When you have really great email content, you´ll see your open and click rates skyrocket and your sales will go up as well. Subscribers really enjoy top of the line email content, but how do you make sure that you really are turning out articles they will love?

Ask your readers. Find out what they actually want to read about and then give it to them . . . a surefire way to get your email content on the hot list.

Stay on top of it. By offering the latest news and information, you´ll be ahead of the competitors with their rehashed articles of last year´s big trend.

Add a dose of humor. There´s nothing like making people laugh to get them to open your emails again and again and even pass them on to friends. Add a joke or just write in a funny style to boost your email content.

Offer figures. People love statistics and learning how much people are earning. Work that into your email content and you´ll have some very happy readers!

Email content that really grabs the attention could be the best thing you´ve ever done for your business. It´s worth taking a little extra time to turn out some truly awesome email content and watch your business grow.

Do you need more traffic to your website? Who doesn´t, right? Well, your email content, if done properly, can drive traffic to your website and improve clickthrough rates. Part of the method lies in simply making a regular connection with your readers and reminding them that you exist. With all the information online these days, it´s easy to lose track of websites, so if someone has subscribed to your email, you want to make sure they have the chance to go back to your site.

• Put some content on your site. While you shouldn´t necessarily shorten your emails, having some email content point to further info on your website is a great way to send traffic to your website.

• Offer a contest on your site. Then link to it within your email content. Give some details within your email newsletter, but require a trip to your website for full details and the entry form.

• Summarize blog content. Some email marketers have great success with simply summarizing what they have already written about in their email content. At the end of each summary, they include a link to the blog post or website where you can find more information.

Email content can easily be used to boost clickthroughs to your website and you´ll find that offering something for free or holding a contest is one of the best ways to do just that. Try it in your own email content and you´ll see the results quickly.

Email content can be stressful. When you feel pressured to write every few days, it can be very difficult to come up with something your readers will actually want to pay attention to! Unfortunately, apart from hiring someone, you don´t have much choice except to churn out email content yourself, but there are a few ways to lower the stress of doing so.

• Write ahead. When the inspiration hits, type up as many short articles as you have time for. Save these and the next time you don´t have time to write fresh email content, just use one of your evergreen pieces.

• Guest articles. Ask readers if they would like to be featured in your email content. Have them write about their experiences with your products or even a tutorial.

• Start early. If you send your email newsletter out every Friday, start writing on Monday. That gives you several days to work on your email content and it will be less overwhelming.

Email content can be stockpiled only if it doesn´t have anything timely in it. If you are reporting on breaking news, you´ll have to be writing as it happens, or your newsletter won´t hold the same impact! But by following these tips, you can help create a more peaceful atmosphere to work in and to create your email content.

Email marketing can be tough. It´s not always easy to keep up a steady stream of interesting articles for your subscribers. Pretty much every single email marketer runs into problems with the idea well drying up and it can be quite devastating. But it doesn´t have to ruin your email marketing, not if you know where to look for inspiration and ideas!

Magazines: If you don´t have any magazines that relate to your industry, head to the local bookstore, magazine stand or library and browse through a couple. There are publications on just about every topic, so you´re bound to find something that works.

Google Alerts: Using your keywords to get Google Alerts sent to your email account can be a great way to stay on top of the most recent news in your industry and gives you references which can be extremely useful in making your email content more interesting.

Reader questions: Using the questions your reader send you as fodder for email content is an excellent method of getting ideas when you can´t think. And, you know it´s something they are interested in reading!

Your problems: Chances are that you run into technical issues related to your industry from time to time. While these can be very frustrating, it also makes for great email content. Let your readers know what happened and how you solved the issue.

Tutorials: When you have nothing else to write about, offer a simple tutorial. This could even be a video and you simply link to it in your email content.

There are plenty of places to get inspiration for your email content. It´s completely normal to hit a wall once in a while when it comes to email content ideas, but you don´t have to let that stop you!

Email content on its own can get pretty repetitious, but you can add value by including links to multimedia extras. These can be audio files, video or even a slide show that you´ve put together to illustrate your points. It´s completely optional content, but your readers can check out the extra info if they have the time and most will be thrilled to have the opportunity to get more information on your topics.

Video: You can do a lot with video. Try offering a tutorial on how to use a specific product or service that you are promoting. There are plenty of screen capture programs that do this and you just have to navigate and speak while recording. Or you could do a simple video tips episode, show customers interacting or talking about your products.

Audio: MP3s are a very popular audio file type and it´s pretty easy to do a short recording to give extra value to your readers. Interviews with clients or big players in your industry.

The idea of adding multimedia productions, however simple they may be, to your email content is to simply give your readers an extra viewing of your message. You can really benefit from this . . . your readers will enjoy the extra email content in various formats and you will enjoy higher response rates. Just be sure to include a link to your sales page at the end of any multimedia production.

Is your email content good enough to sell? Many people don´t think of email content as copywriting, but it essentially is if you are using it to promote your business. If you look at it as copywriting, then you will find yourself working harder to make your emails sell.

Tips for Email Content Copywriting

• Use adjectives. Adjectives are vital in good copywriting and email content to help you engage your readers and make them want to buy what you´re selling.
• Anecdotes. Who doesn´t love a good story? Collect some success stories related to your product or service and use them as email content.
• Call to action. Don´t forget to tell your readers what you want them to do at the end of each email and you´ll find that more of them actually do it.

Email content is very much like copywriting in many senses, so learn more about copywriting and then apply it to your email content and enjoy the results. Putting some interest into the product reviews and descriptions and using testimonials in your email content is an excellent method of interacting with your subscribers.

Many email marketers also run a blog and one thing that can be very useful for this is to make sure that your email content and your blog content work together. This can be very good for a variety of reasons.

Continuity. Your readers will appreciate the professionalism of you having the same flow in your email content as on your blog. It looks better and is easier to relate to.

Repetition. They say that the average person has to see an ad about 7.5 times before they will buy the product. Having the same call to action on your blog and in your email content automatically doubles your exposure.

Value. Covering a subject on your blog and then extending that in your email content and making reference to it will help encourage readers to go check out the blog or sign up for your newsletter if they haven´t already.

Email content can be very useful on its own, but when combined with what you already have on your blog, it can really boost your sales. The double strong message will reach more people and that´s always a good thing!

The next time you´re running out of ideas for email content, try sending out a survey. Thinking up questions is often a lot easier than writing an informative article and can be a great way to get some reader feedback. This will help you out, too, both with email content and finding out exactly what interests your subscribers and what they want to see more of.

An excellent way to get more readers to participate in an email content survey is to offer a special discount or deal to anyone who fills out the survey and sends it back. Not all your readers will respond, of course, but those who are interested in helping you out or getting your product at a discount will be more than happy to do so.

The benefit of using surveys and special offers as email content is that they are almost always welcome. People love to get a good deal and they love to answer questions. It´s the perfect solution to writer´s block. Not to mention, it could land you some extra sales while you´re at it!

Offering secure email content means that your clients and subscribers will be able to trust you and will be more likely to open your emails. Many viruses come via email, like the infamous Brontok and can end up shutting your computer down. For this reason, many people are understandably reluctant to open emails from people they don´t know.

To make sure that your email content is not causing issues, you should have an antivirus installed on your computer, as well as use an email client that offers scans of all incoming AND outgoing emails. Then let your subscribers know what measures you are taking to ensure that you will never pass them a virus. This will build trust and your email content will be read more often.

Another good idea to make sure that your email content is always secure is to never attach anything to your emails. Attachments are likely to carry .exe files that can include viruses and even if you are sending clean attachments, most people will automatcially delete these emails, particularly if they aren´t sure of who you are.

If you want to send your subscribers a program or PDF or anything else that would normally be attached, rather than included in the email content, use a link to send them to a webpage instead. This way, they can download or view the item online and your email won´t throw up any red flags.

Email content that is really useful or funny is often passed on to friends and associates of the people who receive your email newsletter. You can boost your chances of having people pass your email content on by following these tips.

• Make it funny. Humorous posts are far more likely to be passed on than the average email content. If you have a good sense of humor, use it and get your message sent far and wide.

• Make it useful. If you aren´t funny, your best bet is to make your email content something super useful that everyone can use. This can really help it go viral.

• Invite people to share. Many readers may not think to share your email content unless you remind them. Having a little line at the bottom of each email can be the perfect way to let them know that forwarding your email is just fine.

If you are writing excellent, useful email content that your readers are looking for, it´s quite likely that some of it will be passed on. Because of this, it´s a good idea to add a little bit of info on how to subscribe to your email newsletter. That way, anyone who receives the email as a forward can easily sign up if they like what they are reading.This is a great way to expand your opt-in list.

Email marketing content needs a little extra kick sometimes to help your readers understand what you´re talking about. The best way to do this is to give them an example or an anecdote. Let´s take a look at what this can do to spice up your email content.

Email Marketing Content Without Anecdotes:

This new product can help you clean faster. In fact, in recent studies, the SuperClean Hoover proved to be 50% than regular brand vacumns, making it a very useful appliance to have around the house.

Email Marketing Content With Anecdotes:
Like many new mothers, Amy is often exhausted from lack of sleep and she certainly doesn´t have time to do a lot of housecleaning. So, when I brought home the SuperClean Hoover, she gave me one of those LOOKS. I assured her that I would take care of the vacumning, even though it´s a job that I detest. Imagine her surprise when the whole house was done in less than half the time it normally took her . . . BEFORE the baby! Needless to say, the carpets around here are nice and clean these days, which is good, because our little guy is starting to crawl.

See how dry the first example is? It gives good stats on the product and if you are looking strictly for information, this could be decent email content. However, often we are sending out email newsletters to people who don´t realize that they need the product and giving them a personal story can help them relate. With the second example, any mother would sympathise with the new mom, exasperated that her husband wants her to do more housework. And men will associate with the “hating to help” syndrome. You grab their attention immediately, and still get your point across . . . the SuperClean Hoover is a great product.

Try using anecdotes in some of your emails and check out the response from your subscribers. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Often writing great email marketing content simply isn´t enough to bring your readers in and get them to buy from you. Something more is needed . . . participation. If you can get your readers involved in your emails, creating a community of sorts, then you are well on your way to a higher response rate. It can take some work, particularly if you have a very resistant group of subscribers, but the effort is well worth it once it pays off!

Personalize. By using the reader´s name in your email content, you are helping them feel like you are writing specifically to them. This has a great success rate with getting readers to respond to emails and write back.

Invite. Ask your readers to click on a link or check out something that you´ve prepared just for your subscribers. They´ll feel special and will be more willing to participate.

Ask for help. People love to feel needed and they love giving advice. So why not ask for their help with something? Getting your readers to help you out with a problem might just be method you´ve been looking for to get a response. Use some of the best suggestions or advice in upcoming email content and you´ll be rewarded with more participants next time you have a call for action.

Hold a contest. If you want people to respond to your email content, offer them something in exchange. An entry in a contest is a great way to get them writing you or visiting your blog or website, whichever you prefer.

Poll them. Chances are that your readers would love a chance to give their opinion or weigh in on something. Offer a poll on your website and enable comments to get the community growing.

Getting your readers to respond to your email content can be gratifying (someone is actually paying attention to what you write!), but it is also a good method of getting them to be active in the opt-in list. This could have major results in your profit margins!

No one has a great answer for whether your email content should be in text or HTML, both are well accepted. These days, most people´s inboxes can handle HTML without any problems, but it still takes up more room. If you have images and things that you want to include in your email content, then it is still the best option.

However, providing the option of receiving emails in text format is a good idea . . . even if HTML is your preferred format. There are a number of reasons for this:

Some people want just the meat. They prefer text email marketing content because it´s easier to scan and pick out the important bits.

Text email content takes up less space. For many people this is a major consideration, especially if they don´t have a lot of space in their inbox.

Not all HTML email marketing content comes across well. Some email programs tend to block photos and images and can end up making HTML email content look pretty lousy.

Consider adding a text email content option if you haven´t already. You will see an increase in subscribers and get a far better response rate! Some people just prefer text, so why not give it to them?

Email marketing content has to be appealing in order to get people to actually read it, we all know that. However, personalizing your email content is an excellent method of catching people´s attention and can be very effective. However, while many email marketers use the subscriber´s name in the subject line to make the email stand out from all the junk in their inbox, very few continue the use into the email content.

Where to Use Personalization in Email Marketing Content

• In the greeting. Starting your email content off with a typical greeting such as, “Hi, Alan” or “Dear Chloe” will make your email stand out in the preview pane.

• Whenever you want to make a major point. If you have something important that you want your readers to actually read, make sure you include their name first. We are conditioned to respond to our names and even if the person is just scanning, they will stop and start to read when they see their name in print.

• Before the call to action. Within your email content, you should have a call to action, something to let the reader know what you want them to do. Placing their name ahead of this part will get scanners to stop skimming and actually read your call to action.

Email content can be very powerful and using your subscriber´s name in the content will make it stand out more. Personalization can be used to help boost your clickthrough rates and get higher sales than ever before.

Email marketing content can be a bit tricky, especially once you´ve been writing for a while. You may feel that you have exhausted your topic and have nothing left to say. In that case, it should simply be a matter of finding a new topic, related to previous ones, to write about. There are several ways to go about this.

Discovering New Email Marketing Content Topics

Do a keyword search. Checking Wordtracker or Wordz for new ideas is pretty easy. Just type in the current keywords and you should see a list of potential topics that are compatible with your previous ones.

Answer reader questions. Having Q and A email content is often an easy way to get new content ideas. However, you can also use it for topics. For example, if you receive a lot of technical questions, choose that as a topic and write more on it for your following email newsletters.

Read comments on related blogs. Even if you don´t have a blog, you can pick up topic ideas from reading what others have to say on your industry.

Check with Google News for information. Sometimes a breaking story on your area will stimulate a whole new topic. You can also use sites like Technorati or Google Alerts to help you find new topic ideas.

Email marketing content topics don´t have to be super narrow. Often your readers will enjoy if you branch out a bit into related themes. Try it and ask for feedback, if you want. You´ll probably find that your subscribers are more than happy to see new email content, rather than the same topic rehashed over and over again.