Email newsletters remain a valuable tool for on-line communication. Don’t neglect them in favor of Blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

Many people still prefer to receive valued content in email. While it may seem old-fashioned, signing up for your newsletter is sure confirmation that someone wants to read what you have to say.

Make your newsletter content appealing visually and in your writing and formatting. Use HTML, well placed and attractive links and other visuals to draw attention to your newsletter.

Track and use statistics. For example, separate people who open your email newsletters from those who don’t. Consider enticing the latter group with targeted messages. You may want to test multiple newsletter formats, to see what is most effective with your readers. Most email marketing programs support such efforts.

Many people find email newsletters more intimate and personal than posts and tweets. Take advantage of that perception to fashion your content to be most appealing.

Set an emailing schedule for your newsletter. As with other content, I prefer Tuesdays through Thursdays, to gain the most traction.

Cross reference all of your content. It is beneficial to refer to your newsletter on your Blog, Facebook and Twitter, and feature a sign-up link. Also offer and refer to exclusive content on your newsletter to attact new email subscribers. Enable links so that email subscribers can easily share your content socially.

Keep it engaging in order to not become spam. There are recent indications that ISP’s, AOL for example, are looking at using email open and click rates to qualify email newsletters for delivery. That is because spammers have essentially made marking emails as spam a virtually worthless function.

Jeff