with any other questions that you'd like to see addressed here.This is a GREAT idea! How can I get something like this started on my site?
Easy!
Simply let me know that you want to give this a try and we'll discuss options and then put a link or graphic on your site as a way your site visitors can subscribe to receive emails from you. When they click on the link
and send you an email, you add them to your email list (more info on that in the next question).
Is there no automatic emailing of TIPS to those individuals who have signed up for that service?
That's
correct, it is NOT automatic. You would be responsible for mailing out the emails saying there is new information available on your site. Most mail programs allow you to create groups that you can easily add the email
addresses to (see the "help" section of your email program to learn how to create groups or categories, it's usually pretty straight forward). Also a tip: I would keep your groups at under 45 email addresses
per group, otherwise spam filters will kick a lot of them back to you as undeliverable. This is a great way for you to use free marketing through email, to keep your services in your clients' minds, and can be
especially useful at gaining repeat business if you begin to collect email addresses with your regular "real world" client info and add them to your email list groups too.
When your email list grows beyond your ability to maintain the list and mailings yourself, there are reputable and affordable paid services out there where you can design a template for your newsletter and easily
enter the info each month and have the service maintain your subscribes and unsubscribes to the email list for you. Two of the best I have researched and can recommend are
and
Can you give me a sample email example to
show me what I might email out each month and do you have any additional tips you can offer about sending out emails?
If it were me, I would simply wait until new tips or newsletter are up and send the link out
in an email saying to visit the site for the newest tips/news. For instance sending an email out saying something like the following could serve several purposes well, including the one I mentioned above, hopefully get
you more repeat business, etc. It's also a good way to help get your clients and web contacts used to your site address, where they'll begin to know they can always get your current business info and specials (sort of
like they know they have access to a 24/7 commercial for you). It could read something like this:
Email Subject: New Tips Published at www.(yourdomainname).com
Email Body:
NEW tips have been updated at our site! To view them, visit us at www.(yourdomainname).com/tips.html. Visit us online
at www.(yourdomainname).com or call us today to find out about our services, current specials, discounts, events and workshops we offer!
Business Name
Phone: (___) ___-____
Email: (your email address)
To unsubscribe from emails from www.(yourdomainname).com, please send a blank email to the email address above with the subject line "Unsubscribe."
Note:
You should always have an "unsubscribe" option in the email, as I have listed above. I would also make sure to use "Blind Copy" to send out the emails (this makes it so that group members can't see each other's email addresses).
How many emails should I send out to my list each month?
I would try and send no more than 3-4 emails out a month. If you have new new or tips up on the site or have a special event or sale that you'd like
to advertise here and there, that's a good time to send an email to your list. You can use your email list to benefit you however you like; just make sure sending out the tips announcement once a month or once every
other month is a main focus for most of the emails since that's what they signed up for....remember, that doesn't mean you can't tell them about a special IN that announcement email! Use it to help grow your business
where you can and think of it as a way to keep in touch with both current clients, and those who subscribe via the web. If you use it for both, it will be most effective cost and revenue wise.
How can
archiving newsletters, articles and/or tips on my site help me in other ways and what is the easiest way for me to keep on top of getting the content to you?
If you can sit down and compile some work ahead and
send it to me, then I can put a new one up each month until I run out and let you know when I've used the last that I have so that you will then have a month to get some more together and send them to me. After a few
months of doing this, there is usually enough old (but still useful!) content to build an archive of articles or newsletters or a tip "library" of sorts on the site. We can then archive all the older stuff by
category, so that people can start seeing that section as a valuable resource to come back to for good, free and useful tips & info - another way to keep you in their minds :) This is also great for the
changing/adding content to your site aspects regarding improved search engine results. For more info on this, read the article I wrote on
