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Published on: October 11, 2007
Key elements for creating a newsletter Many businesses that rely on online sales have discovered that focusing on specific marketing techniques has brought forth much more benefits rather than just having a Web site and waiting for it to perform miracles. Among the marketing techniques quite at hand for most businesses is the well-known newsletter. But in order to be lucrative and efficient, a newsletter has to reach the right audience. Once you master the secrets of the newsletter subscribers lists, you can say that you're on your way to effective email marketing.
The Importance of Newsletters The newsletter can be considered one of the best email marketing strategies. Since newsletters are distributed mostly via email nowadays, it is easy to understand why they are one of the greatest means of getting in touch with and offering information to simple visitors of your Web site, but also to prospects. Given that newsletters are meant to offer the most up-to-date information to a select group of Web users, they can help you build trust and gain those Web users' confidence, but only if the information you provide is genuine. Advantages - If properly optimized for search engines, it can be found by your potential niche segment customers, meaning they will be able to reach your site and the possibility for conversions increases.
- Based on a well-structured, well-researched email list, you can reach exactly those people that you know you can rely on to help increase your ROI.
- Newsletters allow you to directly reach your trusted customers by delivering the most up-to-date information directly to their email boxes.
Benefits - A good newsletter is a step stone on the path to acquiring faithful customers.
- Accurate, well-researched information will help you gain a good name, that of an expert in your field.
- An informed customer is much more likely to return to your site and make a purchase.
How to Grow Your Subscribers ListThe solutions available for constantly growing your newsletter list are innumerable. We can only name a few, but rest assured that there are many more. The following tips are organized under three distinct categories: tips pertaining to the quality of your subscriber list, to the research you should perform, and to how you should develop such a list. Tips on List Quality - Don't just add all people that give you their email address. You will end up with a long, but rather irrelevant subscribers list.
- Use a double opt-in confirmation process. This way, not only will you not pass as a spammer, but you will also perform a screening of the subscribers to your newsletter. Only those who are really interested will respond to the confirmation email (the second step of the process) that you send to them.
- Make sure your users can access the newsletter also from your website and that is SEO friendly.
- When optimizing for search engines, make sure the keywords you choose are the best for the audience you are targeting. The more niche-oriented your keywords are, the more likely it is that you will get qualified traffic to your Web site, and that's where the subscription to the newsletter happens.
- Make sure you take the time, every once in a while, to clean up the newsletter list. Some addresses may have become inactive, or have not given you any feedback in a very long time, which makes them useless.
- Implement metric tools for your newsletters to better understand how appreciated your content is and how to make it better.
What to avoid when creating a newsletter campaign.
Tips on List Research - Try to identify, as accurately as possible, the audience you intend to target with your newsletter.
- Make sure you know exactly whom you're addressing to. You can divide the target audience into categories, and decide on what approach to take with regard to each of these categories.
- Make use of various events or shows you attend, and prospect these markets also. Whenever you meet people that work in the same industry as yourself, don't miss the opportunity to talk to them about opting-in to your email list.
Tips on List Development - Have a very simple subscription form, requiring, as a first step, only their email address and their name. Make the subscription process an easy one, and don't ask for a lot of information right from the start. You can always ask for more details during the second step of the opt-in process.
- If you want to reach your prospects (or existing customers), make sure your marketing emails get past spam filters. Words such as "free" or "discount" should not be included in the subject line or in the email itself.
- If you invite people to subscribe to your newsletter via email, you should be aware that personalization goes a long way. Addressing potential subscribers by their first name will make them feel more comfortable and more prone to adding themselves to your list.
- Be consistent. Choose a specific day and time when you deliver the newsletter, and stick to the schedule. Also, choose a layout for the newsletter and refrain from changing it too often.
- Build your newsletter from the perspective of what your subscribers are interested in finding out, not in what you want them to know.
- Create "alliances" with other companies doing business in the same field as yourself (or in complementary fields) and cross-promote each other's newsletters.
- Encourage your subscribers to "tell a friend". "Tell a friend" scripts are small and can be easily embedded within your Web page's code, allowing any of your subscribers to refer you to other people they know and think might be interested in what you have to offer.
- Motivate your potential subscribers by offering them promotions or prizes, such as e-books or various discounts. However, keep in mind that you must convince them that the biggest prize they can get is the chance to read your newsletter.
- Include a signature at the end of your emails, containing information about your business and your personal details. This also helps build trust and provides the email recipients with a link back to the original site.
- Organize older newsletters into archives, with relevant, keyword-rich titles. Web users will thus be able to reach you via a search engine, and they will have the information they are looking for at hand.
- Promote your newsletter. Make yourself seen in relevant places, i.e. closely related to your industry, such as forums or e-zine directories. Some good e-zine directories where you can do this are:
Conclusion
Increasing subscriber lists can be beneficial, if done correctly. Go for quality, not for quantity. It's always better to have less, but more relevant traffic directed towards your Web site, rather than a lot of traffic that doesn't generate sales. Effective email marketing can help you achieve the ROI you're after. You just have to be persistent and have patience. Remember though that you should not add anyone to your email list without their prior consent. Unsolicited email is considered spam, and is frowned upon.
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