10.000 newsletter subscribers before Christmas?

[Torsten]

Hi, I've just written made a new blog entry saying that our newsletter will probably have more than 10,000 readers before Christmas this year but then I took a closer look at the numbers and realized that this will happen even much sooner. Let me explain. When I started this newsletter our website didn't exist nor did the forum. I simple collected the email addresses of a people I used to work with and told them that from time to time I would send some information on how to learn English.

Then in 2003 Alan took over and started to write essays covering various language and vocabulary topics. By then Slava had created a system that allows subscribers to enter their first name into our database and so in the newsletter we can address every single reader personally. What's more, Slava even wrote a script that inserts the reader's name into the subject line of the email newsletter. It goes without saying that a subscriber can leave the list any time with one single click.

Before a new reader subscribes, they can read all the back issues in the archive first to get an idea of what the newsletter is all about.

Now, why am I telling you all this? Well, I just wanted to know what you think of email newsletters. What publications do you subscribe to and how often do you actually read them? (It's one thing to sign up for a free email newsletter, yet it's another one to read every issue.)

In what do you think are email newsletters different to other forms of Internet components such as websites, forums, blogs, etc? Do you prefer to receive a text or HTML version of your newsletter? What impact do electronic publications have on traditional newspapers and magazines?

TOEIC listening, photographs: Checking stock levels

[Slava]

We will change several things to make the newsletter even more popular. For example we can place the sign-up form in the page header and add small ads to all of our pages. I also think that Alan writes very good essays and we should help spread the word. Maybe we will replace the Babylon links with our newsletter ads, then we could have 50 and more new subscribers per day...

[Torsten]

Well, now we have more than 100,000 subscribers to our email English course and newsletter. This means our readership has grown ten fold within three years. If this development continues we will have more than 1 million readers and learners by the end of 2012!

TOEIC listening, photographs: The painter