How to Make Your Own Email Newsletter

1. Choose a Reputable Email Service Provider I strongly suggest that you avoid sending BCC (blind carbon copies) or CC (carbon copy) emails, and either solicit the services of a professional email marketer, or do it yourself with the help of an email service provider (see the section below titled "Choosing the Right Email Marketing Service Provider"). You can either hire a designer to build your email template, or you can opt to use one of the templates provided by your email service provider.

2. Learn the Basics If you are gonna do this alone, please take some time to really understand what email marketing is, and learn all the rules and best practices. Sending out mass emails without following the laws of the CAN-SPAM act can lead you to paying hefty fines.

3. Establish an online presence This could be a website or even a blog. You definitely need a place to send your customers when they click on the links in your email. Nowadays, you can build a basic website/blog for very little to no money.

4. Define a Strategy and Your Goals Before you ever launch your first site, you will need to determine what purpose your newsletter serves, who it will be delivered to and what goals you have for this marketing vehicle.

5. Develop a List of Subscribers You will need to create a list of people who have given you permission to contact them via email on a specific topic. Read the section below on permission, titled "Ask for Permission" for more details.

One of the initial decisions you need to make before sending out an email newsletter is to select an email marketing service provider.

I spent 8 months doing research on email marketing and invested countless hours into researching the email marketing services that provide the best value. Here are a few email marketing service providers that I can whole-heartedly recommend for the "do it yourself" newbie email marketer.

Aweber I currently use Aweber as my email marketing provider, because they came so highly recommended and charge a very reasonable fee. I finally gave into peer pressure and signed up as a client. I have to admit, so far I'm pretty impressed with the features and customer service. Seriously, they are really great about making you feel like you are some part of a club. Cons: They don't have as many features available as iContact or ConstantContact. You can click here to visit Aweber's website (first month only costs $1).

iContact (formerly Intellicontact) has an amazing set of features, such as the autoresponder, ability to create surveys, newsletter archiving, and event management (no extra charge). The pricing is really competitive. Be sure to check them out. Pricing starts off at 9.95 per month. Click here to sign up for a Free trial with iContact!

Constant Contact is soooo easy to get started. This is an easy do-it-yourself solution for building your own email campaigns. They have a ton of templates for you to use, and have pretty good tutorials to get you started. I can't stress enough how easy it is to use ConstantContact, the biggest issue I've had is that the new "wizard" is a little quirky in how it brings up some of the emails, but it's not the big of a deal. *You can track and measure emails here at no extra cost! Fees start off at $15 per month. Cons: You have to pay extra to use their survey and event management features. Click here to get started with Constant Contact.

From Line: Who's There
Make sure you use a name that your subscribers will recognize, because your readers will DELETE your emails if they don't know who the sender is. . You can use your own name, company name or your brand name if it's more recognizable. Once you choose your sender name, stay consistent in using it each time you send out that email campaign.

Subject Line: Getting Your Email Open
This is prime real estate here, so keep it SHORT and simple (35 characters or less). You only get 3 seconds max before your readers will decide to open or delete your email, so make your subject line "pop" by conveying the biggest benefit.
ALSO, DO NOT USE ALL CAPS or exclamation marks!!!

Content and Copy Considerations
Most times email requires you to get to the point quickly, so be clear and concise, focus on emphasising benefits, and create a sense of urgency.

Content Don'ts
-Avoid spammy words like free, guarantee, spam, credit card etc, so that you don't upset spam filters.
-Don't use red text, ALL CAPS, excessive use of punctuation !!!, ??
-Don't hotlink the words "click here." Don't be afraid to hotlink a whole sentence.
-Make sure your headline matches the rest of the copy in your email.

The Call-To-Action
The call to action is basically what steps you'd like your customers to take. Many people still use the words "click here", but surely are more creative than that. Whatever you do, make it easy, make it clear, make it low or no obligation and perhaps offer a reward or incentive.

**Also remember to include your physical address, and an unsubscribe link in each campaign you send out.

Here is a quick sampling of what you can send out with email marketing.

e-Newsletters
Providing your customers with a newsletter will not only help your company stay fresh in their minds, but can also help to establish you as an expert in your field. You can send snippets on the latest news from your company, tips related to your field or even promotional coupons that your subscribers will find useful.

e-Bulletins
Perfect for announcing a new product/service, this is similar to a postcard. This kind of message will get to the point rather quickly.

Press releases
Electronically send out a press release to any media contacts you have on your subscriber lists. This is a great way to get media coverage if you have a solid list of subscribers.

Most commercial email service providers have already built in precautions to ensure that you don't break any "spammy" laws, but in case they don't...here are the requirements of the law.

It bans false or misleading header information. Your email's "From," "To," and routing information - including the originating domain name and email address - must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.

It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a "menu" of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor's email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it's illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.

It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.

Visit the Federal Trade Commission's website to learn more about the CAN-SPAM Act.

Marketing Sherpa Just about everything here costs money, but you visit their homepage weekly to see what free articles they have available. They post new articles and case studies for free for the first few days. Wonderful way to get new ideas. You should also check out the winners of this year's email awards to get inspired.

Duct Tape Marketing Blog is a blog dedicated to helping small business owners. This award winning blog is written by John Jantsch, and he shares a lot of tips about online marketing.