I have been thinking about this question for about 2 months. I am just not sure what I have to offer to anyone willing to subscribe. I am in the “affiliate blogging business”, but I am not about to bomb my readers with affiliate offers through email. I already have some feed subscribers, so I am really not sure what the point of having another sign up form on my blog.
Then I went to Google and this is what I found:
8 Reasons to Add a Newsletter to Your Blog by ProBlogger.net
After reading through these 8 reasons, I thought, “boy, I really never looked at it that way, at all!”. I would like to thank Darren for posting such readable, valuable information on his blog. And now, let’s get back to the newsletter.
What do I have to offer for a newsletter?
Well, I could write longer, pointed articles, like tutorials, for the readers willing to sign up. I would figure that most of my readers are curious due to the name of my blog, but I am not sure what % are actually looking for affiliate information they can get other places. I try to keep this blog unique, by posting information about my experiments, where I am making the money online and which places I went bust, but occasionally I throw in the typical post you see just about everywhere. All with my own spin on it of course.
I really like the idea of people coming back to this blog, if they like it or whatever the reason is, but right now that number sits at about 80-90 per month. I would think that with a newsletter, I would see more return and according to Darren, more loyalty.
On the search for a nice, easy-to-use newsletter packed with tools and tracking, I found 2 that I am happy with.
- Aweber – obviously the most popular choice on the web today
- ConstantContact – another system I found to be as useful and in the price range
I haven’t decided which one to go with, because I am also checking into some open source options that I can run on my server. I really like the tools and tracking that Aweber offers, so I am leaning towards their service at this point. We’ll see, I hope by the start of 2009 I will have thought of some valuable content to pass around via newsletter.
Being able to interact with your readers is a huge part of operating a blog. If you can create some sort of community through a newsletter, you will see traffic go up, as well as, affiliate sales of products you offer, etc. The overall return is huge compared to the actual commitment. So, do you need a blog newsletter? I would say NO, but if you would like to create a nice loyal community of readers, you might want to at least check it out.
Most newsletter services will offer a trial period (try Aweber below) so that you can test how it will go over with your readers, it’s at least worth that. Good luck and if you already have a newsletter going, leave a comment and let me know how it’s helped (if it has).
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Helping over 49,000 businesses like yours raise profits and build customer relationships using AWeber’s opt-in email marketing software for over 10 years.
Newsletters are a great way to capture those who have interest in your site. You just have to be sure to find the time to create newsletters in addition to updating your site or blog.
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It depends on how much you are able to handle. Every website/blog could pretty much benefit from gaining a list of interested people. The key is bringing valuable unique information – something that hits the hot spots of your particular viewing audience. Look at shoemoney, front and center on his blog is a newsletter with “Exclusive Content” – great idea.
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I am in the opinion that ‘new-age bloggers’ don’t use newsletters cos RSS feeds are a better way to go. With newsletters, you not only need an autoresponder, you need to be prepared that subscribers may not receive your newsletters from time to time via email, for reasons like email account closed or their email boxes full, or their email account’s mistaken your newsletter as spam.
But of course that’s just my opinion, and I am not a pro blogger making 6 figure!
Thanks for the comment. You have good points.
P.S. Pls ignore my previous comment – I am simply too lazy to maintain a newsletter myself but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start one. Thanks for inspiring me to write a blog entry about newsletters!
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