Two ways to write a weekly newsletter

If this is you, it may be helpful to start this conversation here: “That’s Not Writer’s Block”

In a nutshell, here’s why it’s worth figuring out how to get your newsletter out weekly:

  1. You create the impression of having your act together
  2. You build rapport and connection with your tribe
  3. You create a platform to promote your latest program or product
  4. You hone your “message” and find what’s juicy to you and exciting to your readers (read: testing ground and market research)

From there, you need a writing habit.

Option #1 – Your weekly article writing date
My preferred method is to make a date with yourself the same time every week. When I started out, it was 10am on Mondays. Every Monday, I parked my tuckus in my chair and wrote an article, a personal note to subscribers (even though at first, it felt like I was writing to a black hole—and I was pretty sure no one was reading it).

Now that I’ve been doing this for more than 3 years, this habit has evolved with me. I now have an assistant, so my deadline to get my article + personal note to her is 9am Tuesday mornings. I write it… and she finds the photo, posts to the blog, and loads up the newsletter in our email service.

For this option to work, you have to commit yourself to write, week after week. You unplug the part of your brain that says “I don’t know what to write about” and you just write. Trust that your message will find you over time (or work with me in a Message Lab Intensive, and we’ll block out your headlines for a year). Don’t sweat it if you have a bomb of an article—we all do—your focus is on keeping your commitment of writing every week, and giving value.

Option #2 – Batch the suckers
I’ve had clients ask me if there is another way to get writing done for newsletters—and I am still on the search for a way that works.

My friend Marcia B. over at AskingForWhatYouWant.com offered this alternative recently. I believe it was courtesy of internet marketing smartypants Eban Pagen.

Chunk the writing down like this: first, sit down and write 20 hot headlines for articles (or however many articles you want to write ahead of time). Let that sit. In a second session, then write the tweets that you’ll use to link to the articles-a couple for each headline. Go do something else – and come back a couple days later, and give yourself  20 minutes to write each article. Then load them (or have your assistant do it), and you’re off the hook for weekly article writing!

I haven’t tested this personally, so if you do try it, let me know how it goes.

Also, let’s talk expectations here. This is not an overnight strategy. It takes at least 3-6 months for you to start feeling the momentum of writing a newsletter and blog. And still, you may not be getting comments! That’s okay – I didn’t get comments for the first year at least. That doesn’t mean stop. It just means this stuff takes time to work.

Happy newsletter writing!

For those of you want help coming up with hot headlines and a great newsletter to keep in touch with potential clients, I invite you to learn more about my Message Lab Intensives I work with clients who want to cross 6-figures, and need help creating a profitable brand, tantalizing programs, and a basic marketing plan so they can do it. We wordsmith what you need to get out there (your newsletter, homepage, free gift,  emails—it’s fully customized to your situation) and then set you loose.  Plus, there is a $800 savings when you book your session by the end of August. 

Mighty thanks to chefranden flickr photostream for the girl doing school work.

 

Stella Orange is a copywriter who helps people put their work into words. For eight years, she wrote email campaigns that resulted in more than a million dollars in sales for her clients. In that time, Stella also taught popular marketing writing workshops to business owners on both sides of the Atlantic -- and a few in Australia and New Zealand. In 2017, Stella cofounded a creative and consulting shop offering a complete and slightly unorthodox line of business advising and marketing services. She continues to write copy and advise clients on customer delight, how to resonate with more sophisticated, discerning clientele in your marketing, and just who, exactly, your ideal clients are. Stella is the founder of Show Up And Write, a weekly writing group and writes a letter every two weeks or so (here’s the sign-up). She lives with the Philosopher and their two kiddos in Buffalo, New York, a fifteen-minute bike ride to the Canadian border.

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