Sending files via email wordpress. Creation of email newsletters on WordPress. Newsletter Templates

WordPress is a well-known content management system used by thousands of people around the world. Its popularity is largely due to the large number of plugins that you can install on your site. Indeed, with the help of plugins, you can add almost any functionality to your site (and if you wish, you can even modify the code yourself).

• about news and new materials on your site (if it is a blog or a collection of articles) - to attract visitors to the site, to remind yourself;
• about new products, discounts and sales (if it is an online store) - to attract potential customers to the site, to interest them for a purchase;
• about individual offers - to interest the user;
• with questionnaires - to find out the opinion and feedback of users, get feedback and then improve something.

Now there are various services that help web users to make mailings to their customers. But if your site is powered by WordPress, does it make sense to pay separately for a third-party service? Let's figure it out.

In this article, I will talk about several plugins with which you can make mailings.

MailPoet 2.7.8

Russian-language plugin with simple controls. If you have ever worked with MailChimp, then this is a very lightweight version of such a mailing service. You can create and send a letter in just a minute or two.

The plugin is free, but you can purchase a premium version that has advanced features. Tariff plans vary depending on the number of sites that will have this plugin.

After installation, three submenus (settings) will be available to you - Newsletters, Subscribers and Settings.

Newsletters - section where you create and send letters. You don't need to know HTML, let alone work with code - the letter is created using the constructor, just drag and drop and edit blocks, and that's it. By the way, you can set not only a separate mailing, but also automatic. At the last, third step, you will need to determine the mailing data and the time when it will be sent - you can immediately, or you can at the scheduled time.

Keep in mind that letters may not arrive immediately, but after a few minutes (and also end up in spam). Before the main mailing, be sure to send yourself a test letter - sometimes in the final version, for example, pictures may not open, all this must be checked.

The plugin also has a small analytical tool- you can track how many emails were opened, by whom and when.

Subscribers - a section where you work with those who have subscribed to you. It is possible to divide them into groups, import or export lists.

Settings - since the plugin is in Russian and has a detailed description of each of the settings, you can figure out the correct filling without me. But there are interesting tabs here.

Forms are used to create a new widget (block) that can be placed on the site so that users subscribe to your newsletters. By the way, this is also the answer to the question "How to create client base? - for example, through such a widget.

Confirmation of registration- this is a letter that will be sent to those who entered their address in the widget. This check should not be neglected - it will save you from “Why are you sending me letters, I didn’t subscribe to you!”.

The rest of the tabs deal with general mailing settings, including technical ones. In general, that's all you need to know about this plugin.

pros plugin - it is simple, quick to set up and easy to manage; contains all the functions necessary for interacting with the public.

Minuses- limited opportunities when creating a letter design, he may not fulfill all the “wants”.

Newsletter

A well-known plugin with one free and two paid plans. The plugin is not translated into Russian. Immediately after installation, it is noticeable that this plugin looks more professional than the previous one. Main page - Dashboard - displays statistical information; in the top menu - everything you need to create a newsletter: Subscribers (Subscribers), List building (Working with lists), Newsletters (Letters), Settings (Settings) and Status (Status).

There are also more options for creating a letter than in the MailPoet plugin. Starting with the fact that several templates are offered before creating a letter. There is also an old-school one - purely in HTML. The principle of drag-n-drop is also used here, while on the right side of the screen you will see the display of the letter in a mobile format. Outwardly, all these icons and the arrangement of elements are very similar to MailChimp. If you want your emails to look modern, Newsletter makes it easy to do so.

From MailChimp, here is the ability to make a test mailing before the main one (but before that you need to add one or more users to the Test subscriber category).

pros- nice and user-friendly interface, modern letter templates.

Minuses- the absence of the Russian language can create a load on the server if there are a lot of subscribers.

This is a good plugin for creating a large number mailings, tracking statistics and other work with mail. Nice design as a bonus. But if the base is large, you should be aware of the possible load.

jetpack

This well-known plugin is usually associated with website optimization and protection and is installed by many. But few people know that it has a special widget for subscribing to blog updates. I will make a reservation - JetPack does not provide the opportunity to make mailings in the full sense of the word. Subscribers will be notified of new blog posts - and if you don't want to deal with mailings separately, then such an automated solution will be a good way out.

After installing and activating the plugin, you will need to add the widget to your page (let me remind you where widgets are installed in the menu: Appearance -> Widgets). The widget is called Blog Subscriptions (JetPack). You can correct the settings - change the title, text.

After the user enters his email address, he will receive a notification in the mail in which he must confirm that he agrees to the subscription. Now he will receive notifications about new entries in your blog.

pros- conveniently, automatically, does not require additional time and effort.

Minuses- there is no possibility to make an individual mailing list, only notifications.

A handy feature for those who want to automatically notify subscribers about new posts on their blog.

Subscribe2

This simple plugin has long been called one of the best (now, in my opinion, there are more worthy analogues).

To work with this plugin, at least an initial understanding of what code is and how to build templates with it is desirable. The plugin is in English, so you will need to at least translate the message templates that will be sent to your subscribers (Templates tab in Subscribe2 -> Settings).

First of all, the plugin is needed to notify readers about new blog posts, but it can also be used to send simple letters (in the menu: Subscribe2 -> Send email).

pros- easy, you can quickly send a letter to subscribers.

Minuses- lack of Russian language, meager opportunities.

This plugin may suit your needs, but if you want to send out colorful and modern emails, it's better to choose something else.

Conclusion

If you have a website on WordPress, then you can do the mailing list on your own without resorting to the services of other services. Many plugins provide not only paid but also free options, and you just have to choose the one that best suits your requirements.

• about news and new materials of the site;
• about new products, individual offers, various sales and discounts in the online store;
• with a request to fill out a questionnaire in order to find out the opinion of users, etc.

Online mailing services

To date, there is a whole list of online services offering mailing services (for example, MailChimp). A variety of features and settings allows not only to flexibly configure the system, but also provide detailed statistics, integrate with popular social networks etc. Of course, you have to pay for most of these features.

Newsletter in WordPress

If for some reason you do not want to use third-party services for your WordPress site, then there are also good solutions for it that allow you to solve the problem of e-mail distribution - dozens of free solutions have been developed.

MailPoet Plugin

One of the most popular among WordPress users is the MailPoet plugin, available in both free and premium versions. Of course, both options are working and differ only in the set of functions. In principle, for a small blog or online store, the first one is enough “with a head”.

So, after installing and activating the plugin, 3 submenus will be available to you.

Mailing setup

In chapter What type of this mailing? You are offered to choose the type of mailing: standard and automatic. By choosing the standard one, you get a newsletter that will work in manual mode, i.e. when you initiate the process yourself. The second type provides for automatic distribution when an event is triggered (new material on the site, subscription, registration of a new user). You can also set the day and time for automatic mode. Further (in the field Newsletter name) you must specify the name by which you will distinguish between mailings (if there are several).

Chapter Subscriber lists provides a choice of subscribers, i.e. who will receive notifications. There are 2 options here: create a list yourself or send it to all registered users of the site.

To proceed to the next configuration step, press the button The next step.

In this window, the appearance of the notification letter is configured. On the right there is a block with widgets that can be inserted into the text of the letter by simply dragging them to the right place. It is also possible to add your own photos (section Pictures). All changes "on the go" can be viewed in the same window. After finishing editing the appearance of the letter, you need to click the button Save Changes, and to go to the next configuration step - The next step.

At the last step, you are offered to check all the basic settings, after which you should press the button Activate now. That's it, the newsletter has been created and activated. After pressing the button, you will be redirected to the section Newsletters.

Setting up subscribers

By going to the admin panel MailPoet -> Subscribers, you will be taken to the mailing list recipients management section.

In the window you will immediately see a list of subscribers. In our case, this is a list of all registered users on the site. pushing buttons Add subscriber, Add list and others, you can flexibly manage your e-mail recipients.

General mailing settings

Chapter Settings is responsible for the global settings of your newsletters. Here you can set the following options:

• detailed contact information of the sender;
• setting up a subscription registration form;
• the ability to customize the registration confirmation letter;
• advanced user settings for working with mailing lists, etc.

Many bloggers believe that one of the most valuable things for a website is a list of email addresses. Even if you are not the most experienced blogger, you understand that the wider your list of subscribers, the more income you can get from your online business.

There are a number of providers on the Internet that specialize in email newsletters, but this review will focus on MailChimp, a widely used mailing list service that will help you create, grow, and maintain mailing lists for your blog. It is free if the number of subscribers does not exceed 2000, and the number of letters - no more than 12000 per month. In addition, MailChimp offers tariff plans, which increase depending on your business.

By installing and activating the appropriate plugin on your WordPress site, you can increase the number of your email campaigns. This review lists the best MailChimp plugins that will allow you to expand your list of email addresses. Let's start!

5 Free WordPress Plugins to Boost Your Email Campaigns

1.MailChimp for WordPress

This is a free plugin developed by ibericode. When you activate the plugin and receive an API key, your MailChimp data will be available to you in the settings screen. This is quite convenient, because each address list has its own table, which includes all the data, including the number of subscribers in each group. You can choose the fields that you include in your subscription form.

MailChimp for WordPress allows you to display information in multiple panels. For example, in the top bar, you select a list of addresses from a drop-down menu and then customize it. The placeholder text can be written in another panel. You can also position the bar at the top or bottom of the page, change its color, and change the color of buttons and text - these are great tools to help you save color scheme on your blog.

Subscription forms can be placed anywhere using shortcodes. Redirect options are available to allow you to list new subscribers on an "Opt-in Success" page of your choice.

Finally, MailChimp also offers checkbox customization options. Visitors who leave comments or register on your site can also register in your address list by checking the appropriate box.

2. MailChimp Forms by MailMunch

This plugin will give you a little more freedom in customizing your forms without upgrading to a paid plan. This plugin easily integrates into your MailChimp account and you can use it to create as many forms as you want. So, if you update the content on each blog, you can create a separate form for each of them. MailMunch offers five types of forms: simple, embeddable, topbar, scrollbar, and sidebar.

The screenshot shows an example of a simple mailing form with various animated options. This is a fairly wide selection for a free plugin. You can also choose whether to insert this form into the login and/or logout page. If you don't want to have frequent visitors annoying you with popup forms, just change the frequency of this form from one visitor.

MailMunch allows you to display forms for specific URLs. It offers a lot of options, the only caveat is that if you want to do A/B testing, you'll have to upgrade to one of their paid plans.

3. MailChimp Forms by Optin Cat

With Optin Cat, you can add inline forms, popups, and sidebar widgets to your site. You can also customize the frequency of pop-ups and redirect new subscribers to any page on your site.

The free version of the plugin has an analytics feature, but its customization options are somewhat limited unless you upgrade your account. Optin Cat allows you to change the color of buttons, borders and text in any of the three types of forms. With Optin Cat, you can create unlimited forms for promotions, content updates, eLearning, and more.

4. Easy Forms for MailChimp

Once you've connected your API to MailChimp, you'll be able to add any list of email addresses to new signup forms. These forms can be embedded in pages, posts, or widget areas using a shortcode. Another way is to enter a new or existing post or page, click on the Easy Forms icon, and then choose which form you want to display. See example below:

Site visitors can choose a list of addresses for themselves when leaving a comment or registering on your site. In settings account displays the number of new subscribers, unsubscribes, and the average subscription price.

This is the least customizable plugin we've seen so far, but if it suits you, you can try it. With over 20,000 downloads and frequent updates, this plugin has been proven over and over and is a good fit for your site.

5. Chimpy Lite – MailChimp WordPress Plugin

This plugin has fewer downloads (a little over 4000) and was last updated a year ago, but the ease of installation, integration and learning makes it very attractive. With the free version of Chimpy Lite, you can only create one form, but if your site is new or you only need one form option, Chimpy Lite is a good plugin to get you started with WordPress.

This plugin is responsive and allows visitors to add their addresses to your lists on pages, posts, sidebars, and under comment forms.

Conclusion

WordPress plugins for MailChimp are a great way to expand your email list on your site. Together with useful content, any of these plugins can help you set up a business on your blog.

If you haven't installed the plugin you need yet, register your MailChimp account with MailChimp, create a list, and then download and activate the one of the plugins listed above that suits you. Determine best type forms, as well as the placement and design of the form that will work on your site. This is a necessary part of the job. Over time, it will be possible to get an idea of ​​​​these things by analyzing the preferences of your site visitors.

Do you already have any of the listed MailChimp plugins activated on your WordPress site? Notice the difference in the number of email addresses? Let us know about it in the comments.

One of the first things to do when you start a new WordPress blog is to create your own. mailing list. Almost always, a special form must be connected to this process to register new subscribers and collect data from them about their email addresses. The list is then exported to services like Aweber or MailChimp; or the form directly connects to these services for automatic mailing emails in the subscription list.

The main advantage in using such services is their almost perfect work with lists and sending collective mailings (including news). " back side"medals" is the fact that as your mailing list grows, so does the price of the services of this platform. Personally, this does not bother me in any way. But those who are looking for a powerful free alternative can turn their attention to the plugin Newsletter .

If you like plugins that work right out of the box, I have to disappoint you: this is just not the case. In this case, you'd better stay with MailChimp or Aweber. But if you don't mind fiddling with the settings and testing the plugin, then the plugin Newsletter will suit you. But on the other hand, all the time and effort spent will pay off for free and the power of this plugin. So let's get started!

Newsletter Plugin

You can download plugin from official catalog WordPress extensions by this link .

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see an item in the menu called " Newsletter". Click on it - and let's start debugging and configuring the plugin.

Setting up the plugin

As you can see from the picture above, the side menu Newsletter divided into several nested sections. The first one is named Welcome". It describes the user's first steps after installing the plugin, there are lists of modules for working with this plugin, as well as links to documentation and technical support for working with this plugin.

In the second section you will find the plugin settings page. There is 4 tabs:

• basic settings
• Advanced settings
• SMTP Configuration
• Content limitation

In the main settings, you can specify your email address and sender name, which will be displayed to the recipients of your newsletter. You can also set the maximum number of emails sent per hour and the address to which notifications and response emails from users will be sent.

The tab with advanced settings allows you to provide plugin access to editors, set the key API, add custom styles css and switch between data encoding 8-bit and base64.

If your plans include using an external SMTP, its parameters can be configured in the corresponding tab.

And if you intend to restrict access to certain content for those who are not subscribers to your mailing list, then in this section you can activate the appropriate settings. This is very convenient if you intend to create exclusive content on the site, available only to subscribers to your mailing list.

The next section is called " Diagnostics": in it you can send test emails, as well as view error logs, activity logs, etc.

The next 2 subsections are called " Subscription" and " subscribers". In the "Subscribers" section, you can view a list of everyone who has signed up to receive your email newsletter. In the "Subscription" section, you can create new subscriber registration forms, subscribe or unsubscribe buttons, subscription confirmation messages, pages, and welcome messages for new subscribers.

And finally, we also have a section " Newsletters". Actually, in it you can work with letters and create newsletters, which we will then send according to our list. To get started, just click on " new message".

You can choose a theme for the new email, create text and style it, and use the plain text file view, as well as upload custom design templates for new emails in your mailing list.

If you are satisfied with the previously received form of the letter, click on " Create the email".

Now we create the text of a new letter. At this stage, a fairly intuitive text editor is used, in which you can switch from the visually understandable editing mode to the HTML code markup mode.

Upon completion of work with the text and template, the letter can be saved for further use or sent as a test letter.

Conclusion

I really liked the plugin for its capabilities, despite the fact that it is free and provides users with great amount opportunities to work with texts and letters as part of a regular mailing list for almost any number of subscribers.

Perhaps the only potential drawback may be the fact that when working with too large subscriber bases, the activity of this plugin can "slow down" your site, creating an additional load on the server and hosting. However, I did not have a chance to test this assumption. If you come across something similar - let us know in the comments.

In this article, you will learn how to create a free email newsletter on a WordPress site using the Mailster plugin. The plugin allows you to conduct full-fledged letters, just like other specialized services.

The mailing list can work through Gmail, an SMTP server, or a third-party web service such as AmazonSES. The plugin settings allow you to increase the deliverability of emails up to 98%, i.e., emails almost never end up in spam. This is ensured by prescribing special SPF, DMARK and DKIM records in the DNS of the domain to which your email is connected, on behalf of which the mailing is performed.

Plugin Features:

1. Tracking email clicks and unsubscribes;
2. Shows the location of the subscriber;
3. Campaign planning;
4. Six types of answering machine;
5. Automatic distribution of new posts on the site;
6. Dynamic and customizable custom tags;
7. Web version of the letter;
8. Shortcodes for embedding a subscription form;
9. Insert in a letter;
10. Widgets for the sidebar;
11. Single or Double-Opt-in subscription;
12. WYSIWYG Editor;
13. Unlimited Color Variations;
14. Embedding images;
15. Inline styles;
16. Support for background images;
17. Quick preview of the letter;
18. Revision support;
19. Sending via SMTP;
20. Database import/export.

Tariffs of services where free email sending is possible

The rates are not very cheap, especially if you are a beginner and just starting to build your business. On many services at first you can use the free mailing of letters, but then, when your subscriber base starts to grow, in any case you will have to fork out.

The Mailster plugin, which will be discussed in this article, sends out letters for free and with a high probability of getting into the "inbox". For this plugin, you pay only once, and the rest of the time you use it for free. So, let's see the prices that the services offer.

Mail.ru for business

sendpulse.com

massdelivery.ru

The list could go on and on, but for me, and for many others, Mailchimp.com is a great start to business. You can collect your subscriber base, and at first do not worry about paying, but by the time the subscriber base reaches 2 thousand, then paying $ 10 per month will seem like a trifle to you.

But there is one minus, this service is completely on English language and for many this is a serious hindrance. There was a time when I wanted to write an article about Mailchimp, but my hands never got around to it. In a couple of hours, you can learn the main tools of this service, and learn how to freely create both mailing lists and subscription forms.

Free WordPress Email Campaign - Settings

There are a lot of settings, so I will not consider them all. After installing the plugin, you need to configure the delivery of letters: via Gmail, SMTP or in a simple way, through the functions of the plugin itself.

But in order not to mess around for a long time and check how it works, you can choose Gmail. In this case, you need to enter your mailing address and his password.

But Gmail has limitations, and you can send no more than 500 emails per day. Plus, the mailing can go with a big delay. Therefore, if you have a subscriber base of more than 500 people, and you need fast delivery, then connect to SMTP, or a third-party service, but more on that later.

You can already check how this plugin works by following this link. You will be taken to the WordPress admin panel, where you can see all the plugin settings and the interface itself, although everything is in English

To connect to SMTP, you need to create a mailbox on your hosting through which the mailing will be carried out. You also need to add TXT records for the SPF Domain and the mailster.domainkey subdomain. In short, these settings affect the delivery of letters, otherwise all letters will go to spam, and Gmail will add a warning “Be careful!” to each letter.

We continue to consider the functionality of the settings. It is possible to enable email delivery by time zone for all subscribers. This feature works if the location is known. Another function of tracking IP and the time when a person subscribed.

In the tag settings, you can change permanent and custom tags. For example, if the tag (address) is added to a letter, it will display the address that you specify in the settings, or it can display any other text.

The tag shown in this example is a permanent tag, because it cannot be changed. But there are also custom tags that you can create and edit. For example, you can create a tag (podarok) that will display text with a reminder of an upcoming promotion, or some kind of contest, for participation in which you can get a valuable gift.

Import and export of subscriber base

If you have a base of subscribers, then you can import it to your site. Just don't spam. For example, you found a database somewhere, downloaded it, and then decided to send out spam. This will definitely end badly and your domain will quickly get blacklisted.

Even earlier, I connected my site to the Feedburner service, and the newsletter went out to all my subscribers through this service. And not so long ago, I decided to abandon this service, downloaded my subscriber base there, and now I send out announcements of new articles through the Mailster plugin.

You can set it up, and all new articles will be sent automatically, but I do everything manually, because I myself can write briefly and to the point, without any preludes. If in the mailing list through the Feedburner service, people clicked through the letters only a few times, now the letters are opened more cheerfully and the links are clicked more.

Creating a Simple WordPress Newsletter

Create a new campaign and give it a name;

We write the subject of the letter and the subtitle;

In the side part there are mailing management settings:

1. Set the send time, if necessary;
2. Receive a test letter to any email;
3. Check email for spam;
4. Selecting a list of subscribers;
5. Change color scheme letters.

In fact, the settings in the picture above are on the side, in one vertical column, but here I placed them horizontally so that they look more compact in the article.

That's all that needed to be set up for a quick mailing. Click "Submit Now" and watch the statistics.

Automatic WordPress Mailing

Everything here is the same as in a simple mailing, except for additional settings.

Here you need to set the time of sending the first letter after the person subscribes to the mailing list. You can also create a letter for those cases when a person unsubscribes from the mailing list. In this letter, you can offer something else, for example, to subscribe to something else.

Thus, we create a separate email chain for each list of subscribers. But it is not necessary to create each letter anew. You can simply make a copy of the first letter, and then change the title, the time of sending, and the text of the letter itself.

Create a subscription form

Creating a subscription form is as simple as anything else. There are three sections: adding fields; design and installation. In the first setup, you can add or remove additional fields for the form. This is sometimes convenient if you need to find out more information about a new client. Each field can be made mandatory.

In the design settings, you can change the color of the form and its size.

You can also add CSS styles there.

In the "settings" section, you can set up redirects after a person has subscribed to the mailing list or unsubscribed. You can also enable the feature so that a person receives a second email to confirm the subscription if he did not see the first one.

♦ Shortcode or PHP (can be installed only on the site where the plugin is installed);

♦ Button;

The button can be set using HTML or a shortcode.

♦ HTML form code (can be installed on external sites).

♦ Iframe code (can also be installed on an external site).

Additional plugins for Mailster

There are 24 more add-ons for the Mailster plugin, and any of them can be installed in the admin area of ​​your site. You can also choose and buy additional email templates. But with a strong desire, you can change the HTML code of the free template to make it more attractive.

How to connect to the AmazonSES email marketing service?

It is possible to connect to an external mailing service for free, such as AmazonSES, although there are others. This option gets rid of the SMTP settings, but there are some limitations.

You can send no more than 62,000 letters per month for free, and for exceeding the limit, you will have to pay extra $ 0.10 for every 1000. AmazonSES services are used by such companies as Siemens, Vodofone, Allergan and some others.

To connect to the service, you need to install an additional Mailster AmazonSES Integration plugin on your site. Next, you need to register on this service and connect bank card. This is necessary in case the limit is exceeded. That's all there is to say in a nutshell about free WordPress email newsletters.

Plugin cost

The Mailster plugin can be purchased online for $59 with six months of technical support, and if you want to extend the help of technical support to 12 months, you will have to pay an additional $20. This is a one-time fee and you will never have to pay anything else. Everything would be fine, pay and forget, but this plugin is not translated into Russian.

There is another option. You can order this plugin from me for 640 rubles. After payment, you will receive a link and be able to download the latest version of the plugin with video instructions for installing and configuring it. You do not pay for the plugin, but only for its translation, plus setup instructions.

On the Internet, you can find where they offer the creation of a mailing service on a WordPress site, all with the same plugins, but at a price of 5,000 to 15,000 rubles.