An email newsletter can
provide you with a unique
opportunity to educate
potential customers and
clients about your services
and products through an
educational and relevant
newsletter.
While it is possible to send
out your newsletter through
your current email software,
such as Microsoft Outlook or
Outlook Express, this
solution should only be used
for very small lists (under
25 names). Trying to keep
track of those who sign up
each day, as well as those
who would like to be removed
from your list, can quickly
prove to be overwhelming. A
more effective solution is
through a hosted application
that does all of the hard
work for you.
A few of the more popular
mailing list vendors include
Topica (www.topica.com),
Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com)
and Campaign Monitor (www.campaignmonitor.com).
Prices range from $10.00 –
$49.95 per month, depending
on the size and frequency of
your mailing list. These
services are easy to set up,
and give you the option of
importing an existing list
of customer email addresses
into the software or
starting from scratch with a
new list.
The basic requirement after
signing up for the service
is to add a sign up field to
your web site to start
capturing email addresses.
The addresses are then
stored in your account
database to be used for each
of your mailing list
campaigns.
A few things to think about
before starting your email
newsletter:
1. Who is your
target audience?
Will your newsletter be for
a specific target market? If
your website caters to more
than one target market, it
may be a good idea to
provide multiple
newsletters.
2. How often will
you be sending out your
newsletter?
Newsletters can provide a
valuable resource to your
customers and clients when
sent out on a regular basis.
A weekly newsletter may
prove to be a bit much to
start with, perhaps a
monthly or quarterly
approach would be an easier
way to begin.
3. Where will the
content for your newsletter
come from?
Will you be writing all of
the newsletter content
yourself, or will you be
using an outside vendor to
generate your content? One
possibility is to ask
permission from other
writers to use their
articles in your newsletter,
or provide links to relevant
topics.
4. How will you
promote your newsletter?
How will potential customers
find out about your
newsletter? Make sure to
promote your newsletter on
all of your marketing
materials to help build your
subscriber list.
5. Where will you
put the sign up form on your
website?
You should place your sign
up section in a prominent
position on your web site,
such as on your home page. A
good place is usually “above
the fold”, which means that
a customer does not have to
scroll down the page to see
the form.
A newsletter is an excellent
way for your company to keep
in touch with clients and
potential customers on a
regular basis. By taking
advantage of popular mailing
list software, you can save
yourself time to focus on
the most important part of
your newsletter, the
content.
