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Are you thinking about starting a newsletter or do you currently have one? It doesn’t matter, you can make your newsletter more relevant with these simple seven tips.

1. Put yourself on a schedule. Choose once a month on the first Monday, or once a quarter on  Jan 3, April 3, July 3, Oct 3. Whatever you choose make sure you stick to your schedule. Part of being professional is completing activities consistently – without excuses. So mark your calendar, and don’t waiver.

2. Have a simple header that describes your business succinctly – e.g., Sam’s Computer Service. And have a simple ending that includes your contact information – email, phone number, address.  Your email subject should state the company name, volume and issue for this newsletter – e.g., Sam’s Computer Service July 2010

3. Three articles is all you need.

• Article 1 – write something of human interest, like a community service you or an employee recently did, a donation, a scholarship – something that makes your company more than a company.
• Article 2 – something new. Write about a new product, a new service, a new offering – something that makes the reader feel that this newsletter is timely and important.
• Article 3 – the ask. A discounted product, a sales item – something that makes them forward the newsletter.This is where the revenue opportunity is. Make sure to add a link (see 6).

4. Don’t focus on your micro-target market. For example, I write my first article on how I gave a netbook to a homeless shelter. Now I am thinking about netbooks, so I write about a new netbook offering, and finish my newsletter with a discount on, you guessed it, a netbook service. Because I got in my netbook groove, my entire newsletter is focused on a small percentage of my readers. Wrong. Spread the love around. Pick different topics for your newsletter so most of your readers get something. Otherwise they may choose to ignore your next newsletter.

5. An image for each article. Every article should have a unique photo or image. People associate concepts with pictures, so offer your readers an image to go along with the words. But one image per article is usually enough.

6. Always link back to your website. Your newsletter is the gateway to your website. And don’t just link them to the home page, link them back to a relevant interior web page on your site. If you discuss a product in the newsletter, link them to that product page on your website.

7. My favorite small business newsletter tools: Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, and Send Blaster.