Easy and effective relationship building in your newsletter.

Or ... effective writing that builds relationships every time.

Building a relationship with a largely anonymous list of people who have randomly subscribed to your ezine or newsletter sounds like a hard challenge. In fact, it is much easier than you may think. Of course, you'll need to demonstrate a few character traits in the things you write. For example, you won't get far unless your honesty and ethics are unquestionable. Reliability and trust are the foundation of any good relationship and you'll need to build on them with charm and empathy for your reader's feelings. Add in a generous sprinkle of outspokenness and the ability to keep your writing newsworthy and current and you have a winning combination. Not all of these factors come naturally to everyone, but learning them is vital.

Let's concentrate here on the key factors that I believe you can learn that will set your writing apart from 99% of the rest, and give you a head start in building relationships with your readers. These are the things you can put into action from today.

The secret to building a great relationship with your list is to stop thinking about the people you write to as a list. Nobody builds relationships with lists - only with people. One to one.

When I sit down to write Kickstart Today, I never write to a list. I write to Richard, who I met for the first time at a seminar and who sent me a Christmas card. I write to Pearson, who started out as a subscriber and soon became a close mate. I write to Margaret, who sends me lovely emails. I write to my daughter, who reads Kickstart at work.

Right now, for example, I'm imagining that you have asked me a question about building relationships through your writing and I am simply answering you. As your relationship with your readers grows and they write to you with more comments and questions, your need to imagine reduces.

You'll find that the better you get at writing to one person at a time, the more of your readers will resonate with what you've said. It is human nature to project ourselves into a situation and, by and large, we all share similar thoughts and concerns.

Everybody loves to eavesdrop, but the reality is by writing one-to-one, everyone will think you are writing to them personally. But as soon as you write one-to-many, it becomes impersonal and bland.

Well-meaning experts, who often pontificate about online writing techniques, love to trot out a couple of 'truths':

1. People don't want to hear about you - write about them.

2. Sell something to your list every message to 'train' them to be more receptive.

Forget it! Neither will help you build relationships with your readers.

Ask yourself this question: when did you last establish a relationship with a text book? The much quoted ratio of one 'I' to every five 'you's' will lead you to a style of writing that may be informative, but is not personal. As well as the good information you have to provide, your readers want to know about you and your life - witness the rise in popularity of blogs.

Many years of writing over 800 editions of my newsletters has taught me that readers expect the core information - the things that your newsletter is supposed to be about - but thoroughly enjoy the real-life stories about family, health and visits to the movies. The stuff that relates to their own lives is what brings in the most response.

The best ezines and newsletters balance both, providing a cocktail of solid factual information punctuated by the real-life soap opera content that keeps the reader coming back for more.

It is the personal information that is most effective for relationship building because the same things are happening in the lives of each one of your readers to a greater or lesser extent. By sharing your humanity you are putting yourself at the same level as the reader. Each time he or she say's 'yes, that's happened to me' or 'I thought that too' you have found a new best friend.

Then there is the vexed question of how often you should try to sell things to your readers. The nature of a newsletter lends itself to constantly bombarding your poor readers with offer after offer, but unless you have a great writing style and personality to match, it can be counterproductive.

You will sometimes find a newsletter writer who has mastered the art of the constant hard sell, but most who try it just end up looking over-eager to grab your money.

In my own newsletters, I've always stuck to the principle that I only recommend things I've used myself and can honestly say are worth the money. If that means I only recommend something every few weeks, so be it. At least my readers know that the recommendations, when they do come, are heartfelt. And I believe my response rates bear out my policy!

How often you publish is another thing that can affect relationship building and should be thought about carefully.

A monthly ezine will have a harder job building a positive personal relationship than a weekly. And in my view, even a weekly is hard to build a close relationship with.

As you develop as a writer you'll find it easier to write more often. You don't need to write huge newsletters every time - it is the frequency of contact that matters, not the length of your prose! So long as you are interesting and amusing you can publish every day if you like. Just don't become boring!

I still get dozens of emails whenever I skip an issue!

Naturally, the strongest writing you can put in your newsletter is that which you've written yourself. Tempting as it is to use other people's articles, if you want to build a relationship with your readers, the majority of what they read from you should be by you.

On that subject, a lot of publishers still use guest articles. While that isn't necessarily a bad thing, the best writing by far that you can publish is your own. As you build your relationship with your readers they will want to hear about you, your life and what you think. If you are going to effectively give them that, you just have to get on and learn to write. Or more accurately, learn to communicate.

And when you do start learning to write, forget most of the rubbish that you learned in school or business. Write like you'd talk to a close friend, not to your teacher or business client.

The kind of writing that really builds relationships sounds natural when you read it out loud. Sentences start with and, words are contracted and the tone is informal.

All of which brings us right back to the start: write as if you are talking to one person, keep it honest and personal and remember that you are not writing to a list, you are communicating with a friend. Relationship building is best done one person at a time.

Article Source: http://www.christiannotepad.com

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