A common problem with businesses starting out, is that they want to communicate too much. Some might say that there is no such thing as too much communication; I believe that they are wrong, especially with affiliate newsletters. If you send a daily email, people are unlikely to read it. There are some people that will not even read daily emails from their friends. Your affiliate newsletters should have new, interesting and exciting information in them. If you are posting them too often then they probably don’t.

It could even be argued that sending affiliate newsletters once a week is too often. Is that much in your affiliate program really changing that you need to have an affiliate newsletter once a week. Again, it is possible that some people will just ignore it. My preferred time frame between affiliate newsletters is once every two weeks at the absolute maximum, with once a month being my preferred length.

Having infrequent affiliate newsletters makes them a little bit special. They are more likely to be read. It is always possible to put out additional newsletters if they are needed, but in all likelihood, they aren’t. If you are wanting to inspire new affiliates, you can set up a blog or a newsletter archive. That way, your affiliates will have the benefits of your previous affiliate newsletters without you having to repeat yourself all of the time.

When it comes to your affiliate newsletter, you want to be sure that your language can be understood by all who read it. There is a tendency in many people to overwrite; that is to state things in a manner that is more complicated than necessary. People that do this neglect the fact that for a certain number of affiliate marketers, English is a second language. Rightly or wrongly, English is the international language and is the language of commerce. Chances are that your affiliate marketers will have at least a passing knowledge of the English language. If you keep your writing simple, in all likelihood, they will be able to follow your writing.

We all know that affiliate newsletters can help encourage activity in networks, but what type of topics should be covered. There are literally hundreds of things that are fair game, but we do recommend a structured approach.

Take a look at successful affiliate newsletters and try to break down how they put their newsletters together. In good newsletters, you will find recurring themes and a similar structure. You will see the same types of stories in the same places. Is this formulaic? Extremely so, but it cuts down on the amount of work that you need to put in. A newspaper generally features a headline and a big picture on the front page. That front page story is the story that was deemed the most sales worthy. Why not go with a similar pattern? If you already know how you want it to look and feel, it makes preparation so much easier.

I tend to produce a number of different articles for the newsletters that I write and then pick and choose from among them for the right fit and right overall theme. It is entirely subjective and much like putting together a mix tape. You want articles that compliment each other and contrast with each other. You do not want five articles about sales techniques, you want to mix it up. Inspire your affiliates with success stories, dazzle them with tips from the masters, connect with them and you will find that they can become very responsive.

It is easy to start applying SEO writing techniques to newsletter articles but that is exactly the wrong thing to do. A lot of people spend so much time writing SEO content that they forget how to write for humans. Of course, all web content should be a happy compromise between the two targets, but it never sounds quite as good as good old human optimized writing. When it comes time to write your affiliate newsletter
, scrap all the SEO techniques and take your writing back to basics.

Your affiliate newsletter should be:

A few good sections to include:

Capturing the imagination of your affiliates with your affiliate newsletter is a surefire way to renew their interests. If you have any questions about writing affiliate newsletters, please feel free to contact us.

If you are not aware of Constant Contact you should be. It is simply one of the best mass mail providers on the market. Constant Contact is a service rather than a simple software program. It allows you to send out a large number of emails in a short space of time. What better way to ensure that your affiliate newsletters hit their targets?

Why opt for a system like constant contact? If you have an affiliate base of one or two hundred, you may be able to suffice with your regular mail service. You will, however, find that it performs exceptionally slowly, even for such a small subscription base. Constant Contact gets your affiliate newsletters out quickly and for a reasonable price. The cost of your subscription depends on the size of your address list. The smaller your address list, the less you pay.

Whether or not you use Constant Contact for your communications is your decision. We at Brick Marketing recommend it, as in our experience it is the best small-large scale communication system in existence. It is fast, effective and the prices are reasonable. If you have any more questions relating to Constant Contact or would like to know some other distribution systems for your affiliate newsletters, please feel free to contact us.

There are all kinds of reasons why people sign up as affiliates. Some of them entertain fantasies of retiring early on a passive income stream without doing any work. They are under the false impression of what is involved in affiliate marketing. It can be extremely rewarding, but a great deal of effort is involved. It is not that everyone is out looking for an easy buck, the fact is that many people do not know how to promote. They post products with affiliate links on a website that no one ever looks at. They may be unaware of just how to get out there and start selling. An affiliate newsletter is a great way to give them the encouragement and the information that they need to really get started.

As a webmaster you might feel that it is not your duty to educate your affiliate member base. You are right, it isn’t, but it makes very good business sense to do so. A simple affiliate newsletter that outlines different promotions, new products and most importantly, sales techniques is a great way to get the unproductive affiliates (probably the bulk of your membership) to work. They are not going to outperform the gifted marketers that make up the upper echelons of your member base, but by force of numbers, they can have a massive effect on your turnover. Sometimes it only takes something as simple as an affiliate newsletter to get the word across and turn some of those unproductive affiliates into regular earners.

At Brick Marketing, we are happy to assist in the production of your affiliate newsletter. If you have any questions or would like to hire our services, please do not hesitate to contact us.