How To Create and Send HTML Newsletters
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John Jantsch July 14, 2006
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Every now and then a subscriber will ask how I create my newsletter.
Fortunately, this request is done in conjunction with a complement I
humbly accept. So, I decided to dedicate an entire issue to the
creation of an HTML (web page looking) ezine. This won’t serve as the
only technical guide you will ever need to read to create stunning HTML
newsletters but, I hope it will serve as a mid-level introduction to
the ins and outs of this powerful tool.It is my hope that past issues
extolling the virtues of an online newsletter or ezine as one of the
crucial marketing tools has already convinced you to pursue this
vehicle – today’s lesson, then, will show you how to get the most from
your ezine. What is an HTML Newsletter? An HTML Newsletter is a
newsletter delivered via email that looks very much like a web page.
The reason for this is very simple – it’s created using the same code
language, HTML, as a web page. The obvious advantage of this format
over text is a stylish presentation. Of course, you know I’m not one to
get too hung up on style alone. This presentation has proven over and
over again to deliver much greater results in terms of readership,
comprehension, interest and, ultimately, sales and clients. How Do Your
Create Them? There really are two components to an HTML email
newsletter. One is the designed page and the other is distribution of
the page as email. You can create the pages yourself and use a
distribution service (that is what I do) or you can use one of the many
all-in-one email newsletter services that use templates and distribute
your email for you.The pros of doing it yourself are that you get the
most custom look possible and it is generally much less expensive. The
benefit of using a service is that you don’t need to know how to create
an HTML page. You simply fill in templates. For this reason the
services are more expensive.Creating an HTML newsletter is not really
that difficult. (Obviously you’ve got to have something to say but for
this lesson I’m concentrating on form alone.) If you already know how
to create a web page and can use web page creation programs such as
Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver or HomeSite you are 90% home. To
create an HTML newsletter you simply create a web page and then upload
the code from that page to your distribution service. Some crucial
tips:If you already know how to create HTML pages you should be aware
of some unique aspects of creating HTML to deliver via email. (If you
use a service, most of these tips will be built in.) Width – Keep the
width of your newsletter, contained in a table and no more than 600
pixels wide – You want to make sure that your email shows up in the
email window of the recipientImage links – If you use images, and you
probably should, make sure that you use absolute links to the images as
opposed to relative links. In traditional web page design and image
link may be something like …/images/bob.jpg. This is fine when you are
getting the image on your server. When you send out an email the
recipient needs the entire path, more like
http://www.yoursite/images/bob.jpg.How Do You Distribute Them? I use a
service called AWeber - http://www.aweber.com/?204167 and it’s the only
one I can recommend. I have tried others but nobody comes close to what
AWeber provides. AWeber also hates spammers so they do everything they
can to make sure that their clients get their email through.AWeber
hosts my mailing list and sends my email newsletter out. Each week I
upload the HTML code to my list and AWeber sends the mail out. You can
buy software that can do this but once your list grows over 100 people
it is far better to use a hosted solution to distribute your
email.AWeber also checks my newsletter to make sure that I haven’t
inadvertently used phrases that get my email kicked to the spam
filter.Text and HTML formatsUnfortunately, HTML email is used very
heavily by spammers so HTML only newsletters come with a pretty hefty
spam score no matter what the content is. I find that if I load a text
message along with my HTML message my email scores much lower. The text
email also then is received by people who choose to disable HTML
email.I then also make it a habit of uploading my newsletter to a
newsletter archive on my web site. This way those who only get the text
version can visit the web site and my web site benefits from a new page
of content. Here are some turn-key solutions that might may sense for
you. Constant Contact - http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp Cooler
Email - http://www.cooleremail.com/index.ice Double Click-
http://www.doubleclick.com/us/ Exact Target -
http://email.exacttarget.com/Email Labs - http://www.emaillabs.com/
Source: ArticleTrader.com
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