==> Feature Article

I must've missed the memo on that one. Let me show you the gist of practically every single newsletter I get in my Inbox (I subscribe to a ton of them to see daily examples of what not to do!) nowadays:

Hi,

It's me again.

Buy something.

That is pathetic! Sales newsletter after sales newsletter after sales newsletter... Absolutely no value! It’s a waste of time.

If you want to sell me something then you're going to have to provide me with some value first. Do your homework. I signed up for your newsletter. I must want to know something about Internet Marketing. What do you have to offer? What can you teach me?

Most of the time, I don't even know who you are but here you are trying to sell me something every single chance you communicate with me. It doesn't make any sense.

Show me WHY I should value your opinion. Provide me with some information that I will want to keep and not just delete as soon as I'm done skimming it.

It's a well known fact that people would prefer to buy from a friend or someone they know. Yep, it's difficult on the 'net but with a newsletter you have the chance to build a relationship with someone. Take advantage of that.

Take the time to tell me something I don’t already know.

Internet Marketers are just plain lazy! They’re happy with 1% conversion rates. Start providing your newsletter readers with more content and more value and reduce the amount of sales offers and affiliate links and watch your sell thru rate soar.

Don’t sell in your newsletter. PRESELL. Warm the reader up. Make the reader want to go to your sales page. By providing the reader with quality content, you are building a relationship with that person.

And I’m not talking about those follow-up series types of emails either. You know the ones that are just like 15 sales newsletters for one product. Those are just as bad as the affiliate-link-laden emails.

When I say provide value, I mean give your readers fresh and hard hitting content. If you’re selling a book on how to sell on eBay then provide them with tips and techniques that you employ to increase your sales on eBay. The mindset of most of your readers will be this: “Wow if I’m getting this much information in the free newsletter, imagine what I’ll get in the eBook!”

And that’s exactly where you want them.

You shouldn’t have to tell your reader that you’re selling something.

By the time your reader is done reading your newsletter, he should want to know what it is you are selling.

I'll end this with a quote from Jeffrey Gitomer:

"If they like you, and they believe you, and they trust you, and they have confidence in you...then they MAY buy from you."

Think about this before you send out your next newsletter. Do I like you? Do I believe you? Do I trust you and do I have confidence in your ability to follow through on your promise? If I answer "no" to any of those questions, then I ain't buying what you're selling.

And 99.9% of the time, I ain't buying what you're selling.

The Insider Secrets to E-mail Marketing -- Advanced Series - e-mail trade secrets of a mega marketing company

The MOE Manual - complete guide to ezine publishing

Your Lucky List - build your Optin lists for free!

EZ Money With Ezines - comprehensive guide to starting your own profitable ezine.

Viral Email Matrix - free list builder with RSS feeds.

Best wishes for your online success!

Stan Smith