WordPress Newsletters
Jeff Riedl
Patrick Rauland
Appleton WordPress
2013/12/13
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Connect With Us
● Web - meetup.com/Appleton-WordPress/
● Twitter
○ @AppletonWP
○ Hashtag - #awp
● YouTube - http://www.youtube.
com/channel/UC_e4PGv9xxprYSgNqu-
PrwA
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Upcoming Events
● January - Automate the Web w/ Elliot
Christenson
● February - Introduction to BuddyPress w/
Boone Georges
● March - ??
● April - Sell Anything Online with
WooCommerce w/ Patrick Rauland
Other Meetups
● Web920
○ http://www.web920.com/
● Fox Cities PHP
○ http://www.meetup.com/fox-cities-php/
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Why e-mail newsletters?
● It’s your “second chance” with new site
visitors
● It’s a way to stay in touch with current clients
● Increases site traffic
● Keeps your brand “Top of mind”
● Nearly free advertising!
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But does it work?
It sure did for AgilityEvents.net!
Startup with 0 subscribers to over 1,000,000
page views in a year … without ANY paid
advertising.
Just word of mouth and a twice-weekly
newsletter.
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History
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History
Startup site - (pre-Wordpress) hand coded site
with a simple php script that send out the
messages
As the list grew and php matured to include OO
classes, I included phpMailer class to help send
more efficiently
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History
Startup site - (pre-Wordpress) hand coded site
with a simple php script that send out the
messages
As the list grew and php matured to include OO
classes, I included phpMailer class to help send
more efficiently
Enter Wordpress & Newsletter “Plugins”!
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Newsletter plugins - Pros
● Form on a page, or in a Post / Widget
● Double Opt-in handling
● “Hands free” subscription management
● Some send recent Posts on a schedule
● Attractive Newsletter Templates
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Plugin Challenges
Over 300 “choices” in the repository
- Where to start?
Need to change to a new plugin?
- You need to ‘move’ all your subscribers!
Volunteer developers or “development teams”
- Pitfalls = weak coding / abandoned project
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Plugin Challenges
But the biggest challenge of all doesn’t have to
do with which plugin you choose!
It’s about what happens to your newsletter after
you hit “Send” ...
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SPAM Filters
On a shared hosting plan?
- Bad neighbors can give YOU a bad “rep”
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SPAM Filters
On a shared hosting plan?
- Bad neighbors can give YOU a bad “rep”
One “bad” link in your content can crush you!
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SPAM Filters
On a shared hosting plan?
- Bad neighbors can give YOU a bad “rep”
One “bad” link in your content can crush you!
ISP filtering can be like playing “Whack a Mole”
… recently a solution has become available.
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3rd Party SMTP Services!
● SendGrid
● Amazon SES
● Mailgun
● Mandril
They pre-screen you, so ISP & Receiving Mail
Services give e-mails from these service a “pass”
on some of the filtering.
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Jetpack
● Incredibly easy to
email new posts
● Free
● Uses WordPress
Email Servers
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MailPoet
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MailPoet - Newletter Stuff
● Lists
● Subscribers
● Double Opt In
● Built in Signup Forms
● Signup in Comments
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MailPoet - Costs
● Free up to 2,000 subscribers
● Premium is $99/year for unlimited
subscribers
● MailChimp Costs are $30/mo for 2,500
subscribers
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MailPoet - 3rd Party SMTP
● 3rd Party SMTP costs are ridiculously cheap
● 10,000/mo = free
● 100,000/mo = $45
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MailPoet - Premium Features
● Unlimited subscribers
● Link Tracking (within the email)
● GA Tracking (once the user get’s to your site)
● Bounce Removal
● One click updates
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MailPoet - WordPress Based
● Very easy to hook into with other plugins
○ Gravity Forms
○ Ninja Forms (hey that’s my extension!)
○ Contact Form 7 (coming soon)
● Can be used for transactional email