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Creating Newsletters -
A Step by Step Guide on
How to Start a Newsletter
More and more people turn to creating newsletters
each day because newsletters are the best way to prove your
expertise and win trust.
Here's a step by step guide on
how to create your own successful and highly profitable
newsletter...
1. Choose a Topic for Your
Newsletter
Since you're going
to write your newsletter on a regular basis, it's essential
that you choose a topic you're passionate about.
Otherwise, it will be too boring and difficult for you to
keep writing a valuable, informative article every day,
week, or month.
I speaking from personal experience. I once
started a newsletter about a topic I didn't enjoy writing
about - because I knew it was a profitable niche.
I spent a lot of time and energy choosing
a name, designing a professional cover, creating an HTML
template, and so on. But after writing a couple of issues,
I discovered I couldn't continue doing that for a long time.
So I stopped publishing my newsletter.
If I knew this secrets earlier, I wouldn't
lose that much of my time. But now you know it. I shared
this secret with you so that you could save yourself a lot
of time by avoiding the mistake I made.
Choose a topic you're passionate about, so
you will have fun writing each of your issues. And be creative.
Your newsletter doesn't have to be about making money online.
Here are the steps you should take for finding
a good, creative topic for your newsletter...
Step 1: Pick a pen and a
piece of paper and go somewhere that nobody disturbs you.
Brainstorm as many ideas as you can think of. Write down
everything your mind comes across - even the craziest ideas.
Because they will act like a path to more creative ideas.
Step 2: Look at your list
and choose the topics you enjoy writing about - no matter
whether you think they're profitable or not.
Step 3: Cross out the ideas
you think you don't have enough information to write informative
articles about on a regular basis.
Step 4: Finally, pick the
topic you think will be more profitable. Yes, I know you
want to make money from your newsletter, but believe me,
it's the last thing you should consider while choosing a
topic.
Congratulations! Now you have a great topic
idea for your newsletter.
2. Study the Competition
Your competitors have spent some time - maybe even years
- to get to where they are right now. They have also spent
a lot of money testing different techniques and strategies.
Now you can learn from them.
By studying their website, newsletter, sales letter, etc.
you will learn many proven techniques you can use to start
from where they are right now, and get better and faster
results.
Another important benefit of studying your competition,
is that you can learn from their current mistakes. So you
can avoid them in your own newsletter to create the best
newsletter in your field.
3. Choose a Name
The name of your newsletter will have a big effect on its
readership. I've written a complete article about newsletter
names. In that article, you will get creative ideas
and helpful tips to choose a title for your newsletter.
4. Choose a Format
You can publish your newsletter in plain text,
HTML, or PDF. Many people still prefer plain text
because it's simple and clean. Some others like HTML because
it lets you use images, colors, different font faces, and
so on in it.
I can't tell you which format is the best for you because
it all depends on your readers. Many newsletter
writers publish their newsletter in both plain text and
HTML. They send their newsletter in plain text and link
to the HTML version of it online. I personally think this
method is the best.
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5. Design Your Newsletter Template
If you publish your ezine in plain text, creating a template
is going to be easy. But as for HTML and PDF templates it
will take some work. You can create your own template or
use one of the free HTML templates available online.
I've created some free
newsletter templates in plain text, HTML and PDF. Feel
free to use them for your newsletter or give them away on
your website.
6. Write Your First 3 Issues
Before starting you newsletter, make sure you write the
first 3 issues. This helps you find out if you really
can continue publishing it. You may not have the
necessary information or interest to write an informative
article about the chosen topic every day, week or month.
If after writing 3 issues, you find out you have to struggle
to write each article, I really recommend you rethink about
the topic you've chosen.
Are you sure you ca keep writing
informative articles about it week after week, or month
after month? Imagine how much time this technique will save
you!
You can simply subscribe to the free Newsletter Marketing Tips newsletter to learn powerful tips and ideas to easily find a lot of killer article ideas that your readers will love.
7. Find a Good Autoresponder
An autoresponder helps you...
- Process
your "subscribes" and "unsubscribes"
in real-time
- Send
personalized messages
- Send
follow up messages
- Manage
your mailing lists
- And
much more...
You can use an autoresponder service or software. If you
use a software program, you need to keep your computer turned
on all the time to be able to send follow up messages automatically.
Well, this will be difficult if you work from home.
However, by using
an autoresponder service, you won't have this problem. So
I recommend using an autoresponder service if you don't
want keep your computer on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are so many autoresponder services out there that
it's very easy to get confused. How do you know which one
is the best? Which one provides a faster and more reliable
service plus a good customer support?
Recently, I researched a lot and read different autoresponders
reviews online. I also asked successful newsletter publishers
about the service they used. After all the research, I've
found out Aweber
is the best autoresponder service available these days.
They provide unlimited autoresponders, unlimited
follow up messages, unlimited email
campaigns, unlimited free phone support,
advanced
personalization features, complete ad tracking features,
and lots of other great features that you'll get at a reasonable
price.
You
may read my honest
review about it, or go directly to the Aweber
website to see for yourself what I'm talking about when
I say they're the best! :)
8. Start Promoting Your Newsletter
Now that everything is ready, it's time to
let the world know about your newsletter! Here are some
ideas...
- Submit
your ezine to ezine directories
- Submit
your articles to article directories and promote your
ezine in your resource box
- Put
a signup form on every page of your site
- Write
a short copy about your newsletter and link to your signup
page in your email signature
- Use
a popup window on your home page
- In
each issue, ask your readers to send your newsletter to
their friends
- Link
to your newsletter signup page in your sigfile in forums
- Buy
an ad space in a related (but not competing) newsletter
- Write
a free informative ebook and promote your newsletter in
it
9. Send out Your First Issue
Congratulations! After all the work, it's time for you
to finally start publishing your newsletter.
But wait... There are some important things to
check before sending your message to your list...
-
Check your message for spelling and grammatical mistakes,
because nothing ruins your credibility more than a message
full of spelling errors.
-
Create a test email address in major free email providers
like Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. Then send your every
issue as a test message to those addresses to make sure
it looks the way it should. Nothing is worst than sending
a message to your entire list to find out later there
was a error in showing the message and some of your
readers couldn't see it correctly. What will your readers
think of you?
-
Spam check your message to make sure spam filters will
not eat it. You might have used some certain words and
phrases that makes spam filters think your legitimate
newsletter is spam. So make sure you use this
free
spam check tool for every message you want
to send out to your list.
10. Survey Your Subscribers
No one can tell you how to improve your newsletter
better than your own subscribers. And the good
news is that they are willing to help you for free! You
just need to ask them some questions and they will answer.
Very simple... yet very powerful. I always wonder why many
people overlook this technique. They will give you creative
ideas that make you ask yourself, "Why didn't I
think of that?"
Final Thoughts
One final suggestion I have for you, is that you write
a detailed plan before starting your newsletter.
It will really help you know what you want and make it much
easier to get it. Here are some question ideas to answer
in your plan...
- Why
do you want to start your own newsletter? (e.g. To promote
your own products, sell affiliate products, follow up
with your current customers, prove your expertise, etc.)
- How
exactly are you going to make money from it? (e.g. By
selling your products, promoting affiliate products, selling
ad space in your newsletter, etc.)
- What
makes your newsletter unique? What's your brand? (e.g.
Providing unique quality content, having a friendly voice,
offering discounts and coupons to your subscribers, etc.)
- How
often are you going to publish your newsletter? (e.g.
daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)
- Will
you publish guest articles or just your own articles?
I shared 10 important steps for starting your own successful
newsletter. I hope you have found them helpful.
Wish
you the best of luck on starting your newsletter! :)
Ladan Lashkari
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