Writing Newsletter #1: 3 Decisions To Make Before Launch Day

As a newsletter business owner, who is ready to achieve their personal and business goals with their newsletter business, things are starting to heat up!

Before you write and publish the first newsletter for your business, we assume that you have already completed these important steps below:

1. Made the decision to start a newsletter business

2. Decided what “market” you want your newsletter to serve

3. Chose the “topic” and “focus” for your newsletter

4. Came up with a compelling “brand promise” for your newsletter

5. Began thinking about the “type” of newsletter you want to send

6. Began thinking about how often you want to publish your newsletter

7. Created a name for your newsletter

8. Bought a domain name URL for your newsletter

9. Purchased your newsletter business software

10. Quickly created the first version of your logo in less than a day

11. Created an effective “sign up process” for new subscribers

12. Wrote the first content “post” on your newsletter site

13. Created the starting “pillar content” you need before launch day

14. Published a “Start Here” page for new visitors to your site

15. Created the other key pages you need before launch day

Because you have invested the necessary amount of time it takes to get to this point in your newsletter business, you are now in the powerful position to finally publish the very first newsletter for your business (before launch day).

Getting to this point in your newsletter business is an amazing place to be because it allows you to begin the process of creating how your visitors and subscribers will receive value from you on a continual basis.

With that being said…

By the end of this article, you will have everything you need to confidently choose the content that should be in your newsletter on a consistent basis, and will have 100% clarity about how you will manage this important piece of your newsletter business going forward.

But before you read any further…

Make sure that you have read and completed the steps in the articles linked below. Skipping ahead won’t help you here, so get this stuff done for your business before moving forward!

1. Starting A Newsletter Business? Do These 5 Things First

2. The 5 Things To Consider When Creating A Name For Your Newsletter Business

3. Buying A Domain Name For Your Newsletter Business - 5 Things To Figure Out

4. 18 Smart Questions To Ask (And Answer) Before Buying Newsletter Business Software

5. The Quickest Way To Create Your First Newsletter Business Logo

6. 3 Ways To Set Up The “Sign Up Process” For Your Newsletter

7. Writing The First “Post” On Your Newsletter Business Website

8. Writing Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Site - 5 Parts

9. Why Creating A “Start Here” Page Is A Smart Move For Your Site

10. 3 Other Important Pages To Have On Your Newsletter Website

Table Of Contents

I. The 3 Decisions You Must Make Before Publishing Your First Newsletter

II. The Main Reason Why You Should Have At Least One Newsletter Published On Your Website Before Launch Day

III. It’s Time To Write And Publish Your First Newsletter For Your Newsletter Business Website

I. The 3 Decisions You Must Make Before Publishing Your First Newsletter

In the “Starting A Newsletter Business? Do These 5 Things First” article, we talk about (1) the importance of choosing a specific “market” for your newsletter, (2) selecting the “type” of newsletter you will send, and (3) how “frequently” you will send your newsletter to subscribers.

To refresh your memory…

The “market” for your newsletter is the specific group of people you are going to serve with your newsletter, and the “type” of newsletter indicates how the content in your newsletter is packaged and delivered to every subscriber each time (e.g. news updates vs other types of content etc.).

Because you have figured out each one of those three important pieces already, we are going to dive in a little deeper in this article to close the “open loops” that we know are still on your mind.

Here are the three decisions you must make before you begin the process of writing and publishing the first newsletter issue on your site before launch day.

Decision #1: What “Content Sections” Should I Have In My Newsletter?

Coming up with the content sections for your newsletter is actually easier than you may think.

All it takes is following a proven process that makes it easy to nail down the specific content sections that you will have in each issue.

The process you follow involves you putting yourself in the shoes of a future subscriber, and looking at your newsletter business from their eyes.

Let’s paint the picture a little more clearly for you by looking at your current newsletter business from the eyes of a future subscriber who just found your newsletter business website for the very first time.

Read this section below carefully, and visualize the entire experience from beginning to end.

Imagine that you came into your newsletter business website for the very first time from a pillar content article that one friends shared. You found this article in your Facebook newsfeed.

You clicked the article link because the topic and title interested you enough to get you to click.

The page loads up, you start reading, and then you end up finishing the entire article, where you feel like a good chunk of value was delivered to you as a reader.

After you finish reading the article, you then find the place on the newsletter business’s website that gives you an easy way to consume every single pillar content article they have published (The “Start Here” Page).

Seeing this page gets you excited because you were so impressed by the first article that you consumed.

After doing a little mini-celebration…

You spend the rest of the day reading every pillar content article on the newsletter business site because the content is exactly what you need (and want to consume) for the personal situation you currently find yourself inside of.

Before the day is over, you find the sign up form for the email newsletter, and make sure that you sign up for future emails from the newsletter business owner going forward.

Ok…Stop right there.

If you were a visitor that followed this path on the current version of your newsletter business website up to this point, THIS QUESTION BELOW is what you should be asking yourself right now to figure out what sections you should include in your newsletter each time it is sent.

The Question To Ask Yourself Right Now: “Given the fact that I went through that mini-simulation in my mind, and knowing what pillar content I currently have created on my site (and how it adds value to brand new visitors), what would I specifically want to be sent on a continual basis as a long-term newsletter subscriber? What will add the most amount of value to me over a long period of time?”

Take Action Right Now On This One Question: Take 15 minutes right now to write down whatever comes to mind in this moment for your specific newsletter business…given the fact you just asked yourself this question. You can write down words, sentences and whatever else comes to mind before moving to the next steps below.

This initial brainstorm will then be transformed into the specific sections that will be in the newsletter on a continual basis going forward.

Some of the sections that you come up with (while following this step-by-step process) will be included in every single issue while others will only be included intermittently over time when it appropriate to include them.

This is where you really want to focus on creating the absolute best experience possible for your future newsletter subscribers, so that they always want to open what you send them, and stay subscribed for life.

If you can accomplish these two things with your newsletter…

1. Create a newsletter that subscribers always want to open

2. Create a newsletter that subscribers want to say “plugged into” for life

Your growth will be exponential, and your growth will go fast due to the word of mouth marketing that will happen because you executed on this so well.

If you remember…

Because we already established in our article on pillar content that the purpose of the pillar content that you initially create on your site is to set up for the brand new person who finds your site the “reason why” they will always want to stay subscribed to your newsletter forever…

It is important that you really take the time to put yourself in the shoes of your future subscribers, and think about the creation of your newsletter sections by following this entire process without cutting any corners.

After you follow this process step-by-step, and flush out the clarity you need to get before executing on your vision…

These questions below are questions that you will be able to easily answer when speaking with potential subscribers in the future:

1. What specific content is included in your newsletter? (The Value)

2. Why would it be valuable for me to subscriber to your newsletter? (What’s in it for me?)

3. What specific content sections are always going to be in your newsletter that “package” the content that is consumed each time?

4. What specific content sections are going to be in your newsletter intermittently?

The Key Takeaway You Must Get From This Section Before Tackling The Next Decision That You Must Make Before Publishing Newsletter #1

By putting yourself in the shoes of your future subscribers, and experiencing your site in the way that they will most likely “experience” yours site…

And then…

By asking yourself the difficult questions you must ask yourself…so you can figure out the specific “content sections” for your newsletter…

The newsletter you create will ultimately turn out to be be exactly what your subscribers want…

And the long-term bonus will be that they will never want to unsubscribe from your newsletter in the future because of all the work you did on the front end before they ever found your site in the first place!

Creating this result for your newsletter business will create that ,“This is Epic” feeling inside of you, and will never go away as you continue seeing your traffic and subscribers grow so quickly over time because of all the hard work you got done right now where you are while reading and following this proven process.

Decision #2: How Often Should Each “Content Section” I Create Be Included In My Newsletter?

After you decide on what the specific content sections will be included in your newsletter in “Decision #1,” then you need to write each one of them down, and decide how frequently each content section will be included in the newsletter itself so that your entire newsletter always delivers the most amount of value as possible to your subscribers.

In a world where getting and holding a person’s attention with your newsletter is important, you want to make sure that you nail this step of the process as well.

After writing down each “content section” idea down, you will have these classifications written next to each idea for each kind of “content section” that will be in all of your newsletter issues going forward.

1. Staple Content Sections - This kind of content section will always be in the newsletter, and will always be populated with updated content in each newsletter issue.

2. Intermittent Content Sections - This kind of content section will be included intermittently throughout each year in your newsletter. You not only get to decide what sections will be included intermittently in your newsletter, but you will also decide how often they should be included in the newsletter issues as well.

Do this right now before moving further.

Write down all of the content section ideas that you came up with in “Decision #1” and next to each one put “Staple” or “Intermittent” so that you have an idea what makes sense for each different content section.

To make things easy and 100% clear for you…

“Staple Content Sections” will most likely be included in the newsletter template that you create on the front end, so you know that this content section must always be populated in each newsletter issue. Subscribers will always look forward to these “Staple” sections in every email newsletter they get from you.

“Intermittent Content Sections” will most likely be written down on a specific list that you are able to reference each time you are finishing up a newsletter, and before you hit publish.

This list of “Intermittent Content Sections” will most likely be located in a manilla folder on your desk, or in a folder on your computer where you will always have access to it.

As you are finishing up a newsletter in the future, you will put out this list and see if it makes sense to include one of these sections in the next newsletter that you are going to publish.

Optional: If you set up an editorial calendar, that lets you know when newsletters will be sent out, and what content sections will be included inside of them, it will help you plan ahead for what content needs to be created by what date. The goal of adding these kind of “intermittent content sections” into your newsletter every now and then is to ensure that your subscribers always look forward to the “future surprises” that your newsletter will deliver them. Having “intermittent content sections” also helps you avoid your newsletter from becoming “stale” for each subscriber.

At the end of the day…

When it comes to creating the clarity you need for this decisions that you have to make for your business (frequency of content sections that are included in the newsletter each time it is sent), the choice is up to you with how you want to choose and manage it.

This is your newsletter, so make the choices and run with them.

The best part about making these decisions for your newsletter is that the decisions you make right now directly influence the experience you want to create for every future subscriber that signs up for your newsletter.

During this entire process, you will find yourself saying to yourself, “If I was a subscriber, would I want it to be this way too?”

Remember, you are your best customer, and can make the best decisions for your subscribers accordingly!

Decision #3: How Will My Newsletter Template Look In A Subscribers Email Inbox?

We could literally write an entire book about the creation of newsletter templates but, because we are NOT going to write you a book about this, here is what we want to say about the creation of a newsletter template for your business:

“Create a newsletter template that delivers the value your subscriber is looking for, and do it in a way where they get what they need without having to work extra hard to consume what you have created for them.”

As long as the template you choose and/or create accomplishes this one goal, you will be successful with the template that you end up using.

As you begin to put your newsletter out there, (while gathering feedback from your subscribers at the same time), you may get some feedback from them that will influence you to change it in the future..

This is perfectly OK because it shows that you are listening to your subscribers, and making adjustments along the way.

II. The Main Reason Why You Should Have At Least One Newsletter Published On Your Website Before Launch Day

There is no other way to say this other than to share with you that…

You want to make sure that you have at least one newsletter issue published and accessible on your newsletter business website before launch day because you want to give people an idea about what your newsletter looks like before they decide to sign up to receive it in their inbox on a consistent basis.

The last thing you want people to do is to “guess” what your newsletter looks like before they subscribe to it.

In the pillar content article linked at the beginning of “Section I” of this article, we talked about the fact that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

With this said…

Don’t sit back and just let things happen randomly, especially when it comes to this important step for your newsletter business.

Get This Done: Do what you need to do so that you can create the first newsletter for your newsletter business site, and then do everything you can on your end to set up, format, and structure your first newsletter issue in a way, so that the moment a brand new visitor sees it…they instantly want to subscribe to your email newsletter because they see the value it provided, and how it will continually add value to them in the future.

What you need to realize as a newsletter business owner is that…

This first newsletter that you publish on your site will help you:

1. Get a lot of subscribers during the first week when you officially launch your newsletter

2. Effectively “Set up” the next newsletter you send subscribers because you did a great job showing them on the front end what they could expect in the future before they signed up.

Setting the proper expectation for new subscribers, by showing them what the newsletter looks like before they subscribe, is a very smart move for every single newsletter business owner to execute on.

Think about it…

If a lot of traffic is going to be driven into your newsletter business site on launch day and during the week you launch your site, you would be stupid to not have at least one newsletter issue up and accessible on your site for brand new people to be exposed to it to inspire them to subscribe before you send out the next one!

Yes…

We as a company know that it takes a little more time on the front end to create a valuable newsletter at the beginning of your newsletter business without any subscribers.

You must understand that the long term payoff you get from completing this one task before you launch will payoff in a major way later with the amount of traffic, subscribers and revenue it will generate for you over time.

III. It’s Time To Write And Publish Your First Newsletter For Your Newsletter Business Website

Ok! You now have everything you need in this article to write, edit, and publish your first newsletter issue.

Get it done!

Invest the time on the front end to create the first newsletter issue that will be published on your website before launch day that brand new traffic will be exposed to during the week you launch everything out.

If you are feeling ambitious, and if you believe you need to have two newsletters up there before you launch your website, do what you feel is best to help you grow and build your business.

Ok…Go!

Now That You Know The 3 Important Newsletter Writing Decisions To Make Before Launch Day, And Know How To Write Your First Newsletter For Your Site, Now Is The Time To Take Action…

Here at The Pursuit Newsletter, we are focused on serving the “online newsletter business owner” who wants to reach their newsletter business goals as quickly as possible.

The content on our site and in our email newsletter, will absolutely give you the “entrepreneurial edge” you need as you start, build and grow your online newsletter business into what you know it can become.

The content you will find on our website, and in our email newsletter, will absolutely help you in a major way as you continue your pursuit of being an online newsletter business owner that reaches their goals.

Make it a great day!

-The Pursuit Newsletter Team