How To: Setting Up Your Own Monthly E-Newsletter

Creating e-newsletters is a great way to keep in touch with clients, promote yourself and your listings, and garner new leads. It’s also a form of marketing that is free and easy to do yourself with Real Web Agent or Real Web Brokerage.

TIPS FOR WRITING YOUR NEWSLETTER

• Content is King

Every newsletter you send out should contain unique, interesting and relevant information. If you offer new ideas and information, readers will not only remember your newsletter, but they will look forward to it each month, and review it several times. It will also ensure that they take you seriously. If you send out “fluff” every month, or you send out the same stock email that other agents may send out, readers will think you have nothing to say, and will forget your newsletter altogether. This e-newsletter allows you to reinforce your expertise and knowledge of the real estate industry.  You may even choose to send slightly different e-newsletters to different types of contacts.  After all... would tips on preparing your home for sale be relevant to renters who have not yet bought their first home?

• Think of a Snappy Subject Line

The email subject is probably the most important line of text in your entire e-newsletter. It’s the first thing a reader sees in their inbox, and will determine if they open and read the message—or trash it. It’s a good idea to give each newsletter a unique and snappy subject line, to describe what the newsletter is about and also to catch the reader’s attention from the get-go.

• Visual Appeal

Make sure your e-newsletter is clear and concise. Don’t clutter it with too much writing or imagery. At the same time, you should break up large chunks of writing with images or some visual variation so that it doesn’t look boring. It’s also a good idea to maintain your brand (colours, logo, slogan, etc.) on the e-newsletter wherever possible. This will help to develop a cohesive and professional look and feel throughout all your marketing materials.

• Put it Online

Adding your monthly newsletter to your website has many advantages. Your writing can do double-duty online by updating your website with current and relevant content that visitors can read.  You can post the newsletter to your blog, or create a page for each issue. The online version can leverage search engines to drive traffic to your site, resulting from searches that are closely aligned with your unique content.

So now that we know WHY an e-newsletter is a great idea, let’s get to creating one!

CREATING A NEWSLETTER TEMPLATE

The first thing you need to do to set up your e-newsletter, is create an email template that you will base all your newsletters on. Log in and go to Email > Templates. You can create your own template from scratch, or start with one of our existing templates. To create your own, click on “Create New Email Template”. To use an existing template, browse the templates and then click “Make Copy” next to the template of your choosing. You can name your template something descriptive, such as “September E-Newsletter”.

Once it’s been created or copied, click “edit” next to the template. From here you are able to add the all-important email subject, as well as your content. Once you’ve added everything in, save the template by clicking “next” in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Then you can return to the Email Templates section of your account and “preview” the e-newsletter. It is also recommended that you send yourself a copy of the email before you send it to your contacts, so that you can see how it would appear to a recipient and, if necessary, make changes . You can do that through the Send Immediate Email section.

Here is a recently added newsletter template that you may want to use for your e-newsletter campaign. It is titled "Monthly Newsletter + Featured Listing (add your own text)" in the email templates section.

Check out this and other templates through your account, under Email > Templates. Make a copy and it’s yours to experiment with.