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Posted By DavidR5 on 07/23/2007 7:10 PM
Newsletters are so 1985. They are usually out of date by the time residents receive them. And they cost money to produce. And you have to mail them.
Put up a web site with a newsfeed. You can even use blog software as your news generator. Everyone has a computer, and email ends up in people's spam mailbox more often than not. Websites are available at the unit owner's convenience. Find someone in your community with technical skills so you can maintain it yourself if possible.
Being a website vendor, we obviously agree that a website is the way to go. However, we still recommend to our customers that the Website and email be part of an overall communication plan. It would be ideal if 100% of homeowners would register on the community website and use an RSS newsreader instead of email (to avoid the SPAM issue you mentioned). However, that doesn't happen in reality. Only part of the owners will register on a website or give an email address. I suspect less than 5% use an RSS newsreader on their PCs.
The good news: The people that use email or a website are able to get much more involved in the community. We have seen dramatic increases in overall community involvement with only 30-40% of the members using the website. It's a great tool even when an active subset of people gets involved.
The other facets of a communication plan should involve things like a paper newsletter, flyers, community signs, bulletin boards, etc. Each community will be different and each facet of the communication plan brings in a few more people. They are all important.