So you want a newsletter, huh?
You have had your website for a little while, your business is running well and you want to send out newsletters. Everyone does it and it seems easy enough. But there are a few decisions to make depending on your computer skills, size of mailing list and plans for the future. There is also a little knowledge required if you want to save money, or if you want to know what the value is behind email marketing services.
An often overlooked issue for newcomers is the fact that there are many different email programs out there, and all have a slightly different way of presenting your content. So you have to make sure your readers will be able to see what you are trying to show them. Some email programs like Outlook are capable of showing graphic images and fancy layouts but nevertheless they are very limited in their capabilities, but if your readers use a different email program or read their mail online, chances are they cannot see the images or the layout is all messed up even if it shows ok on your side when you send it.
If you want to send out your newsletter with images it will be like a webpage where images are stored online and downloaded as the user opens the email. The underlying format is called HTML which is a language that describes how web pages look like.
Traditionally your internet browser is specialized in interpreting HTML pages and all browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, etc, will render a HTML page pretty much the way they are intended to look like.
The same does not apply to email programs. Traditionally they are not designed to handle HTML content and some are very basic when it comes to being able rendering that kind of content. They are all very good in showing straight simple text and most can handle basic HTML.
The question is, how can you make sure your newsletter appears the way it is intended for all your readers.
So what should you do?
Newsletter format
Instead of writing the entire content of what you have to say onto a page, you could write articles on your website blog, and then when you are ready to create your newsletter simply write short teasers with links to the relevant article on your blog. That way you can keep your message short even if you have a lot to say or show. This method works well with all sorts of email formats whether basic or full HTML
If you don’t want to engage a professional service (or self service) you need to keep things as simple as possible and limit yourself to common fonts. You can use various font sizes, bold italic and even font colour but and don’t use images, tables and other layout tricks.
Sending emails as an attachment is not recommended. Most people do not open attachment newsletters let alone read it.
When it comes to actually sending your newsletter, there are a number of ways you can do this. Depending on the size of your database you need to pick an appropriate distribution method. More about this is described in the next chapter.
Basic options
If you only have a small amount of recipients in your database and you want to save some money then you can use your email program, eg. Outlook and put your recipients addresses in the Bcc field and send it off like any other email. Bcc stands for blind carbon copy and ensures the privacy of your recipients. If you don’t use Bcc, all your recipients will see all other recipients email addresses, which is certainly not desirable.
This method works with small amount of email addresses. Generally I would not recommend it for more than 100 recipients, but it depends on your mail service provider. The safest thing you can do is to send your newsletter in plain old text, pretty boring, but failsafe. However you don’t have to go to this extreme. You can in fact switch to HTML and apply some basic formatting like bold, and different font sizes. Most email readers are pretty good at handling those. You can also even use links to various articles on your website. That way all your images and fancy formatting can be online.
A newsletter that only sends out teasers with links to various online articles is very well suited for all sorts of levels from basic text based to fancy full HTML newsletters.
If you have many customers and still don’t want to spend much money then you can still apply the method above, but you would need to find out how many emails you can send out without getting blocked by your email provider. Another method is to use an online service to send out the newsletter, that way there is virtually no limit on how big your mailing list can be. This does not have to be a paid service. If you use WordPress (you do if you have the site designed and hosted by us) we can install a plugin for you that gives you the ability to do this yourself. The additional benefit is that you don’t have to worry about subscribers as users manage their own subscription online.
Obviously you are still very much restricted in how your newsletter will look like.
Professional options
I you want your newsletter to look professional and you still don’t want to spend much money then you can use our Newsletter service. Apart from full HTML Newsletters with a professional look you also get comprehensive reports about who opened your message and what they did with your email etc.
If you are computer savvy and want to do it yourself, this service won’t cost you much at all, but even if you want a full personal service it is still affordable.
Initially you need a newsletter template that matches your website design. There are a number of free templates you can pick and / or modify to your needs, or you can get us to design a professional template for you that matches your website.
Anti Spam and Bounced emails
In all of the above scenarios you need to somehow maintain your list of email addresses. You also need to make sure you are not breaking any anti-spam legislation or appear to the reader as a spammer. None of this is obviously much of an issue for you if you opt for the full service professional solution as we take care of it all. If you choose the do-it-yourself professional option or any other option, you need to know what is required and act accordingly.
Here is what you need to do. Fully disclose your business contact details on your email along with an unsubscribe link, where people can manage their subscription. You also need to disclose the reasons why they are receiving this message. Along with that it is not necessary but favourably looked at, if the recipient’s email address appears on their individual message. If you have the recipients name in your database you can even address each reader with a personal greeting.
Inevitably some of the messages bounce back when emails become no longer valid. Also people may unsubscribe from your list. This is a situation you need to act on if you want to keep your reputation. Again this will all be part of the full service option, but in a self managed scenario it is your responsibility. Luckily there are free WordPress plugins and other free tools available that help you to achieve this which I can set up for you for no charge.
Please contact us for further information.
Looking for Utech ux101-blk notebook driver?
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It seems like a lot of people look for the ux101-blk notebook driver on this site. We are Utech Computer Solutions (Utech World Pty. Ltd.) and have no association with the manufacturer or distributor of that notebook. In fact we don’t even deal with hardware.
But here is the good news: It appears that FilesTube hosts a driver for that mysterious Utech notebook:
http://www.filestube.com/4c35d4967c5cb99b03e9,g/Utech-UX101-BLK.html
Please note: This link is purely there for your convenience. We have no association with FilesTube nor with any other company that may have the same or similar name as we do. We are not responsible for any content you may download from other sites including the one mentioned above in this article.
Hope this helps.