Writing a weekly email always seems like a great idea in the beginning. Yet after a few months of creating weekly messages you may begin to feel not only overwhelmed but also completely bored. And let’s face it, if you’re bored so are your readers. It’s a lot of work to deliver a consistently interesting and relevant newsletter. Yet that’s what you committed to so let’s take a look at how to make it happen.
#1 Look at Your Structure
What’s the structure of your weekly newsletter? Does it have room for change? For example, if you regularly publish a long article in your newsletter, could you begin to shorten that article? Could you skip a weekly blog post and use that content for your newsletter? If your newsletter generally contains several elements, could you reduce those elements and still meet your newsletter goals. Speaking of goals, review the structure of your newsletter and make sure every element in your newsletter supports that goal. If it doesn’t, get rid of it.
#2 Outsource
No one says you have to create the newsletter all by yourself. You can hire someone to manage the entire task. You can also hire people to manage the aspects of it that you don’t like or that take too much time. For example, maybe you enjoy writing the content but you dislike pulling it all together and adding graphics. Your virtual assistant can handle that for you. Focus on what you enjoy and are good at, let contractors take care of the rest.
#3 Maximize Your Time
One of the best ways to write a weekly newsletter is to carefully plan every inch of it months in advance. Sit down and decide what you want to include in each weekly newsletter, right down to the article title, bullet points, goals, and embedded links. You can set aside a couple days and write all of the content for the month, quarter, or even the year. You can also send a monthly task list and have a ghost writer or virtual assistant simply follow your directions.
Finally, consider getting guest writers on board. It’s a wonderful way to reach out to a new audience and it can save you time and energy. You can advertise for guest writers, invite a few people you’d like to connect with, or post a listing on one of the many guest blogging boards. Your business newsletter is important, use these tips and steps to continually produce a quality one for your subscribers.