In this newsletter:

• Four Essential Elements for Email Newsletter Success
  
• Design Standards for Your Web Site

• Content Management System
• Speak Up! Email Marketer by Constant Contact
• Web Design

CU Village recently redesigned and redeveloped Family Financial Credit Union's Web site using our Content Management System. Take a look by clicking on the image above!

• Ask for information. The best way to know what your readers want is to ask them. Send a survey to find out what information they are most interested in receiving and the topics they want to learn about.
• Study your reports. Monitoring the behavior of your members is a key way to understand them. Your click-through and open rates will show you what topics they like best.
• Consider what they need to know. There are times when the people on your list need information that they won't know to ask for. In these cases, they will thank you for passing on valuable knowledge.
• Plan and prepare. An excellent newsletter requires some prep work. One thing that you should do is to create an editorial calendar; then you’ll know which topics you’ll cover in advance. Also you can start a folder for relevant articles, so you have the inspiration you need for upcoming issues.

• Find your voice and use it. How would you describe your credit union? Professional, warm, friendly, helpful, or knowledgeable? The attributes that define your credit union should set the tone for your newsletter and help you find a writing style, or voice, that consistently communicates your brand.
• Incorporate your logos, colors, and fonts. What does your brand look like? Pull that style and format into your email newsletter so that it corresponds with your website and provides your readers with a consistent brand experience.

• Include a table of contents at the top. A table of contents (or “in this newsletter”) lets your readers quickly scan the topics and go directly to the areas that interest them.
• Balance text and images. Using images to support your topic is a good idea, but because many people have images turned off, make sure your newsletter communicates equally well without them. Hint: To test, turn off your images in your email client, send yourself a sample, and see what it looks like.
• Leave plenty of whitespace. Resist the urge to fill every nook and cranny of your newsletter with content. Whitespace allows the eyes to rest between the various segments. With it, your readers can skim with ease through your newsletter.
• Watch that length! For a shorter newsletter, include a teaser then drive readers back to your website for a deeper experience. This approach enables you to get valuable click-through reports that show the level of interest in a topic.

• Offer an email address or web form. Invite your readers to contact you to further connect with them and establish yourself as a reliable expert. Just make sure you are prepared to respond in a timely manner.
• Use an online poll. Polling is a quick and easy way to engage a reader around a specific article. You can add an online poll to the webpage the article lives on, enabling readers to give feedback immediately. Or use a poll to ask your readers to vote on next month's topic. If you’re using our Content Management System, our poll module lets you add a poll to any page of your site.
• Include a survey link in each issue. Get ongoing feedback on each newsletter issue by including a link to a survey. Ask simple questions such as "How satisfied were you with this issue?" and "What topics interested you most?" If you use Listen Up! Survey by Constant Contact, you can create surveys easily.

• Use darker colors for text; black is always the best choice for the body text.
• Light colors tend to look washed out.
• Very bright colors can be hard to read.
• Once a color is chosen for a type style, such as the body text or headers, use this color throughout the site for consistency.

• CU Village recommends using white.
• Never use a dark background color with lighter text color. Most people find that text on a dark colored background is hard to follow.
• If you would like to use a colored background or watermark make sure the color is on the lighter side or the watermark isn’t too dark; otherwise the text will become hard to read.

• Limit the use of all CAPS and don’t overuse the bold and italic styles.
• Never center text. Always use Left Justified.
• Be consistent when using type styles.
• Make sure the text is readable. Do not let the background color or a watermark overwhelm the text.
• Use white space to break up areas of text and avoid long paragraphs; or insert frequent subheadings. This will make it easy for viewers to locate desired information quickly.
• Don’t let the text run to the edge of the screen/page. Use cell padding (white margins around the content) to avoid this. The use of cell padding will elevate strain on the eyes and will allow the viewer to easily read the text.

• Make sure the size of the text is readable.
• CU Village size standards are as follows:
  • Body text: 10pt or size value “2”
  • Headers: 12pt bold or size value “3”

• We recommend using GIF or JPG images. All browsers accept these file types.
• Make sure the file size of your graphic does not exceed 50k. The larger the file size the longer it will take to down load, especially with a slower web connection.