business ideias :: creating a newsletter

well hello you! how are you doing this saturday? so, i’m just popping in for some news and one business idea! i was thinking about this feature and as i want to be sharing news from the shops here every saturday, i thought that i might be adding some business ideas that i have to share after being an etsy seller for almost 2 years! so, as a reminder of last features regarding this topic you may find interviews about where to host your online shop (etsy, big cartel, supermarket…) with opinions by several well-known sellers, ideas on how to make your shop look more coherent to your customer and how to become rich (yes, not kidding!). and today i thought about bringing up something so simple as newsletters! do you have one?

newsletters are a perfect way to connect with your customers, communicate your promotions and news, and also another piece of communication of your brand! just don’t get too excited and send several a week! let them feel happy to hear from you, and not upset!

this was the newsletter i sent two days ago!

so first of all, newsletter websites! i know a couple, have only used one so far – mailchimp and i love it every day that i login and design a new newsletter! it is pretty simple to use, it’s free if you have less than 2000 subscribers (yay!) and that chimp that goes around on their website says some pretty funny things (last thursday they said i had done a pretty nice job and i deserved a raise! now that’s something you need to get if you’re working on newsletter, some funny guy!). so what are the steps?

1. sign up for free
2. design a nice template for your subscribe page
3. link to your facebook, blog and twitter
4. announce that you have a newsletter and boom! wait for your lovely fans/customers to sign up!

plus, you can create lists, so you can have a specific list for your blog, your jewelry shop, your vintage clothing shop, and none of the subscribers will get mixed in the middle! and then you can just start designing crazy shinning newsletters to the world! these can be scheduled and connected to facebook and twitter, so when you send out a newsletter, your info may also be spread through your social networks.

now getting back to my newsletter above, there are important steps i always make when i create a new newsletter! i design my own header (2), add an image (i’m a photographer, so i can’t really help it!) to it (3), sometimes i write some text after (4) and to end things i write some teaser on the upper left corner (1). through mailchimp i can send out a few tests to several of my own email accounts to see how it looks, and if it’s good to go, i schedule it and it’s done!

bonus: usually before sending the newsletter i announce on facebook that i’m about to send it, so if someone wants to receive it and hasn’t yet subscribed, now it’s time to do it and i leave the link to the subscription page! there are always a few news subscribers after this!

and to end this, as you saw by the info of that newsletter, there is a free shipping promotion going on! you can write easterfs on the check out as a coupon code, and you don’t have to pay for any shipping costs! i don’t know about you, but i do love some free shipping! it’s only to use on prints and posters! so go on and have fun on the shops here, here and here!

and if you spend more than $50, i’ll send a 2012 calendar – lisbon version for free!