Newsletter Tutorial:
An Overview of Newsletters

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By Peter Cooper

Nowadays, it seems as if e-mail newsletters are the new 'Web site'. Let me explain that seemingly ill worded sentence. In 1996, everyone was proclaiming that if you had a company Web site your business would increase ten-fold and your customers would remain loyal. Now Internet marketing gurus are preaching in a similar way about the benefits of having your own e-mail newsletter.

In this series of articles, I'm going to explain what a newsletter is, what you can achieve with one, how to develop a concept and content for your newsletter, as well as how to promote it and build up your readership. I hope you can use this information to develop your own high-yield newsletter that benefits your business greatly, just as a Web site did back in 1996.

Definition of a newsletter

An e-mail newsletter is an impersonal e-mail you receive on a regular basis, similar to subscribing to a magazine. Most newsletters are sent out weekly or monthly and you should receive it instantly. The amount of newsletters available on the Internet is staggering and they cover every subject. If you're a teacher, doctor or masseuse, there's bound to be a newsletter just for you. There are also general newsletters that cover things such as news, gossip and lifestyle topics.

To be blunt, separate to the subject of the newsletter, there's two types of newsletter. Those that you read and enjoy receiving, and those that you don't. The latter are usually ones that you didn't specifically sign up for. You may have been automatically signed up to it when you joined up with a certain Web site, or bought a product from a site. These newsletters are predominantly set up to provide customers with information, increase customer loyalty and to make money through advertising.

Those newsletters that you specifically signed up for and enjoy receiving are, obviously, the best type. They may contain advertising, but they probably have interesting links or articles in them too, as well as tips and insider advice on your industry or area of interest. You need to consider what sort of newsletter you want to create. Do you want to provide a newsletter to existing customers? Or are you starting afresh with a topic that you're merely interested in?

However, the definition of an online newsletter isn't set in stone. The earliest e-mail newsletters were often referred to as e-zines although they were rather different from what we expect to receive today. Nowadays, at least half of e-mail newsletters are of the commercial type and contain advertising, one of the reasons why they're so popular with the marketing gurus.

At iBoost, our newsletters are primarily designed to help people like you, our visitors. Of course, iBoost is a company so we do advertise in our newsletters but in a non-intrusive way. Infact, most of our advertisers are offering goods and services that webmasters seem to appreciate! This is a combination of the two types I explained, the newsletters are helpful and contain useful information, but they also exist for a commercial reason. They remind you that we're here to help, and encourage you to visit iBoost on a regular basis.

Spam!

An important thing to realize is that newsletters are not just spam or junk mail. Most of the time you will have signed up for the newsletter or Web site in question, and the majority of publishers do not purchase lists of unsolicited e-mail addresses to use. After all, they'd be innundated with complaints, wouldn't they? Of course, there is always the risk of appearing to be spam or junk mail, and I'm going to cover a couple of methods to reduce this risk in a later installment.

Why Create a Newsletter?

So we've examined what a newsletter is and how they're used, but why should you really create one? There's a variety of things you can use a newsletter for.

Whatever your reason for starting a newsletter, you need to stick with it and not let it fall to the bottom of your 'To Do' list. You and your subscribers won't get any benefit from a non-existent newsletter! Keep on the ball, and even let someone else run it if you get too busy with other things.

In the next installment we're going to look at developing a concept for your newsletter, recognizing a suitable audience for it, and considering what direction you want to take it in.

Part 2