Newsletters: Going Online

For decades, I have written, designed and published organizational newsletters. In the past five years, virtually all of the newsletters I publish have gone paperless. Every single one is available online, either through subscription or as an open download from an organizational website.

This wide-reaching trend has reshaped newsletter publishing for journalists, public relations experts, advertising copywriters and other print professionals. Any editor worth his ink (or his job) has had to adapt in a few key areas:

Writing That Works

The good, old-fashioned, tried-and-true style of journalism still holds, only more so. Writing in the inverted pyramid, with the essential facts stated at the top of each piece, is a mandate for online publication.

However, we write now for readers, not just for managing editors. Web writers don't worry so much about the three bottom paragraphs of a feature being lopped off for space.

Instead, we wonder whether readers will both to scroll down and read an entire article. Web surfers click, glance, and click away! If the first line of an article grabs a reader, he may stick around for the whole paragraph. If not, he's gone in a flash.

Keywords That Count

Employing popular search keywords and meta-tags for websites, blogs, and online publications draws readers. Unless you publish for a closed mailing list of subscribers, you will want to slip these words in whenever possible, particularly in the title and the top of your piece.

Of course, the tags must actually apply to the content of your material. Otherwise, your red-herring keywords may be considered false advertising!

Links that Lure Readers

Internet publishing is geared towards increasing readership and drawing web cruisers to your client website. How can you accomplish this? You can embed important web-links into the text of each article that you publish. You can strategically link relevant words and phrases (in your copy) to the various websites you wish to promote.

Again, these online links must be relevant! The famous "Apples and Oranges" rule applies here. You probably should not highlight the word "cat" and link it to a website for golfers. Each link must logically fit. (Of course, you could link the word "link" to a website about back-swings, caddies or pro-designed golf courses, but that's another story altogether.)

Files That Are Formatted for Downloading

If you manage a website and write publications for a business client, you will probably want to load the current issues (and probably also archives) to the site. To accomplish this most cleanly, you can convert your issues to Portable Document Format (PDF) files. This enables simple posting and downloading and prevents users from altering your artwork, copy, brochures, catalogs, newsletters, pamphlets, posters, schedules or other items.

One simple conversion program is Primo PDF. This may be downloaded for free. Of course, you can purchase alternate conversion programs, if you prefer.

After you create a PDF file, you can attach this to a distribution e-mail, or post it online for easy sharing.

Web editing is fairly simple and fun to do, once you understand how it works. The complex days of HTML-only editing are long past. User-friendly web programs are readily available. With a little artistic flair, most talented graphics professionals can quickly learn how to make the transition from paper to cyberspace.

After all, the whole world may await the next issue!