- Be Scientific: For someone who has an established list with at least a few thousand readers, why not try an experiment? Split your list in two and try a different promotion for each one. For example, for 1/2 the list, offer 50% the first hour’s fee. For the other half, try offering a $100 credit if they sign up for 5 hours (this promotion will change for different types of products and services). Then, study the effectiveness of each promotion — either in clicks or in new sales. Most importantly, try new variations at another time based on what you learned.

- Send Tuesday through Thursday morning: we mentioned this in our beginner’s guide, but it is something that would benefit a more established newsletter. In most cases, newsletters are best sent in the mornings on weekdays that are not Monday or Friday. With that said, consider your product or service — and consider whether it would be better sent some other time. For example, camping products might sell better on a Friday afternoon as that’s when people are thinking about camping.

- Watch your Words: Internet Service Providers and users use many different types of software to determine whether an email is to be considered Spam or not. Some criteria are technical — do you send your newsletter from a server that sends other suspect email, for example? Some are content-based, mentioning the word “viagra” may make your message more likely to be blocked.  A full list of one software package’s tests are here. Even if your email legitimately uses content that may cause concern for anti-spam software, your email could still be blocked. Considered avoiding or using less words or phrases of this type.

- Customize Your List: With a larger list, consider subdividing the list into different types of users (you can do this with Constant Contact or with other providers). You can go in many different directions with this: You can split your users into different timezones  which will allow you to send the email at 9am local time, no matter the time zone. You can split your list into different interest groups, promote a golfing product to golfers, and a gardening product to gardeners. Be careful about splitting your lists too much, no need to have lists of 10 or 15 people — it won’t be worth the time invested in doing this.

1.Select a vendor to help send out the email newsletter. Using a vendor helps make sure your message looks professional and is less likely to be marked as spam. They also handle the task of removing people from the list when the ask to unsubscribe. We highly recommend Constant Contact, as we send out our own newsletter using their service. It is easy to use, relatively inexpensive and very popular. I’m sure other people have other services they recommend, perhaps they will mention them in the comments below.

2. Select or Create a Template. If you are using Constant Contact or another vendor, you can often choose from a series of pre-existing templates. This is a great choice, as long as you customize them to look like other marketing materials your company provides. Other people hire a professional to create a look that precisely matches other marketing materials. They key is to have blocks of content that will be filled in every month. We recommend 3 sections — one for some industry information (trends or new types of products), one for some information about your company (example: a new employee or service), and a free tip related to your industry (example: a plumber might have a tip on how to avoid leaks).

3. Compile your email list. You can start from your existing list of clients and people that you know. Make sure you have permission from those folks before you start emailing them — otherwise you may be subject to complaints, and (if you are very egregious) termination of your email newsletter, web hosting and even your Internet service. Ask anyone who you have contact with if they would like to be added to your free once-a-month email list, that means adding a form to your Web site and making it a part of your business process. Most people will say yes. Be sure not to buy, rent or otherwise acquire email lists.

4. Create your content. It is important to set aside a specific every month to compile your email newsletter, otherwise it won’t get done. Feel free to repurpose other marketing materials you create. For example, if you wrote an article for an industry magazine, try rewriting it to fit in your newsletter format. That way, you can save time and get the most benefit every time you prepare something. The key is creating a system that you can execute every month.

5. Send it. Even though this is for beginners, here’s an advanced tip; Make sure to send your email on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning . Emails sent on those days are more likely to be read.  With Constant Contact, you can schedule this in advance. With other services, you can do this by scheduling or by preparing the email and then pressing send on those days.

Follow those five steps and you’ll create an engaging newsletter is likely to keep clients and customer focused on your business.