| I think the best of all worlds is to combine all three methods
in each ezine. I like to include partial articles with links right at the
top of the ezine, where they are likely to be seen. Following those links,
I generally include a couple of articles in full, generally reprints from
my website. At the end, I include a number of useful links to articles
and features which my readers may find of interest. If anyone makes it
this far, they are, in my opinion, much more likely to click on a link
than anyone else.
Do you include a table of contents? - If you've got a very long
ezine, then it is probably a good idea to start with a table of contents.
This makes a lot of sense if the ezine is in HTML format, as you can include
hyperlinks to each article.
How wide should each line be? - Keep the line width at 60 to
65 characters.
How long should your ezine be? - The thing you need to consider
here is that many people pick up their email over dialup connections. This
means the same rules you use for web pages also applies to ezines.
Keep your size down to under 100kb certainly, and under 30kb ideally.
Remember, you are not trying to duplicate your web site in your ezine -
you are trying to get people to come back to your web site.
It's also important to remember that the amount of email that people
can store on their email server is limited, often to just a megabyte or
so. If your ezine is too large you can take up space that they need for
other email.
On the other hand, since you've taken the time to write to your
audience don't cheat them with a three line ezine either. My feeling is
if you cannot send at least a few pages of text, then don't bother.
Do you include original content only? - My vote is to include
mostly, if not all, original content in an ezine in most instances. Why?
Well, when I sign up for an ezine, I am interested in the knowledge and
opinions of the ezine publisher (usually a single person or a small
group). Unless the third-party articles are very well focused, I am very
likely to delete or unsubscribe if there is not enough original content.
This also
holds true of websites - I will probably not visit a web site a second
time if the only thing it contains is regurgitated content.
This does not mean you should not include articles by other authors.
It just means you need to be careful that what you do publish is of interest
to your readers and has not appeared on every other site and ezine
on the web.
Do you post an archive of newsletters on your web site? - Yes.
Why? Because you've gone through some work to create your ezine and you
can get more use out of it still by putting it on your web site. First,
by including an archive you add credibility, especially as the archive
grows. It shows that your newsletter is indeed published on a regular basis.
Second, you can post the newsletter as a web page (convert it to HTML if
it is a text ezine), add some keywords and you've added yet another page
for search engines to find. This is a great way to pick up visitors.
How do you allow people to opt-out? - Include a link on your
page, generally at the bottom. If someone clicks the link they are opted
out. For your own sake, don't make it complicated for people to leave your
mailing list - if you do, you will get reported as a spammer.
You can also allow people to send a return email with "REMOVE"
or "UNSUBSCRIBE". Personally, I prefer a link. However, it is a good idea
to allow both methods to work as some people will simply reply
with REMOVE no matter who you explain it to them.
This is such an important point that I will make it again. You
MUST ensure that it is easy for someone to opt-out of your ezine. A single
click or a reply to an email, that's all it should take. Do not require
them to
do any more. Otherwise, you are taking the chance that you will be
reported as a spammer.
What is the mechanism for signing up? - I like a double opt-in
system. What this means is someone subscribes on my web site via a web
page. They enter their email address and click submit. Now an email is
sent to their email address, which they must respond to in order to be
added to the list. This makes absolutely sure that a person not only wants
to subscribe, but that the email address is indeed his email address. This
is about as safe as you can get.
Another method (which I use for my daily tips ezine) is to use
an autoresponder. If you wanted to receive my newsletter you would send
an email to my autoresponder address. This also ensures that the ezine
is
sent only to someone who wants it, since you must send it from the
desired email address.
Any other advice? Don't wait. The sooner you start promoting
and sending out your ezine, the sooner you will get return visitors. |
