I'm going to whine for a moment.  I subscribe to a wonderful newsletter, but the author is out of touch with how lots of (maybe most) people are working these days.  Every two weeks he sends me an email with a link to a PDF version of his newsletter.  That requires that I have a PDF viewer installed on my computer (okay, most of us do) and that I wait for the newsletter to download so that I can read it.  The problem is that, just like most people, I'm very busy and not inclined to wait for much of anything these days.  The other problem is that I tend to read my email on my phone and PDFs just don't work very well on phones.  Even though his newsletter contains worthwhile information, he makes it too difficult to get to it and read it, so I don't.  I usually just delete it.  One of his competitors, on the other hand, sends a simple text version of her newsletter.  It's brief, to-the-point, no graphics, and I can read it in less than 30 seconds.  She has links to her website if I want more info.  I read her email every week. Here are my rules for email newsletters:

1. Make a text-only version
2. Keep it short so it can be read in less than a minute
3. Use headlines and article summaries that impart useful information in minimal time
4. Include links to more detailed articles on your webiste
5. Forget about producing PDF newsletters.  Just don't do it!
6. Use minimal graphics and keep them small
7. Test your newsletter on your phone
8. Edit, edit, edit

One of the best email newsletters around is from Chris Clarke-Epstein.  She sends out a one or two paragraph email with a single thought.  I read every email she sends, I think about what she writes about, and I remember her name.  Her website is www.change101.com If you can just get people to remember your name in today's world, you're ahead of the game.