurgitated content.
Be sure and include an archive of previous editions of your ezine on your
web site. Why? Because you've gone through some work to create your ezine
and you can get more use out of it still by putting it on your web site.
First, by including an archive you add credibility, especially as the
archive grows. It shows that your newsletter is indeed published on a
regular basis. Second, you can post the newsletter as a web page (convert
it to HTML if it is a text ezine), add some keywords and you've added yet
another page for search engines to find. This is a great way to pick up
visitors.
You MUST ensure that it is easy for someone to opt-out of your ezine. A
single click or a reply to an email, that's all it should take. Do not
require them to do any more. Otherwise, you are taking the chance that you
will be reported as a spammer.
The best sign-up method is a double opt-in system. What this means is
someone subscribes on my web site via a web page. They enter their email
address and click submit. Now an email is sent to their email address,
which they must respond to in order to be added to the list. This makes
absolutely sure that a person not only wants to subscribe, but that the email address
is indeed his email address. This is about as safe as you can get.
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