Over the years, many newer agents have approached me on the subject of newsletters because I have been doing them for so many years now.  I always hear how they're going to start sending them out every month and the phone will ring off the hook.  Well, the problem with newsletters for newer agents is that it costs a lot of money to send them out to their sphere or farm.  How do you combat this?  Send out an e-newsletter! 

Originally, I would send newsletters through the snail mail on a bi-monthly basis but realized quickly that it was very time consuming and expensive.  So, I decided to contact everyone in my newsletter database and ask if I could collect their e-mail address for my upcoming e-newsletter.  Not only did I receive their e-mail address, it was an excuse to contact them!  So, now I am only sending a few newsletters via snail mail and hundreds through the Internet.

The key to any newsletter/article campaign is consistency.  I originally sent my newsletter bi-monthly but have now decided to add an interesting article on the off months.  This way, my name is in front of my database every month versus every other month.  "Isn't this overkill" you may ask?  I thought so but I've only had 2 people opt out of hundreds!  Don't assume anything until you've tried it....

An important tool I use, when sending out my newsletter/article, is Constant Contact.  Constant Contact allows you to export your database into their system, set up different groups within your database (i.e. buyers, sellers, investors, immediate buyers, immediate sellers, etc.), schedule mailings, and most importantly track your results.  I can actually see who opens up my newsletters/articles, what time they opened it, if they clicked on a link, etc.  It is an invaluable and inexpensive tool that is a must-have for anyone looking to send out e-newsletters/articles.  By seeing when they open up the newsletter, you can then figure out the best times to be sending them, thus having the best chance of being opened.

Another important tool, for those of you like myself who do not know how to create HTML themselves, is Microsoft Frontpage.  This allows you to create the newsletter/article normally, and then cut/paste the HTML code in the Constant Contact template you have created.  It's a very easy process and the hardest part is making sure that you have the correct properties for your graphics.  With e-newsletters/articles, you must make sure that your graphics are uploaded onto the Internet by way of FTP (maybe another posting???).

If you have your own personal website, I highly recommend having all of your articles stored so that visitors can download them and/or sign up for future mailings.  Constant Contact has code you can place in your site so that visitors can sign up and they automatically put into your database.  You can see how I've done it on my site at:  http://www.jayagoado.net/newsletter.html.

I know that this sort of touches the surface but I hope it helps.  Feel free to comment on your successes/failures since I'm always learning what works and doesn't work with my newsletter/articles

My next posting will focus on the actual content of the newsletter/article.