It is possible to create an email newsletter without paying for any expensive software programs. You can make the newsletter using nothing but free software programs. All the free newsletter software programs that we are going to use have paid counterparts. However, they are just as effective. They include all the different advanced features that their paid counterparts have. This makes us at no disadvantage when use free programs to publish our newsletter.
Text newsletters have been the most dominant type of newsletters for quite a while. Several factors contributed to their popularity. They are quite easy to make and they are compatible with all the different email service providers. They are also created with a free software program which is called Microsoft Notepad. Notepad is a free text editor; there are several other free text editors that can be equally used for formatting text newsletters. But Notepad is the most commonly used one. Notepad comes free when you buy Windows. Therefore, if you are using a Mac, you may not have it available. There are similar free text editors that are designed for Mac users. So, it is always possible to find a free text newsletter creator.
You can also use a word processor to format text newsletters. The most popular word processor is Microsoft Word which is not free. A free word processor can be obtained from OpenOffice which is quite similar to Microsoft Office. However, one must be cautious not to slip into using the advanced formatting options that come in word processors. Most of those features will simply not work in a plain text newsletter. Text newsletters are meant to have nothing but plain text.
HTML newsletters on the other hand can be formatted using free software programs. Two major free newsletter software programs are used for creating HTML newsletters. Nvu and KompoZer are two professional and free HTML editors. These editors are designed to be used by people who have no mastery of HTML. Learning HTML can take a lot of time and effort and few people are willing to take the trouble of learning this coding. Nvu and KompoZer enable to format your newsletter in a visual manner unlike what traditional HTML editors used to do. It takes a bit of time to learn using these two programs. But they are really worth mastering. Besides, there are plenty of helpful resources and tutorials online that are intended to show you around so you can speed up your learning process.
These programs can be used not only for formatting your newsletter content but also for creating professional HTML newsletter templates and layouts. In order to reach this stage, you will need to fully master the editor. This will save you the money that you could have spent hiring a professional newsletter designer. This also allows you to customize and personalize your newsletter template. You can download free readymade templates and customize them to suit your own needs. This is much easier than to design templates from scratch.
The paid counterpart of Nvu and KompoZer is called Dreamweaver which is a professional HTML editor. Dreamweaver includes a lot of advanced and sophisticated features. Most of them are not used for newsletter design. Some of these features are used in website design. Personally, I would with either Nvu or KompoZer because they are quite adequate for designing and formatting newsletters. Dreamweaver is even harder to learn because of the so many complicated features and functions it supports.
PDF newsletters can also be created using free newsletter software programs. However, a PDF newsletter requires two types of software programs. The first type is a word processor and the other is a word to PDF converter. The common method used for making PDF newsletters involves creating an initial version of the newsletter using Microsoft Word and then converting it into a PDF format. One can uses free word processors such as the one provided by OpenOffice. There are also free word-to-PDF converters such as PrimoPDF. The paid version of PrimoPDF is called NitroPDF. If you have Microsoft Word at your disposal, you can use instead of using OpenOffice. In all cases, you can get your PDF newsletter published using only free email newsletter software programs.
The same procedure which is used for formatting the PDF newsletter content can be used for designing PDF newsletter templates. First, create a Microsoft Word newsletter template and then convert it into a PDF format using PrimoPDF. This is quite easy to do since MS Word is simple and easy to master. PDF newsletters are usually published at longer intervals than other formats of newsletters. This is due to the greater amount of time and effort required for producing them.
In order to manage your newsletter subscribers and be able to send your newsletter articles, you need special software. This software is called email newsletter management software or an autoresponder. There are a few free autoresponder services which you can use to manage your newsletter without paying a dime. However, most of these services are unreliable. You cannot be sure that your newsletter will reach its target because they may not compatible with some email service providers. Some email clients may consider the emails coming from those autoresponder as spam since they are most used by spammers. I recommend that you stay away from this sort of services. Most free automatic responders are not worth it. A professional email newsletter management service costs a measly $19 and is far more reliable and efficient.