Would your business benefit from having a newsletter?

Today’s post dives into what a newsletter is and who will benefit from having one.

Quick disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may make a small commission at no additional cost to you, should you choose to make a purchase through my link.

What is a newsletter?

A newsletter is a free customized email that you send to your followers. Also known as email marketing.
Visitors to your site can sign up for your newsletter through a sign-up form you place somewhere on your site.
Typically it contains updates, product offerings, new blog posts, news or whatever you choose to share that relates to your business or blog.

Newsletters are great for a couple of reasons.
For businesses:

• A newsletter keeps potential customers interested in your product or message
• It’s a way to share updates, sales, and news related to your business.
• You’re building a following who is interested in your brand and wants to learn more or is interested in getting coupon codes and updates.

For blogs:

• A newsletter keeps your readers coming back to your site.
• It’s a way to share your latest posts, stories, and news.
• You’re able to connect with your readers on a more personal level, by sharing stories or news that you might not feel comfortable sharing on social media.

Do I need a newsletter?

Not all websites have newsletters. For some businesses, it doesn’t make sense to have one.
For example, maybe your website is just a place to share a short description of your business with a contact page. You aren’t offering any services through your site and your site isn’t updated regularly with news or updates.
For a website like this, a newsletter might not make sense.

If you’re a blogger, your website’s content is constantly changing or you have an eCommerce site, a newsletter is very beneficial, mainly for the reasons explained above.

How do I create a newsletter?

It’s simple to set up. For beginners, I recommend using MailChimp.
Visit my post Setting up Mailchimp for email marketing for setup instructions.

The reason I like MailChimp:

• It’s free for up to 2,000 contacts.
• You can customize your newsletter however you’d like (custom logo, content, photos, colors, etc)
• You can automate newsletters (this is helpful for new signups and blog updates)

How often should I send out a newsletter?

This depends on your business and your audience. Each newsletter you send should bring something valuable to the table.
Some businesses will send out a newsletter once a week and others once a month.
A good thing to keep in mind is how many emails you receive in a day on your personal account. Do you read them all? Are there some that you like more than others?
Are you excited to receive an email from a certain store or brand?
Using your personal experience with other brands’ newsletters will help you determine how often you should send out your newsletter.
No matter how often you decide to send it, make sure to keep it fresh.
It’s okay to make a template that you’ll use for every email, but change up the content. This will keep your audience opening your newsletter, otherwise, they may just bulk select and delete.

What to do and what not to do

Your audience can unsubscribe whenever they want, so keep them interested, but don’t spam them. Don’t sell their information or abuse their trust.
Explain in your welcome email what they can expect from your newsletter. Can they expect to see a blog update once a week? Can they expect to see the latest products and sales going on?
This will vary depending on your brand, but people like to know what they can expect. So be clear and honest. Build that trust and maintain it.

Legal requirements

One thing to keep in mind is that you are required by law to share your street address (not a PO Box) in the footer of each newsletter.
If you’re a business, you can share your business address.
For bloggers, this can be touchy because more than likely this would be your home address.
If you’re uncomfortable sharing your home address, you could rent a mailbox with UPS. When you do this they give you a real street address you can use, so your personal address stays personal.
This is great for bloggers, small business and eCommerce sites that don’t have a storefront. There is a renewal fee and it’ll vary by location so be sure to contact your local UPS store for info.

Having a newsletter can be very beneficial for your business or blog.
Spend some time looking at the newsletters you receive from your favorite brands or bloggers.
What do you like about them? What don’t you like about them?
Gain inspiration from them, but don’t copy them. Make your newsletter unique to your brand.

If you ever need any help or have questions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment, I’ll be more than happy to help!