Creating a newsletter is an ideal way to drive repeat traffic to your website but its design, format and implementation need to be carefully considered in order to achieve desired results.

Signing Up

Before you begin creating a newsletter itself attention needs to be paid to way in which your website will facilitate capturing of customers' email addresses and other information. Though many sites opt for quick and simple approach of placing a "Name & Email Address" box on their homepage this is not always best solution.

Although such an approach makes it extremely simple for users to provide you with their basic details it leaves little scope to sell newsletter's benefits. Neither does it provide your business with opportunity to simultaneously capture vital demographic information from its customers. A balance needs to be determined between ease of signing-up for user and quality/quantity of information captured by you.

Format and Frequency

You website visitors need to be made aware in advance how often they are going to receive a communication from your business. Failure to provide such information may deter people from giving their permission to be contacted in first place. Stating newsletter's frequency up front will also benefit your business in long-term as customers signing up to receive it will all share a common understanding of expected volume of email they are going to receive - this will lower number of customers who unsubscribe.

Reason For Failure No. 1 - The 'I am God'-Syndrome

God got his name from being able to do anything and everything and be everywhere at once. Despite what we are taught from an early age many people still insist on believing they themselves are God. Ever found yourself answering phone, making a sale, running a sales meeting, welcoming customers and doing your company's accounts all in one day? Sure you have. You're trying to be God and do everything and be in more than one place at one time. You will fail. People do this with their website too.

Rather than just stopping at providing content (which is where you should stop and hand everything else over to professionals) some people think that despite no professional training or education in subject they are experts in web design, website marketing, graphic design and business consultancy. Remember - stick to what you know, leave everything else to experts. Your job is to run your business - not to run around like a headless chicken trying to create a website, market a website, do books, answer phones and make tea.

Reason For Failure No. 2 - 'Build It And They Will Come'

Ah yes. The halcyon days of early 1990s when anything seemed possible and merely owning a domain name or funky web address meant certain success and riches beyond your wildest dreams. "Build it and they will come" is what they said. They were wrong.