If you don’t have an email newsletter campaign then I have to ask, why not?

Email is one of the best ways to capture the attention of your audience. Because the people on your list have agreed that they would like to hear what you have to say. You should not use your regular email to send out mass mailings for a couple of reasons.

#1 Your email address can be blacklisted. If your address is blacklisted then any email you send can be declined by other email clients. I have had to petition on behalf of several clients who had their email blacklisted.

#2 You are actually in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act which has specific provisions for unsubscribing features.

There are literally thousands of newsletter services and I have personally used a few of them and have my favorites.

I like Mailchimp® and recommend them for most of my small business clients because their service is free for people with less than 2,000 email addresses and it has a great user friendly interface. If you have more subscribers than that though, my recommendation is SendinBlue®, they are less expensive per email and have a great dashboard.

You can integrate your newsletter signup forms with your website and on Facebook. If you have a handwritten email list you can add them manually or upload an electronic email list. Many email services also have phone apps so you can send something out, on-the-fly.

One of my favorite features is the ability to create groups. Groups allow you can send emails to specific individuals who are interested in certain topics.  You can even add the groups to your signup sheet so people can indicate their preferences when they signup.

MailChimp®

MailChimp® offers some great resources to help you get the most from their product. You can go the simple route, or take advantage of the most powerful features. They have a free resource page that gives you individual resources for the task you’re trying to accomplish:

• ♦ Get your first campaign off the ground
• ♦ Small Business Resources
• ♦ Advanced Segmentation by targeting your customers
• ♦ Common Rookie Mistakes
• ♦ Automation of Workflows
• ♦ Avoiding Spam Filters
• ♦ Special sections for Bloggers, Designers, Musicians, Nonprofits, Online Sellers
• ♦ Switching from Constant Contact

One of my favorite features of Newsletters are Groups. Here is an excerpt from the video on groups that ended up on the cutting room floor for time sake.

Email newsletter campaigns are great, and you should have one. Why not sign up for one today?