The Biggest Mistake You Can Make in Your Small Business Newsletter


It happened again today. I am blown away by how often I see this particular mistake.

I received an email newsletter from a business I wasn't familiar with. That's OK but I wanted to go to their website to investigate more. And there was not one link in that newsletter that went to their website!

Granted, there are times when you may not want to distract readers from another goal for your email. But a newsletter is definitely a place where you want to encourage click-throughs to your website.

There's a very direct correlation between the amount of text, the number of links available to click, and your click-rate - the more links, the more clicks.

There are many ways to insert links to your website into your small business newsletter. Here are a few suggestions.

Insert links behind images.

☺ Always insert a link to your Home page behind every iteration of your logo.
☺ If your photo appears in your newsletter, link it to your About page.
☺ Behind product/service images, link directly to specific pages about those items.

I can think of very few times when it isn't desirable to put a link behind an image.

Insert links behind text.

☺ If you have a Contact section in your newsletter, include your URL in text linking to your Home page.
☺ Add a menu or link list to the header or footer area of your newsletter, linking to specific pages of your website. Be selective with what you feature and change it often.

The newsletters I create for myself and clients typically have 5-12 links. In an email newsletter, littering too many links among too little text can impact your deliverability. Be strategic about your links. And at least, make sure you've got the basics covered.

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