Improving Your Online Newsletter: Part 2
- by Gary B. Smith
Continually Improve Your Content
In newsletter creation, content is king. Content is often the aspect
that is ignored in many articles on newsletter creation, but it is
the crux of a good newsletter. Think of information that your target
market would be hungry for. Then offer it to them for free. An e-newsletter
can also create new channels of revenue you never considered. You
could sell classified advertising in your newsletter. You could 'syndicate'
it to other Internet and Web publishers for an annual fee. And be
sure to post samples of your newsletter on your Web site. This is
a great way to get people to come back to your site time after time.
The very first aspect of planning the content of your newsletter is
to determine what would be the best "value proposition" for the client.
In other words, devote some time to find out precisely what it is
your clients would expect from an e-newsletter, particularly the type
of content he or she would find most valuable. Conducting some informal
research - even if you have to initially employ a test user base to
get answers - will be rewarding. Once you've decided on the main theme
of the content, make it the focal-point when advertising your newsletter.
Content will depend on many aspects but always try to add news and
updates about events in the area with which you are dealing. Another
aspect that helps to build your subscriber base is the tone of the
writing. A personal tone and friendly approach will be much more attractive
than a deadpan cold or formal approach to the writing of the content.
The content of your newsletter is an aspect that needs continual updating
and research. It is important to keep track of what is old and not
working. In order to achieve this one should make use of a service
or build newsletter analysis into the newsletter on your own. Using
analyses of newsletter feedback tell you about readership trends from
newsletter to newsletter. What types of articles are read the most
and which are not. If you don't have access to feedback and analysis
tools then simply send a survey to your subscribers to find out what
their content preferences are.
It is important to recreate and energize your newsletter continually.
One method is to add a column to the newsletter in which executives
or staff in your company talk about their experience or on various
topics of interest. Each company has experts in different fields -
add their views and thoughts to the e-mail.
Developing a Two-Way Relationship
A newsletter is generally perceived as a marketing tool that only
promotes a one-way communication with the subscriber, yet today's
marketing trend demands that one-on-one marketing strategy be implemented
for any campaign to succeed. This can easily be implemented in an
e-mail newsletter. Two-way communication is all about building confidence
and trust between yourself and your subscribers. One sure way is to
create the opportunity for clients to verbalize their preferences
and needs. Gather this information via an e-mail link or by adding
a suggestion box to your HTML newsletter. Use the word "we" often
to enforce the idea of a relationship and community. Topic segmentation
is another option to improve customer relationships. This means that
you divide your e-mail newsletter into different topics or areas of
interest to send to those subscribers who expressed their preference
areas. E-mail analytics are usually based on demographic factors,
such as location. Try to build in more analysis-based client preferences
and interests. A letters to the editor section can also add to the
feeling of client involvement. Another aspect to consider in enhancing
your content and building client interest are backgrounders. Backgrounders
refer to a concept that deals with the way in which different products
or services work or a comparison of different products or technologies.
A similar idea is the discussion of case histories in your newsletter.
Running surveys can also add to the inter-relationship with your clients;
asking the readers to respond to a questionnaire is a sure way of
generating two-way communication.
Distributing Your Newsletter
Some newsletter writers simply add all subscriber addresses to the
"To" line of their e-mail applications when sending a newsletter.
This is often a bad idea and a poor form of distribution as everyone's
e-mail address will be visible to all recipients, which is not a desirable
move in these days of Spam and the increasing emphasis on privacy.
To distribute your newsletter, you need to take advantage of the numerous
newsletter and e-zine services that are on offer. These services take
care of the e-mail distribution, and also provide an analysis service
that enables the newsletter creator to see how many mails have been
opened and how many links have been used within that e-mail, as well
as viewing the number of blocked e-mails. Some of these services are
free of change and seem to work well. One of the better free services
is E-zine Manager at www.ezinemanager.com;
Topica at www.topica.com
also provides a free service, as well as some obligatory advertising.
A paying site that offers a three month trial period is Constant Contact
at www.constantcontact.com.
While all these services provide basic distribution methods, some
also provide professional templates for a variety of newsletters and
promotional e-mails. However, one downside of these services is that
some Internet Service Providers have targeted them as distributors
of spam and automatically block e-mails that originate from that specific
source whatever their content. Consider as well that compulsory advertising
is not really an attractive option if you wish to offer a professional
service. The best method is to try each service before you commit
yourself. Klixxx hears the best new service of this type will be www.bighip.com,
offering a comprehensive package with reasonable pricing.
Building
Your Mailing List
Building your own mailing list is an essential part of your newsletter
strategy. It is important to only include those recipients who have
given permission to receive your newsletter - in other words, "opt-in"
clients. Getting branded as a spammer will definitely detract from
the validity and professionalism of your service. The most obvious
and effective way to do this is to add a subscribe feature to your
site inviting users to join the mailing list. Make sure that you clearly
spell out the advantages of the list. Many of the e-mail list services
mentioned provide attractive e-mail subscription links that you can
add to your site, plus a professional acceptance message and even
e-mail notification of acceptance to the list. Importantly, make sure
that you emphasize that you will not use your subscribers addresses
in any illegal way or violate their privacy by passing them on to
a third party.
Another method of gaining subscribers that many webmasters forget
about is to announce your newsletter on the many newsgroups that cater
for your particular service or product. Have a look at Google groups
for newsgroups that you can post your newsletter ad to. Of course
if your list is relatively small you can distribute your newsletter
without any assistance from an e-mail service. An important factor
to always remember is that it is considered unprofessional and a transgression
of good "netiquette" to use the CC: feature in your e-mail application
to more than five people, as this violates the promise you make about
subscriber privacy.
A good database of subscribers and interested clients in your product
or service is a valued asset in your marketing campaign. Create incentives
to attract subscribers. Firstly, make sure that the sign-up box is
visible on your homepage; don't bury it in a link to another page.
Another way of increasing your database is to get subscribers to refer
others to your newsletter by including a 'send this to a friend' link.
You can also create a pop-up window with a subscription box. However,
use pop-up's with discretion because they've have fallen into disfavor
lately as many users see this as obtrusive; use code that includes
a "cookie" so that the box does not appear again to repeat visitors.
It is also important to make sure that your newsletter is available
on search engines and crawlers. Consider making use of offline media
- such as direct mail as well as print and broadcast media - to invite
subscribers to join.
The secret is simply to work hard at using your initiative not only
to draw new subscribers to your database but also to make sure that
you retain the ones you already have. The content of the newsletter
and the way it is organized will do more to increase your database
than any involved marketing campaign.
Is Anybody Reading This?
Measuring the success of your newsletters is not only important to
boost your confidence, but also helps to determine how to improve
your publication. There are a number of key factors in this area to
consider. Firstly, the 'open rate' of your newsletter is calculated
as the total number of people who open the e-mail newsletter divided
by the total number of e-mails successfully delivered; this figure
should be over 50 percent. This will only work for HTML newsletters
as the code required needs to be inserted into the header section
of the letter. Note that many of the online services - free and subscription
- offer this sort of information for your e-mail campaigns. Knowing
how many subscribers actually open your newsletter is an important
indication of the way you are marketing and the impact of your e-mail
subject line. The number of "Click-through's" or links on your newsletter
that are clicked on will also be an indication of the success of the
content and advertising. You can measure the effect of any advertising
in your newsletter by dividing the number of click-through's on a
sponsor's ad by the number of e-mails opened. Of course the number
of 'unsubscribe' messages - as opposed to 'subscribe' massages - will
certainty tell you something about the effectiveness of your newsletter
and its content.
While all these quantitative methods of determining the success of
your newsletter are helpful, there are more qualitative measurements
that might be more helpful in the long-run. These are responses from
subscribers on the actual content, design, user-friendliness and other
factors that build a good interactive newsletter. Take note of both
positive and negative feedback from subscribers. Criticism is, in
effect, constructive feedback that helps you improve on your product.
Make sure to thank your subscribers for their valued participation.
PART ONE: Improve
Your Newsletter
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