Update: Wow, talk about an instant response to this article! That's the beauty of the blog format. See Comments below.
Sarah and I will try to answer more fully your questions about the specifics of creating an e-newsletter with WordPress. Sarah has written a technical explanation on her own blog. Note that I still send the newsletter out via EmailLabs, my email service provider. All I do is copy/paste the "code" behind the WordPress page we've created. And yes I still get the reporting on click-throughs, opens, etc. via EmailLabs. - Debbie
By contributing writer (and Web designer) Sarah Lewis
Blogs and e-newsletters have a lot in common. They are both made up of valuable information presented in short article format, and they both use the Web language HTML for attractive presentation. However, HTML e-newsletters usually require some knowledge of coding. And an understanding of how to FTP files and images to a Web site. It's time consuming and not something that most folks want to mess around with.
In short, e-newsletters aren't as easy to create and update as blogs. That can make it harder to keep to a regular publishing schedule (ahem… you might have noticed that Debbie's publishing schedule has been a bit irregular of late). It makes sense, then, to take some of the easy-to-use technology that has made blogging so popular, and apply it to e-newsletters.
No more mucking around in Dreamweaver
That's just what Debbie and I have done. When Debbie wants to create an article for her e-newsletter, she logs in to her blog site at debbieweil.com and creates a new post. She assigns the entry to a special category ("Newsletter") that we set up for this purpose. Each issue normally has several "articles." So Debbie creates a new blog post for each article (like the "entry" you're reading).
When she's ready to send out the new issue of WordBiz Report, the issue is *automatically* created for her by WordPress. We won't get into the details (unless you're really interested). Suffice it to say that we're using both the "blog entry" and "Web page" features of WordPress. Leave a Comment below if you want to know more about this.
An e-newsletter with all the benefits of a blog
Not only is it quick and easy to publish the e-newsletter, it also has all the benefits of blogging:
Readers can leave Comments
- The "comments" feature encourages conversations and feedback from newsletter readers. (Hey, you can test this out by leaving a comment below!)
You can receive the e-newsletter via RSS
- The RSS feed alerts subscribers that a new article has been published. At the same time, the blog-a-zine can be sent as an HTML email message.
Search engines can find the newsletter articles
- Most importantly, the e-newsletter is now easily findable by search engines. That's because the "articles" are now "blog entries" and search engines love blogs.
Combining an e-newsletter with blogging technology increases "circulation" (i.e. the findability of the newsletter online) and also provides more value for current subscribers who can more easily interact and leave feedback. In short, it benefits both the publisher and the reader.
Is there an example newsletter that we can see?
Hi there
Sounds like a great system! I’m just in the process of designing my new website which will be on Wordpress as it happens.
Can you please point me in the right direction of doing this?
When she’s ready to send out the new issue of WordBiz Report, the issue is *automatically* created for her by the blog software. We won’t get into the details of this magic. Suffice it to say that we’re using both the “blog entry” and “Web page” features of WordPress.
Do I need a special plug-in or anything?
I’m part of Sherman Hu’s Wordpress Tutorials but I don’t think I’ve come across what you’re saying. Unless it’s simpler than I think!
Thanks and kind regards
Una Doyle
I do something like that in my spanish “blog and newsletter” about political psychology. I think newsletter and blog are so important that we have to combine them.
Nice idea. One of those ’smack your forehead’, simple but clever ones. An old-time email marketer, I’m finding that email-to-blog services like those at Feedburner are easier to consume than many of the RSS readers out there.
Maybe all this will change when the vaunted new Outlook, properly integrates RSS and email
Okay, don’t leave me hanging. I’d like to know more about the “blog entry” and “web page” features of WordPress. Will it allow for multiple article e-newsletters? I’m not sure how this works. Thanks.
I very much so like the concept of integrating blog content into an email communication channel.
It provides excellent content to add to a website an engages visitors back to the site/branding experience.
I haven’t dug into that specific WordPress plug in yet.
Does it have the ability to track opens, click throughs and sales (provided I am an ecommerce site)?
Many email marketing systems are pretty straight forward to use with little knowledge of html and provide useful data. I do believe that blog content should get tied into the email newsletter.
I wish you would “get into the details” about using both the “blog entry” and “Web page” features of WordPress to “automatically” create a newsletter. I am familiar with WP, and understand about posting each article as a blog entry, and know the difference between a blog entry and a page. But I can’t work it out in my brain how these can automatically generate a newsletter. Are you using some cool plugin? Inquiring minds want to know!
I’d love to learn the tech details of this set up. I use wordpress, but don’t exactly follow the details.
Where can I get the rest of the info?
Thanks for your work.
Brad
I’m quite interested in knowing more about how you do this with WordPress.
Thanks,
Ken
Also looking for an example and the ‘how’ behind doing this with Word Press.
Great idea and thanks!
Dear Debbie, Dear Sarah,
Absolutely brilliant. We’ve been doing a monthly newsletter for a client (www.legadopressroom.com) for a couple of years, and it recently occurred to us that we might recycle/improve distribution of the newsletter content in a blog.
Your solution is great. We’ll start with it next month!
Congratulations and best regards,
Mike Booth
Granada, Spain
Good for you. Great to hear about this new tool (to me). I publish two regular newsletters using Constant Contact, which also handles all the subscribers. It is really easy…no coding necessary. I learned about it from the very cool new book “Internet Riches” which covers a lot of the latest software, Internet strategies and marketing.
I’ve done a similar thing for my clients, but emails go out every day with all the previous day’s blog entries. I wrote about it in a comment at Sarah’s blog if you want to read more about it: http://www.bloggingexpertise.com/2006/11/28/advanced-wordpress-hack-combine-your-e-newsletter-with-your-blog/#comments
Peggy
Tried the new link from Debbie on your “technical explanation,” but got a WordPress error instead of the page…
I was just trying to get my church to look at blogs the other day. They are more interested in changing the old fashioned newsletter into an e-newsletter. Your combination of the two would be a great solution. Can you send me more details? Thanks.
Hi Debbie,
Just finished reading your “Corporate Blogging Book” and found it really useful and a great kick start for getting the creative juices flowing about using blogs in business. Thanks!
I think both RSS feeds **AND** email should be available to deliver blog posts to subscribers - a choice of delivery channels should always be offered. (Surprises me to come across many blogs that offer NO way to sign up to get their posts pushed to you - they expect you to remember to go back there!)
As you say in the book, blog software is a great content management tool… so making email and blogs work together in this way makes great sense.
cheers,
denise
I am a real estate agent and want to use “blogging” but need a step by step process. I do not even understand what blogging is. Any resources for me to visit, or can you help me?