Guest comment: Why you should optimise newsletters for search engines

A recent Stanford University study surveyed 4,000 participants - 90% of them listed email as their no. 1 activity on the internet. No. 2 was search.

Companies spend big budgets optimising their websites to take advantage of our search habits, However, a surprisingly big percentage of them to not offer anything for visitors to sign up to so they can continue the dialogue after they leave.

People who come to your website through search are already qualified because they are specifically looking for the products and services you offer. They should be encouraged to opt-in to regular communications from you to continue nurturing the relationship long after they’ve left the website.

This is where email newsletters come in. They are a powerful communication tool and offer an effective way to begin a relationship with these qualified prospects. This is an excellent opportunity to begin the relationship and stay in touch during their decision making process. Of course, what you offer as a newsletter must be informative, of value, timely, targeted and relevant. It is a challenge, but one that is well worth meeting.

To further drive this point home: Usability guru, Jakob Nielsen has stated that email newsletters are “probably the single-highest ROI action you can take to improve your internet presence. They are the primary way to liberate your site from dependence on search engines. In the long run, achieving this liberation is one of the most important strategic challenges facing internet managers.”

So, are you ready to capture these searchers and turn them into customers by using a regular email communications?

Here are three tips for optimising your newsletter:

Feature all your email newsletters online. An email newsletter is a microsite - it has a homepage and a series of back web pages with articles. Each, if properly prepared, can be found through the search engines. These newsletters can help improve your company's search visibility.

Put your top key words in title and meta tags and email headline and body copy.  Treat your newsletter just as you would your website; ensure you have keywords that are relevant to your company's products and services in your title and meta tags. They should also be included in your landing page, as well as an integral part of your newsletter's content.

Have an easy-to-find subscribe box. Because of the nature of search and page rankings, people don't always land on your home page. Make sure your newsletter's subscribe box is prominent on all your website's pages. Include a link to your current email newsletter. Have the subscribe box on all editions of your newsletter. Remind people to forward to a colleague who may find the information of value.