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.

Tips Provided by Richard Lowe of Internet Tips and Secrets

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.