7 Rules of Effective Newsletters
1) Stick to a firm schedule. You can publish your newsletter on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. But whichever frequency you choose, publish and deliver your print or ezine newsletter regularly. Haphazard and sporadic newsletters create an image of amateurism.
2) Keep your newsletter format as simple as possible -- unless you're publishing a newsletter on cutting-edge razzle-dazzle graphic design techniques. People follow newsletters for the useful, fresh and relevant information they contain. Give your readers what they want instead of what you think they should want.
3) Provide simple and correct navigational links and/or a Table of Contents to help your readers easily find what they're looking for. A front-page sidebar is the perfect location for such navigational aids.
4) Provide an Executive Summary for all articles over 300 words. People are busy and they usually skim over long articles. By supplying them with a summary of long articles you'll help them absorb the material quickly. They'll be thanking you for it.
5) Avoid the "we/us/our" language and replace it with a "you/your" orientation. YOU (together with FREE) is the most magical word in the copywriting universe. Use it liberally in all pages of your newsletter. Your newsletter readers are there not to read about you but to find solutions to their problems. Provide them with answers to THEIR problems by maintaining a "You Posture."
6) Don't forget to provide your contact information on every page of your newsletter. At a minimum, you should supply your readers with your web address, email address, and your phone number. Footers and headers are perfect for that purpose. If you are pitching a product or service through your newsletter, keep in mind that an 800 Toll-Free phone number can increase the response rate by an average of 15%.
7) Provide a simple way or link (for ezine newsletters) to unsubscribe from your newsletter and another link to subscribe to it. According to the U.S. laws, you also need to provide a physical mailing address. Most commercial email delivery companies refuse to deliver ezine newsletters without the physical address of the publisher.
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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a senior writer and web content consultant with 20 years of experience.
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