How To Start An Email Newsletter
Author: Jason OConnor

Here are the goals:

You regularly send out relevant and anticipated email newsletters to
your ever-growing list. You have a form on your website that asks
people to sign up for your email newsletter. When someone signs up,
they give you their name and email address and they receive a few
automatic and customized emails that you previously crafted while they
wait for their first newsletter edition. You have a database that
stores each person's email address and you have a way to send out
regular emails to them all, including beautiful HTML newsletters
(e-zines). You watch the list grow over time and watch readers turn
into customers.

Here are the benefits:

• You are continually building a list of loyal readers that grows over time
• Your readers spread the word that your organization is helpful,
knowledgeable and experienced.
• Your readers are regularly reminded of your organization's continued
existence, growth and relevance.
• Some loyal readers will turn into loyal paying customers.
• You learn more about your customers and site visitors by asking them
to communicate with you through the newsletter.
• You generate a new income stream by selling advertisement space
• You'll have a regular source of fresh and original content to add to
your website which will help search engine rankings.

There are two distinct, but equally important aspects of starting an
email newsletter that need to be addressed for you to accomplish the
goals and gain the benefits listed above. First, you need the
infrastructure and functionality to make all this happen, such as a
database, an HTML form, a method for sending out emails in quantity
and so forth. Second, you need the content that will be in each
newsletter. This article will explain how to do both.

The Needed Infrastructure & Functionality for an Email Newsletter

Does getting the infrastructure sound difficult? Does it sound like
you have to know a lot about programming? Neither is true. This wheel
doesn't need to be re-invented.

There are a number of websites that offer paid services that provide
the entire infrastructure for you. The cost is a fraction of the cost
of developing the infrastructure yourself. Two good examples of this
type of service are Constant Contact and Aweber. I prefer Aweber and
find its interface intuitive and easy to use. I use Aweber for our
company email newsletter and suggest it to all our clients.

Using a browser I can log into my Aweber account and create text or
HTML email auto-responder messages for people to receive when they
visit our site or sign up for our e-zine. I can create a simple HTML
form that asks for people's name and email as well. In fact, the html
code for the form is created for me and all I have to do is cut and
paste it into my site. No programming needed.

Each person's information is stored in a database on Aweber's servers.
I can manage my leads list in my browser and sort by different ways.
It also allows me to see how many of my auto-responders have been sent
already. And every email that we send out has a personalized first
name greeting.

There is a place in Aweber where I can manage my messages, whether
they are regular emails to part of the list or a newsletter that's
sent to the entire list. And there is a place where I can enter my
messages, edit them, check to see if they will trip any sp@m filters,
I can test the messages by sending them to my own email address first,
and finally I can send them all out at once with one simple click.

The Needed Quality Content for an Email Newsletter

It's not good enough to just have the infrastructure and
functionality. You need content that makes people want to accept and
read your newsletters over and over again.

Your newsletter ought to be related to your website and organization.
Every person and organization has valuable and unique knowledge and
experience to offer others. And you'd be surprised at how many people
want your unique knowledge. Sharing this knowledge and experience with
your existing and potential customers is what the Web is all about.
People use the Web for getting information. So make your newsletters
about various aspects of your business or organization, and make them
educational, so that your readers come away with more useful
information than they had before.

So if you're a Web design firm, write about Web design in your
newsletters. If you're a small local bookstore, write about how to
become an author, or how to start a local bookstore. If you're a
financial advisor, write about how people can make sound investments.
If you're a furniture builder and seller, write about how to fix up
old pieces of furniture on your own.

Newsletters that are just extended advertisements don't cut it. If
your newsletter only has announcements of new or improved products or
services, or specials that you're running, then you're missing the
boat completely. There is so much more you can offer.

Creating newsletters that contain useful, relevant and anticipated
information for your readers is what to aspire to. You want to give
away ideas and concepts for free that can be used to help improve some
aspect of your reader's lives. You obviously don't want to give away
the whole farm since a lot of your expertise is what you charge for in
the first place. But giving some information away for free is a
win-win.

Most often, your readers don't care about you or your company or your
specific products or deals, they only care about what you can do for
them. If they take the time to open your email newsletter and read it,
it better provide them with some real value or they won't bother again
and your list will not grow, but eventually wither away into oblivion.

In return for providing useful, original content, you develop a
constantly growing list of loyal readers who will spread the word that
you are an authority in your field. Your readers may eventually buy
from you if they haven't already. And you can use your list to
occasionally sell your products or services, but do this very
sparingly. You can use the newsletter for selling advertisement space,
but again, use sparingly. Finally, you can use your list to learn more
about your customers and site visitors. You can ask the people on your
list to fill out an online survey, but be sure to offer them an
incentive for their time.

If you don't know any programming or HTML but want to send out a
regular newsletter, you can use Aweber to create text-only messages.
If you want to send out professional HTML email newsletters, then
either learn HTML and design (which is obviously time-consuming, but
certainly possible), or hire a Web firm to do it for you. I would also
suggest hiring a firm to help you with writing the content as well if
you're not comfortable with writing.

But as you can see, you don't need much to get an email newsletter
going. If you can regularly create quality content, just sign up for
an online service like Aweber and away you go. An internal customer
email list is a very valuable asset for any organization. Handle it
with loving care. Never sell or rent your list to anyone, try to offer
value in your writing, and don't overuse it as an advertisement
medium.

Good luck and happy e-zining!

Jason OConnor is president of Oak Web Works, LLC
http://www.oakwebworks.com/email-newsletter-services.htm, a
full-service Web firm. He also runs Get Your Tickets
http://www.BestShowTicketsLasVegas.com