23 replies to this topic

[ProPrinters]

Has anybody used mailchimp? Somebody said it was good and free up to 500 users.

Derek

[royster13]

Free sounds like a deal!.....Were you able to find out anything about their deliverability rates as rated by ReturnPath?...I just signed up for a trial of Ratepoint.....They have a 1/2 price offer if you switch from Constant Contact...

PS.....The videos on Mail Chimp are very useful.....

[ProPrinters]

Royce, I have not as I just started looking into it yesterday. My list is not as big as others, so I can send a lot of info.

I will play around with it today, and see if I can get some more info.

Derek

[royster13]

http://www.mailchimp...pport/webinars/ is some online seminars....I am signed up for one that starts in a few minutes....

[ProPrinters]

is it today or tommorow?

[royster13]

Well I am watching it now (from archive), however, it turns out the one I signed up to is tomorrow...

[graphicdetails]

I signed up a few weeks ago after I sent out my December newsletter. I imported my list this past weekend and am just working on my first newsletter through their service to start off in January.

Their website was kicking me out at first when trying to design my first newsletter, but I finally figured out that I had to put their address in my settings to allow cookies from their site (my internet security is set high).

I did read somewhere that their deliverability rate was around 97%.

[graphicdetails]

I ran my first newsletter for January and I have to say that I am pretty impressed with MailChimp.

The ease of creating the message is fantastic. And the reports after sending out your campaign contain an easy way to get all the pertinent info you need.

Another bonus! MailChimp has the ability to do something that I've been wanting to do for over a year.....the ability to convert a blog into a MONTHLY newsletter! I am setting this up to begin my February campaign.

[ProPrinters]

Randy

Can you send me your last one if you don't mind? Just curious to see what your layout looks like.

I have to sit down and look at it.

Did you attend one of the webinars?

[graphicdetails]

Derek, I can send a copy to you, but it is not an "official" newsletter. I sent out one of their ready-to-go simple templates saying "Happy New Year". I also included a small message with a link to our specials so I could see how the system worked for click-through reporting, etc. I still got a good open and click rate, though.

Now that I'm initially satisfied with the system, I'm in the process of building my blog newsletter, and hope to have everything ready for the February mailing. I was tired of "building" a newsletter every month and with this blog converter I can keep plugging away articles whenever I feel the need and the system will automatically send the newsletter monthly with all the new blog posts.

If you still want me to send you a copy, let me know what your email address is and I'll send it.

[ProPrinters]

I assume your blog will have graphics. What do you use for your Blog, Blogger, Wordpress?

[graphicdetails]

Yes, I use pics in my posts. I'm not completely sure, but I "believe" their system uses the post titles as a link and then gives the first few sentences of the post body. Kind of like an RSS feed (at least that's what it looks like from what I've seen on their site).

I use word WordPress for my blog - http://graphicdetails.wordpress.com/

I quit using it last year because it was just too much to do a newsletter and a blog and run the website. So I'm hoping I can tie everything together using this feature.

[ProPrinters]

Randy, you are far more advanced in this area than I am.

So this may sound wierd, but I uploaded a photo to mail chimp and wanted to type some text next to the photo, but could not. The text had to be below the picture which makes it look dumb. They told me in a text editor I can't do that. Is there a way to accomplish my task?

Derek

[royster13]

Derek you need to build an html page......Now as far as how you do that, I have not gone that far in mail chimp.....I generally build an image in Illustrator and upload that image with some text behind that shows until the image loads....

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[ProPrinters]

Royce,

I see, thank you. I think this is above my pay grade and capabilities, as I don't have Illustrator or any of those products to do that kind of stuff.

Derek

[royster13]

I do not understand how any one in this industry can operate without Illustrator.....

[ProPrinters]

Tell me why you say that? If somebody gives me crappy art I charge them an art fee, and send it to 24 hour artwork.

I don' create brochures, flyers etc.

[royster13]

I guess if you manage without it you will never know what you are missing.....All I am saying is I could not get along without it...

PS....If you used Illustrator, your email blasts would look more like what you want them to look like...That is reason enough in my mind.....

PPS....I remember years back when I started insurance adjusting.....I had a skill set that allowed me to do all my own reports without clerical support.....For that I got an extra 15% pay that made me a couple hundred thousand dollars extra over 13 years......

[graphicdetails]

Derek, in MailChimp, after you insert the photo into the newsletter...

1. Put your cursor over the picture and right-click with the mouse.
2. Choose "Image Properties"
3. Look for the "Align" option. Click left align if you want the picture on the left and the text on the right. Or right align if you want the pic on the right and the text on the left.
4. Click "ok" and start typing!

By the way, I finished setting up my blog newsletter and am excited to get it going. Now I can type in my blog whenever I wish and the MailChimp system will send all new posts once a month to my subscribers. I set it up to go out on the 3rd of each month. I literally "set it and forget it" - it's an automatic newsletter!

[ProPrinters]

which blogging program you using?