Strategies: Community Building and Repeat Traffic.
Newsletters
Sending out a newsletter by email, once a week, is a great way to get repeat traffic. But there are pitfalls, such as being accused of SPAM, which make it difficult to get your newsletter working, properly.
The purpose of your newsletter is NOT to promote your business or to sell your services!
Newsletters should empower your readers and keep them up to date concerning items of interest to them. At least 80% of the content of your newsletter should avoid having anything to do with selling your products or promoting your services.
Recommended content might include: Explaining a DIY technique; Reporting on recent events unrelated to your company; Recommending articles posted on the internet by someone outside of your company; or An editorial by you concerning some recent event or legislation.
The main mission of your newsletter should be building readership and developing a long-term relationship. This is not accomplished if the reader feels that your newsletter is a thinly disguised sales letter.
The optimal amount of advertising of your services within your newsletter is approximately 15% of the newsletter.
There are also some challenges to successful newsletters.
First, you have to deal with pranksters. Pranksters are people who use somebody else's e-mail address to sign-up for your promotional items.
Second, you have to deal with subscribers who decide that they want to unsubscribe.
Third, you have to be concerned that the design of your newsletter is congruent with your visual brand and with your website.
Qwerty will design your newsletter's template and will help you get set up with a service that both mails your newsletter and maintains your subscriber base including verification of e-mail addresses and unsubscribing those who wish to quit receiving the newsletter.
Qwerty can also help you to re-purpose your subscriber list.
For more information on developing your audience, see Internet Syndication.