New Email Client: MailPoet

wysija-pigeon

I’ve been busy, guys!

You should all be aware by now that I’ve shifted all content from Blogger to WordPress; a move that I’m so far extremely pleased with. And I hope you readers are as well. I’ve added social media to the mix, and I’ve been writing my heart out. All of this has taken up a lot of time, but I believe I’ve found my true calling in life by being able to write and inspire.

I’ve really enjoyed putting this new platform to use, and I’m super proud of the look of the site. It required many hours to design what you see before you, but I take a  lot of pride in my work. I guess I view this site as an extension of me. Great content is wonderful, but great content in a beautiful environment is even better!

So I noticed after the move that my emails looked horrible. For some reason unbeknownst to me FeedBurner continued to deliver email content to everyone who has subscribed over the years, but the formatting didn’t carry over. All of the emails generated by FeedBurner for syndicated email content were basically a jumbled mess.  I was happy to see there were no issues after migrating subscribers over from Blogger to WP, but having a great site and a crappy email just doesn’t cut it. Not after all the work I put into all of this.

In light of this, I have switched email clients. I no longer will be using FeedBurner, and as of yesterday switched to MailPoet. While FeedBurner will still work for RSS feeds, anyone who reads this blog via email will be seeing a brand new, beautiful product. Actually, you should have already received one email under the new platform as my last article was sent to inboxes via MP.

This switch should cause no headaches for anyone. The subscriber base migrated without an issue, and you should also not be getting any new confirmation emails or anything else. The emails should pipe into your inbox as usual, and without any duplicate issues.

However, these new emails will be better than ever. I have control over the look of the emails, the amount of content shown in the emails, delivery timing, etc. Pretty much everything that FeedBurner did not allow.

So, in essence, this new move is beneficial for both you readers and myself. I get more control over the look and delivery, and you readers get a great looking product. In addition, if there are ever any newsletter products or content that I release separately from the blog, this product allows me to communicate directly by email. As always, your privacy is of the utmost concern for me. I don’t sell any information, and I don’t spam anyone.

What you should be seeing in your inbox is content that looks very similar to what you see on the blog, with my logo and all. I did my best to keep the design on the emails simple – much like the blog. The text will be much easier to read than what FeedBurner offered, and, obviously, the formatting has all been fixed. So I apologize for any issues with that over the last few days. I work too hard to write enjoyable, educational, and inspiring articles for the emails to be almost unreadable.

Please let me know if there are any issues. I did extensive testing on the email product for about six hours yesterday to make sure everything was technically okay, and then after that customized the design. For anyone not already subscribed by email, you will still subscribe to this blog the same way: using the large email subscription box in the right sidebar. Again, any other methods of subscribing to this blog (Feedly, Bloglovin, FeedBurner RSS) will be completely unaffected.

As always, any changes I make are for the best for all of us. This should be of no convenience to anyone, and will only be a big upgrade for you if you read by email.

Any feedback is appreciated. Good or bad! Please let me know what you think of the new product if you get a chance.

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: MailPoet

 

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28 Comments

  1. Jason,
    Having reinvigorated my own website I know how many hours go into it. In a couple weeks I’d like to talk with you about MailPoet and see how you are liking your experience. I heard good things about Mailchimp and Aweber in the past, although yesterday I heard Aweber has been taken down by hackers?! Anyway, wishing you the best and grateful for your help.
    -Bryan

  2. Good work, DM!
    I don´t receive Emails, because I have a Feedreader and can see every posting.

    But I know, that a migration is a lot of hard work!
    And if you don´t are a computer specialist, then everything will be even more “exciting”.

    But I think you have made a wonderfull job!
    Again: Congratulation for this new blog!

    Best whishes
    D-S

  3. Busy, busy, busy! The joys of running a successful site, no less! 🙂 Good to see you continuing to make strides to better connect with your readers in both your writing and means of communication!

  4. I like the new look and I’m glad you’re able to make all these improvements. I would love to chat via email sometime about the transition to WordPress. I’m inclined to stay with Blogger since it’s so cheap so self host through them/Go Daddy ($10 annually). And, let’s face it, it’s always easier to stick with what’s working. But since you’ve made the change, I’d love to hear more about the reasons why.

  5. Bryan,

    As you know, I’m always more than happy to help. What I really like about MP is that it’s a plugin, so it’s integrated directly within WordPress. No outside accounts or anything. And it’s super easy to use and integrate.

    I tried AWeber, and I didn’t like it at all. It was clunky and complicated, at least in my opinion. MP was way easier to use and setup. I signed up for a elasticemail to actually handle the sending of emails, and it was seamless. Good stuff!

    Best wishes.

  6. W2R,

    Busier than I thought I’d be. But in a really good way! 🙂

    I think this was the last of the changes. It’s a good thing I had off this two weeks and scheduled the whole migration during this time frame. It would have been incredibly difficult to do all of this while working 7:15-6.

    Take care!

  7. DB40,

    The move to WP isn’t necessary. If I didn’t have a goal of one day taking my content into a different format I probably would have just stuck with it. As you mention, it’s super cheap and easy. And it allows you to just focus on writing and networking, rather than getting bogged down on all the backend stuff.

    But if you’re ever interested in making the change I’d be glad to help out and answer any questions!

    Take care.

  8. D-S,

    So for you nothing will change. 🙂

    You’ll keep receiving the same content through your RSS feed.

    I’m definitely not specialist in any of this, but I’ve certainly learned a lot!

    Thanks for the kind words. And thanks as well for the continued support. Much appreciated!

    Cheers.

  9. I actually just noticed how nice your emails were lately, but I also noticed it was a little tricky trying to go from the email to your site. Usually you can just click the title or your logo and you get sent to your site (I like to read your comments otherwise I do like how you can read the whole post in the email), but I noticed there was only a small link to your site at the very end, so that would be my only recommendation, to maybe add links to your site on your logo and post title.

    Otherwise, really nice emails, some of the best I’ve seen.

  10. Sundeep,

    Thanks so much. That’s exactly the type of feedback I’m looking for. 🙂

    I have edited the top logo so that a link to the site is included. I wasn’t even aware that it wasn’t already there, or that I could edit it. I’m pretty sure the next newsletter should include that change. That way it’s easier to get to the site. Right now, you have to either click an included link within the article content, or all the way at the bottom where it says “Read Online”. That sucks.

    Glad you like the look. I tried to replicate the simplicity, text, and feel of the blog the best I possibly could.

    Thanks again. I believe that change should go live with the next email.

    Best regards.

  11. I get the emails, but I normally just come straight to this website. I’ve noticed that emails are usually several hours behind the actual blog post, so I just check the website directly.

    I think your diligence will continue to pay off.

  12. DM,

    Great job on the site! Looks great!

    Thought I’d mention your recent article on company performance versus stock performance. Did you notice what happened to TGT today? CRAZY!! Your writing is definitely improving–it’s becoming prophetic!

    Love the blog.

    Steve

  13. Spoonman,

    Hey, I appreciate it. The emails are obviously a convenience thing, but I’d much rather have people actually stop by the blog and comment. I get a lot of value out of the comments, and I’ve learned a lot more here in the comment area than I ever have by researching and writing. Conversing with like-minded people like yourself has really improved my quality of life. It reminds us that we’re not doing this alone, you know?

    Thanks again for the support.

    Take care.

  14. Steve,

    Yeah, pretty crazy with Target, huh? It’s funny how Mr. Market can change his tune on a company over the course of a day. And nothing has really changed with Target. They’re still bogged down by expenses and potential litigation by the data breach, and the Canadian expansion hasn’t really improved much. Yet they beat on earnings slightly, and now the company is worth billions of dollars more today than it was yesterday. It’s comical.

    Thanks for the support. Glad you enjoy what I put together here. I hope to continue writing for years to come. 🙂

    Best wishes.

  15. Done, the link is in the new email and that’s how I got back here to reply to this comment. Thanks!

  16. I get to you via a portal, and the migration was perfect seamless except that I used to see links for the last six of your entries whereas now I see only one link. Yours is one of my favorites, so I generally do check in every day.

    I have no clue how you could make it so I can see multiple links again, but it might be helpful to have a link to your previous article (so I can check that I’ve read it) or to add a list of your latest articles (as well as most popular posts) on the side bar so I can check that.

    Meanwhile, I like your new picture. It makes me smile.

    In other news, they were playing “Taking Care of Business” at the store today and it made me think of you. The whole thing could almost be a theme song for you (the future retired you), but the best part is the lyric “Take good care of my business. While I’m away. Every day.” (The only part of the song that I can’t make fit is where the singer says that the business is all his–you are sharing.)

  17. Debbie M,

    Haha! That’s sweet of you to think of me. I’m definitely taking care of business every single day. 🙂

    If you can tell me what portal you’re using I’ll do my best to fix it. I’m no expert with this stuff, but I’m plodding along a lot better than I thought I would. If I know what you’re doing I’ll do my best to fix it.

    And in this portal, did you see full posts or just excerpts?

    Thanks for the kind words and support. I’ll do my best to fix your concern.

    Cheers!

  18. “… and working overtime.” Heh.

    I use Protopage.com. I normally see about 7 titles (sometimes truncated). Then with a mouseover I see excerpts. (But then I always click and come over.)

    If you go to Protopage, they will assume you want to set up your own stuff and let you try things out for free and without giving them any information about yourself. Then if you want to save your work you have to sign up (with an e-mail address and password I think).

    You could actually see what your page looks like by adding a widget for it. Just click on the Add widgets button at the top, type your web address in the box at the top of the window that opens up and press Go.

    Well, that’s what *I* know. And I might have used some wrong/laughable words because I’m not a good geek or a young person. (Like maybe I’m not really using a “portal.” And now you’ll know.) Anyway, I wouldn’t spend a lot of time on this, but then it sounds like you’re enjoying playing around with it at this point.

  19. Debbie M,

    I’ll definitely look into this. I’ll try to see if there is some kind of setting or something I have that can change this for how outside sites view my feed.

    However, it’s weird that some things have changed since I moved from Blogger to WP. Like how the emailed stopped formatting for no apparent reason. Weird.

    Best regards!

  20. I’m sure it makes sense somehow!

    P.S. Doh–on the song I forgot about the musician verse. But that can be fixed:

    Buy a dividend stock,
    Then watch it start to rock
    As it pays you every single quarter.
    When the dividends increase
    You will get a bigger piece.
    Cut your costs and you can be a hoarder.
    People see you having fun
    Just a lying in the sun.
    Tell them that you like it this way…

    Ahh, that’s better!

  21. Thanks so much for this info!
    Im in the same boat right now, as you were when you wrote this!
    I don’t like the formatting not going through via feedburner.

    Question though: what do I put in the URL box for my RSS widget? When I used Feedburner I put the feedburner url into my rss widget. Since Im trying to switch over to mailpoet, and sending newsletters directly through wp (via my company gmail account)… what do I put as the url link within the rss widget? Thanks so much for your help here!

  22. Auntie Avie,

    I use MailPoet for my email deliveries. My RSS through the blog is still delivered via FeedBurner.

    I don’t think MailPoet has any way to handle RSS, I’m sorry. I would possibly look into a different way to advertise your feed; you may want to look into Feedly or something similar.

    Best of luck!

    Take care.

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