Warnings and Tips:

Tips:

Everyone hates spam and a newsletter to someone who does not expect it is just as bad as an advertisement and yes, it is spam (even if it doesn’t offer AMAZING STOCK TIPS or $100000000.00 from a dying aunt in Nigeria). So, be sure that all subscribers are expecting and have requested your newsletter and avoid an excessive number of newsletters.
A good rule of thumb is “respect the time of your subscribers and they will respect you!” Here are some tips for a valuable newsletter…

1.  
   1. Include content that is original. People want your information.  That’s why they signed up for your newsletter.  So, give them original content.  Also, avoid copying email and well known articles for copyright reasons. Even emailed newsletters can break the copyright law!
   2. Send your newsletter during the middle of the week. It is more likely that your newsletter will be read when people are spending more time at their computer.  Many people do not check their email over the weekend.  So, it is easy to get lost in the shuffle.
   3. Add color and photos to your newsletter for added interest. Think about the mail you receive and remember what you enjoy to read.
   4. Be clear and to the point.  In some cases people sign up for newsletters expecting long articles, but more often then not, people don’t have time to read a 10 page newsletter.  So, try to be as short and concise as you can.  If you want to include longer articles, put important info at the beginning of the newsletter and put the longer article(s) after.  Another option is to post the articles on your website and just link to them in the newsletter.  This has the added benefit of giving you more original content for your website.

Warnings:

When creating your newsletter, limit the number of links in the newsletter under ten (5 or less is better).  Putting a lot of links in a newsletter can trigger spam software and get your newsletter blocked by major email providers like Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail.  It can also get the entire server blocked which can prevent other ministries from being able to send their newsletters.

OurChurch.Com takes spam very seriously.  Please follow these 5 simple rules for sending e-newsletters:

1. You should only send newsletters to people who have requested the newsletter.
2. Always provide information for how to unsubscribe (this is included in the Default Footer).
3. If someone unsubscribes or requests to not receive the newsletter any more, do not continue to send them newsletters.
4. If you send a newsletter to an email address and it is returned as undeliverable, please remove it from your list.
5. If you use the “Send to Additional Emails” feature to add email addresses manually, please maintain your email list and remove dead email addresses and people who no longer wish to receive the newsletter.

We understand that due to constantly changing email addresses, membership, etc. that people may, from time to time, send newsletters to people who do not want them or send emails to dead email accounts, however, excessive spam abuse, as determined by OurChurch.Com may result in the loss of the e-newsletter feature.

FAQs

Can I send myself a preview newsletter before I send the newsletter out to everyone else?

Yes, select “Send me a Copy” but de-select the “Yes, Send the Newsletter” setting.  When you click the “Send Newsletter” button the newsletter will only be sent to you and not the rest of the people on the mailing list.  So, you can preview the newsletter before sending it out.

I want to tell the world about Jesus!  Can I send newsletters with the Gospel to email addresses I find on the web or random email addressees?

No, even if the message is a great evangelizing message, this is still called spam and is a violation OurChurch.Com terms of service.

My church creates a newsletter in Word which they mail out to all the members.  Can I just use that newsletter for my e-newsletter?

Yes, the e-newsletter feature has a “Paste from Word” option when creating your newsletter message in the “HTML Version”.  This allows you to just copy the contents from the Word file and paste it into your newsletter.  All formatting should transfer. (Pictures will need to be uploaded and inserted separately.)