Full disclosure: I'm a huge proponent of email newsletters. It's not just because I've developed or upgraded over 170 of them. It's because I've seen how effective they can be at driving traffic to a website, generating advertising revenue and/or selling products and services. 

Why Every Website Should Offer At Least One Email Newsletter

In a way, a website is like a trade show booth. In both cases, prospects drop by to learn more about your products and services. You'd never think of spending the time and money to attend a trade show and not collect business cards from prospects that stopped by your booth so you could follow-up with them. So why would you build a website and not try to get email addresses from your visitors so you can follow-up with them?  

And just as successful trade show marketers offer prospects something in return for their business card (entry in a prize drawing, a free premium, etc.), successful web marketers need to offer something in return for people's email address. An email newsletter, containing a mix of promotional and non-promotional content is a natural choice. This will allow you to follow-up on the visit and (hopefully) build a long-term relationship, effectively 'turning strangers into friends and friends into customers,' to quote Seth Godin.   

Getting Started

Developing and maintaining a successful email newsletter isn't as easy as it seems. It takes planning and thought. Here are some keys to creating a successful email newsletter.   

1. Be Mindful of Your Editorial vs. Advertising Mix

Even if your primary goal for the email newsletter is to sell, it must be more than just a promotional piece for your company. Otherwise readers won't find the value and will either unsubscribe or (worse) just stop reading. At least 50% of your content should be editorial, not sales-oriented; typical ratios are 60/40 or 80/20 editorial to advertising. Being too sales-oriented is one of the most common mistakes I see in email newsletters; don't make it.

2. Provide Valuable Editorial Content

But where do you get great editorial content that's not promotional? There are actually lots of sources. You can get employees, clients or consultants to write articles on the industry or wrap-ups of industry speakers or events. Interviews with industry experts are another great source of editorial. You can also use content that's already out there, via article banks or by creating an email newsletter with brief descriptions of and links to content on other websites.  

3. Integrate Your Email Newsletter Into Your Business

Never miss a chance to let customers and/or prospects know that you have an email newsletter and tell them how they can sign-up. Include a sign-up mechanism in the footers of all emails, on the back of your business cards, on all invoices and promotional pieces and feature it prominently on your website, for starters. 

4. Don't Ask for Too Much Information at Sign-up

It's tempting to want to learn all about the people who are registering to receive your email newsletter, but resist the temptation. By asking for a limited amount of information at registration, you'll capture more subscribers.  

Registration pages should have no more than 5 to 7 fields for the visitor to fill out. In a B2B setting, these typically consist of:

-> First name
 -> Last name
 -> Email Address
 -> Company Name
 -> Title
 -> Zip Code