This article may be controversial but that’s OK. I think newsletters are on their way out. They are dated. No one reads them. At least I don’t and I don’t know anyone who really does. Plus the point of a newsletter is to update your reader on the latest news in either an industry or with your company. People don’t care about industries or your company, they care about themselves.

And people are extremely busy. Too busy to read newsletters. They may scan them, but I would bet that the majority of them get the slap of the “Delete” button before more than 10 words are read.

Four years ago I used to create newsletters for my website. I would spend hours upon hours finding sources of content, creating content, finding appropriate images, checking links, editing graphics, formatting tables…on and on it went. Hour upon hours were spent getting it just right.

Then the minute would come when I’d send it out and then I’d wait. Wait to see what kind of response I’d get. Well I waited for some good response…and waited some more. I’d get a few comments. Maybe some traffic to my site if I had a good or interesting story as the headline, but most of the time, that was it. I’d sent my newsletter out to the oblivion of the internet. Never to be heard from again.

Now don’t get me wrong. Some companies use newsletters and quite effectively. I’m not trying to say that they never work. In some markets I can see them being valuable. For example if you were a gold/silver investor, you may want to know what’s happening in the industry, but would you particularly want to know what is happening with a particular company or mine? Maybe. I’m not arguing that maybe there are some people who want to know that stuff. But most people don’t care.

But in many markets I deal with on a daily or weekly basis, which is small to medium sized business and online businesses, customers or prospects don’t care about what is going on in an industry and even if they did, the amount of time they have to read a newsletter, wouldn’t be enough to actually spend time reading each article or section of your newsletter.

So what can you do?

Cause if you know even a little about online marketing, you probably know that creating relationships (via email) is a key element to success. And that the attention span of people on line is very, very short.

Basic emails is the way to go. Sit down, take 10-20 minutes and write an email. Yes just a basic email. As if you were writing to your sister or best friend. How would you start off? Maybe “Hi Sandi” or “Hey John”? I know when I get emails like that, even from people I’ve never met I feel like I know them. And then when they share something about themselves that’s interesting I start to like them. Often times, it’s not long after than I’m usually buying something from them.

That is the new way to market to people. Be interesting. Be short and to the point. People don’t have a lot of time. (I know I already said that.) Be like-able. Maybe that means controversial…maybe not. But be different.

And most of all stop wasting time creating lengthy newsletters that don’t server you or your market. Spend your energy creating something amazing for your followers and fans.

Oh and one more tip…

When sending “emails”…yes basic, plain ol’ emails to your list - Test. Yes Test everything you do. Test subjects lines, from fields and even the body of your message.

Make sure you’re using really a good mailing list service and visit Tracy’s website for more information on creating newsletters.