Newsletters can be an important marketing aid for a business or just to drive traffic to your website so it makes sense to ensure that they are as good as you can make them. Follow along with these simple tips and make certain your newsletter cuts the mustard in the hard online world.
Make it Easy to Read
First and foremost content should be easy to read, by which I mean that it should be possible for a visitor to scan the newsletter, picking out the important heading and then quickly scan the content under those headings. Remember, people don't sit down and read an email newsletter the way they might read a newspaper. This is the internet, they are used to email and they want their fix of content quick and mainline so give it to them in easily assimilated sections with clear, short and concise headings.
Don't Save Your Best Until Last
The internet world is topsy-turvy: people glance at the subject of an email newsletter at the top of the page and decide if they want to read it. You have literally the time it takes them to read the subject heading and scan the content to decide. Don't save your best content to the end, put it at the top of the page and grab the readers before they move on to something else.
Know the Importance of Your First Section?
OK, so what is the importance of the first section of your newsletter? It's to intrigue the reader and make them read the next section, that's what it's for! Think about this. When a reader scans your newsletter, gets caught by the subject and reads the first section, what makes them want to read on? In many cases they may decide to move on instead, so you need to make the first section interesting but also hint at more and better content to follow.
Make Your Headline Sell
The headline is the first thing people look at and it's the impression that this makes that will decide if they read on or not, so make it a good one. It's worth spending as much time on getting the headline right as it is on writing the content underneath, so bear this in mind. Experiment with various headline styles to attract more people to read your words.
Make it Look Nice
With html email you have a lot of weapons in your armoury to format the layout so try to use these in innovative ways. Most email newsletters look more or less the same so make your newsletter stand out from the crowd not by being garish or loud but by being well and intriguingly designed. Experiment and spend time looking at what others are producing and, if you see a neat design that catches your eye, take it and experiment with it but don't copy it.
Try to Appeal to as Many People as Possible
Really make an effort to know the sort of people that are likely to be interested in your newsletter and try to design it so that it appeals to all of them. If you think children may read it, add a section for them and watch out for other groups like seniors and put in content they will find interesting. Do this and you will increase your readership.
The New Internet is Interactive
Get people interested,make them feel a part of your newsletter and what's behind it and you will get readers who will read the newsletter for life! Do this by encouraging them to make a contribution by reacting to the content in various ways. For example, try to get them to reply by being specific - like asking for their solution or to comment on a particular problem. Ask them which of several things they like or ask them to tell you their experience in a particular situation or, alternatively, feature an email from a reader each week. Readers who are part of the newsletter quickly become permanent readers.
Newsletters are easy and cheap to produce and make excellent marketing tools but only if they are read. Make sure that your newsletter is at the top of the pile by being interesting, well designed and with content that makes it stand out from the crowd.
