✎Posts and newsletters

For everything that has a date: club news, project reports, building-site updates.

Unlike fixed pages, posts appear automatically in a list, newest first. So you do not have to rearrange anything when something new is added.

The practical advice: regular posts are the simplest thing you can do for your findability. A short post about something you have recently done, with a photo — that is all it takes.

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Yes. You can write posts in advance at your leisure and leave them. They only become visible when you publish them — or on the scheduled date in the calendar.

The content calendar shows scheduled posts, newsletters and releases in a monthly view: so that you can see where there are gaps and where everything piles up.

And the sentence that saves the most work: regularity beats quantity. One post a month, reliably, achieves more than five in spring and nothing afterwards.

Enter the three dates that are coming up this year anyway — annual general meeting, summer party, Christmas campaign — and plan the posts backwards from them.

That is the whole art: do not think about what you could write about, but start from what is happening anyway.

Yes. If you are coming from WordPress or WIX, you can import your old posts as a file instead of typing everything out.

Everything imported arrives as a draft — nothing goes live without you publishing it. Make use of this: an import is the right moment to sort out anything outdated instead of dragging it along.

The newsletter reaches people who want to hear from you of their own accord — unlike a website, which people first have to visit.

That is the whole difference and the reason why the effort is worthwhile: a website waits, a newsletter goes to them.

The list fills up via the sign-up block on your website.

Simply entering addresses from other sources is legally risky — only with demonstrable consent. That is not caution but the legal position: advertising by email to private individuals without consent is not permitted, and the burden of proof lies with you.

First step: put the sign-up block on the home page and let the list grow for a few weeks before you write the first issue.

After signing up, a confirmation email goes out, and only a click in it activates the address. This two-step procedure is called double opt-in and is mandatory in Germany.

The reason is obvious: without confirmation, anyone could enter anyone else’s address. The confirmation is also your proof that the consent came from the right person.

A campaign is a single issue. Write it, send yourself a test and then send it to the list.

It cannot be withdrawn. Really read the test mail, ideally on your mobile phone — typos in the subject line and a broken link are the two things people regret most afterwards.

Yes, in every issue, and it has to work. An unsubscribe must be respected immediately and permanently.

In practice this also means: anyone who has unsubscribed must not be added again at the next opportunity — not even via an import of an old list.

About what you do anyway. The most rewarding posts are the simplest:

• A completed project with two photos and three sentences.
• A question customers often ask, answered.
• Something new — a machine, a qualification, a new member of staff.

What does not work: posts about general topics that have nothing to do with you. The internet is already writing those.

Short enough that it gets written. A post with four sentences and a photo that comes every month has more effect than a long one that is never finished.

Regularity beats quantity — that applies to posts as much as to newsletters.

Something the recipient would not otherwise find out. A newsletter that only summarises the website is superfluous — the website is there after all.

Proven: an occasion, two or three short points, a clear pointer to what people can do. And a sender who sounds like a human being.

The rhythm is more important than the length: better short and reliable than long and rare.

That is normal and usually healthy: the list is cleaned of people who signed up by mistake or with the wrong expectation.

It becomes a concern when it repeats with every issue. Then one of three things is wrong: the expectation at sign-up, the rhythm or the content.

What you should never do: add people who have unsubscribed again.

As an overview of where there are gaps and where everything piles up — it shows scheduled posts, newsletters and releases in a monthly view.

Two moves are enough: once a quarter, enter the fixed dates and plan the posts backwards from them; and when writing a post, set a date straight away instead of leaving it lying around.

Producing in advance pays off before a holiday: posts go online automatically, even when you are not there.