OK, so you’ve had your list for a few years, and you’ve happily gathered hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of happy readers. Congratulations! And then comes Spring Cleaning — which virtually no one does, or even understands why it’s a very good idea. Here’s what I mean. First, consider the list has been active … Read more
In previous articles I’ve touched on the topic of preplanning what your list is for, who it’s for, and what you’ll be sending them. One method of figuring this all out is to “define your avatar” (as the Internet marketing folks put it). It’s actually a pretty good exercise, and I’ll tell you below the … Read more
I got a note from a This is True reader and saw he had a very intriguing link in his email “signature” block, commonly referred to online as a “.sig” (with or without the period). Smart: that’s great real estate to briefly promote your site. The folks you exchange emails with are potential long-time readers … Read more
Earlier I talked briefly about the Welcome message — the first message subscribers get once they subscribe to your list. Let’s go into a little more detail about what should be in it. 1) A thank-you is a great start: they just gave you access to their inbox. That’s a big deal. 2) Remind them what … Read more
These days, list building is pretty tough: there is a lot of noise online demanding attention, and it’s hard to stand out. The best source of new subscribers I’ve ever found is my current subscribers: their friends, family, and colleagues. A recommendation from someone they know carries a lot more weight than an ad or … Read more
or, Two Different Messages with Two Critical Functions That Are Easily Confused. There are two different web pages with two corresponding email messages for your brand-new subscribers that have similar, but different, functions — and rookie list publishers confuse them all the time. Let’s make sure you’re clear on them. When someone decides that they want … Read more
A reader has a question about what email service to use: Help!! I help a small nonprofit and have decided to start a quarterly email newsletter, so we can keep in touch with our supporters. My question is this: What email service you would recommend? I have issues with Google, I don’t think Yahoo or … Read more
Last week in an aside, I noted I could have an email list hosted on a formal ESP and send unlimited messages to that list for just $19/month. That’s a pretty reasonable figure to be sure, but it’s not as cheap as social media: Facebook is free. Why pay when you can post to Facebook … Read more
A formal email list clearly isn’t always the right solution: you don’t need to create a formal list at an Email Service Provider to send the occasional joke to a group of friends. But beyond that, what are the determining factors between just mailing a group from your desktop, and creating a formal, hosted list? … Read more
Very early on I talked about Defining Your List’s Audience and how “sending an email blast” shows a terrible disregard for the audience who has granted you their attention and mailbox space. Those two ideas now come together in this comment from Charlie in New Jersey, responding to the recent “blast” article. He runs the mailing … Read more