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Jewel
Joined:
09 Nov 2003
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267
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 8:56 pm
Post subject: Newsletter Archive Question
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Happy New Year, y'all!
I have a question about posting my newsletter archives on my website: After emailing out each issue of my newsletter, should I use the text of each newsletter article as a new regular content page on my site, with full SEO, AdSense, etc., linked to other relevent content pages on my site? And if I do this, should I somehow indicate that this article was originally published in my newsletter?
Or is it better for some reason to have a newsletter archive section, with each article just sitting there as an archive to demonstrate the quality of what's in my newsletters? Is it worthwhile to have an archive showcase?
Or what is the usual thing to do with one's already published newsletter articles??? 
I'm getting ready to publish my first newsletter issue. I want to thank our Database Designer for giving me a push in getting my newsletter subscription page up just before the holidays. Thanks to Alf's encouragement, I now have 41 subscribers to my newsletter (not including my mom--she makes 42!  ), and I haven't even written my first article yet. Thanks, DbD, for getting me going so I didn't lose these first 41 subscribers!!!!!  |
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Debs
Joined:
16 Aug 2003
Posts:
4296
Location:
NY
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 1:14 am
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Deciding to archive or not to archive is up to you ... a personal choice. I can tell you what I've done, as can others, then you can decide what's best for you and your site.
I started out with archiving my newsletters, it was great added content, that did bring in visitors. However, over time I found:
1. Links going bad because of changes to outside sites requiring separate maintenance from my main site; this, in and of itself, isn't really a problem since you need to check your site links anyway ... just don't forget to 
2. After awhile I decided to offer subscriber only benefits (which btw greatly increased my subscription rate). Well the only way to tell my subscribers was in my newsletter to offer them the link to the members only area.
My newsletter (through SBi) was updated to the web automatically (if I selected the online archive option which I had used to begin with). I maintain an unindexed page for members only access so they can get the downloads, etc. I offer.
At the point of doing members only stuff, I decided to take the archives offline, and post the relevant articles as separate additional content pages on my main site. I do, however, still have a slew of those articles I want to set up in another manner, maybe another site.
I also have an update blog set up for site updates that is included in the newsletter, this way I can let subscribers know what's new on the main site, and do some other experiments in a more controlled manner. So far it has worked well.
Debs
_________________
Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!" |
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Charlie
Joined:
22 Aug 2003
Posts:
3305
Location:
UK
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 12:16 pm
Post subject: Re: Newsletter Archive Question
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Hello Jewel.
| Jewel wrote: | | After emailing out each issue of my newsletter, should I use the text of each newsletter article as a new regular content page on my site, with full SEO, AdSense, etc., linked to other relevent content pages on my site? |
As Debs touched on, it seems to me that the real question is balancing the benefits of a web archive for reasons of added site content (amongst other things) against providing something exclusive that forces people to supply their email address to you in the first place.
I reckon both are important, so here's a compromise suggestion...
Create a full web archive for your newsletter (together with site navigation, Adsense et al), but leave something out...
Emphasise that the full version is only available to members. Members have to register with their email address, so that password info to the members section can be sent to them, together with "updates".
Basically, the members' section contains an archive of the full version of the newsletter. This way, you can send a note to subscribers in a separate email saying that the ezine is online in case the email version was eaten alive by the dreaded spam filters their IP is so kindly running.
You may even be able to offer an additional gold membership (or whatever) for a suitable fee. See how it goes.
Hope this helps,
Charlie.
_________________
"Before I speak, I have something important to say."
- Groucho Marx |
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Jewel
Joined:
09 Nov 2003
Posts:
267
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 7:51 pm
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Ah, I see now. Thank you, Debs and Charlie! You've given me an idea!
I think I'll put my main newsletter articles as content pages on my site, with AdSense and links to my other relevant pages and /or affiliate links. I'm still deciding whether to put them on my site immediately or to delay a few weeks or a month after they're published in the newsletter, to give subscribers the advantage of getting the info first.
But the "members only" feature of the newsletter will be a brief Quick Tip that's just a short paragraph featuring an innovative and helpful new tip each time. I may do a Members Only part of my site to archive these quick tips, so new subscribers can get immediate access to all the previous tips. But the only way to have access to these quick tips is to be a subscriber.
I also like Charlie's idea of having the full newsletter online for members' convenience, and Debs' idea of the site updates blog.
Thanks once again!
Oops, almost forgot to mention that I now have 45 subscribers! I need to get my first issue written. |
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DatabaseDesigner
Joined:
17 Nov 2003
Posts:
665
Location:
Norway
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AllanGardyne
Site Admin
Joined:
02 Jul 2003
Posts:
6326
Location:
by the beach, Australia
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 2:19 am
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I have about 240 newsletters, dating back to 1998, archived on AssociatePrograms.com and I've found there are advantages and disadvantages in doing that.
One big advantage is that I have about 240 pages which attract visitors to the web site. My logs show me that people find those pages using all sorts of unexpected searches, because of the wide variety of topics I've covered over the years. Those pages help attract visitors who use more 2,500 different search phrases a month.
A big disadvantage is that eventually a proportion of the information goes stale. For example, I've written about affiliate networks PlugInGo and Nexchange, which no longer exist. I have an old article about FreeFiliate, when it really was free. Such articles are a waste of space now and are only likely to annoy visitors if they find them by doing a search in a search engine.
Also, it's possible that you may write something in your newsletter that you later regret. For example, in 1998 I flirted briefly with two MLM programs. I blame lack of sleep and consequent muddled thinking for those indiscretions, but whatever the reason, the original articles are still archived on my site for anyone to see.
As Debs says, links can go bad and you have to spend time updating them. When you have hundreds of pages, you can have a lot of links to check and update. I use LinkAlarm to check my links, usually about once a month. It's good.
If I were starting again, I'd put the latest newsletter on an autoresponder - that gets a file into the visitor's computer - and publish only the best articles from the newsletter, and update them whenever necessary. One advantage of doing that is that each web page could then have a very tight focus and be more likely to be found in search engines.
Another advantage is that you can ensure that every page of your site is useful and being published for a good reason.
Hope that helps.
_________________
Allan Gardyne
AssociatePrograms.com - You're here. Explore it! |
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