What do you want from the Limes & Lycopene newsletter?
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
If you look in the right hand sidebar you’ll see a little envelope button, which asks if you want to subscribe to the Limes & Lycopene newsletter.
It’s supposed to be a monthly newsletter. But I haven’t sent it out for a considerable number of months.
What happened?
Problem was, I really didn’t feel I was hitting the mark before.
If I’m asking you to give up inbox space, plus your precious time and attention, then it has to be for something relevant and meaningful. Which I don’t think was the case.
So rather than sending out less than useful broadcasts and clogging up your email, I decided to rest the newsletter for a while.
However I’ve been thinking about re-launching, with a change of focus. And I want your input.
What would you find most useful in a newsletter from Limes & Lycopene?
What content do you want?
At the moment my thoughts are falling into three main areas:
- What’s coming up on Limes & Lycopene: advance notice of what I’ll be focussing on during the next month. It may be a specific ingredient, a style of eating, or even a particular meal. But highlighting what topics I’ll be writing about and how you can take part.
- A homework exercise: something you can do today / this week to improve the way you eat. It might be an eating tip, a food awareness exercise, trying a new food – but something quick and easy that will change your diet and health.
- The Top 10 posts: for those who don’t have time to read every week, a list of the primary posts from the last month. The ones which have struck a chord, had the biggest readership, or sparked the most debate.
Do these topics sound useful? Is there anything else you’d like covered?
How often do you want it?
At the moment the newsletter is (supposed to be) monthly.
But I’ve been wondering if a weekly broadcast wouldn’t be more useful?
While you might think I don’t have time to read a weekly newsletter my plan is it would be short, succinct and highly targeted. One subject. One thing for you to think about. One bit that’s going to add to your nutrition knowledge or tweak the way you eat.
What do you think?
I’d love to know your thoughts and insight. Do you read newsletters? What would be most useful for you?
I should also add that I will definitely read, think about and take into consideration every comment. Although if there’s a lot of different opinions, I can’t promise to do exactly what you all say!
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
16 July, 2008
Comments
I’ve never received one of your newsletters, so I can’t comment on past issues… but based on what you said you talk about in them, I would enjoy them as is.
A cool addition, maybe on a monthly basis, could be an anonymous case study. Perhaps a client who has a certain issue and what changes in habit and/or diet have helped, worsened, or made no diference the problem?
Also, answering questions people have asked on the blog or off that you think other readers might find interesting, topics which may not be big enough for a blog post of their own.
I’m in the middle of re-vamping newsletters for several of my online business ventures right now, so I’m constantly trying to think of new ideas!
These all sound like good topics for the newsletter. I think maybe highlighting a monthly recipe or two would be a great idea as well.
I’ve always wondered about the purpose of monthly newsletters – if I put in loads of effort making great content for them, it wouldn’t reach as many people than if I’d just put it on my blog, wouldn’t have a chance of being linked to/debated with other bloggers, no Google value. Maybe the purpose is to be a wee bonus for the more dedicated reader?
I subscribe to Clotilde’s Chocolate and Zucchini newsletter – she does a monthly summary of posts, news about books and appearances, etc.
Whoops hit submit too soon! Meant to say, I think all your newsletter ideas are fab. Especially the Top 10 posts coz it would be nice to reminded of all those tasty recipes that i read about at the time and thought “must cook” but promptly neglected to do so :)
I like the idea of spotlighting the top ten popular recent posts and about highlighting what’s coming up
Sometimes these things are more exciting when you get them a bit less often (plus the top ten idea lends itself to having a bit of a gap). How about monthly or fortnightly? I think given that you will be talking about blog content in the newsletter, weekly might seem a bit repetitive i.e the highlighted articles will only just have come out (plus it’s a lot of work for you)
I’m a new reader, so I kind of feel like I haven’t earned the right to give input yet. However, if you want my input anyway… :) I would rather just have all the content on the blog. My RSS feed keeps me updated when there are new posts, and I’d rather get everything there rather than some on the blog and some in an e-mail. It just seems easier to keep it all in one place.
Have to say, I tend to let emailled newsletters pile up then never read them. I do really like the idea of “homework” though. The whole idea of changing just one thing at a time in a lifestyle works, I think. That would definitely encourage me to check the newsletter regularly.
I absoluty love your blog and find it to be one of the best nutrition blogs out there. You always have something interesting to say. I think your ideas above sound good. I would enjoy a newletter as you discribe, especially the homework idea. Monthly sounds good to me as well.
Jen
Have to agree with Laura and Shauna… it’s great having everything on the blog, I get RSS anyway, and that way I can find it later if I want to. I’m not hugely enthusiastic about the what’s coming up / ‘best of’ idea as I’m going to read it all anyway and it sounds like a bit too much repetition. The homework idea, and the “and how you can take part” idea, sound fabulous however. More interaction would be awesome. Not sure how… maybe variations on the ‘what did you eat this week’ series… some recipe / ingredient challenges… case studies is a great idea too, perhaps getting people to think about and share what has made the biggest difference to their diets… out of ideas for now ;)
Food for thought? waits for groan }:]
Like Laura, I’m quite a new reader but like the idea of a newsletter and homework in particular.
Helen and Laura – welcome as new readers. It’s lovely to read your opinions.
Just a bit of background – I am keen to offer a regular newsletter for several reasons:
Anyway, all the above are really interesting and helpful comments – so keep ’em coming.
Kathryn, you already know how highly I think of you, your blog and its contents. I like all the suggestions you have made. My contribution would be that I’d like to receive the newsletter monthly.
I love the homework idea and also like the idea of case studies. Sounds great!
A listing of all the recipes featured in the previous month would be great – and a reminder of the ones you saw that you wanted to try but never quite got around to it.
I also love the idea of ‘homework’.
I love your blog and anything that is new and current is always interesting I also think a once a month newsletter is a good idea.
Homework aye. Why not? It could also be a great way of getting interactive participation and feedback from your readers.
I feel like I’m in school all over again. Hehe.
What is our first assignment Mrs Elliot?
I use RSS so I don’t miss any of your posts, so I don’t know that I’d read a newsletter on top of this unless it offered something additional to the interactivity that you could put into the website.
I love the homework idea -
i myself have participated in a few recently -
one of which was to try 3 foods “again” that i had decided in the past, that i hated. I re-discovered rhubarb, and discovered i actually LIKED IT. So challenges are fun!
(my other foods were blue cheese and turnip. there is a turnip in my fridge as i type…) :)
Shorty – well done for re-trying some foods. Our tastebuds do change over time, so things we hated earlier in life we can grown to love. It also does depend on how you prepare them.
I think it would be great to receive your newsletter weekly…just a way to focus my attention on new ideas/inspiration for my weekly shopping visit……
Hi there Jessie, thanks for your comment. After reading other peoples’ thoughts and thinking about my work commitments I’ve decided to make the newsletter monthly. I sent the first revamped one out last week – did you receive it? If not, I’m happy to forward a copy.
You may also be interested in the series of posts I’m running in August . . . but more about that on Friday.
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