Newsletter. Goodness. The word sounds almost ancient.

When you hear or read the word Newsletter, you probably think of email and the World Wide Web.

"If you abuse your responsibility by spamming, you hurt the concept of email; the reputation of the adult Internet and you hurt the surfer."

We're all familiar with the newsletters that download to our inboxes. We get them when we sign up online for software, site passes and various free offers. We get them as part of free email services. Hell, we get newsletters that come with our paid services. We get newsletters we never asked for. The web is rife with pre-ticked boxes and tiny disclaimers that explain why surfers have inboxes filled with useless newsletters that nobody reads. To many, email newsletters are nothing but glorified spam.

So why would I write an article on a subject as annoying as unwanted newsletters? The answer is I'm not. I'm writing about creating a newsletter that your surfers will want.

If you ever learn anything about Internet marketing, learn this: You cannot build a long-term business based on tricks and traps. If you want to create a newsletter for the sole purpose of collecting email addresses in order to spam, then you will eventually fail. Surfers like email but they hate spam. When you collect a surfer's email address; you have a responsibility to him or her. If you abuse your responsibility by spamming, you hurt the concept of email; the reputation of the adult Internet and you hurt the surfer.

Newsletters have been around a lot longer than the Internet. There's a reason why they're still around (in digital format) today. When done properly, newsletters work. Newsletters inform the customer. Newsletters remind the customer you exist. Newsletters create an almost intimate bond with the customer. If you can get surfers to read your newsletters, you will see an increase in trust, sales and repeat business. If you can get surfers to look forward to your newsletters, you got something special indeed.

How do you create the kind of newsletter that a surfer will want?

The first thing you need to do is give your surfer a choice as to whether or not they want to receive your newsletter in their email. Your surfer has to sign up voluntarily. This is called OPT-IN. Your surfer chooses the OPTion to be IN your list of email subscribers. There's are all kinds of CGI scripts and pre-made forms that you can use to create an OPT-IN signup application. What's important is that you give your surfers a way to sign up for your email that's easy and intentional.

Naturally, you'll want to write the kind of newsletter that's worth reading. Your newsletter should be relevant to the theme of your site or whatever sponsor you're promoting. At the same time, you must also market your product/sponsor to your reader. That sounds like a lot but it's not as hard as you think.

If you run an adult toyshop, you can write a newsletter filled with humorous descriptions and critiques of the toys on your site. If you have a sponsor that sells porn DVDs, you can write a newsletter with simple reviews of the movies and links to your affiliate-shopping cart. If you own a babe gallery paysite, write a newsletter from the perspective of a model and tease the reader with site updates and the occasional double entendre. If you sell privacy software, share some of your ninja webmaster knowledge about killing pop-ups, refining browser security and avoiding Internet scams.

You don't have to write a novel. You don't have to write every day. Some send newsletters once a week. Some send once a month. Others send email to subscribers every three months. Once a month is a nice median. Once a day is overkill.

Try to keep images, graphics and HTML out of your newsletters. Your surfers will appreciate that you considered their storage capacity. Also, a text-based email is less threatening in this virus-fearing world of cyberspace. You want to send your readers a pure text email with a few marketing links placed strategically throughout.

Just as you gave your subscribers the Option to sign up for your newsletter, you need to give them a way to OPT OUT. Always include an UNSUBSCRIBE link/email address in every newsletter you send out.

A good newsletter, along with a healthy list of subscribers, is a powerful marketing tool. Surfing on the net is inherently personal but reading email is even more private than surfing. With a proper newsletter, you build the trust of your surfers. They come to value your advice and are more open to your promotions. You can touch them and tease them and sell to them and if you do it right, they'll come back for more.