Making Your Newsletter Effective

Critiqued by Cowboytf | November 7, 2007 .

This is a great way to reach out to your loyal readers and provide them with some more valuable or useful information. Your newsletter can be daily, weekly, or monthly. Depending on your niche, you may only need a monthly newsletter.

Pick a theme. You can choose a full color newsletter or a basic text newsletter. The majority of readers will prefer some color while reading their newsletter. At least this is what I prefer.
Quick view. Use bold headlines and links that stand out and get your readers attention. They may not have time to read the entire newsletter at the moment but will scan through to see if anything interests them.
Graphics. This is just as important in a newsletter as it is in a post. It makes the overall newsletter more inviting so it doesn’t just look like the subscriber is reading a book.
Advertising within newsletter. Advertising is everywhere and your newsletter is no exception, however, I recommend you minimize by keeping advertisements to 3 or below.
Proofread. Please, please do this. There is nothing more unprofessional than finding misspelled words and misplaced punctuations everwhere.
Spreading the word. Get the word out that you have a newsletter by emailing to your list, forums, etc. Have your subscription link/button close to the top of your blog so it can be noticed. Also, in your newsletter, encourage people to forward to their friends and offer a link for unsubscribed readers to become subscribed:)

I plan to do this in the coming months. If you haven’t created a newsletter, you will need to register with a form builder. I recommend Web Form Designer or Form Builder.

TIP: Meeting the can-SPAM standards. In the footer of your newsletter, include your company name, address, and contact information. Inform users why they are receiving your newsletter and how than can unsubscribe. If people unsubscribe, make sure you take them off the list within 10 days.