How to Create an HTML Newsletter

One of the best ways to let potential clients know you're around is to regularly send them a newsletter. Using HTML, you can keep in touch with customers and distinguish your newsletter from others they receive.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Choose a reliable newsletter distribution service (see Resources below) with a policy against SPAM. If you use your own e-mail program, you risk being cut off by your ISP for sending out an excessive amount of e-mail (spamming) and you'll be buried in requests for changes of address, cancellations and "undeliverables."
2. Decide on what program you need to create your newsletter. If you just want to create a simple newsletter, you don't need a full-fledged web page design program. A link to a decent HTML newsletter creation tool is listed below. Otherwise, consider a more feature-rich program such as Adobe DreamWeaver or Microsoft FrontPage.
3. Select or create a template. This will contain the basic layout of your newsletter, including your logo, width of the page (which shouldn't exceed 600 pixels) and other graphical elements.
4. Keep it less than 20 kilobytes. Larger newsletters take a long time to send and download and may run into problems with many e-mail systems.
5. Use an FTP program (see Resources below) to upload graphics to your web server. Link your graphics to the full-sized images sitting on your web server. The template must know where to find the graphic so that it can upload it to the page. For example, a picture of a cow would have to be linked to the area where the photo is stored, such as "www.newsletter/images/cow.jpg."
6. Use a plain text editor, such as Notepad, to write the newsletter. This will avoid the appearance of odd characters in your text that can't be translated by an HTML editor.
7. Cut and paste your text into your HTML template. Save it with a file name other than the one you used while creating the template. This will prevent you from overwriting it.
8. Proofread the newsletter for typos and other mistakes.
9. Cut and paste your newsletter into your e-mail broadcast program. Some providers also have tools that will let you "personalize" your newsletter for each recipient.
10. Send yourself a test broadcast, and check it for errors. If it looks okay, send it to everyone on your mailing list.