Tendenci Blog

Let us help you with your organization's newsletter!

Sending out newsletters to your clients and members is a great way to communicate quickly and effectively.  With all the content, the rich media and the formatting, we get that it can be a challenging and labor-intensive process.  

We've got some great newsletter help files that will hopefully assist in the process, specifically:

•  Using the Newsletter Module - the best place to start as a new Tendenci user 
• Designing a custom letter that works in Outlook 2007
• How to personally address newsletters

But if you'd like a little extra help, we've got a few extra opportunities happening in the upcoming week:

• Newsletter re-design time!  Get a fresh new look for your newsletter with a basic template design starting at $300.  In addition to your new svelte look, our team will even create your first newsletter for you with the content you provide.  All you'll have to do is click send.
• Free Newsletter 101 Webinar - On Wednesday, August 12th at 2pm CST, our team will put on a Tendenci newsletter creation step-by-step training where you can get new tips and tricks on making your newsletters a smash hit!  Sign up today!

The Schipul team is always ready to hear your feedback and give you a helping hand.  Give us a call at (281) 497.6567, ext. 411.  Thanks!

Schipul Fan Mania month - last chance win cool stuff!

The Schipul team (creators of your Tendenci software) loves our clients - you help us grow, teach us new things and keep us on our toes.  We want to thank you for being part of our tribe and are holding a Schipul Fan Mania contest to do just that.

All you've got to do is login to Facebook and join our Schipul fan page (www.facebook.com/schipul) and you'll be eligible to win one of the following rocking prizes:

1. Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Laptop –Hate carting around a huge laptop just to log in to twitter now and then? We’ve got the laptop for you!  You pick the color, and we’ll ship it out to your place! With this little gal, you’ll always be able to update on the go.
2. $100 Amazon gift card – Schipulites are book fiends, and we want to get you hooked too!
3. $100 iTunes gift card – Can’t get enough music? Need another new app? Let us support your habit!

So what are you waiting for!?  We're drawing 3 random winners from our Schipul Facebook fanpage on Tuesday, June 30th at 2pm CST.  Fan us today!!

SchipulCon 2009 coming October 15 - 16th!!

If you're an esteemed reader of our Tendenci newsletter, you already had a sneak peek at our Big News this week! 

This year's Tendenci software and Schipul Web Marketing conference (now lovingly called SchipulCon) will be at the Houston Zoo on October 15 - 16th!!

Topics will range from some very exciting new Tendenci 5.0 feature showcasing by our Programming team to Social Media training to Web marketing strategies to online Community building classes.  Know of a non profit or wannabe Web guru?  Invite them to attend!!  All are welcome :)

Tickets will go on sale later this month, in the meantime please do submit your SchipulCon training ideas and suggestions on our SchipuCon 2009 Forum.  Can't wait to see you there!!

Want to see more ongoing Tendenci updates from the team?  Connect with us on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/tendenci!

Keep Your Gmail Browser Connection Safe

First things first, lets get you safe.

If you own a gmail account, here are 2 simple steps to keeping a secure browser connection.

Go to your gmail account.

 

Click on settings, this can be found at the top right corner to the right of your email address.

 

Then select 'Always use https' and 'Save Changes.'

 

Learn more about the Browser Connection options.
Read a detailed article in the Washing Post in regards to these new found settings.

Now that we've taken care what's most important.  I'd like to think a good friend William Holtkamp for this amazing find.  At the time of this post, Google Blog has no information on this current setting.

Stay safe.

 

Tendenci clients that are really rocking the Photos Module

We just wanted to remind you about our great Tendenci Photos Module, a powerful new feature on Tendenci.  We've seen a lot of clients get really creative with their photos and we think it's a great way for organizations to tell their story.

Photos are often the biggest traffic drivers for a site and give you more places to put keyword rich content, which is great for Search Engines.  For inspiration, be sure to check out these organizations that are doing awesome things with their Photo Albums:

1. Out of Africa with the International Festival in Houston
2. PRSA Houston Events to help advance the PR Professional
3. Wildlife at the Houston Zoo
4. Only in Houston Creative Events

If you are a current Tendenci client you have access to the  Web Site Photos Module on your site right now!  Why not maximize the traffic to your site and have some fun while you do it?

Visit our helpfiles to learn how to get started with Photo Albums for your organization!

Don't let your emails get passed over: Customize your sender display

To show the name you want to appear in the "From" field of a recipient's incoming mail when sending out a newsletter you must adjust the Sender Display field . 

What you enter in the Sender Display field will display in your email along with the new Do Not Reply email address. If you leave Sender Display blank, only the new Do Not Reply email address will display in the "From" field  of your recipient's incoming mail.

This is an example of what your newsletter will look like when it hits your recipient's inbox if you use the Sender Display.

The Sender Display field will automatically populate when a newsletter is created with the newsletter creator's name.  The helpfile on how to edit your Sender Display is located here http://tendenci.com/en/helpfiles/v/474.

You must be sure to include your correct address in the ReplyTo field to ensure email replies are sent to your email address. Otherwise, they will be sent to the DO-NOT-REPLY-TENDENCI@schipul.net and will not make it to your inbox, which would be sad.

For more information on why we use DO-NOT-REPLY-TENDENCI@schipul.net, please read our helpfile: What is DO-NOT-REPLY-TENDENCI@schipul.net

Holiday Spam getting you down?

If you are noticing increased amounts of SPAM on your Tendenci site, there are a few things you can do about it.

Here are a few:

1. Enable CAPTCHA on custom CMS forms - Visit the help file on how to do this: http://www.tendenci.com/en/helpfiles/v/467
2. To enable CAPTCHA on your contact form you just need to activate this command in the site XML. Visit the help file on how to do this: http://www.tendenci.com/en/helpfiles/v/468
3. Lastly, you can block email addresses from submitting forms from your site. - Visit the help file on how to do this: http://www.tendenci.com/en/helpfiles/v/466

If you need assistance, please contact support@schipul.com or call 281.497.6567 ext. 411.

Idea on how your Organization could use the Tendenci Photo Gallery Module!

Hey All Tendenci lovers!

I hope your holiday was great!  Most of you have heard of the Tendenci Photo Gallery Module. If you have not, it is module that allows users/admins to upload and organize photos on your Tendenci site.

Visit the help file that shows you how to add a photo gallery to your site.  It is super easy and fun!

If you are wondering how you can use the photo galleries module to assist you with your marketing efforts.  Here is one idea...

1. If you host or attend an event that is relevant to your industry, take photos!
2. Upload the photos to your Tendenci site using the photo albums module.
3. Link the album from the home page of your site or within the navigation.
4. If you take photos of people within your organization at the event, send a newsletter to your members with a link to the gallery. People love to see pictures of themselves!

This should help to promote your organization for other events you may host. Don't forget to tag your photos in the gallery so that when people search the internet for event photos that will find your gallery!

Get creative and have fun!  Happy New Year!

Designing newsletters for Outlook 2007

Have you played around with Outlook 2007 yet?  There are some great features, but also a few changes that make a big difference in how your email works.

Our Creative Director Tim Newton came up with some helpful tips and tricks for designing a newsletter to play friendly in Outlook 2007.  You can read the entire Help File here with great visuals and explanations, but read on for the short and sweet version:

1. Design your layout without any background colors or images - but creative with border or backgrounds that blend into the layout! (see the newsletter image to the left as an example)
2. You can use a tiled background in Outlook 2007, but must put it into the body tag and specify the image path like this:
   
   <style type="text/css" media="screen">
       body {
           margin: 0px;
           padding: 0px;
           color: #666;
           background: #5a200e url("http://www.creativeleak.com/images/nl1/bg_Tile.gif")  } 
   </style>
3. Background colors can be used in a table or a div, but only if there's not another table or div inside of it.
4. Try adding these elements to your email designs but remember, the key to any good looking design is what the content looks like

Too busy to design an Outlook 2007-friendly newsletter?  Contact us today and let us know what our awesome design team can create for your organization!