Although the best way to get content for your e-newsletter is to write it yourself, you may not be comfortable doing so, or may just have writer’s block from time to time. Fortunately, there are some options out there for you to utilize the writing of others for free.

With any of the below websites, it may take a bit of time and searching to find the really quality articles. But generally, once you find one author who has some good ones, you can look through their articles to cut down your search time.

EzineArticles.com

ArticleGeek.com

ArticleDashboard.com

ArticleSnatch.com

Content4Reprint.com

ArticleHeap.com

If you do a lot of of in-person networking, you have a great opportunity to build your email list.

Chamber events and other networking get-togethers are good for meeting a lot of people and collecting plenty of business cards. Perhaps you didn’t know what to do with all the business cards. Well, now that you have an email list, there’s a perfect use for them.

A day or two later, email all the people you met. Tell them it was great meeting them and chatting with them, and then ask if you can add them to your email list.

In my experience, it’s been more helpful to ask them if you can add them, then actually adding them yourself. Another option is to just email them a link to a sign-up form, but I’ve found I got a better response rate by adding them myself.

We’ve been blasting out the info every day for the past week now. We’re going to be switching to a more regular, sustainable pace, from here on out. But thanks so much for helping us get this site started with a bang.

It’s a good idea to spend some time on the actual subject line of each issue of your newsletter. Let’s face it, “Volume I, Issue X” just isn’t that enticing.

Instead, actually include a bit of information on why your readers want to read the newsletter. “T&S Enews - Get a great discount this month” would be a much better headline.

You might even try bouncing your newsletter’s subject of an impartial third party. Ask if they think the subject line would interest them if they were on your newsletter’s mailing list. (Then ask them to sign up!) If they would, then you have a winner. If not, it may be back to the drawing board.

You may be thinking about setting up a email newsletter, or perhaps you already have on set up and have been sending it out for a while now. Ask yourself a quick question:

What’s the point?

You need to know what purpose(s) you’re trying to accomplish with your enews. Are you trying to inform potential customers to establish your credibility? Maybe you’re keeping existing clients up to date. Perhaps you’re just trying to keep your name in front of current, past and potential clients and customers.

More likely than not, it’s some combination of those goals. But defining what your newsletter’s purpose is will help you determine how successful it is.

There are, of course, many ways to get your email list set up.

1. You can manage it yourself through your desktop email client like Microsoft’s Outlook or Apple’s Mail. Other email programs include…
   • Thunderbird
   • Eudora
   • Pegasus Mail
2. You can buy software to install on your computer that will manage your email lists. These send email using your internet connection.
   • EXP Elite
   • Infacta
3. You can subscribe to a website that will manage your email lists.
   • AWeber
   • Constant Contact

Each of these have advantages and disadvantages, so you should look into each yourself to see which will work best for you.

When you first start an email newsletter, one of your early issues will be how to get people to sign up for it. Here are five quick ideas.

1. Offer a free white paper (authoritative report) on a subject related to your area of expertise. Set your email newsletter software up to automatically email to each new person that signs up.
2. Email past customers and clients letting them know about the newsletter and asking them to sign up.
3. Email friends and family and do the same as #2 above.
4. Make the sign-up option very visible on your website. People should be able to find it easily.
5. Ask for very little contact information. As little as possible, really. The less info that’s on there, the better. If the form is very long, people are very unlikely to sign up.

That’s it for now!

For many, it’s hard to figure out what you’re going to write about. At T&S, my employees often suffer from this problem when trying to blog on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to overcome writer’s block.

One easy way is simply to look back through old emails that clients and customers have sent you, or think back to conversations you had with them. What did you have to explain to them that could potentially help your subscribers? You can probably think of at least one thing, and there you have your next newsletter topic.

Here’s another quick tip for you. Your newsletter subscribers have to actually get something out of your newsletter. While you may be tempted to send out something that interests you, or perhaps company news, take a minute and make sure you’re writing about something your customers, clients and future customers and clients actually care about.

Not sure? Bounce it off a customer or client you already have. Find someone who knows you well enough to give you their honest opinion. Ask them if they think your subscribers will even care about it. Their honest answer will translate into dollars and cents.

I’m going to be starting out this blog with a series of quick daily tips that will give you some basic hints on how to make the most of your email newsletter.

Today’s tip is to make sure you send out your newsletter on a regular basis to your email list. You need to be keeping in touch with your audience (and probably potential customers) on a regular basis. Remember, most people don’t buy from you until they’ve received something from you at least five times.

So whether it’s monthly, weekly, daily, or just every time you blog, stay disciplined enough to send out the newsletter on a regular basis. Otherwise, it won’t do you any good.