Friday, 4 May 2012

Convert Facebook Friends to Subscribers

Posted by Unknown at 3:37 pm Labels: , , ,
Displaying a subscription form on your company’s Facebook page is an ideal way to increase your mailing lists. Although we have already told you how to add a subscription form to your page Facebook has upgraded to “TimeLine” style layout so you will need to ensure your subscription form is still available. The new TimeLine now has a Static HTML application that makes it easy for you to build your own apps.

Firstly, if you’re unfamiliar with Static HTML, it’s basically just a tool that provides an administrative structure for a custom Facebook application. By using it you don’t have to learn any programming skills to add subscription forms and other features. If you haven't already installed the Static HTML app for your page then click here


Next you need to choose the Page that you want to add this application to (if you have more than one).

After you’ve done this, the app will then be displayed with a star icon among any other apps you might already have, labelled as “Welcome”. 


Click on the big star to access the app.
 
You will see a blank textbox which is used to allow you to enter anything you would like to be presented onto your iframes tab. 
Please note: Anything you enter into this area will be for your “application”, for example you could add a form, images, hyperlinks or just text as the app supports HTML, CSS and Javascript languages. 

You don’t need to be a programmer, but it helps if you know some basic HTML to understand how to manipulate it if you want to make any tweaks.

As you would like to add your form onto the app you simply just need to copy and paste the subscription form code into the textbox (To access your subscription form code from your GraphicMail Account click on Subscription form (tab on the left) >> then select “Put It On Your Site”).

Once the code has been added click “save” on the top right hand corner, and the app will then appear on its own tab on your Facebook page.

(Note: You can also preview your app before you save it, to make sure you’ve entered the correct code and that it will display correctly).


You should now have your subscription form embedded within your new app, to make it stand out to your vistors you will need to edit the iframes tab. To do that go back to your Timeline and look at the “Featured Apps” area, as your subscription form app should now appear within that list.

Click the Edit icon for this app and go to Edit Settings.


You can now edit the name of the app by calling it “Email Newsletter sign-up”, or similar so it appealing to someone viewing this page.

You can also upload an icon for your new app tab again to make it more appealing. When you’ve done that, click save and then click “Change” for “Custom Tab Image.”


Your application is now complete so don’t forget to test it.

The final step is to ensure your subscription form app is shown in the prime position this can be done by clicking n the Edit icon. You can then choose what order all of your apps are set in so you can make sure your subscription form app is in the best position to be noticed.

(Note: It’s unclear why, but keep in mind that Facebook is busy ironing out some of the bugs in its “Timeline” build, and that the iframes team is still catching up to the new environment; so the application may not be working properly for everyone quite yet.)



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Bank Holiday Notice

Posted by Unknown at 11:16 am
We would like to notify you that although the GraphicMail software will be available on the bank holiday Monday 7th May, the UK office will be closed. However our support team will be back to help on Tuesday 8th May at 9am.

Although the live chat support and the telephone lines will be closed on this bank holiday we will still be checking the email helpdesk regularly so if you do experience any issues then you can email us at support@graphicmail.co.uk and we will endeavour to get back to you. 

Please note our help center will remain online so you can still view tutorials, videos and help files.
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Wednesday, 2 May 2012

5 Newsletter Tips Which Are A Must

Posted by Unknown at 2:38 pm Labels: , ,
Getting the most out of your HTML newsletters can be difficult as most recipients will simply scan the email and decide within 3 seconds whether to open or delete. We have shown 5 very valuable tips to ensure you make the most out of your emails first impression.

1)      Make the most of the Preview Pane

To attract your recipient’s attention to open your email you should try to place the important text or images that reflect the focus of the email at the top as that is where they will look first. The preview pane is the perfect place to persuade the recipient to open your email as they will get a glimpse of it before they decide if they are going to open and read your email fully. You should also ensure you have clear and precise headings in your email as many recipients will simply scan read the email before giving it their full attention.

2)       Control the text on show

You can use the email snippet to make sure the most compelling text is presented next to your subject line. This is the ideal opportunity to add your persuasive text exactly as you would like it such as; all capital letters, using explanation marks and even pound signs without it affecting your spam score rating.

3)      Always use image “Alt” tags

It is important to use ‘alt’ tags for your images as many email clients will block your images from showing by default, however they will show the ‘alt’ tag if you have one present. Although the image might not show until the recipient clicks on the “view images” link they may read the alt tags so you can use them to let them know what to expect from the images.

4)    The danger of background images

You should be very careful when using background images in your email design as many email clients will not support them so it is essential to provide a suitable background colour to fall back on. This will leave you knowing that if the background image does not show then the recipients can still view the content as you have a suitable background colour set in place. Alternatively rather than using a background image you may want to slice the image up into sections and then place them into a table as you can then display them as a normal image with a table cell. This way you can have the illusion of a background image without the worry of email clients not supporting it.

5)    View it in your browser

As many of you will be aware HTML code can be interpreted differently within different email clients so despite your best efforts to ensure your newsletter looks perfect there might be one email client that has display issues. It is always a good idea to place a link to your HTML newsletter so the recipients can view it in the browser. That way you can be sure they will have at least one way to view the newsletter as it intended to look like.

By using the tips above you can now be sure you have made all efforts to ensure the email is successful so your recipients are enticed to open it but more importantly they can read all email content without any difficulty.
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