Hopefully you’ve gotten your free report finished and uploaded, and you’ve gotten your first message put together so when people opt in they will get your report. Great work ~ no matter where you’re at in that sequence ~ if you’re taking action you’re doing great.
What do I say to subscribers once I have them?
That’s the next question ~ what do I send them after I have them?
Everyone will use their list differently ~ some people just send out notifications of new products or product recommendations ~ which makes them money (and I can tell you last week was driving me crazy with all the “Jackie’s tax refund” emails I was getting. There are plenty of options for your autoresponder messages though…
Some people choose to provide tips and tricks to their readers ~ which can be good.
Some people will add a 5 or 10 part course. Each email being one part of the course.
Some people use their list to notify subscribers of new posts ~ and once in a while throw in a product promotion or product notification.
Some people (and this is probably the BEST use of your list) create a newsletter. Let’s talk about newsletters because it can seem a little overwhelming, but it’s really not.
What is a newsletter?
A newsletter is just an email that gives people some useful/helpful/fun/valuable/feel good information. What exact kind of information will depend totally on your niche.
But here’s the cool thing (well one cool thing) about newsletters is you can add more than just content. You can add a featured product/service. You can add recent posts from your site.
A newsletter can be anything and everything YOU want it to be ~ anything that will help you CONNECT with your readers.
Above all else the first thing (and possibly the ONLY thing) you should be worried about with this list of subscribers is creating a relationship with them. (When they know, like and trust you ~ the money will be there ~ I guarantee it).
Newsletter format: This is one way you can format or get ideas to format your newsletter. You might want to use dashes or dots between sections to make them stand out.
Title of your newsletter ~ come up with something catchy that corresponds to your niche
your name
Date ~ you can do this in your autoresponder so it will always show the current date when it goes out.
In this issue ~ you can do a quick table of contents to let people know what to expect in this issue.
Sponsor Ad ~ this can be an ad for a related product ~ at some point you can even sell this advertising space if your newsletter gets big enough.Use a 4 or 5 line text ad here.
Brief greeting ~ a short personal message from you ~ make sure it is not related to seasonal things so it makes sense when someone gets it no matter what time of year
Featured article ~ this is the meat of your content. A nice article related to something in your niche. Realize you don’t have to write this ~ it can be plr . You can also repurpose ezine articles you’ve written, or any other content you’ve already used. It doesn’t have to be a book ~ but it should be interesting to your reader. Think about just talking to someone about your topic ~ the more friendly and personable you make it the more the person will be able to connect with you ~ and that’s always good.
Q and A section ~ I like to have a q and a section at the bottom ~ it gives me a chance to answer questions that come up ~ you can also let people know if they send you questions it might go out in your newsletter ~ which could bring in more questions. 
While a q and A section is nice, if you’re not getting questions you can make them up ~ or you could give a quick tip of the week ~ or whatever ~ it’s your newsletter you can make it anything you want it to be!!
Sign off ~ use your full name and then make sure you add your blog address beneath it so people have access to your site easily.
copyright ~ it’s a good idea to make a copyright statement at the end of your newsletter just so people know it’s yours ~ OR you could write a note at the end that people are free to share it ~ or tell them if they know someone who would love it to send them to your squeeze page to sign up. (of course don’t say squeeze page ~ just give them the url)
How often should I contact my subscribers?
It really depends on how you set up your list. If you do blog updates you will probably send out a note each time you post. (I don’t recommend this one ~ it’s not the best use of your list)
If you are sending a newsletter I’d recommend weekly ~ you can probably get away with every other week ~ but consistency is going to be KEY. You want to keep your name and your newsletter in front of them so they remember you. If you mail a newsletter this week, then not again for three weeks it’s likely they will not remember you when it comes. When people don’t remember you, they delete you.
So shoot for weekly.
Here’s another cool thing ~ you only have to your newsletters once a week. Once you upload them you can set them to go out every 7 days. Every new person will receive your newsletter every 7 days starting with your very first one!
All you have to do is one a week and keep uploading them. Stay ahead of the 7 days and you’re good to go. After a while you’ll have a full autoresponder for a year ~ or 6 months or however long you want to do. Everyone that comes into your list will get all of those newsletters and you will only have done the work once.
html or plain
One last piece before I go. The debate between html or plain text. Every autoresponder has the option for you to create these gorgeous html newsletters. I suggest you stick with plain text. While they are gorgeous ~ they are only nice to look at if someone actually sees them. I know in my inbox I don’t get the images automatically ~ I have to turn them on and then turn them on always for each newsletter/piece of mail that comes through. Most people will not have images turned on. Newsletters look UGLY when they are in html and the images don’t come through.
Stick with plain text ~you know everyone will be able to read it and it will look good no matter what their settings are.
Ok ~ that’s it for today. If you have questions about starting a newsletter ask away and we’ll get you started!!
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Facebook too can double as your newsletter. Your articles can be autoblogger PLR. Or directly from your main affliate. Lots of fun!
Julie´s last [type] ..Direct Auto Insurance
Hi,
Thanks for the interesting article. You mentioned “What do I say to subscribers once I have them?” – I can tell you from my experience some of the best e-mail courses I have signed up for have said very little. I currently have a favourite that I only get an email from about once every 3 weeks, but when that email comes I can’t wait to open it. It is ALWAYS packed full of great content and I have often found myself buying something that the author recommends in it because I know if they use it then it works. In contrast I have been on lists that send mail every day. After a week or so I tend to lose interest because their content is really lacking and it is obvious that they are trying to sell me something.
I’m still looking at building my own list, but when I do I will definitely use the ‘less is more’ tactic that I have enjoyed myself.
Great read though. Thanks
All the best
Bill Jenkins
Webmaster, BestLawnMowerReviews.net
Hi Rick,
don’t know about the text html haven’t really tried that before. Understand that all of this is my opinion, what’s worked for me, in the niches I’m in. That may not hold true for you and the niches YOU are in.
Give it a test and check what your click rates are. I believe getresponse has a way to send a split text message. Try it and see which works best for you.
Jackie:
Thanks for the information in this post.
Do you find you get a better clickthrough by emailing your list on a particular day?
I have been receiving some newsletters on Friday that gives a recap of the person’s blog posts. I also receive some on Monday.
If I do not have any graphics in my newsletter is it okay to use the html version or do you still like the plain text version?
I am always worried about using the plain text because of the way my links look. If I use the html, I can make them look “pretty” by using a keyword name in the URL. What’s your thought?
Thanks,
Rick
.-= Rick Byrd´s last blog ..Getting Ready to Be Mentored by Alex Jeffreys =-.
Hey Rick, hope this helps…
HTML version can take text and/or graphics – either or both.
Text version – just text
I’ve always sent each email in both – all bases covered.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..UPDATED: @DennisEdell It Is! TWEET TWEET!! =-.
Good points Dennis ~ especially about the number of times you’ll be contacting them ~ That’s one thing I usually add to my opt in box ~ my “weekly” newsletter so people know what to expect.
LOL@“Jackie’s tax refund”. What was that about anyway? Do they think people are dumb enough to think they were getting a refund via email? WOW. I dunno how many I received.
Superb breakdown Jackie. So many of the “basics” you mentioned are ignored by even the most experienced, myself included.
I’m not saying I’m some uber guru; just that I’ve missed a few in past newsletters and should have known better. I will use this article as a checklist in the future, and as a backlink for my own newsletter how-to posts.
Two things I’d like to add if I may.
1. Being able to add an ongoing e-course to a freebie as you mentioned is definitely one of the holy grails of newsletters. Your pretty much guaranteed subscribers will stay, and it’s bounced up some if you can smoothly add product recommendations within follow-ups.
2. “How often should I contact my subscribers?”
What I’ve found to be greatly appreciated by subscribers is to tell them up-front exactly what to expect, either on the squeeze page before sign-up (good idea if you do decide to send each individual blog post) or in the initial Welcome email.
This is especially important, dare I say essential, if you’re planning to email more then 1-2 times per week. It’s better to lose a potential subscriber then to have them subscribe, then unsubscribe later and spread bad thoughts.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Do You Have 5 BURNING Questions? =-.
worth it in what way? It’s a great way to keep people informed on what’s going on at your blog. If you don’t have a freebie done yet, it’s a great way to get started building your list ~ just ask people to sign up for updates. Lynn Terry uses blog announce on her blog very successfully.
I’d use the blog announce feature in get response but I don’t like the way it looks ~ so I just do it by hand.
.-= Jackie´s last blog ..The Saddle Club Series to The Rescue =-.
What’s your take on the blog broadcast feature in aweber, is it worth it?
.-= Massy@Outsource´s last blog ..Top Secret Tyrone Shum Email Finally Revealed =-.
Jackie, I just wanted to take a second to thank you for the great advice you provide. My dad has been very ill for almost a month now and I’ve pretty much moved in to help him and my step mother. I’ve obviously been too distracted to write posts for my blog but I have been able to spend a few minutes to use su.pr to keep my previous posts alive on Twitter. When one of my sisters came to help for the weekend I was even able to fit in some blog commenting thanks to your 2 Hour tips! Anyway, thanks for the advice to help me carry on for the short term.
Debbie
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Apology =-.
Have you picked up the blog 2 hours report ( from the sidebar?) that will walk you through how to do the content and promotion ~ in 2 hours a day. You can of course spend more time if you have it.
You also might take a look at the “get more traffic” category ~ which is filled with great ways to get traffic.
When it comes down to it though ~ only about 10% of your time should be on content creation ~ the other 90% should be spent on promotion.
.-= Jackie´s last blog ..The Saddle Club Series to The Rescue =-.
Hi Jackie,
I enjoy coming to this site there is always mountains of information and I’m learning more and more each day. I did have not figured out how to obtain more web traffic exposure but hopefully that will come in time as I write more and more information and articles. Traffic is always the killer and I wish to know at what point is joining forums and writing articles and using paid advertising to much? Personally for myself I find that joining all of these different avenues of exposure tends to take away from my time creating and after a awhile I loss my focus on my work by inadvertently becoming involved with everyone else’s programs.
OK, back to the drawing board just figured out how to add the RSS feed. lol
.-= Theresa Johnson´s last blog ..American Red Cross First Aid for Your Pet =-.
This was the biggest question in my mind. I have a product I want to promote…but then what? Thanks for giving us some ideas.
.-= Nancy@Cat Supplies´s last blog ..Cat Scratcher Toys =-.
I Absolutely Love the Q & A section idea…there are always questions that need to be answered….the idea is to get that list active which gets them motivated and instead of answering questions individually, more people can be helped at one time.
Maybe even answer a question someone didn’t know they needed answered!