Reliability is the Key to Growing Newsletter Readership
The best business newspapers consistently follow the same general layout, with the most important information in the same location every time. The Wall Street Journal is a worthwhile standard to follow because it always places the feature story in an easily accessible location. Subscribers do not have to search through the entire paper to find important information because it is reliably in the same position every time.
Reliability entails more than just regular monthly delivery; it also requires reliable selection and placement of articles. Inconsistency creates unnecessary work for both the reader and the producer.
Newspaper formatting should follow the grocery store format. The grocery store is reliable because a customer always knows where to go for his needs and wants. Just as it is inconvenient when the store changes the location of key items, it is also bothersome when a newsletter changes the location of certain articles. Therefore, it is best to maintain the same layout for a newsletter.
Once the format has been finalized, the content of the newsletter can be selected. All great newsletters include a feature story and other regular features. Newsletters must also have content for the back page and miscellaneous stories of interest. Advertisements and a “letters to the editor” section are also necessary components of successful newspapers.
In addition to a “letters to the editor” section, there should be a “word from the editor” section. It only has to be a short composition that can include personal vignettes to give the readers a better picture of the person behind the paper. This section makes the paper more personal, as opposed to being strictly business. Many readers are attracted to the warmth of personality over cold, hard business.
A successful monthly business newspaper follows the same format but continually changes content to remain up-to-date yet completely reliable.
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