Help! Need advice on how to start my first company newsletter.

Hi Mary,

I recommend using an enewsletter delivery program to send your enewsletter out. They are not free but much more cost effective than a printed newsletter. The main steps to start an enewsletter are to write it, design it, send it and track your results.

I offer these services for my clients, please feel free to contact me if you are interested.

Thanks! Susan

Hi Mary,

You might look at this service - free for under 200/month.

http://www.listcast.com

I haven't used it so don't know anything about it. However, the site does have a tour which does outline the steps pretty clearly.

I have clients who use newsletters to keep in contact with their customers. The main problem I see is that, although they start our strong, they tend to piddle out after a few months.

My advise is, before you even start, plan well. Develop a list of topics for a year and a calendar with the dates your newsletter will go out.

Because everyone gets a lot of email, I advise you to have only one main topic per mailing.

Best luck,

Susan

I had very good experience using a software called High Impact Email. I remember it was a one-time fee of $100.

It comes with templates. Being somewhat of a control freak, I just made my own template using basic html.

It integrated well with Outlook or with a spreadsheet of contacts.

If you include photos in your e-newsletter, they aren't delivered to anyone's inbox until the message is opened and read - meaning when the email is opened, the images are found on a website (yours or the company's) and then downloaded when needed. The beauty of this solution is that your photos aren't clogging anyone's inbox (and getting you on their bad side).

The downside is that there isn't an online solution to collect email address from people who might want your e-newsletter. This can easily be done separately using other means, but it has nothing to do with the software that I mentioned. I've created simple sidebars on websites for this purpose. When someone submits their email information, it comes to me via email. Better yet, would be for this information to go directly into a sql database.

Finally, everyone's email clients interprets html and related code differently - it's a more chaotic environment than say internet browsers. My recommendation is to keep things somewhat minimalistic. I've read that a good rule of thumb is to test using gmail. If gmail will read it, so will most other email clients.

This answers your question on the computer side, but not on the paper side. There is a higher cost to mailings and it typically involves a lot more content. Whereas a few paragraphs will suffice in an email, you typically need to fill 3-4 pages of content for a traditional newsletter.

Hey Mary,

I recommend you check out the Learn section of Biznik. A gal named Molly Gordon posted a detailed top 10 article on starting a newsletter that I think you'd find really helpful. I'd start with her article and then do a search on "newsletter" in the Learn section to see if there are any more helpful perspectives.

Hi Mary,

If you are still looking for options to send out your newsletter, you might want to look at Constant Contact.

http://www.constantcontact.com

Their fees are reasonable (based on the size of you list), and they have a number pre-designed templates that you can use.

listcast.com It is not $200/month.

It is FREE if you send out fewer than 200 emails a month.

e.g. if you have a 100 person subscriber list, you can send it out twice a month for free.

Sorry for the miscommunication.

These are all great suggestions for delivery of your newsletter. The other issues (sorry for the pun---newsletter---issues) , of course, are targeting your prospects, getting (buying) an opt-in list so you comply with anti-spam laws and/or cultivating your own list. List building can be challenging, but it's do-able.

Also, as I'm sure you know, the e-letters that are most read are the ones with useful content (tips, helpful advice) and very little direct selling. Just my two cents. (We had a free e-letter for ten years in our previous business and have free weekly marketing e-tips with our new business).

You are on the right track. I would agree with you: you should avoid the cookie cutter/template letter if possible.