11 Steps to Crafting Your Email Newsletter

Crafting your email newsletter may feel like a chore, but with these 11 steps you will be on the path to success!

1. Write a Blog Post

Newsletters and blog posts go hand in hand. Creating both will help you attract more visitors to your website and grow your contact list. If you haven’t already, write a blog post and post it to your website.

2. Write a Brief Welcome Statement

Write 2-3 sentences to connect with readers and introduce your newsletter topic.

3. Prepare Your Blog Post for Email

Depending upon the length of your blog post, you have two options. If your post is shorter and would fit into an email easily, then include the blog post in its entirety. If your blog post is long or you want to direct readers to your website, take the first couple of paragraphs to interest them and have them click a button to take them to the full post.

Pro Tip: Create a spreadsheet where you track all of your blog posts, URLs, and the dates of when and where you post them to make tracking a lot easier.

4. Update Email Template

Once you completed the first three steps, it’s time to update your email template with the new content. Don’t forget to include the issue number or the month and year you are sending in the line beneath your header or logo.

5. Subject Line and Pretext

One of the important parts of your email is your subject line and the pretext/preheader. It needs to catch the reader’s attention, so they click and open your email. When thinking about your subject line, you also need to consider if any of the words you want to use will land your email in spam folders. Here are just a few examples of trigger words that will send your email straight to spam.

$$$
Click Here
Free
Help
Limited Time Offer
Order Now
Please read
Save

6. Send a Test Email

Send yourself a test email to ensure proper formatting, spacing, margins, consistent font size, and color. View on both your desktop and mobile device to make sure you are happy with how the email looks on each.

Also, make sure that all of your links are working properly. Don’t forget to test all the links in your email including social media icons, website address, internal links, as well as having links on your images and buttons.

7. Prepare to Send

Depending upon your email provider the following steps may vary or use different names as you prepare to send your newsletter. Before you send out your email to your list, you will need to create a campaign. Here are the main steps:

– Name the campaign
– Select who you want to send the email to
– If needed update “From” to be your name and business, for example mine is: Kirstin | Up North VA. A quick glance in your inbox tells you who I am and the name of my business.
– Make sure you have your subject and pretext entered
– Select your email template
– Double check Settings & Tracking

8. Final Check

Take one last final look or test-send the email. If there are no changes or issues you are ready to send!

9. Hit Send and Celebrate!

10. Share on Social Media

Share your blog post on social media directing readers to your website! Once you have more than a few blog posts you can alternate and reuse your posts on social media and/or email newsletters.

11. Next Issue

Confirm publication date of your next issue and set reminders to ensure it goes out as scheduled. Consistency is key!

Did you know the overall average open rate is only 16.97% with a click through rate of 10.29%? Do a quick search for your industry if you want to see how you compare. Look back at previous campaigns to review open rates, what your audience clicked on, or found interesting, then tailor your content.

If you’re still a little unsure about sending an email newsletter, let’s chat! You can schedule a call with me here!

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