Over the past two weeks I’ve been struggling through certain aspects of creating my yellow letter marketing campaigns. I wanted to share with you some tips that helped me produce better yellow letters quicker and with less frustration.
1) Use thick enough yellow or white lined paper
This is something I never thought about before buying a lot of yellow lined notebook paper. I ended up purchasing the cheapest pads I could find off of amazon ( Yellow Notebook Pads). Needless to say I spent the next hour unjamming my printer and trying to figure out a way to make the pages not crinkle, fold or break my printer. Not fun
For those that don’t understand paper weight (like myself), the weight refers to the fixed weight of 500 sheets of paper. The standard paper weight for 11×8.5 paper is 20 lbs. Heavier paper is usually better. This chart below is a good break down of quality
Which weight should I get for my yellow letter paper? Looking back at the pads that I just bought, I could not find the weight printed anywere. This is probably a sign of the poor quality and why it kept jaming my printer. To find out acceptable weights you can use with your printer, take a look that manual and it should list the range of paper that is safe to use. Here is my printer’s recommendations…
So i can get away with 16lb paper if I want to go cheap.
2) Ink Jet over a Laser Printer
I recently got a laser printer because I was tired of replacing my ink. Laser jets print roughly 5000 pages per toner catridge as opposed to 800 pages per ink cartridge for ink jet printers. This solves one problem, but actually causes another one. Ink Jet printers, because they use ink instead of toner, produce a much more realistic impersination of a hand written letter. If you ever get a chance, compare the two and you’ll notice a difference.
When creating yellow letters for your marketing, some people like to hand write a letter on one piece of paper and they leave a gap so they can fill in personalized information after making copies. Example…
Dear _______
I am interested in buying your house at ___________________________. Please give me a call.
After writing this letter and making copies of it using a printer/copier, you’d then hand write in the sellers information. This is a great idea for saving time and pens for sure. If you use a laser printer/copier your pen’d in name and address will not match up with the results of the laser copy. The reason being is that the laser lettering will look flat and have no shine to it. However, using an ink jet printer and a black pen, your results will be great because the printer and pen both use Ink! Hope that makes sense.
3) Use myfont.com to make your hand writting into a font
I’ve given this tip before, but for those that use my SI Lead Management software or MS Word to mail merge, this can save you some pain. Your results may vary, but I’ve been pleased with how my font turned out.
4) Make sure to use enough top margin to move the “Dear” line below the thick top margin of most notepad paper
The top margin of notepad paper is usually 1 inch. Just make sure to start your top line far enough down on the paper so the “Dear John” does not end up hanging out in the open top margin. That will instantly make your printed out “hand written” letter look fake.
5) Use a font size that lines up pretty well with the height of each lined row on the paper.
After some testing, I’ve found that for my hand written font (from myfont.com) looks best with a font size of 16. It comes out almost perfectly between the lines on the paper I’m using. You will have to experiment yourself because all fonts will be different as well as the height of the lines on your paper.
Hopefully these tips help you out and saves you time
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Comments 17
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Author
Hi Chris,
I continued to just use the white lined paper. Have you ever thought about contacting Jerry Puckett (you can find his contact information in my Yellow Letter Resource Post). He runs a direct mail company that is great. He may have a good resource for you.
Always learning something new! Thanks a bunch for the instructions! Thx for bringing up myfonts.com. Just checked it out, they updated the site! Thanks again for the article!
Always learning something new! Thanks a bunch for the instructions! Thx for bringing up myfonts.com. Just checked it out, they updated the site! Thanks again for the article!
great post, scott. Ran across this dilemma a couple days ago about the paper jam and using notepad paper. I am trying to chase down ream quantity yellow 20# line paper and have been unsuccessful. If you got a lead please do tell. Looking forward to checking out the rest of your site.
Author
I don’t think they make ream quantity yellow lined paper. The best you can do is experiment with notebook paper filler packs to see which one works. The thicker the paper the better. I’m currently using paper I got from Target that goes for $0.75 for 150 sheets, killer deal in my book! Every printer is different and the manual should give you an idea of the minimum weight needed.
great post………Thanks
We actually sell reams of yellow lined paper for our clients. They are printed on a stock of paper that is just heavy enough to go through your printer, so it does not jam or break. If you or your readers would like to purchase, you can visit our web store (yellow lined paper is the third product down): http://www.pdamarketing.net/doodle-opes/
Author
Hi Sahrah,
Thanks for pointing us to your website. I do really like the idea, but the one problem I have is the price seem to be a bit expensive. $40 for 250 sheets (16c per sheet) of yellow lined paper seems a bit expensive. I’ve been buying lined notebook paper refill packs from target and stop & shop for an average of $1 for 150 (less then 1c per sheet) sheets of paper. I find that these sheets are thick enough for my printer as well and rarely cause a jam.
$100 for 500, seriously?
Hello,
I am having trouble finding single sheet lined yellow copy paper that I can run through my printer. Any suggestions where I can buy some? I want it to look like it came off a legal pad but it didn’t. You know!
Thanks
Author
The yellow lined paper refills are very tough to find. When I do find them they are in my local Stop & Shop food store. Shocking enough I’ve not been able to find them online either. Lately I’ve been just using the White Lined paper which seems to work just as well and is MUCH easier to find.
Hey There Scott,
I have been pulling my hair out and I didn’t have much to begin with all over this yellow paper thing. Your original post and all of the comments are from 2011. Any new advice for lined yellow paper and maybe templates?
Thanks, Chris A fellow RE Investor
Do you have the margins and spacing for Word doc to be able to print correctly on the paper you suggested above?
Author
I’ve found that i’m always adjusting the margins depending on the pack of paper. When using cheaper paper, their quality control and consistency with where that left margin red line is located is never the same. Same goes for the top margin. Frustrating but you get what you pay for I guess.
Hi Scott,
What kind of laser printer are you using for your yellow letters?
Thanks,
Candice
Author
I replied to your email, but just in case someone else has the same question.
I use this printer..
http://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFC-9440CN-Printer-Ethernet-Interface/dp/B000V6WTT8
It does the job, but does have it’s problems as you will find with any consumer rated printer. Printing Envelopes works with the manual tray fairly well, but you have to stand by with stacks of 10 envelopes and keep loading the tray.