Setting Up the Next Newsletter

This tutorial is to help others learn to create a newsletter in MailPoet. 

For the first few months Remo will be doing the task of setting up the next Newsletter. Josh will be taking over once the systems are set and Josh is comfortable with the process. 

About Templates

There will be other reasons to create and send newsletters (emails) other than our monthly Arts District News. And there are templates for each type of email campaigns.

Types of campaigns:

  1. Monthly Newsletter – Art District News – use template named ADN – Empty
  2. Special Issue Newsletter – use template named Special Issue – Template 1
  3. Subscription Campaigns – use template named Subscription Campaign – Template 1
  4. Media Press Released – use template named Press Release – Template 1

Note: There are two styles of emails currently:

  1. Newsletter – these have our newsletter look and all our branding.
  2. Emails – they have minimal branding. We want them to look like emails.

Step #1: Create New Newsletter

To start a new newsletter:

  1. Select MailPoet > Emails (a list of all newletters will appear).
  2. Click Add New button (top, left)
  3. In Newsletter box, click the Create button.
  4. Select the template entitled ADN – Empty.

Step #2: Enter Subject, Preview Text, Change Date & Issue Number

The subject will be as follows:

  1. Subject: Arts District News – Month 0000 (date)
  2. For the Preview text we are currently using: Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.
  3. Change the date to the 1st of the upcoming month.
  4. Change the issue number.

FYI: January 2020 is issue 93.

Possible Change: For the Preview text we are currently using: Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. We may want to reconsider this. The program suggests we highlight the most important thing in the newsletter. Make it exciting. Use an active verb.

The Preview Text is only seen in the list of emails in the inbox. As illustrated below:

Step #3: Salutation, Intro & New Sponsor

  1. Do not change the Salutation.
  2. The Intro should be different every issue and say something personal and engaging. It can be as little as one sentence and should not be more than a few of paragraphs.

Note: the Intro is usually written by the primary editor once all the news stories are written.

Step #4: Populate the NEWS Section

All sections of the newsletter are populated in the same way. We just choose different content.

To populate the News section:

  1. Drag the Post icon from under CONTENT to just under the black News bar.
    A POST SELECTION box will appear on the right.
  2. Make sure Posts is selected and the status Draft, then click in the white box below Posts to see a list of Categories and Tag. 
    You should see a list of all your News Stories depending on how the status and Categories/tags are set.
  3. Adjust the Status and Categories/tags options until you see the news stories you are looking for.
  4. Now select the News Stories by name with the checkbox.
    They should appear under the black News bar.
  5. When you are sure you have all your news stories click the Insert Selected button.

Note: If the news story is not categorized properly it will not show up here. (See Entering News Stories tutorial.)

* The Category will be in this format: Category: Month Year, example Category: February 2020

DO NOT: change the Display options, unless you know what you are doing. If you want to change something in a story, SAVE your newsletter and go to the Post function to make edits.

 

Step #4: Populate the ART365 Section

All sections of the newsletter are populated in the same way. We just choose different content.

To populated the ART365 section:

  1. Drag the Posts icon beneath the ART365 divider.
    A POST SELECTION box will appeal on the right.
  2. Make sure Events is selected.
  3. Now select the ART365 event(s) by name.
  4. When you are sure you have what you want, click the Done button.

DO NOT: change the Display options, unless you know what you are doing. If you want to change something in a story, SAVE your newsletter and go to the Post function to make edits.

 

Step #5: About the 3 types of EVENTS

The three featured events sections are:

  • District Events – all that we have,
  • ART365 Events– currently one event,
  • Community Events – currently three.

The District Events are automatically inserted into the newsletter similar to the News Stories.

The ART365 Event and the Community Events are inserted one event at a time.

Step #6: Change District Events Section

To populate the Events section:

  1. Drag the Post icon from under CONTENT to just under the black News bar.
    A POST SELECTION box will appear on the right.
  2. Make sure Events is selected then click in the white box below Posts to see a list of Categories and Tag. 
    You should see a list of all your Events depending on how the status and Categories/tags are set.
  3. Adjust the Status and Categories/tags options until you see the events you need.
  4. Now select the Events by name with the checkbox.
    They should appear under the black Events bar.
  5. When you are sure you have all your news stories click the Insert Selected button.

Note: If the District Events are not categorized properly they will not show up here. (See How to Create District Events for Newsletter tutorial.)

* The Category will be in this format: Category: Month Year, example Category: February 2020

DO NOT: change the Display options, unless you know what you are doing. If you want to change something in a story, SAVE your newsletter and go to the Post function to make edits.

Step #7: Choose ART365 and Community Events

The process is the same for ART365 and Community events.

Step #8: Look Things Over

You can now use this display to identify missing content that needs to be added by adjusting Categories and Tags or adding new content from scratch.

Remember you don’t edit content here. You do it in the Post, Pages or Events functions of WordPress.

Xxxx

Note to Self: I need to work out the advertising display systems.

Also need to explain how to create items specific to the newsletter that is part of the template.

Step #9: Look Things Over

There is an easy way to safely send yourself (or someone else) a draft of your newsletter.

To send yourself a draft:

  1. Click the PREVIEW (bottom right)
    CONTENT will close an PREVIEW will open.
  2. Enter your email address.
    Or someone else’s.
  3. Click the Send preview button.

Before you go looking for it, make sure on error is not prompted.

 

  1.  

Note to Self: I need to work out the advertising display systems.

Also need to explain how to create items specific to the newsletter that is part of the template.