How to Put Together an eNewsletter
An enewsletter is essentially a newsletter delivered to subscribers in electronic form. It’s relatively cheap to put together, since there is no need to purchase paper, ink or postage. But it can be just as time-consuming as its print predecessor. The simplest newsletter consists of one article and takes a minimum of an hour and a half to put together. The average newsletter consists of two to three articles, along with a sales pitch for a product or service, and can take up to six hours to put together.
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Instructions
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Choose a name. Your newsletter should have a name that entices readers to keep coming back but at the same time reminds them who is producing the newsletter. The newsletter’s name could be a derivative of your company’s name, a play on words or something as simple as “[Your Company Name] Presents.”
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Select and focus on a single theme. People are more inclined to stay subscribed and continue reading if the material you present stays on topic. You could offer more than one section as long as all sections relate to the theme of your newsletter.
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Select topic categories. Once you’ve determined the main theme of your newsletter, you need to figure out what you will write about in each issue. If you’re creating a newsletter for your small business, you may want to focus on articles that tell your readers how to use your products and follow up with a discount coupon for the product mentioned in the article. If your company's products cater to parents, focusing on a specific area of parenting may keep your readers around longer.
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Create sub-categories. For instance, a parenting newsletter that deals with children with cancer may cover topics like: doctor’s notes, finding funds, coping with the stress and healing stories. A parenting newsletter that deals with teenagers may cover topics like: keeping your teen safe, preparing a teen for college, abandonment issues and transitioning from parent to friend.
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Pick a delivery schedule. Just like you enjoy reading the comics every Saturday or watching your favorite sitcom on a designated weeknight, newsletter readers look forward to receiving their favorite newsletters by a certain time. Delivering your newsletter on the same date each month or on the same day each week creates a sense of trust—which is great if you plan to sell your services and/or products.
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Pick a deadline schedule. A deadline is a date and time by which your writers must have their articles on your desk. It should be a minimum of one week, preferably two weeks, before the day you must deliver your newsletter. This will give you ample time to ask for edits and/or rewrites.
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Pick a layout schedule. This is the day you spend putting your newsletter together. It should be a minimum of 3 days before your newsletter is due for delivery, just in case you need any last minute changes.
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Choose a distribution service. There are several distribution services available and some are free. Fees increase based upon number of subscribers, number of issues delivered and features attached to your newsletter. Some distribution services can tell you how many times your newsletter was opened, how many times links within the newsletter were clicked, whether or not your newsletter will be flagged as spam, and how many times a subscriber reported your newsletter as spam.
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Send out a call for writers. Once you’ve gotten all the specifics worked out, it's time to find a few writers. Depending on the purpose of your newsletter and your time constraints, hiring a freelance writer to help produce quality articles could be a huge asset. Freelance writers' rates vary based on experience and rights purchased. See the Resources section below for two sites where you can announce your need, free of charge.
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Format your newsletter and decide whether you will distribute your newsletter in plain text or in html coding. Plain text is the simplest method, but can be considered dull and boring. Basically, your newsletter is distributed to your readers looking like a regular email without fancy fonts or photos. Html coding is more difficult to put together but your newsletter comes across looking like a website with easy-to-click web addresses, images directly pasted into the newsletter and a color scheme that matches your host website.
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Tips & Warnings
Start out simple. Don’t make your newsletter complicated because you’ll burn out before you begin reaping the benefits.
Don’t make every issue about you. Readers like to know what’s going on in the company’s life, but they don’t want to be sold to in every issue. Give the readers a reason to keep reading by providing information they actually care about first.
