Copyright 2004 Christos Varsamis

It is true that sometimes in life there is a small line between failure and success. The same thing applies with ezines and newsletters. Some details we consider unimportant are the keys for the success of our publication or failure.

1) Be Careful with the “from” field.

Although many consider this as a detail, it is the first thing a user will see. Who is sending the email. Use either your name or your business name. Avoid any kind of other phrases in that field .It will cost you a lot.

2) The subject line.

This is the second more important field in the email. Avoid hype in that area like “Earn 50.000$ in 2 weeks” e.t.c. People are smarter than you think. You will never be believable. Emphasize to the purpose of your newsletter .Do not use more than 7 words in your subject line.

3) Call to buy in the first mailing.

This is a common mistake most ezine publishers do .They have sales pitch on the first time. Research has proved that you will gain your subscriber trust after 6 to 7 mailings according always to the content you offer.

4) Use death words, which spam filters ban.

For God’s sake, do not use words or phrases like free, make money, hello, your family, and other. Your newsletter will go directly to junk mail and will be erased without notice.

5) Avoid too much personalization.

Although personalization is important in order to create a friendly ambience, do not overdo it. Some people will consider this as rudeness. Use their name only once in your mailings on the first line of your message, not more. Otherwise, some of your subscribers will be insulted and unsubscribe in a second.

6) Use more verbs, not adjectives.

The best internet marketers and advertisement agencies has proved that verbs are much stronger than adjectives. Especially the “call to action” verbs are so strong that could increase the response rate up to 700%! For example, use the verbs, boost, and explode instead of the word “increase”. See how stronger they are?

7) Use auto responders not web pages.

Many people use on their mailings or other advertisement campaigns their web page mostly. That is big a mistake. The estimate shows that 30% max will subscribe from your web site. On the contrary if you promote your auto responder the percentage, goes from 80% to 100%! Of course, you can use both. It is effective too.

8) Too much info in the submit form.

This is another typical mistake. Some ezines require submitting more personal information such as: email, first and last name, area and other. The info you really need is the first name and the email. Many internet users consider any more than that as violation of their personal info. That means fewer subscribers for your ezine.