Run a mailing list

Sending a newsletter to a mailing list is an excellent, and typically free or low cost, method of promoting a website. A newsletter, or e-zine, can be used to encourage loyal and not so loyal customers to return to your website or even your outlet. You can use a newsletter to advertise new stock, clearance items, special offers and the likes.

There are considerations when sending a newsletter to ensure that you stay within acceptable guidelines and don't fall foul of anti spamming measures. A newsletter should only be sent to people who have signed up for it and they should be able to opt out easily.

This also means checking that people really have opted into the newsletter, else you can fall foul to pranksters signing up their friends. The usual method for control here is 'double opt-in'. With this technique, the person signs up on your website for the newsletter by providing their email address. You then send them an email with a link and only when they have clicked on this link are they included in the list.

Likewise, it is accepted practice that all emails should have an opt-out link so that people no longer wishing to receive offers can quickly and easily opt out.

Sending newsletters can also be a tricky subject. Many people like to blast out the email from their own PC - but there are limited options here and all can get you into trouble. The first is to email all of the recipients directly with one email. But this displays every email address to all recipients and doesn't look professional.

Hiding the email addresses by putting them all in tbe BCc field does improve the situation, but many people will not read emails where the to account is 'undisclosed recipients' and likewise, some email services and spam blockers are more likely to delete such emails. It is very rare to receive an email where the BCc field is used for its intended purpose - it is usually an indication of spam.

The next step is to individually email every recipient, but on a large list this can take a long time. Also, by sending so many identical emails, whether sent individually or using either of the two above methods, either your own ISP or the mail services receiving the emails could notice the large amount of traffic and suspect you of spam. At best your newsletter is not received, at worst your email account is closed down.

So what's the answer? Well there are plenty of mailing list providers out there offering varying services. Depending on the features that you require, you might be able to use a free service for lists with even a good number of subscribers. These services deal with sending the emails, opt-ins, opt-outs and everything else and even enable you to sned HTML based emails for extra special looks.

But what is the point behind a mailing list? Well, the people signing up have visited your site or business and are wanting to know more about you. They are showing an interest in your services. You don't need to contact them often, in fact weekly newsletters could be far too much and scare subscribers off. Just email them a newsletter every couple of months. Maybe whenever you can a large number of new ranges or want to tell people about the latest special offers. Unless you have a very large mailing list then the chances are you will be able to find and use a free mailing list provider, so all that a newsletter is costing you is your time to create the newsletter and set it up.

If sending it is free and it generates more purchases or customers, what could be a better form of advertising?