Many corporations and professional bloggers send newsletters to their readers.  To improve their subscribed readers’ loyalty and trust in them; to remind them “Hey – I have new content on my blog.”  It helps to build a “personal branding” to your blog since newsletters always show your logo/banner.  Here are 5 major advantages of having newsletters emailed to your subscribed readers (and the 6 things you must do if you’re sending newsletters to your opt-in/subscribers):

7 major advantages of having newsletters emailed to your subscribed readers

1. It kinda forces you to blog regularly since you can post excerpts in your newsletter that brings your subscribers back to your blog entry (for the full blog entry/story).

2.  With adequate webmastering skills, you are able to send video and audios in newsletters (yes, that’s technically possible too!)

3.  With a newsletter (or ezine as some call it), you have an ‘extra’ reason to reach more potential subscribers through ezine directories.

4.  You can even exchange ads with other ezine publishers, which you would have to otherwise pay for them!

5.  You can invite selected guests to add that “special article” to your newsletter.

6.  You can reserve “special offers” to only your subscribed readers.

7.  Heck, you may even build a membership site later and charge your subscribers only for copies of older newsletters, say newsletters that were prepared more than 6 months ago.

Here are the 6 things you MUST do if you’re sending newsletters to your subscribed readers:

1. You must include your name (full name preferable), mailing/correspondence address, contact number (optional), a reachable email address (that subscribers can actually WRITE to you) and an unsubscription link, or “removal” instructions in every newsletter you sent (usually this appears at the bottom of a newsletter but it can be anywhere as long as it is obvious and readable).   Not doing so is against the law, especially if you have subscribed readers in Europe and USA.
2. You must have a privacy policy (somewhere in your blog) telling readers and subscribers what you do with their submitted email addresses (Eg.  Will they be used for sending future surveys, or used for research purposes like knowing percentage of male to female subscribers, etc?)
3. You must have a disclaimer (also in your blog) for subscribers’ earnings, especially if your blog is about making money or investments, or if you have a finance-related blog (in the event subscribers take your advise or recommendation, and do not make money or suffer losses).
4. You must have a clear statement or policy informing subscribers IF your newsletter accept third-party or sponsors’ advertisements, and how frequently they can expect your newsletter in their email.
5. You must set up your autoresponder (or mass mailing script to work properly on your server).
6. You must give easy-to-follow whitelisting instructions to your opt-in subscribers so they do not have them accidentally sent to their JUNK or TRASH folders.

I have long ago decided not to use/send newsletters and here’ why:  I don’t feel I have the extra resources and time to maintain a newsletter long-term (and a hassle for me to get the MUST-DOs done).  And I consider myself “new-age”!  lol  The last “new age” reason is really a joke!  (Note:  Lesser effort may not mean better results.)

I guess it’s really up to how much money you’re willing to risk/invest, how much time you wanna devote to maintaining your newsletter.  A newsletter is good but may not be for everyone.

References:

• When to start a newsletter?
• 4 Sources for “Secret tips of Professional Bloggers”