Posted by arlene

Create and acquire compelling content

To add value to announcement newsletters and make content-driven newsletters appealing, you must offer your newsletter subscribers something of real interest — tips, specials, intriguing content, and so on. Make the subject line of the newsletter concise but also intriguing. In the subject line, indicate what benefit the newsletter has for the user (”Fresh tulips on sale now!” or “Plant perfect roses”). In general, active verbs work well in the subject lines of newsletters that contain instructional material, and adjectives are effective for experience-oriented material (like gardening, travel, or food newsletters). If you send out several newsletters, differentiate them by topic or some other system; you don’t want users to think they are duplicates and discard them.

Where, oh where can you get real, value-added content for your newsletters? You can, of course, write it yourself. Information from press releases and reports from the online newswires can also be a rich source of content. (You should actually write it up; don’t just lift the reports.) Seek out online news bureaus related to your topic and comb the press releases posted there. Search for newsworthy stories that relate to your topic and that will interest your audience. Alternatively, subscribe to the newswire sites‘ e-mail newsletter services, and get the stories you want delivered to your e-mail in-box.

You can also publish user-submitted content. Ask users to send in tips, “war” stories, recipes, or whatever. You can create a special section of the newsletter that’s devoted to user comments and even solicit story ideas. If you do any of these things, credit the source. People generally love seeing their names in (virtual) lights. For many people, posting their names is payment enough. You get unique content; they get recognition.

Use fabulous formatting

Your e-mail newsletters can go out in the usual text-based format, but that doesn’t have to mean no-frills ASCII text. You can use keyboard characters like plus signs and periods (+.+.+.+), hyphens (- - -), and tildes (~~~) to make the presentation snappy.

As always, we caution you not to clutter up things. Visual appeal goes by the wayside when formatting tricks turn into readability speed bumps. To prevent lines of text from breaking in odd places in some e-mail programs, stick to 65 characters per line, at most.

Another alternative is to send newsletters in the more graphically sophisticated HTML format. HTML-formatted e-newsletters offer more options for page layout creativity than text-based messages. However, HTML-formatted newsletters download more slowly, and only subscribers whose e-mail programs are HTML-enabled can view these beauties. You probably want to offer subscribers the option of choosing either HTML- or text-based formatted e-mail.

Treat subscribers well indeed

As you know, permission is the name of the game in Internet marketing. Don’t simply bombard an unsuspecting user with your publication: That tactic will blow up in your face when users unsubscribe in droves. For success, you must treat your newsletter recipients with the respect they deserve. Doing so boosts your credibility and lessens the energy you have to expend to manage your newsletter. Follow these tips:

For best results, let people “opt in.” Research and user response have proven that click-through rates can double and sometimes triple when folks have the option to subscribe willingly to what actually interests them. Don’t presume that everyone who visits your site or registers there automatically wants to hear from you. Letting users opt in (elect to receive your messages) gets the nod from them.

Make unsubscribing a clear option. Users find having options (such as the option to unsubscribe) comforting, although they frequently don’t exercise their options. You risk little and gain a lot by offering an easy exit. Tell folks how to unsubscribe, how to subscribe to other offerings you might have, and how to submit a change-of-e-mail address if need be. A link to your Help page is also handy to users.

Tread carefully on the privacy of others! A user who has subscribed to one list doesn’t necessarily want more. Fail to respect people’s privacy, and you risk alienation and online ruin. Also, if you feel compelled to make your subscriber list available to others (or hit up your list for donations to the noble cause of sending your kid’s bagpipe band to march in Scotland next summer), at least make sure you’ve gained the permission of each and every subscriber on that list. Include a sentence on the original sign-up page notifying people of your intentions and offering them the opportunity to opt out of (or exclude themselves from) any lists you sell to others, share, or use in any way other than the way they are expecting.

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