Coming up with new content for each email newsletter can be tough.  When you are starting with a blank screen or piece of paper, it can be hard to find the inspiration to write quality and compelling articles which encourage your readers to take action.

“What if people don’t like what I write?”

“What if people disagree with what I write?”

Those gremlins in your head are very good at asking cutting questions like these just as you start to bare your soul and sit down to write your next newsletter.

But it doesn’t have to be this scary.  Writing your newsletter article needn’t be tough at all.

The secret to creating content is in the very word “creating”.  Where most small business owners go wrong is they think they have to “write” new content all the time.

The pressure of having to come up with something that is witty, insightful or even just plain practical can be just too much.  So stop thinking about “writing” articles and start thinking in terms of “creating” them.

Here are my 5 top tips:

• Interview an expert in your field – rather than putting all the pressure on yourself, why not go out and find someone to interview.  The fact that you are the one sending the information to your subscribers, will still make you the person or business that they turn to when they need help.

• Check out your sent folder - go through all your sent emails over the past week and look for one that you wrote for a client or customer.  Did you answer a question for them or provide them with a few top tips?  If one client asked you for this info, then your subscribers would probably be interested too.  Turn this email in to a useful article for others to read.

• Review a book or product – your subscribers may be interested in one of the latest tools or gadgets.  Showcase your expertise and give your opinion.  If you are a photographer, can you recommend some photo sharing sites?  If you are an image consultant, are there some new books out on Amazon?  If you are a business coach, can you review some training courses or programmes?

• Create a recommended list of resources – a great way of giving value to your subscribers is to put together a list of recommended websites or resources.  Give your reasons why and show your subscribers why you are an expert in what you do.

• Link it to your promotion – if you are running a special promotion this month or offering a new workshop, write around one of the challenges that you know your clients have before using that product or service. Not only will it provide interesting and useful reading, it will help your subscribers take action on what it is you are offering.

So there you have it.  Don’t try and sit there in front of a blank screen again.  Your email newsletter article won’t get written by itself and you certainly don’t want to lose out on an opportunity of getting in front of your potential clients.

And if all else fails, outsource the writing to someone else.  There are plenty of bloggers and writers out there who offer to write up articles for small business owners just like you.

Email newsletters are a very powerful way of building your own database for your business.  By giving value in the form of top tip articles, latest industry news or practical advice on “how-to-dos” will allow your subscribers to build trust in your expertise.

And you all know that if you trust someone, you are more likely to spend money with them – don’t you?

But having an email newsletter sign up box on your website with the words “Free email newsletter – sign up today” will just not cut it today.

Offering an email newsletter is just not unique enough, because everyone is offering one!

If you are offering an email newsletter and just not seeing anyone subscribe, it may be time to give your email newsletter some much needed personality.

Brand it, name it, give it some value.  Your email newsletter needs to be regards as your most important product to offer because it is the first door that someone opens directly in to your business.

Take some time out to give your newsletter some personality.

Two of the most popular topics I get asked about are blogging and email newsletters. Having published this email newsletter for almost 5 years and blogging for 4, it’s not surprising that these topics get asked of me time and time again.

But one question that really stands out in popularity is the “Should I be blogging or sending out email newsletters?”

So, if you are a little confused about what to focus your efforts on and which to get up and running in your business, here are some points to consider.

1. Different delivery:  OK, this may sound obvious to some of you, but I know there are many of you who still don’t read blogs, nor understand how they really work.  So, let’s start with the basics. 

Blog articles are delivered via a website (your blog) and people can read your articles by either going to your website directly or reading your articles in a blog reader – think of it like an online magazine that you choose what articles you want to be given to read.

Email newsletters are delivered via email so are read in someone’s inbox, along with all the other dozens, if not hundreds, of emails someone would receive each day.

(Now I know some of you are going to tell me that you read blog posts via email if the blog owner gives you an option to subscribe this way – but I’m trying to keep things as simple as possible here, so to avoid information overload, excuse me if I can put this fact to one side!)

2. Different subscription: Blogs are subscribed to via the RSS feed – it’s the little orange button with the white dots & lines in that you often see on a blog – where as email newsletters are subscribed to by someone adding their name and email address to an opt-in box. 

The big difference here is that you know exactly who has subscribed to your email newsletter as you have access to their email addresses.  But your blog subscribers are anonymous – unless of course they subscribe via email, but I’m ignoring that for now :O)

The plus side of knowing email addresses for you is that you can use your email list to proactively send out promos and sales letters depending on what it is that you offer (balanced with quality of content, of course as you don’t want to annoy your subscribers!).  The downside is that some people may not want to hand over such a private detail as your email address (for fear of being overly sold to, perhaps) and may prefer the anonymous nature of blog subscription.

3.  Different platforms:  Your blog needs to be managed through a blogging platform such as wordpress, typepad, squarespace or blogger.  The content you write and publish is housed within this website.

Your email newsletter needs to be managed through a newsletter management system such as constant contact, aweber, mail chimp or 1shoppingcart.  This newsletter system will manage your subscription list and enable you deliver multiple email broadcasts simply and easily.

So you will need two different tools to run both.

4.  Different purposes: Typically a blog is used to showcase yourself as an expert allowing you share your tips, advice and recommendations on topics that you specialise in.  You may post 2 or 3 short articles a week and by regularly adding content, you are keeping a website active – which keeps Google very happy.  A blog’s purpose is usually the gateway to your business, inviting potential interested clients to take action: either leaving a comment, signing up for an email newsletter or even getting in touch with you directly.

An email newsletter is there to build up your database of interested clients.  By collecting email addresses, this allows you to proactively communicate with your readers and possibly even send them back to your blog to give them more articles to read and hopefully comment on.

Your regular and consistent email communication will help to build familiarity and trust with your readers.

5. Different readers: Because of all of the above differences, you will find that you will also have different readers.  Yes, some email newsletter subscribers will be avid readers of your blog, too. That’s great! But most will only have the time and the inclination to do one or the other.

And this leads me to answering the original question.  Blogging or email newsletters: which one should you be doing?

Neither are mutually exclusive and actually work exceptionally well together.  The same content can be delivered in both – no extra work needed there. And one can drive interest to the other – with the initial aim of increasing your subscribed database of email addresses of potentially interested clients and the ultimate aim of creating a successful long term relationship and turning readers in to clients.

So actually, the answer should never be to decide on one of the other, as running both along side each other works incredibly well.

But, a word of warning! Don’t go trying to set up both at the same time.

Start with one and spend a couple of months getting that going before you embark on the other.  Believe me, one of these projects is plenty to be doing at any time!

If you have been struggling to get your head around how blogs and email newsletters can fit within your marketing, I hope this has helped a little. 

And if you have any other questions, you are very welcome to either tweet me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/CanDoCanBe  or leave your question as a comment below.

Everyone seems to be focused on numbers at the moment, don’t they?

How many followers can you get on Twitter? How many friends can you collect on facebook?  How big is your network on LinkedIn?

How big does your mailing list need to be before you can make any sales?

Numbers, numbers, numbers!

It seems that everywhere you look, everyone is obsessed by size of lists.

So, does the size of your mailing list really matter? 

Now, there is no doubt that the bigger your mailing list is, the more likely you are to make sales. After all, if you trying to sell 20 places on a workshop to a database of 50 people, the chance of you filling all 20 places is minimal.

Even if everyone on your database is interested in the topic, they may be on holiday, have a meeting that day or  just couldn’t justify the expense at that particular time.

Therefore the more people you have, the easier it is to market your events, products and programmes.

But all this focus on numbers can be demoralising, stressful and not a lot of fun when you struggle to get just one or two newsletter sign-ups every week.

There is one factor that many small business owners forget.  And that is the quality of those you attract to your mailing list.

That phrase “size doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with it that counts” rings true for your mailing lists.

And putting more focus on attracting quality sign-ups will mean that what you do with your mailing list – whether that’s selling e-books, workshop programmes or 1-2-1 services – will work far more effectively for you.

So what are some of the rules when it comes to successful list building strategies?

1.  Know your target audience – the more focused you are on the exact client you want to work with, the easier it will be to attract them.

2.  Know the pains and worries of your target audience – the more you know about what the problems your clients have, the easier it will be to come up with a great give-away to encourage them to part with their email addresses

3.  Offer results, rather than the solutions – your target audience aren’t really that concerned about how you go about helping them. They just want results.  So a “Small Business Checklist” which is rather blah-blah, suddenly becomes desirable when it becomes “The 5 biggest mistakes that small business owners make – and how you can avoid them”. Same content – just presented in a different way

4. Be clear on the language your clients use – tone of phrase, images, how you address someone, specific jargon – all of this matters.  Write and present yourself in a way that relates to your target audience

5. Know where your target audience hangs out – one marketing strategy does not fit all so be careful of using marketing tools and networks just because everyone does.  The more you know about your target audience, the easier it will be to discover where these people hang out in numbers – remembering that the offline world is just as powerful (if not more powerful!) than the online world.

OK.  Coming back to my original question – does the size of your mailing list really matter?

The answer is yes but only when it is full of quality, targeted clients who love what they have signed up for and are ready to make a commitment to you when you make them a good offer.

What are your thoughts? Are you feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to build your list? Or do you disagree and have another view point?  Add your comment below.