6 Things to Share in Your Newsletter

Newsletters are still one of the most effective ways to reach your audience and drive traffic to your website. Compared to Facebook, newsletters often out perform Facebook posts by 20% or more as publishers in our network typically range between 20-30% open rate compared to reaching 1-2% on a Facebook post (all else being equal). While the level of competition for eyeballs in people's inboxes continues to rise, publishers are uniquely positioned to provide awesome content where other businesses often fall short. Here are a list of 6 different types of content that you can re-purpose and use in your email newsletter:

Events from your Calendar

Any easy way to provide value to your readers is to simply help them find something fun to do this weekend. You could add a section in every newsletter called "3 to See" (or any other name you come up with) and use this section to provide your publisher endorsed recommendations for happenings in your community.

Top Articles from The Web

Depending on how many articles you publish and how often you send your newsletter, including top stories is a great way to drive additional traffic to your site. First, check out your analytics and determine the most visited stories. Then simply cut and paste the title, image and description into your newsletter. If nessecary, you can clean up the formatting but voila...you now are helping people find the most interesting content on your site. Alternatively, you could pick your favorites and call them "Editors Picks".

Breaking News

Breaking news is always a popular category if there is something truly remarkable or important going on in your community that people "need" to know about. A simple test is to ask yourself, "can it wait till the next news letter?" If not, then you should share it. Just make sure not to abuse this privilege AND make sure to link to the article on your site.

Social Promotions

People love to win things, especially when its local. Newsletters are a great way to promote your contests but the message will be much better received if you are also sending regular content to your readers. The key here is consistency so when you are ready to promote your contest you can do so without worry.

Local Photos

If you have one or two local photos, your newsletter is a great place to share them. Of course, if you have more than that you should post them as gallery on your site and link to them but for things like a lost pet flyer, a special moment from a local event or other user submitted photos including them in your newsletter will give it a nice local flare. Plus people love to see people they know.

Coupons

If you have a coupon section on your website, you can use your newsletter to share a coupon of the week.

Every email should include follow me buttons for your social networks and can also include a CTA to subscribe to your publication.

BONUS: In addition, you should also send regular updates to advertisers and prospects such as deadlines, educational materials (i.e. why they need to be advertising) and specific offers/incentives for them to act now.