Email Never Died. How to Build a Community through an E-Newsletter. The story of NOLAlicious (http://nolalicious.com), at TribeCon (http://tribecon.com), the community conference, in New Orleans, LA. October 28, 2010.

1. Email Never Died.
How To Build Community through an
E-Newsletter
The Story of
Nolalicious.com
@nolalicious

2. Email didn’t die,
isn’t dead,
and isn’t going to die.
© ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSONNOLALICIOUS.COM

3. But that’s not why we
started NOLAlicious.
NOLALICIOUS.COM © ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

4. We made a couple key
decisions.
NOLALICIOUS.COM
Email newsletter, not a blog.
Keep it a side project.
Previews, not reviews.
Once a week.
Keep it inexpensive.
Go, Do, See, Eat, Lagniappe.
Try new things.
Listen to the community.
Keep it personal.
© ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

5. And it took off.
NOLALICIOUS.COM
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct
© ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

6. We tested and played
along the way.
For example: Contests, Amazon picks,
Travel, Jobs, t-shirts, calendars, Wallpaper
photos, layout changes, website changes,
Index, Advertising…
NOLALICIOUS.COM © ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

7. Every week, another
newsletter, another lesso
NOLALICIOUS.COM
If you want sign-ups, make it dead simple to
sign up.
Embrace constraints.
Consistency.
Engage.
Monitor everything.
Shifts and pivots.
Integrate.
© ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

8. It need not be
expensive: we’ve spent
less than $800 on
NOLAlicious.
Time, attention and
passion are the keys.
NOLALICIOUS.COM © ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

9. How can you add
an email newsletter
to your existing
business?
NOLALICIOUS.COM © ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

10. Three takeaways:
NOLALICIOUS.COM
Social media gets the attention, but email is still
a part of the pie.
People don’t want email. But they do want
curated, relevant and timely pointers and
summaries of what they need to know.
Listen, respond. Measure, shift. Always be
learning.
© ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON

11. Email didn’t die, isn’t
dead, won’t die.
NOLALICIOUS.COM
Sign up? Nolalicious.com
© ALL PHOTOS TAYLOR DAVIDSON | @TDAVIDSON