How to Create a Web Design Newsletter in 9 Easy Steps

Did you know the main reason for starting a newsletter is to maximize your trust with clients, establish yourself as an expert in your industry, and to prove your expertise? It’s true.
Many businesses are using newsletters to do those things as well as keep past and potential clients in the know of what is happening and what deals may be approaching.
In nine easy steps you can create a newsletter for your web design business. It’s much easier than you probably think.

1. Choose a Topic -

Not only should your newsletter mainly be about web design, web development and your business, but topics within those are extremely beneficial. You can always switch it up with new software reviews, hardware, new innovations, business opportunities, and so forth. Sticking with what you know best is critical, as you’ll be talking about these things throughout your newsletter every time you send it out.
Not only is talking about the things you know beneficial, it also makes for an easy newsletter to write. If you choose something you didn’t know much about, you’d spend countless hours researching and writing to get all the valuable and important information you’d need.
So stick with what you know or what you find interesting, develop a newsletter name, create an HTML template, and start writing.

Newsletter Component Planning

• Get a pen and paper. Sit in a quiet place and start jotting down all your ideas.
• Out of the things you wrote down, pick the ones you like the best, no matter if you think it’s profitable or not.
• Eliminate any ideas you think won’t provide enough information or that you won’t be able to write about continuously.
• Now out of what you have left, pick the topic that seems the most profitable. Not all newsletters will become profitable, but it’s a good idea to keep profitability in mind.

2. Who is your Competition?

Most likely, there are going to be other professionals, in your same field, who may have spent months or years developing their newsletter. It’s important to study and research what they have been doing and what has worked for them. Even more important, you may learn from their mistakes, which ultimately will save you tons of time and a lot of trouble.

3. Find a name

A unique name can go a long way. Usually, the name of your newsletter is going to be one of the most important ways to entice a reader. Keep in mind what your newsletter will be about and who your target audience is.
Take those ideas and get creative with a name. You may find, as noted above, that grabbing a pen, paper, and a quiet place for brainstorming a newsletter name may yield results.
Then, take the time to gather some feedback from your partners, co-workers, friends and family, and let them help you decide.
Or, you could even start a Facebook contest campaign and have your fans choose a name. This is a great way to get the word out before you have even started your newsletter, gain some valuable input from others about what they would read and what might entice them as far as a newsletter name.

4. Create a Format

There are several ways of going about publishing a newsletter. You can use plain text, HTML or a PDF. Some people prefer the rich text format because it is simple.
However, from a web design perspective, you’ll probably want to use HTML, which is totally acceptable. With HTML, you can install images, use different colors and different fonts.
The best way to develop your template is with your readers in mind. Once you’ve picked the format, design your newsletter template.

5. Draft your first three newsletter issues

Before ever publishing or sending out your newsletter, you should write up three of them in advance. This helps because after writing three separate issues, you will know if you can continue to write more on your selected topics.
If you find that you’re struggling, it might be time to go back to your list and try a different approach. Once you’ve found that everything is in place and works, you might find that making a habit out of pre-writing several will help you in the future, in the event you find yourself in a time crunch.

6. Research Autoresponders

You may be thinking, “What the heck is an autoresponder?” Well, an autoresponder is a tool that will help you with your newsletter in areas such as:
• Uses real-time applications to process your subscribers and unsubscribers.
• Sends out automatic, personalized follow-up messages.
• Manages your mailing lists.
Autoresponders come in many forms from software you can buy and install to online-oriented services.
Typically, most newsletter providers use the services provided online as software demands your computer to stay on 24/7. There are many online providers out there, so perform some research and find one that is suitable to you and your business and will handle all your particular needs. Recently, the two most popular seem to be Aweber and MailChimp.

7. Begin Newsletter Promotions

Now that you have developed your topics, made your template, written three issues and have found
a proper autoresponder program, it’s time to spread the word. Here is how you are going to do just that:
• Submit all your articles to a variety of article directories.
• Submit to directories specifically for newsletters.
• Include a “Sign Up” box on all of your website and blog pages (and link to your website on your social media accounts).
• Write a short tagline at the bottom of your email with a link to the sign-up box.
• Place a pop-up window on your website’s homepage, so when visitors visit, they are greeted with the newsletter sign-up.
• When you send out your newsletter, include a message at the bottom to your readers to “share with your friends.”
• Advertise on other websites or newsletters.

8. Send out your first newsletter

This part is as easy as it sounds. You’ve done the work and now it’s time to send it out. Before you send
it, though, there are a few things to check first:
• Proofread your message for grammatical and spelling errors.
• Test your newsletter first by sending it to your own email and make sure everything looks like it is supposed to.

9. Ask your subscribers their opinion

The first and best way of getting feedback on your newsletter is by simply asking the people who subscribe to it. Sometimes, your readers may provide such valuable feedback that you’ll sit back and wonder how you didn’t think of those things before. Plus, it makes them feel special and valuable as well as continues to build the know, like and trust factor.
One more suggestion:
When you’re thinking about developing a newsletter for readers, it might be a good idea, along with the steps above, to write out a newsletter plan. This helps tremendously with organizing and to ensure you cover all the areas you plan to cover.
Of course, when you’re thinking about writing a newsletter to expand your profits, a business newsletter plan may be required. This way you can organize all the affiliate links you may be thinking of including, all of your products or services, and ad spaces you might make available for others to buy.
There are a lot of different aspects that can go into a newsletter, so having a structured plan to include them all at the right time can be very helpful.

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