Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with your customers and to build brand loyalty.

Naturally, establishing a strong newsletter name is an important first step in publishing your own newsletter. You want to choose a name that is descriptive of your subject and catchy enough to get people to subscribe.

So how do you get started?

 

Determine the focus of your newsletter

The focus of your newsletter should closely mirror the focus of your website (assuming your site focuses on your product or service). This way you can use the main keywords for your niche to explain the newsletter content focus. One example would be Travel Times. You can also use your target market, such as The Chef's Helper newsletter. Focusing your newsletter name lets your subscribers know they will be receiving information of interest to them.

Incorporate words that add value

Once you've determined the main focus of your newsletter, in addition to your main keywords, you can use the words below to help add value to your newsletter name. Typically, you don't need to start your newsletter name with the word "The" or end with the word "Newsletter", unless it just fits well (such as in "The Chef's Helper"). If you have more than two keywords to begin with, including extra words can make the name too long. Below are a few helper words with sample newsletter names that might help.

* Advice/Advisor (Prot©g© Advisor)

* Review (Alternative Medicine Review)

* Report/Reporter (Tax Havens Reporter)

* Insider tips (Insider Resume Tips)

* Strategies (Dissertation Strategies)

* News (Travel News)

* Solutions (Better Golf Solutions)

* Today (Web Marketing Today)

* Guide (Business Plan Guide)

* Secrets (Search Engine Secrets)

* Insider (Etiquette Insider)

* Helper (The Garden Helper)

* Digest (Netsurfer Digest)

* Insights (Business Insights)

* Notes (Niche Notes)

* Trends (Investment Trends)

 

Keep it short

Try to keep your newsletter name fairly short. Usually, good newsletter names are between 2 - 4 words long and describe the topic of your newsletter. If this newsletter is going to be an email newsletter, one reason for keeping the name short is because subscriber subject lines are limited to 60 characters long. Make a list of at least 15 different names for your newsletter.  The more names that you can come up with, the better chance you will have of finding the perfect one. Get lots of opinions, ask for help, hold a brainstorming session at the office.

 

Be unique

Check your list to make sure that someone else isn't already using them. You can start by checking for existing newsletters by searching for "ezine directories" or "newsletter directories" in the search engines. You can also type in your potential newsletter titles (followed by the word "newsletter") directly into the search engines to see if they are already taken. Doing this extra research will allow you to see how much competition there is, plus it can give you ideas for future content.

 

Now, pick the perfect name! (no pressure)

This is when you weed out the names that don't really describe your niche as well as those that are already being used by someone else. Once you've narrowed down your list to 5 or 6, set it aside for a few hours or days so when you go to make the final decision your mind is fresh and you can be more objective.

If the perfect name doesn't jump off the page at you, perform a little low budget focus group research, go back to your friends, co-workers, or family for their opinion. Ask them what benefits they expect to receive when they read the various names.

This can provide some valuable insight into people's first impression, so choose the one that has a clear focus and gets people excited the most. Your newsletter name should be simple, catchy, and descriptive so that your subscribers will instantly recognize it in their inbox.

Once you have chosen the best name for your newsletter, you can easily build content around the main focus.

Comment