Creating Successful Newsletters

• Use short, informative subject lines. Make your message stand out in a crowded inbox with a concise description of what the recipient will find inside, e.g., "New Album Reviews at MyMusicSite.com" or "Find End-of-Summer Deals on MyApparelSite.com."

• Send messages in both HTML and text. Your e-mail will be most attractive and eye-catching when you send it in HTML, so you can include graphics and formatting. Many e-mail programmes allow you to compose messages in both HTML and text, letting you send attractive graphics to most customers while still being able to reach those who prefer plain text.

• Reflect the brand of your Web site. Use similar colours, logos, and layouts to those on your Web site, so that frequent visitors will easily recognise your messages.

• Design for the preview pane. Many people use Microsoft Outlook's preview pane to glance at the beginning of a message before opening it. By designing your core message so that it fits inside the pane (which is around 500 pixels wide in the most frequently used setting), you can more easily grab your customers' attention.

• Include links to relevant content in all sections. Some customers may only read parts of your message, so make sure to provide appropriate links to your Web site from each section.

• Follow a regular schedule. Visitors to your site will begin to look forward to your newsletter if you establish a consistent, reliable schedule. You might start by sending it once or twice a month.

• Include great content. No matter how good your newsletter looks, it's the content that will create loyal readers. Make sure each message contains unique, valuable information that's relevant to your site's visitors.