Hello,
For those of you who blog, consider creating an email newsletter to share your posts. I just got my act together to do this, using http://ift.tt/mRhJuW. (There are other email services. This is just the one I happened to pick.) My agents and editor are very happy about this, and, now that I've set it up, it's not that much effort because I've already written the blog posts.
In case you're interested in creating your own newsletter, here's what I've figured out so far:
SUBSCRIBERS
- Collect email addresses at speaking events and through a newsletter sign-up on your website and/or blog. People who sign-up online will automatically be added to your list, but you can also manually add email addresses. Sending emails through Constant Contact is FREE if you have under 500 people on your email list, then the price goes up based on your number of subscribers.
FORMAT
- You can design your own template, but for a reasonably small fee (about $50?), Constant Contact will create a mobile-friendly email template, based on a website or photo you send them. Given how much people are glued to their smartphones, I think having a mobile-friendly version is essential. (They say, "75% of people will delete an email if it's not readable on their phones.")
- Once you have the template, you can save a new version for each new newsletter, then click on each section to edit it. The template makes it easy to add, delete, and move around sections.
- The free version of Constant Contact only allows you to store five images, so I decided not to have images in the middle of my newsletter. I just have the template image at the top and an image of my books at the bottom.
FREQUENCY
- I decided to send the eNewsletter once a month, because that doesn't seem too onerous for me or too intrusive for recipients.
CONTENT
- I'm including a short "teaser" paragraph plus a link for new blog posts.
- I'm also including titles with links to older blog posts in a section called "In case you missed them..."
- At the bottom, I'm going to feature one of my books/video series each month. This will also be the spot where I can announce my new books, when they come out. (My new kids book is coming out Sept. 2017, so I have PLENTY of time to build up my list before that announcement. Hah hah!)
DATA
- Constant contact provides data on how many people opened your eNewsletter (industry average is 32%) and how many clicked through on each link, so you'll know EXACTLY how many people you're reaching! They also keep track of bounced emails and automatically delete people who unsubscribe from your list. You can go in and edit bounced emails, if needed.
LOGISTICS
- HINT: TRIPLE CHECK THE LINKS IN YOUR NEWSLETTER! Yeah, I learned that the hard way. I now have a test list that sends only to me, which I'll use before sending the newsletter to my full list.
- You can schedule your eNewsletter to send immediately or at a later date.
- One feature I really like from Constant Contact is that you can click on a Share button, and they will 1) create an online version with a url that you can post on social media and 2) send a tweet when the eNewsletter is sent out. New people can subscribe by clicking on the button at the bottom of the newsletter.
If you're interested, here's what my first Growing Friendships eNewsletter looks like: http://conta.cc/1QvNaBZ.
It's for parents, focusing on children's feelings and friendships. (I write books for both kids and parents.)
Other examples of blog-based eNewsletters I like are the ones from NY Times Motherlode http://ift.tt/1kmgJrq and Berkeley's The Greater Good http://ift.tt/1iMbhlB.
Has anyone else made a blog-based newsletter? Do you subscribe to a blog-based newsletter you like?
creating blog-based eNewsletter
For those of you who blog, consider creating an email newsletter to share your posts. I just got my act together to do this, using http://ift.tt/mRhJuW. (There are other email services. This is just the one I happened to pick.) My agents and editor are very happy about this, and, now that I've set it up, it's not that much effort because I've already written the blog posts.
In case you're interested in creating your own newsletter, here's what I've figured out so far:
SUBSCRIBERS
- Collect email addresses at speaking events and through a newsletter sign-up on your website and/or blog. People who sign-up online will automatically be added to your list, but you can also manually add email addresses. Sending emails through Constant Contact is FREE if you have under 500 people on your email list, then the price goes up based on your number of subscribers.
FORMAT
- You can design your own template, but for a reasonably small fee (about $50?), Constant Contact will create a mobile-friendly email template, based on a website or photo you send them. Given how much people are glued to their smartphones, I think having a mobile-friendly version is essential. (They say, "75% of people will delete an email if it's not readable on their phones.")
- Once you have the template, you can save a new version for each new newsletter, then click on each section to edit it. The template makes it easy to add, delete, and move around sections.
- The free version of Constant Contact only allows you to store five images, so I decided not to have images in the middle of my newsletter. I just have the template image at the top and an image of my books at the bottom.
FREQUENCY
- I decided to send the eNewsletter once a month, because that doesn't seem too onerous for me or too intrusive for recipients.
CONTENT
- I'm including a short "teaser" paragraph plus a link for new blog posts.
- I'm also including titles with links to older blog posts in a section called "In case you missed them..."
- At the bottom, I'm going to feature one of my books/video series each month. This will also be the spot where I can announce my new books, when they come out. (My new kids book is coming out Sept. 2017, so I have PLENTY of time to build up my list before that announcement. Hah hah!)
DATA
- Constant contact provides data on how many people opened your eNewsletter (industry average is 32%) and how many clicked through on each link, so you'll know EXACTLY how many people you're reaching! They also keep track of bounced emails and automatically delete people who unsubscribe from your list. You can go in and edit bounced emails, if needed.
LOGISTICS
- HINT: TRIPLE CHECK THE LINKS IN YOUR NEWSLETTER! Yeah, I learned that the hard way. I now have a test list that sends only to me, which I'll use before sending the newsletter to my full list.
- You can schedule your eNewsletter to send immediately or at a later date.
- One feature I really like from Constant Contact is that you can click on a Share button, and they will 1) create an online version with a url that you can post on social media and 2) send a tweet when the eNewsletter is sent out. New people can subscribe by clicking on the button at the bottom of the newsletter.
If you're interested, here's what my first Growing Friendships eNewsletter looks like: http://conta.cc/1QvNaBZ.
It's for parents, focusing on children's feelings and friendships. (I write books for both kids and parents.)
Other examples of blog-based eNewsletters I like are the ones from NY Times Motherlode http://ift.tt/1kmgJrq and Berkeley's The Greater Good http://ift.tt/1iMbhlB.
Has anyone else made a blog-based newsletter? Do you subscribe to a blog-based newsletter you like?
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