Corte Swearingen, at various times in his career, has worked as a particle physicist, jazz pianist, composer, marketing manager, bird trainer, magician, metal bender, business development manager, piano tuner, and e-commerce director. He is the developer of the Integral Marketing System™ and CEO of SmallBiz Marketing Tips. He holds a degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and lives with his wife and two daughters in the Chicago suburbs.
Here are ten easy tips to help ensure your ezine or business newsletter builds trust and confidence. Give them a try and see just how big a difference they can make!
Ezine Tip #1: Content, Content, Content
Learn to leave the hard sell at home. No one likes to subscribe to a newsletter only to be constantly pitched on a product or service. The focus of your newsletter MUST be helpful and relevant content.
Here are some ideas to get you going.
1. Explain to your reader how to do something. "How to" articles are a great way to demonstrate your expert knowledge and to build credibility among your readers.
2. Publish an interview with someone in your field that is considered an expert.
3. Write an article on an important business topic in your field.
4. Provide the results of polls or surveys that are relevant to your readers.
5. Publish question and answer topics. If one customer has a particular question, chances are others will have the same question.
6. Provide reviews on specific products and resources in your field.
I'm not saying you should never promote your own products and services. However, if you do, make sure these suggestions are woven around specific editorial content that is providing helpful information to your readers. Don't overdo it. Remember, your reader signed up for your newsletter for content that will help them solve an issue. Make sure you overdeliver on that expectation.
Ezine Tip #2: Create a Newsletter Landing Page on Your Website
In addition to placing subscription boxes on your website, I recommend you create a special landing page that focuses on the benefits of your newsletter. Make sure you create a navigational link from your homepage to your newsletter landing page.
Here are some helpful content ideas for your newsletter landing page.
1. List the type of content visitors can expect with each issue.
2. List the benefits of subscribing.
3. Offer a few testimonials from actual subscribers.
4. Optional: Create an audio or video message about the benefits of signing up.
Ezine Tip #3: Offer an incentive for signing up
Offering an incentive to visitors is a great way to increase your newsletter signup rate. Here are some ideas inspire newsletter signups.
- Free demo
- Free service
- Free tip sheet
- Free informational CD, DVD, MP3
- Free sample
- Free shipping on next order
It's always nice to provide something with instant gratification. That way, as soon as the visitor signs up, they are able to access whatever it is you've offered as the incentive. Experiment changing the offer from time to time to see how your newsletter signups are affected. Whatever it is you decide to provide as an incentive, make sure it has a high perceived value and state that value upfront (e.g., a $97 value!)
Ezine Tip #4: Design a Cover for Your Newsletter
Displaying a graphical ezine cover on your landing page will help evoke a sense of professionalism and trust. Keep your ezine cover simple and state the name of the ezine as well as a short tag line on the front.
Unless you have good design skills, I recommend you hire a professional designer for your ezine cover. If you need a recommendation on a ecover designer, take a look at Killer Covers. I've personally worked with them and have found them a great resource.
Ezine Tip #5: Include a Unique Recommendation
I like to include a small section at the end of my newsletter that gives a fun non-business recommendation. Obviously, I try to make it somewhat relevant but the point here is to point people to interesting stories, events, music, or blogs that might help enrich their lives. This can be a great way to make your newsletters a bit unique from your competition. However, don't overdo it!
Ezine Tip #6: Test Your Newsletter Subject Lines
One of the first things your readers see when they get a new email is the subject line. Some people may not open an email if the subject line is boring or doesn't appear relevant.
One great way to zero in on subject lines that get good open rates is to simply start testing. To do this, you split your recipient list into two equal but random sub lists. Send the same exact newsletter to both sub lists but split the subject lines. One will group get one subject line and the other group gets the second subject line. In a few days, you can compare statistics to see which subject line resulted in a higher open rate.
By testing subject lines on a regular basis, you will get a good feel for crafting interesting subject lines that get your readers to click. You can also test your newsletter content this way. This is helpful for when you want to test the appeal of one special offer against another.
Ezine Tip #7: Link Back to Your Website
One of the great uses of a newsletter is to generate enough interest to get people back to your website. Within the content of your ezine, think of ways to link back to more relevant content on your website. Link back to additional articles that provide more information or to specific resources on your site that you mentioned in the article.
Ezine Tip #8: Use It or Lose It
There's no reason why all the good content you write for your newsletters has to be lost with each passing month. Instead, review your past newsletters and see if there is any content you can flesh out as additional content for your website.
In addition, you can also rework your main articles and submit them to article sites. This will help build your link popularity and help promote your business.
Ezine Tip #9: Multiple Subscription Boxes
Even with a dedicated landing page, you still should provide multiple subscription boxes on other pages of your site. My recommendation is to place a subscription box at the upper right or upper left of every single page. You never know where someone will enter your site or when someone will be ready to subscribe. Multiple subscription boxes make it easy for your visitors to register no matter what page they happen to be viewing.
Ezine Tip #10: Survey Your Readers
I recommend periodically surveying your readers. In your newsletter, place a link back to a survey on your website. If you don't have the tools to create a survey on your website, use an external service like Survey Monkey. You don't need to do this more than once or twice a year.
I recommend you also provide some type of incentive for completing the survey. Surveying your newsletter readers is a great way to help determine the type of content THEY want to see. It's easy to assume you know what your customers want to read about, but the only accurate way to really know is to simply ask.
Here are some good survey topics.
1. Ask about the relevancy of the newsletter.
2. Ask about the frequency. Should it be more/less frequent?
3. Ask about the quality of the writing and the general layout.
4. Ask about the usefulness of the information provided.
5. Ask them for specific article topics they would like to see in future issues.
6. Ask if there is any regular content that they would like to see removed.
7. Ask them to rate their overall satisfaction level of the newsletter.
8. Ask them if they have any ideas for improvement.
Following these ten ezine startup tips will help ensure your small business ezine launch is a successful one!
For additional Ezine tips, read Starting an Ezine.
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