How to Make a Newsletter Template

A newsletter is an excellent way to keep customers and potential customers informed and to keep your business in their minds. You may not have a lot of time to devote to newsletter preparation, but if you make a template you can cut down the production time significantly. You just need to follow a few easy steps to get the template ready, and then you can reuse it each month.

Things You'll Need

• Word processing program CD, flash drive or other removable storage media Printer

Instructions

Making a Newsletter Template

1. Decide on the design of your newsletter. How many pages do you want it to be? What type of content do you want to put on each page? For example, you might decide on a four-page newsletter with a main article, photograph and index on the first page; two article on the second page; a photo spread on the third; and small news tidbits along with a list of the staff on the last page. You also need to decide how large you want the newsletter to be, how wide you want to make the margins, and what font and type size you will use. Make a list of all these items to use in the next step.

2. Using a word processing program like Microsoft Word, create a document that incorporates all of the elements you decided upon in the first step. There are also programs that are geared specifically to creating newsletters, but unless you want something very fancy, most popular word processors are robust enough to do what you need. In place of the articles, insert nonsense text and use stock photos to hold the photographic spots.

3. Save the initial template file, and print out a draft copy of the newsletter. Your initial design might sound good when you make your list, and it might even look good on the computer screen, but it can still be unattractive once you actually print it out. Go over the draft, making a note of the things you do not like and how you would like to change them.

4. Go back into the template file and make the changes. Before starting, make a backup copy in case you accidentally mess up something or delete the file. Once you have made the changes, print out a new copy to see if it meets with your approval. You can repeat Step 3 and this step until you are satisfied with your newsletter template.

5. Save the template, and save a backup copy on your hard drive and also on removable media such as a CD or flash drive. This will ensure that you always have a clean copy to return to if the template ever gets lost, deleted or corrupted.

6. For each issue of the newsletter, open the template file, immediately resave it with a file name indicating the appropriate newsletter issue, and replace the placeholder text and photos with real content.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't want to create your own newsletter template, you can find many free downloadable templates online, provided by major websites like Microsoft. If you don't want to purchase a word processing program, you can download OpenOffice's word processing program and use it to create your newsletter template.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Newsletter templates for Microsoft Word
• Website to download free OpenOffice software