The HotPage Used As A Webpage
A "HotPage" is a special page on a website that provides a summary of current news. The HotPage doubles as an electronic newsletter and triples as a printed newsletter. All three uses can be achieved without reformatting the HotPage. Once per week, an administrator will "publish" the current HotPage, which will place that issue of the HotPage in the HotPage archives. The issue is then emailed to the membership and printed and sent by US Mail to members not using computers. The result is up to date information in the hands of members at all times, without the need for costly and out of date printed newsletters.
A HotPage is designed to function like the front page of a business newspaper such as the Wall Street Journal or Investors Business Daily: all of the important current news is summarized in a series of small "Teaser Paragraphs," some with illustrations or pictures, and most with a link to more information. The HotPage is "hot" because the news is fresh - changed daily if possible. The HotPage is also "hot" because the website administrator deliberately manages the traffic of the website to steer visitors across the HotPage. This maximizes cross-marketing by catching the interest of passers-by with Teaser Paragraphs about events or services they might not have known about. Administrators can take advantage of Clubessential's "Two-Click" linking to link the Teaser Paragraphs to more extensive articles, news items, calendar posters, webpages, and documents. The HotPage can be personalized, too, using Clubessential's "Snippet" technology. Data from accounting, such as minimum balances, past due balances, etc., as well as roster data such as name, address, member number, etc. can be merged into the HotPage to make it appear that it was created for just the member viewing it.
The HotPage is valuable just as a webpage - members will like the way it organizes all the important news in one central place - but an even more valuable aspect of the HotPage is its ability to serve as an electronic or printed newsletter without reformatting.
As An Electronic Newsletter
To create an electronic newsletter, the administrator simply selects the targeted groups the way they would with any email, and then selects the desired issue from the list of published HotPages. Just a few keystrokes are required to send the HotPage email. The links now become "SmartLinks" that bring readers directly to the webpage in question (not just the home page of the private website). Each time an issue of the HotPage is emailed, it provides dozens of Teaser Paragraphs that will tempt the members to sign into the website. After a few repetitions of this process, the members will begin to remember their passwords and will suddenly become active in the club's electronic community. Even as an email, the HotPage will retain its personalization, merging in the appropriate member data.
As A Printed Newsletter
Some members still do not use computers and will insist on receiving a paper copy of their HotPage delivered by the US Post. Administrators can set up an "Opt-In" group to track which members prefer paper. Personalized copies of the HotPage can then be printed on a color laser printer for each of these members. Addresses for these members can be exported to Excel, then printed as labels for the mailing. Clubessential has added technology to specify page breaks so that multi-page HotPages can be printed properly. Since no reformatting is involved, the labor for such a mailing is low and it is practical to send out paper copies every week. Members selecting paper will of course not be able to click links to see "the rest of the story" on the website. On the other hand, they will receive a summary of important news that is current every week, with personalized data included.
Published Issues
When members view the HotPage on the website, they can (optionally) see a list of prior issues. Members can print their own copies of any HotPage on their home printers. The resultant copies will be properly paginated.
Club Magazine
For some clubs, a commercially printed newsletter has become part of the club tradition, and may be essential since it is used as a brochure to be given to prospective members. However, the effectiveness of the newsletter for furthering the club traditions has always been impaired because the newsletter was used as a combination newspaper and magazine - two incompatible methods of communication. Now that the HotPage is available, it can take over the delivery of the news, allowing the commercially printed newsletter to become more of a club magazine with longer feature articles on members, traditions, history and club strategic plans. Such a club magazine need not be printed every month - quarterly or even bi-annual printing would be more appropriate. The quality of the club magazine can be increased over the newsletter, yet since the number of issues is greatly reduced, there will still be massive savings in printing and postage costs.
The combination of the HotPage and a club magazine results in much better communication of news to members, a much more sophisticated "glossy" magazine, and lower budgets overall. In view of these advantages, newsletters may be one club tradition that finally fades away.
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