Grow Your Newsletter’s Reach with My Community Online
Your newsletter lives well beyond your front door. Members bring it home, reference it throughout the month, mark upcoming events on their calendars, and keep important information close at hand.
For organizations that print their publications with LPi, their newsletter also has a digital home on MyCommunityOnline.com, giving members (and potential members) another convenient way to stay connected throughout the week.
What Are Online Directories & Why Do They Matter?
You probably use online directories more often than you think. Yelp helps people discover local businesses. Airbnb and Hipcamp organize places to stay by location. Google Maps helps people find nearby organizations, businesses, and destinations.
Directories bring information together in one searchable place, helping people find what they’re looking for even when they don’t know the name.
For a local organization, being present online in places where people are already searching, like Google and MyCommunityOnline.com, creates another important path directly back to your community.
What is My Community Online?
MyCommunityOnline.com is LPi’s online directory of local organizations across the United States. In this extensive directory, visitors can expect to find organizational information, along with digital versions of newsletters, catalogs, and resource guides to view and reference.
When an LPI publication is submitted for printing, LPi also automatically places it on MyCommunityOnline.com. That means your organization’s latest newsletter (or similar publication) is automatically available as a digital version online without adding another weekly task to your staff’s to-do list!
People search MyCommunityOnline.com by organization name, city, state, or ZIP code to find local organizations and their information. Each listing brings useful details together in one place, including the organization’s latest publication (and previous editions), and the local advertisers who support them.
Visitors to MyCommunityOnline.com may be members looking for your latest newsletters, travelers searching for your services while away from home, or even people exploring a new community. MyCommunityOnline.com gives each of them a simple way to search for and access local information.
Does MyCommunityOnline.com Compete with my Organization’s Website?
No. MyCommunityOnline.com does not compete with your organization’s website. Your website remains your main digital presence. MyCommunityOnline.com simply gives people another route to your organization and its information.
Think about tools such as Google Maps. Someone searching for, say, a senior center in your area may not even know your center’s name, so appearing in additional places online helps them encounter it as they search. This can apply to any type of organization!
MyCommunityOnline.com will also work with your website. Every organization that prints their newsletter or other local publication with LPi receives a widget that displays the latest bulletin directly on their website. Once the widget is installed, it automatically updates after each publication is submitted for printing.
What is the Value of a Digital Newsletter/Publication?
We already know the value of a print publication for a local organization. The digital version simply extends that usefulness.
A digital newsletter or publication can help a member traveling out of town to still be able to check what’s happening with your organization and community. Someone who has moved away or is homebound can continue to stay connected to the organization they care about. Or, for example, if you give your friend a newsletter with event information but then decide you want it for yourself later, the digital edition is easy to reference because MyCommunityOnline.com is always available with the click of a button.
Members can also subscribe to receive the digital publications straight to their inbox! Once they’re subscribed, there’s no extra work in the form of an email that your staff needs to manually send. LPi automatically sends the publication to your organization’s entire email list!
How Can My Organization Make the Most of MyCommunityOnline.com?
A few simple steps will help your organization make the most of your
MyCommunityOnline.com profile:
- Keep your listing current. Your staff can easily manage your own My Community Online listing. It’s important to make sure your information stays accurate so people using the directory can easily find your community!
- Add the widget to your website. The widget is a one-time installation, with reader-friendly layouts, mobile functionality, customizable colors, and automatic publication updates.
See how to add the widget to your website with this step-by-step guide.
- Connect your email list. Organizations can upload a subscriber list through their MyCommunityOnline.com listing, ensuring their publication reaches members by email.
See how to upload your email list with this guide.
You put time and care into creating a publication that keeps your community connected.
LPi helps that work travel further!
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