What Makes a Great Newsletter?

[MariaG]

I'm in the process of creating a newsletter for my blog: Never the Same River Twice. I'm hoping to benefit from the wisdom of crowds here (where the crowds are especially wise). For those who create or subscribe to electronic newsletters, please take a moment to answer a couple of questions.

What is the optimal length for a newsletter - long (1000+ words) or the conventional "scanning" length of 300-700 words?

Would you rather read 1 longer article or a couple short articles?

Do you appreciate e-courses that contain a lesson a week for 4-6 weeks? Would you rather see content like that at a site?

What is the best incentive for getting sign-ups? A .pdf report? An audio interview or lesson? An e-course?

How often do you want to receive a newsletter? 1x per week? 1x per month? Somewhere in between?

If a newsletter contains affiliate links and sales offers do you want them labeled clearly or do you not care?

Okay - this is a lot, but I'm really interested in this topic and think it will benefit other forum members as well. All of your help is much appreciated.

[simonsta]

Hi Maria

I think if there was one answer to this then you'd know it already... I don't think there is a science we can apply to this. The infinite variety of topics, readers and content makes it very complicated, so it's an artform.

I've been running a newsletter for a few months and I have about 30 subscribers, but it isn't growing like I would hope. I'd say it is a failure if I just look at the numbers, and how many people reply to the newsletters.
So I've had to accept I will need to learn. Each newsletter I send, I adjust it to see what effect it has. So far, I haven't struck gold.

I did, in one newsletter, ask for direct feedback and I received some useful information. After putting the recommendations into practice, the readership grew a little bit more. Unlike web hits, you don't really know if you're meeting the needs of the readership so I think you have to be upfront and ask.

There are countless resources on the web to learn about good copy - you could try copyblogger or something like that. I'm not sure it's worth buying too much like I did as I ended up spending a lot of money.

I dunno - maybe a bunch of us need to subscribe to each other's newsletters and give feedback. Perhaps it's the only way of learning inexpensively and from real people, rather than a text book?

I will subscribe to your newsletter, then I'll give you feedback.

[MariaG]

@Simon - Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think you make a good point that we can learn a lot from other newsletters. I guess part of my frustration is that I haven't found one that I really think is ideal yet!

I've subscribed to your newsletter. Mine isn't up yet, but if you're interested I'll PM you when it becomes available.

[simonsta]

@Maria - great stuff. I'd love to think mine was the de facto standard for Newsletters.... but it isn't. Your feedback is welcome!