Email Newsletter Templates Text

							Title:
Email Newsletter Templates: Text

Word Count:
624

Summary:
Tips and techniques for creating a
text email newsletter template; exp
lains how to format an email newsle
tter, then turn that format into a
template that can be used over.


Keywords:
email, newsletter, template, email
newsletter template


Article Body:
Thinking about an email newsletter
or an online newsletter, and wonder
ing about a template? In the case o
f a text newsletter, creating or fi
nding a template is quite straightf
orward.

It's the basic approach to email ne
wsletters, and easy for just about
anyone who can type (even with just
 two fingers).
This approach works well for newsle
tters that emphasize content. For e
xample, I've written and published
Abbott's Communication Letter onlin
e continuously since 1999 and throu
ghout most of its history I've used
 text. I did try HTML formats a few
 times, but without much success (a
t least not enough to compensate fo
r the extra time and trouble involv
ed).

With a text email newsletter, you s
imply need to decide whether you wa
nt to distinguish among the section
s (for example, editorial content f
rom advertising). If you do want to
 set the sections apart from each o
ther, simply use one of the common
separator techniques (repeating any
 key that's not a number or letter).

For example, here's a space/period/s
pace separator:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And here's an example using just the
 plus sign
++++++++++++++++++++++
Normally, you would leave a blank l
ine before and after the separator
line to make your email newsletter
easier to read.

As an alternative, you can also ale
rt readers to new sections by putti
ng the headline in ALL-CAPITAL LETT
ERS. In a test several years ago, I
 found this increased the number of
 click-throughs on the ads, and so
I've generally carried on the pract
ice (using both all-caps and separa
tor lines.

Of course, having put the ad headli
ne in all-caps, I also put the news
letter name, editorial headlines, a
nd administrative information headl
ines in all-caps as well. Just for
the sake of consistency, and to hel
p readers easily navigate the diffe
rent sections.

There's one more format issue we ne
ed to tackle before turning our col
lection of format techniques into a
 template. That's setting a line le
ngth. Because of the many variation
s in email readers, we can't be sur
e subscribers will see what we see.
 So, the standard is to wrap the te
xt (put a hard return) after 60 to
65 characters. If your newsletter's
 not too long, you can do this manu
ally by setting the page width of y
our document to the appropriate dis
tance and then hitting the Enter ke
y at the end of each line. If you h
ave a longer newsletter, you might
want to use one of the automatic fo
rmat tools available on the Internet.

This ensures an even, easily readab
le line length; that's important be
cause studies show reading grows in
creasing difficult as lines get lon
ger. It also means some subscribers
 won't end up with each paragraph b
eing one really long line (they pro
bably will just delete your newslet
ter, rather than try to read it).

Note, though, that you won't be abl
e to add line length to your templa
te; it's something you'll have to f
or each issue. In my newsletter, th
e material above and below the ads
and editorial content do provide a
template of sorts, reminding me to
make each line 65 characters.
Once you've finalized your format,
simply save a copy of the newslette
r (without the editorial and advert
ising content) to create a template
. Then with each new issue, you sim
ply open the template, add new cont
ent, and save the file with another
 name.

So, for example, you might save the
 template file as, "My Email Newsle
tter Template" and the current issu
e as "June 15 Email Newsletter"

If you want some ideas on text form
ats and templates, simply go to a s
earch engine and look for other tex
t newsletters. You might do this by
 entering the name of a subject and
 the word newsletter. For example,
"Jack Russell Terrier" + "newslette
r". Choose a subject that interests
 you and you'll get some useful inf
ormation as well as ideas for your
email newsletter template.