Keeping in touch: News Letters
A News Letter on the other hand can be a very good idea. It helps you to remind people that your page is still there, active and kicking. And best of all: These people are actually interested in what you have to say, because they actively signed up for the News Letter. - Which is the first important point:
If you offer a News Letter, make sure, it reaches the right people, otherwise you can get into a heap of trouble.

Publish your old News Letters on your page. Giving people the chance to look at them before they sign up is a good option: Your visitors can check, if this is really what they want to sign up for, and you on the other hand will only have people on your list, that are interested in exactly what you publish.

Quality: Only publish news, when there is some.
Same as usual: resist to send out News Letters, which contain too little information. Save up news, which can be shared later. You can have a started news letter on your PC all the time, so you don't forget topics you want to mention, but only send it out, when you feel it is "ripe", and never forget: Your visitors and subscribers are NEVER as enthusiastic about your page as you are. J

Tell your subscribers, in what frequency they can expect the News Letters (e.g. once a week or once a month…) you don't have to stick to this religiously, but try to keep the News Letters on a regular base.

Once you send out a News Letter to more than a hand full of people, there is always the danger of people accusing you of sending out "Spam" . Most ISPs react allergic to Spam - and rightly so. If you are accused of spamming people, you might loose your Internet access, your ability to send out mails or -worst case- your website (in case your web hosting company has had it with you).
To play it safe, use what is called a "double opt-in" to subscribe people to your mailing list.
A double opt-in works like this:
When you receive a request from a visitor to subscribe him/her to the News Letter, send an email back and ask him/her to confirm this request. Only after this confirmation, you will add the email address to your mailing list.
This eliminates three main problems at once:
- You know, that the email that was subscribed is valid, thus getting rid of bogus email addresses right away.
- You know that the person who owns this email address is really who subscribed to your News Letter. (If the email address is valid, but you don't get a confirmation, it could mean that somebody subscribed a friend or enemy without this person's knowledge)
- If you should ever get accused of spamming, you have proof, that you always used a "double opt-in" to subscribe, and you even have the confirmations (I suggest you keep them in your archive).

You know, what a "double-opt-in" is now. Make sure your subscribers understand as well, that they will have to confirm their subscription. Make the process as easy as possible, and explain as much as possible along the way.

Un-subscribers
Even if you don't like people to unsubscribe from your News Letter again: Make it easy! Some people just unsubscribe, because they go on holiday, and they get rather irritated, if they find out, that you did not unsubscribe them in a timely manner.
Your web page and every News Letter should contain a sentence on how to unsubscribe. Make it as easy as possible to unsubscribe. Don't ask for a confirmation. If they want out: let them.