You can view a list of all the newsletters you have sent or saved by clicking the “Newsletters Archive” button at the top of the newsletter section.  From this list you can view, edit, send, or delete a newsletter.  If you have saved a newsletter and now want to send it, find the newsletter in the Newsletter Archive list and click the “Send” button.  If “Display Archive Newsletters on Website” is checked, each newsletter that is archived will be available for the public to read. Click the “Newsletters Archive” to edit this listing.

Click the button on the far right on the top of the Newsletter page to configure the settings for the newsletter. On this page, details relating to each newsletter can be set.

• Require Confirmation (double opt-in) – With this feature activated, whenever someone signs up for your newsletter using the online subscription form, an email is sent to them asking them to confirm that the email address is valid.  Check the “Require confirmation (double opt-in)” checkbox to require the confirmation of each subscriber. It is highly recommended to keep this box checked as this feature prevents spam.
• Display Archive Newsletters on Website – Check the “Display Archive Newsletters on Website” checkbox to maintain an archive of all newsletters sent.  This allows visitors to view old newsletters after they have been sent.
• Sending Timeout - The “Sending Timeout (in seconds)” box is used to help control the speed of email as it is being sent. At times there needs to be a delay between the sending of each newsletter in order to allow the email delivery software to “keep up” - especially if the newsletter has a lot of graphics, but typically you can just leave this set to 0. Adjust this as necessary.
• Sender E-mail address – By default the sender email address is set to the website’s default email address as determined in the websites Configuration Menu.  To use the default email address, leave this box blank.  If you wish to use a different email address for the sender, enter it into the “Sender E-mail address” box.
• Sender Name - The “Sender Name (FROM field)” is the name that will be in the newsletters “from” field.  Usually this is the organizations name.  Enter what you would like as the default for the Sender Name.
• Newsletter Footer - The “Newsletter Footer” box allows you to set the default text for the footer of all the newsletters. (We highly recommend not changing the default footer)
• Confirmation Email – This is the email that is automatically sent to people after they have successfully subscribed to your newsletter.  This is a great way to welcome people and convey important information.  Use the default text or edit the contents as desired.

Click “Save Changes” after all information is completed.

*Note: The Configuration section sets the default settings for the Newsletter feature, but they do not always have to be used.  All the newsletter settings can be changed for a specific newsletter when creating the newsletter to be sent.

Use the default footer or add your own text. This text will display at the bottom of each newsletter sent. We highly recommend keeping the default header as it gives recipients a way to unsubscribe if they want.  If you wish to put your own message in the footer, we recommend adding to the default footer instead of replacing it.  Be sure to click “Save Newsletter” when making any changes here.

There are two tabs at the top of the Newsletter Message box, “Plain Text Version” and HTML Version”.  This gives you a method for creating the two necessary versions of your newsletter.  While most email software is capable of reading html emails, some are not and some people turn off that feature for security reasons.  If you wish to have graphics, formatted text, links or other html created features, then click on the “HTML Version” tab.  You will see icons appear at the top of the message box which are similar to the icons in the Page Editor.  You can use these icons to format text, add graphics, etc.  (For more info about the icons or formatting text, see the “Page Editor” help pages).  When creating an HTML newsletter, in order to be sure everyone will be able to read the newsletter, it is important to create both a plain text and html version of the newsletter.  We highly recommend creating a plain text version of the newsletter in addition to the HTML version.  You can do that by clicking on the “Plain Text Version” tab above the message box.  This will not erase the newsletter you have created in the HTML tab.  Sending both the plain text and html versions of the newsletter will insure that everyone will be able to read the newsletter.  Otherwise, if you only send an html version, newsletter recipients who cannot or choose not to view html emails will receive a blank newsletter.

You can save the contents of your newsletter at any time by clicking the “Save Newsletter” button at the bottom of the page.

*Tip: If you already have a newsletter created in MS Word, you do not have to recreate the newsletter.  You can just copy the newsletter in Word and then use the “Paste from Word” icon to paste the newsletter into the message box and keep all the formatting.  (Pictures will need to be uploaded and inserted separately.)

The first step in creating your newsletter is to set the sender’s email address. This is the email address that appears in the “FROM” field of the e-newsletter and is the email address that would receive replies from newsletter recipients.  Leave the field empty to use the default email address that has been setup in the “Config” section. To setup the newsletters with a different “from” address, enter that address in the “Sender E-mail address” field.

Sender Name - Enter the name of the sender in the “Sender Name” field. This will display as the “From” name in the newsletter email. It is a good idea to use a ministry name or a personal name in this field.

Newsletter Subject - Enter the subject of the newsletter in the “Newsletter Subject” field. This will appear in the “Subject’ field of the recipients email.  Make this an interesting subject – something that will catch the eye of your reader.

Newsletters will be sent to your subscribers. These are those who have signed up for your newsletter using the form that appears on your website.

However, signing up doesn’t always mean the person wants the newsletter. Consider the fact that someone could be signing people up without their knowledge. For that reason, NE1 has provided the “double opt-in” system for signing up subscribers. This means that not only must someone sign-up for the newsletter, they must also respond to a confirmation email that is automatically sent to them upon sign-up.

Clicking the “Subscribers” button on the newsletter setup page will display a list of all confirmed subscribers or (when “Subscribers – Unconfirmed” is clicked) a list of all unconfirmed subscribers.

Clicking the “Edit” button will allow the editing of name, email address, and confirmation status. This will also give you the opportunity to remove the name from the list altogether. Click the “Save Changes” button after editing.

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.)

The Newsletter module also includes a feature which allows you to have a registration form on your website so visitors can sign-up online to receive your newsletters.

To configure the newsletter feature and send e-newsletters feature login to your admin section, click the dropdown \"Add-on Modules\" menu in the top menu of your admin section and choose \"Newsletter\".

You can add the Newsletter sign-up form to any page using the \"Insert Module\" feature when editing a page to insert the Newsletter module. For more information about how to insert a module, please see the \"Modules: Insert a Module\" help page.

Select Newsletter Type:

Choose “Plain text” or “HTML and Text” for your newsletter type. This setting is determined by which format you chose to create your newsletter in.  If you used the “Plain Text Version” tab to create the newsletter message, then you must select “Plain Text”.  If you used the “HTML Version” tab to create the newsletter message or both the “Plain Text Version “ and “HTML Version” tabs then you must select HTML and Text.  Selecting then Plain Text newsletter type when your message was created in HTML will cause your newsletter recipients to receive a blank email.  Similarly, selecting HTML and Text when you created the newsletter message in Plain Text will cause your newsletter recipients to receive a blank email.

*Note: While most email reading software supports html based emails, using the “HTML” option can result in a lot of unnecessary code and tags being displayed in the email of someone who cannot use html.

Sending the Newsletter:

Send me a Copy - Check the “Send me a copy” checkbox to have a copy of the newsletter sent to your own email address.

Yes, Send the Newsletter – This feature is both a cautionary feature and the way to send a test newsletter.  To protect yourself from accidentally sending the newsletter before you are finished, de-select the “Yes, Send the Newsletter” setting.  That way you cannot inadvertently send the newsletter before you are ready to.

This is also how you can send a test or preview newsletter to yourself.  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.

Check the “Yes, send the newsletter!” checkbox when you are ready to send the newsletter.

Send to Additional Emails - Use the “Send to additional emails (separate with commas):” field to add some email addresses that are not already in your subscriber list. Click the “Send Newsletter!” button to send the newsletter to all subscribers.

The NE1 Web Builder has made it easy to personalize your newsletter by including special “tags” in your message. These tags are “dynamic” – meaning they will change “on the fly” as the newsletter is sent. For example, using the {%firstname%} tag in either the message, subject, or footer will result in the newsletter finding the first name’s of all subscribers on your list and automatically entering their names into their newsletter. This is a great way to personalize the newsletters.  The {%email%} tag is also available to include the recipients email address.