Online newsletters are used for multiple reasons and in multiple ways. Online newsletters are used to increase sales to current and new customers and generate new leads. They are gaining in popularity and for good reason. They are a great way to build and manage effective relationships with your customers and they are an effective fast and affordable method of communicating to your target audience on a regular basis. Online newsletters are formatted for your Web site and are usually delivered via email, however, some are sent as HTML pages located on a web site. They are contained within your website and offer a great way of keeping your website fresh and up to date. Online newsletters are a great way to gain instant market feedback either through surveys or by response to articles. Newsletters are a way to lock in your consumers and remind them on a periodic basis of the value you provide. Newsletters once required expensive printing and mailing costs, but today’s online newsletters have changed the rules of the game. They have four times the readership of a traditional ad and can be instantly delivered to readers throughout the world. Online newsletters give you reasons to send potential customers emails packed with informative articles and, of course, one or more carefully crafted sales messages. They are great for building trust and relationships online if your newsletter provides regular, quality content which your subscribers can really use. Newsletters allow individuals and groups to control messaging and deliver it with great precision to a target audience. Online newsletters are often made available free of charge to subscribers who complete a short profile and they produce targeted leads as a result. As the number of Internet surfers using the Web for gathering information and making purchases increased, many businesses began using online newsletters to promote company Web sites, products, and services. Businesses also use them to provide information and as an additional source of revenue through advertising. As well as being environmentally friendly, online newsletters save the publisher time and cut costs by reducing postage, paper, and other supplies costs. Along with being less expensive and easier to produce, online newsletters can also reach a much larger customer base. While many newsletters exist solely as an information source and do not utilize advertising, many others are published as a source of revenue. With an increasing number of online newsletters in circulation and online traffic increasing, businesses began viewing the electronic medium as an attractive place to advertise. In fact, advertising in online newsletters is often more effective than placing a banner ad on a Web site. According to Forrester Research, advertisements in email newsletters had an average response rate of 18 percent in 2000, versus a banner ad click through rate of less than one percent. Online newsletters are considered to be the best marketing tool to promote small business over the World Wide Web. They are an internet phenomenon and they can be crucial to the success of your enterprise. Newsletters have been, and continue to be, one of the most efficient marketing and communication tools used by both small and large companies alike.