Help Me Improve: My Newsletter
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First I want to say that I really like writing the newsletter. Many people who never comment on the site, will reply to the newsletter and I’ve gotten to know a couple readers just because of it.
I started the experiment with the newsletter mainly because I had never done one before, and since I am doing a complete site review, it seemed only appropriate to drag it down into the boss’s office for a review as well.
Pros
A newsletter is more intimate than a website. It comes into your space [your inbox] so that is more private than viewing a public website…it just feels special to get something, especially if you perceive it as valuable, delivered to you in any way.
I makes me feel good to see the number of subscribers. There are about 140 now which is roughly double than the number of RSS subscribers and I’ve only sent out 14 issues.
That tells me people like newsletters, is it because they hope to get a different “flavor” of content, or is it just a way to keep in touch with a site that they find interesting?
Cons
I feel pressure to produce it every week…sometimes I just don’t have anything to write about that I feel is newsletter worthy.
It is a lot of work, for not too big of an obvious reward.
I also feel that I could just write the same articles and put them on the site. When I started I thought that I would present “more personal” issues in the newsletter, but I don’t really see any clear distinction between what goes in there and what goes on the website.
Format
Plain text too boring?
I had one person tell me the articles were too long and that’s why they didn’t read them… in general I do get pretty verbose, as I attempt to present more complex ideas in there.
Alternatives
I could just use Feedburner’s newsletter service and have every blog post delivered to your inbox. If I post more frequently this could drive you nuts, but I do think it is effective to keep people interested in a site.
Aweber also has a few options that include a notice every time a new post goes on the site; you still have to visit the site to read the story.
Or I could send up a weekly wrap, that would have a summary and a link to every story from the past 7 days.
The advantage, for me, of these alternative is that they are automated, but they are also less intimate and personal than the hand written newsletter.
Advertising
I was hoping that the newsletter would generate sales, but so far not so much. Either the products I’m recommending are not relevant to the readers or people don’t want ads in there?
Too obvious that I’m out for a piece of your wallet, that you just smirk and think to yourself “as if.” Do you feel kinda like when a stranger computer man voice phones you and tells you that you have been specially chosen for a FREE trip to Mexico?
Would you purchase an ad in my newsletter?
Wrap
The newsletter will probably stay, I’ll have to see if I can find some unique angle for content or I may just turn it into a hybrid of summaries and a quick note to introduce it.
Thanks for the feedback on the previous posts, and keep it coming…did I mention there was a prize for the most useful comment?
Jon Symons
Nitpicking about the value of newsletters…so you don’t have to.
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Comments ( 7 )
[...] Newsletter [see the post with details] - is there any value in it? [...]
Help Me Improve this Site - Win A Prize | Art Of Money added these pithy words on Oct 13 06 at 10:40 ammarkinjapan added these pithy words on Oct 13 06 at 7:20 amJon,
If you build the newsletter relationship so that folks can get a shot at some goodies and tips not on general offer in the blog (or at least ahead of the pack) you can train a readership to stay with you..and if your products and services are good, they will stay.
God knows, I’ve left countless lists because they had nothing of value (to me)…Whether in this early stage of your biz adventure a weekly newsletter for “art of money” is a wise use of time and energy is of course your call.
Jon added these pithy words on Oct 13 06 at 9:00 amMark, that was the intention when I started the newsletter, but I thought the products would be coming a lot faster so I would be having perks to offer on a regular basis.
My product release cycle is a bit constipated
…so far I leaning towards just making it a “when I feel inspired” newsletter, rather than attempting to stick to the weeky delivery. I think that would keep it fun for me.
Ty added these pithy words on Oct 13 06 at 2:16 pmHey Jon,
I was just cruising through the site and I thought maybe you could post or include in your newsletter how to carve out the sign up code for the newsletter service from Fantastico? I know that I’d love to learn how to do that.
Just my couple of pennies!
Thanks,
Ty
Jon added these pithy words on Oct 13 06 at 7:24 pmHey Ty,
If it was a little easier I would make a tutorial, but honestly if you’re not familiar with html and javascript, I wouldn’t recommend it. I modded it quite a bit from the standard issue that you can see here: http://jigsaw-online.net/list/?p=subscribe&id=1
Personally, I’m about to switch over to aWeber, but I’m trying to find a free newsletter service that I recommend to people, because I know it isn’t worth $20/month to most…especially at the begining.
I’ll post about it soon.
David added these pithy words on Oct 14 06 at 1:06 amJon,
I really like the newsletter; don’t drop it!
I like the fact that it lands in my inbox on a fairly infrequent basis, and ensures I’m up to speed on what you’re doing.
One lead article, and then a summary of all the weeks blog posts with links would be an ideal format for me.
If you can give me more details on the demographics of the list, I’d consider buying adspace one it gets a little bigger.
Jon added these pithy words on Oct 14 06 at 8:46 amThanks David, I really like your suggestion for the format and I’m learning a lot about the demographics of the readers from this feedback series.
To be honest, the idea of selling Ad space in the newsletter only occured to me as I was writing the post, but worth considering for sure.