This is part 5 of our ongoing series on How to Get a Performing Website. This we cover how to do online newsletters We need more than just an existing website today. It’s important to keep attracting and inviting more and more people to our website and into our businesses or organization. A performing website gets better search engine results, is found by more people, and easily invites people to take action.
Up to this point we’ve covered:
You Need More than a Website
Updating a Website
Blogging
Inbound Links
This week let’s discuss a way to get more people interested in your organization and visiting your website: an online Newsletter. With current technology and readily available options, creating an online newsletter isn’t that difficult. There are two aspects to have an online newsletter:
1) email address list
2) creating the newsletter
Let’s look each one.
Email Address List
There are several effective ways to build your email list. If you have a brick and mortar location, have a sign up sheet near your checkout area, or near your door. Invite them to leave their email address to receive coupons, promotions, latest news, etc.
Make it easy for your online visitors to sign up for your newsletter on your website. Again, invite them to sign up by offering coupons, promotions, getting the latest news, etc. Make it clear that the email address is only used by your business.
The email addresses also need to be managed properly. Use an email list builder (available through newsletter options, or through your web host). Your web designer may be able to assist you in setting this up. Also, it is required when sending out an regular email (newsletter), that you include an option to opt-out of the email list. An email list builder provides this option automatically.
Creating the Newsletter
The easiest and fastest way to create a newsletter is to go with a Newsletter Service Provider. There a re several options available for creating a newsletter. Some of the more common options are:
iContact
iContact has it all. You can use one of their professional templates or create your own from scratch. They have a free version for up to 100 subscribers. Their paid plans start at $14.99/month for 500 subscribers.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact was one of the first to market. They have been around for a long time and are a popular choice. They also have a free option for up to 100 subscribers and their paid plans start at $15/month for up to 500 subscribers.
Aweber
Aweber has great newsletter themes to choose from as well as a host of other features. YOu can set up auto responders and handle multiple lists using their services. Their prices start at $19/month for up to 500 subscribers.
Mailchimp
One of the main attractions of Mailchimp is their forever free plan. You can have up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.
Greetings, I do think your site could be having browser compatibility issues.
When I take a look at your website in Safari, it looks fine
but when opening in IE, it has some overlapping
issues. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that,
wonderful website!
Thanks for the heads up and for visiting. Can you let me know what version of IE it’s overlapping in? I’ve looked at several versions and am not able to find the overlap. Thanks!