If you’ve already got a website or blog and want to increase the traffic you’re receiving, one way is to issue a newsletter. A newsletter can be used to summarise the major points you’ve made on your site over a certain period and ensure that readers keep in touch with what you’re doing as is the case with the Softonic newsletter. Well that’s the theory anyway. I’ve signed up for many newsletters in the past that I’ve stopped reading within a few weeks because they don’t summarise in a few brief words the most important points. So the first thing to bear in mind is – keep it brief and to the point.
Probably one of the best programs out there to get your newsletter up and running is the excellent Adobe Pagemaker. It’s an ideal application for planning layouts and designs of newsletters or even brochures. However, it is aimed mainly as small to mid size companies and businesses so if you’re a one person operation, you might find it a bit too much. If you’re comfortable with using HTML, then Microsoft HTML Help SDK is a good option. Although designed principally for those wanting to create help FAQ’s for the site or program, it also has some useful additions for building newsletters.
If you’re not familiar with coding then Belltech Small Business Publisher is a more user friendly option and extends from newsletter creations to more basic functions such as creating your own envelopes and letter heads. Alternatively, if you’re not running a business and just want a plain, standard newsletter, then Portable Scribus is a superb option, offering many of the features of Adobe Pagemaker but for free because it’s entirely open source.
