Copyright 2006 Alicia M Forest and ClientAbundance.com

If you want an easy and effective way to keep in touch with your target market, consider offering an online newsletter (ezine). Here are three main reasons to implement this as part of your business building strategies.

1. To continuously build your email list.

Offering an online newsletter is one of the most effective ways to build your email list. If you're already offering a Pink Spoon (your freebie offering, like a special report or short audio) to entice people to sign up for your list, consider adding a newsletter as well.

For example, when someone signs up to receive my Pink Spoon, "5 Keys to Wild Abundance in Your Business," they also receive a free subscription to my ezine, Creating Client Abundance.

Then, to help others help you build your subscriber base, add a tell-a-friend opportunity to your newsletter. Simply add a line of text at the top or bottom of your newsletter that asks your reader to pass it along to anyone they know who might find it of value. Or to take it up a notch, use your shopping cart's tell-a-friend code or software like TAFPro to make it super-simple for your current readers to recommend your newsletter to others.

2. To create a place for your list to get to know, like and trust you.

You know by now that in order for someone to invest their time and money with you, they have to feel good about you. They have to feel like they know you, like you and trust you before they will become a client or customer.

A newsletter is a great way to allow that process to happen. And one way to let your subscribers get to know you is by writing about your personal life, as much or as little as you'd like to share.

If you're in touch with your readers on a regular basis, and you provide them with valuable information, and you let them get to know you a bit, I guarantee that many of them will become clients and customers over time.

3. It's cheap (even free) and easy!

Your newsletter can be created and delivered in a variety of ways. You can write it yourself or hire someone to write it for you. You can provide a 500-word article, or simply one tip. You can create a new issue each time or you can create a certain number of issues consisting of "evergreen" topics.

For frequency of delivery, you can send it once a week or once a month. You can set it up to go out automatically through an autoresponder or you can send it through a broadcast service each time you put it out.

For physical delivery, you can send it out through your web host, if they have this feature available to you, or through a free (www.ezezine.com) or paid (www.aweber.com) list service.

Just a sidenote here:

As your email list grows, it's inevitable that some readers will unsubscribe. Sometimes they'll tell you why, and when you receive this feedback from them, please don't take it personally, but consider using it to inform your work on your newsletter in the future.

For example, if a handful of your readers tell you that they unsubscribed because the information you're providing isn't relevant to them, that's ok. You can't please everyone, nor should you try. But if a significant number of readers are unsubscribing for the same or similar reason, you might want to take a discerning look. Are you providing the content you promised you would in the copy that encourages people to sign up? Or are you providing quality content, just not to the right niche? Or is it something else altogether?

Producing an online newsletter really can be as simple as sharing one tip via a text email on a consistent basis. You can always expand from there, if you want.

If you're ready to start acquiring more clients and customers sooner rather than later, go on and create your premiere issue today.

And then send me a copy at alicia@clientabundance.com!