Profiting From Your Newsletter

Newsletters have been around a while and they’re not going away anytime soon. Why should they when they can be so profitable for you and give value to your readers? Offline or online, newsletters are one of the ways you can spend a little time to get great results; better bang for your buck, if you will.

You may have started a newsletter way back when as a means to educate people on the topic you are an expert in. While this is a noble and enjoyable endeavor, by itself this tactic won’t make you a lot of money. Think of how you can monetize your newsletter.

While there are many formats your online newsletter can take; from straight no-frills to fancy template, your newsletter should have these elements:

1. A friendly atmosphere where people are encouraged to give feedback and/or ask questions.
This helps build a relationship, a sense of community between your readers and you. It’s the bridge from where they’re currently standing over to your paid product offers.

2. Personality.
Yes, a newsletter needs personality, preferably a little of yours. Briefly tell what you’re up to. Generally keep it short and positive, although every once in a while a little teeth gnashing will help some readers to relate. You could also give them a peek into the inner workings of your successful business. People love to see “inside”; it makes them feel like insiders.

3. Table of contents.
Put yourself in your newsletter readers’ shoes. What do you like in a newsletter? To be honest, most people aren’t going to read the whole thing and will go to the sections that interest them. That’s okay. It’s better that they read some of it and get value from it and maybe buy something than opt-out and never read any of it.

4. Valuable information.
Your newsletter shouldn’t be fluff. People are busy, give them what they WANT and as quickly as possible. By having this newsletter, you are the expert in your field. That’s not to say you should be all important and stuffy, just wear the title humbly and impart your information in a straight forward, easy to read manner.

5. An ending with a click.
People need some place to click next when they get to the end of your newsletter. This is where you put your promotion, hard or soft. Don’t get too crazy with it because you want people to read it and click, not skip it because it’s too long.

Before you begin, write up an outline that you want your newsletters to follow. For example:

- what you’ve been up to (brief, somewhat personal)
- article
- tip
- question for discussion, survey, or contest
- article
- promo

Once you have your outline fine-tuned, make it into a template and use it each time to help you put your newsletters together faster.

Perhaps the hardest part to doing a newsletter is staying consistent with how often you publish it. Once you’ve got it perfected and you see positive results such as increased sales of your products or affiliate products and an increase in membership, you will look forward to doing each new issue.