I began designing a newsletter about three months ago. I use a very popular web hosting company that provides excellant templates for newsletters. All I need to do is draft it, (I use MSWord to format and SPELL CHECK it as well), then copy/paste the final draft into the template.

At first, I was literally "lost for words". I knew two basic concept were, to always have meaningful and informative content, and eye catching headers when the newsletter is delivered. Let's hold that thought for a moment.

Okay, decision made! Who do I mail to? The same company that provides my templates also has an "optin magnet" HTML code that I uploaded to my website.

I display that optin form on the front page of my website. This is a 100% optin newsletter, so verification emails must be sent. That is done automatically by the same company that delivers my newsletter.

Then I started "fishing". Guess what? My optin subscribers began growing. I am pleased to announce that my list is not only growing, but the rentention rate is nearly 100%.

In addition to the newsletter, I developed a short survey my vivitors complete. Included in the survey are questions like:

What is your computer skill level?
Do you own an Internet business?
Would you like more information regarding
Internet marketing and advertising?

and of course their name and address.

The results to date have been excellant. I look forward to publishing my next newsleter with enthusiasm and a desire to make the next better than the last.

If you wold like ideas on how to promote your newsletter let me know.


James A. Holish

1. Post your ezine in Ezine listing directories.
2. Ask your friends to keep a link to your newsletter on their websites.
3. Offer freebies to encourage signing up.
4. In your newsletter, ask your subscriber to forward it to his/her friends.
5. Archive your newsletter online. So search engines crawl the content > more traffic. Once you have valuable ezine, people like to subscribe.

Ummm.. anymore ideas?

I've been using a popular newsletter (ezine) site as well.  My results have not been that successful.  Of course, I have a confirmed email list of prior clients that receive a copy monthly.  BUT I haven't been able to interest them in taking advantages of the FREE services or DISCOUNTS.  I know the material is being read because the site I use provides that information.  I'm beginning to think that I am marketing to the wrong group of people.

What are your thoughts?  I really need some FRESH information on writing ezines.

Diane M. Hess
www.hbpassociates.biz

Although newsletters are still effective, they have lost a lot of their effectiveness due to countermeasures taken by ISP's against spam (and who can blame these ISPs?).  RSS feeds are quickly growing to be a popular option, at least with the relatively tech-savvy crowd.

The best option is the most obvious...offer quality content.  Do not worry about getting ads in place initially, focus on the content.  Site Reference did not begin actively selling ads until nearly a year after we started our newsletter.  Content came first as we established a trusting relationship with our subscribers.  After a year had passed we started offering paid ads that were relevant to what our readers were looking for.