In this lesson we'll be looking into the Anatomy of a Newsletter - discovering how to structure your newsletter to ensure that it packs maximum punch!

Quality is Key

Before getting into the structure of a newsletter, the first point we'd like to stress is that good quality content is absolutely essential, especially in the first 10 newsletters that you send out. If people don't unsubscribe during the first 10 chances are they never will. What we've found is that people tend to forgive you for the occasional low quality email if they've seen good quality from you in the past.

The best way to establish a reputation for good quality information is to pack your first 10 newsletters full of value. Remember that you want people to actually open and read your newsletter! If it isn't providing value, they're going to delete it with barely a glance.

A word of warning here: although we've said email marketing is highly profitable, we assume your newsletters are of a high quality! The flip side is that a poor quality newsletter can actually reduce your conversions; people lose trust and become less willing to buy. Therefore, if you don't have the time to ensure that your newsletters are top notch, you're better off going without one, instead of throwing up something that's second rate.

The Subject Heading

The first battle is to get people to actually open your email and read it; unfortunately, we've seen a lot of people with very boring headlines, and it's no wonder they don't get as many conversions as they hoped.

The more thrilling the headline, the more likely people are to take the time to open the email and read on. The secret is to think in terms of what your market really wants. Who of you could resist clicking through on an email titled: "Secret Phone-tapped Conversation with Email Marketing Millionaire!"

Sounds exciting doesn't it?

One fail-safe tip is to include a number in your headline.

For example:

"The 5 Essential Secrets of Email Marketing!"
"Discover 7 Powerful Strategies for Email Marketing"

Another good idea is to insert the first name of the subscriber in the subject heading every now and then - it's hard to resist something that's personally addressed to you! There is a simple tag in Aweber called 'First Name' that lets you automatically insert your subscribers' first name very easily.

3 Newsletter styles that really work

If you alternate between these three newsletter styles, then you simply can't go wrong in terms of providing great value to your subscribers.

1. The Instructional Newsletter

The first newsletter style is the instructional or informative newsletter.

This newsletter for the product Meet Your Sweet is a perfect example - the exciting headline: "Why men need to be screened (and how to do it)" draws you in straight away.

What follows is an informative email of about 1000 words that uses short, bite-sized paragraphs to instruct women on how to screen men.

It is extremely important that the layout is formatted in such a way that it's easy to digest - using a narrow width, for example; the reason for this is to make the newsletter easy for people to read, their eyes don't have to skim very far to take in the content. We've found that the less effort people have to go to the better - if it's easy to read, then they are more likely to read the newsletter there and then, rather than putting it aside for later and forgetting all about it!

2. The Question and Answer Newsletter

The question and answer newsletter is particularly easy to write. All you need is one or two questions from your readers and then you just have to write a reply! Your topics are chosen for you.

Why does this newsletter style work? Because it makes the people on your list feel like they are part of a bigger community. That they belong to something and that there are other people out there, like them, facing the same problems.

It also makes people feel like you listen to them. They can write to you and you'll answer. Of course, if you are worried about being bombarded with agony aunt letters, you can always put in a disclaimer saying you can't promise to answer every email, but you'll do your best.

You can either answer one question in-depth, or you may prefer to answer 3 or 4 in the same newsletter.

3. The Hard Sell Newsletter

The hard sell newsletter is what we're going to call any type of newsletter that sells to the subscriber – whether or not it is technically a hard or a soft sell!

This type of newsletter is not packed with value; if the subscriber doesn't buy the product you're promoting, they haven't gained anything, whereas with the other types of newsletters they have gained value just from reading.

The hard sell newsletter is where the value provided in your other email styles really pays off. Now people trust you and will be responsive to your recommendations. Of course, it's important to only recommend products that you believe will solve a problem your subscribers face, and make their lives easier.

So in this video you've learned why an exciting subject heading is absolutely essential for getting your readers to open your emails up. We've also given you three different styles of newsletter to help you achieve that perfect mix of giving value and successfully selling to your subscribers.

In the next lesson, we'll be looking at the best way to structure and time your newsletters. See you then!

Lesson Summary

In this lesson we looked at the anatomy of a newsletter; we looked at the importance of quality, and powerful subject headings. We also looked at three different types of newsletter:

• The instructional newsletter
• The question and answer newsletter
• The hard sell newsletter