Please note we have taken Suite26 down today for emergency maintenance to the sending mechanisms. We envisage this will be down for at least 24 hours, though we will keep you updated on the developments.

You should still be able to login and create email campaigns as normal, but you will not be able to send any emails until further notice.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please look out for further service updates.

Thank you.

The Suite26 Team

Nowadays, more and more emails are displaying in the inbox with images switched off or asking to be downloaded.

Don’t let this turn you off using images in your email campaigns and newsletters. Instead carefully select and use relevant images that support the body content, message or article rather than using the image as the main focus of the email.  Use images to illustrate your message, rather use any old potentially eye-catching picture, just for the sake of having an image on there.

Here are 6 simple tips when using images in your email:

1. Don't embed or attach images - This can create delivery issues. Instead, have your images hosted on your server or on Suite26’s.

2. Fill in the alternative text in your image tags – This is what will appear where images are turned off and before they’re downloaded.

3. Avoid using one big image - This can result in your email looking completely blank if images are switched off!

4. Always use a view-online link - Always include a link at the top of your email that clicks through to an online version of the email in the recipient's web browser. This is will automatically display all the content and images.

5. Your content should refer to any featured pictures. This lets the recipient know what they're missing visually, and encourages them to download the images.

6. Always test your emails before sending to see how they look with images on and off.

Here are two helpful links for helping you choose colours for your HTML email designs, but more importantly they provide you with the necessary colour codes for amending the source code:

http://www.immigration-usa.com/html_colors.html
This link contains a complete colour chart with all 6 digit HEX codes for HTML emails along with an example of how to input the code into the source at the bottom of the screen.

http://www.colorpicker.com
This very useful link allows you to pick the exact colour you are looking for and gives you both the 6 digit HEX code at the top and the RGB numbers along the side of the colour chart.

How To Edit Your Colours
To view and amend the source code for your email in Suite26, go into the Edit Primary Content section and Click on ‘Source’ in the toolbar menu.

To search for a specific piece of colour code to amend:

-Press Ctrl + F (PC users) or cmd + F (Mac users)
-Type in color (not colour)
-Replace either the 6 digit HEX code (e.g. # 33CC66), or the RGB code (e.g. 249, 199, 0) with your desired colour code.

A must read article on Email Authentication using DomainKeys, DKIM, SPF and SenderID, and how it can help improve your deliverability.

http://tinyurl.com/6k64y9r

Here are the three most common email marketing mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Not having their permission

The most important point first, not having permission. Suite26 is based on permission marketing. This means a recipient must have opted-in to receive emails from you or given you their permission directly, because they are interested in what you have to offer.

Purchasing a data list is definitely a no go area. If a recipient hasn’t given you their direct permission to contact them, they shouldn’t be emailed.  It is more beneficial to contact those people that do want to hear from you, than those that don’t and could report you as a spammer.  Plus those data lists are never as accurate as the vendors will have you believe.

Assuming your customers remember who you are

It’s easy to assume that your customers will remember who you are. However, your customers could be receiving plenty emails from several companies like yours, and so, we recommend that you include a sentence at the top of your emails reminding them who you are and why they are receiving the email from you.

This will immediately help hem indentify you and therefore, your customers may be more inclined to read your email, click the links and respond to your message or offer.

Incorrect links and spelling errors

We would always recommend including links in your email as they ultimately provide a way of tracking the success of your emails, using the click through stats. However, it’s important to use relevant links that the recipient will be interested in viewing and directs them straight to that webpage. Don’t just assume that the reader will navigate their own way to the relevant page from your site’s homepage.

It is very easy to make a spelling mistake in your email, or even type the wrong word completely and not notice it yourself. Always get a second pair of eyes to look over your email.  If possible ask a colleague or friend to read through your campaign and test your links before you send.

System upgrade has successfully been completed without any disruption.

Please proceed with any plans to send your campaigns today.

The Suite26 Team

Please be aware, we are making arrangements for Suite26 to be taken down for a short period today, while a vital system upgrade is made.

We will post the exact times of the service disruption as soon as we have the confirmed times in place.  These upgrades should take no longer than 30 minutes.

Please refrain from sending any campaigns until further notice.

Apologies for any convenience caused.

The Suite26 Team

Following our successful outing at the Technology for Marketing & Advertising show in March, we're now strutting our stuff at The Online Marketing Show (Part of Marketing week Live) at Olympia at the end of June.

If you missed us at the TFM&A show earlier in the year, (shame on you), but never mind because you can come and meet us here.

We'll be:

Doing one-to-one demonstrations

Providing free email marketing advice and support

Handing out free email credits for visiting us. (Now you're tempted!)

Plus it's a great opportunity to put a face to a name and voice.

So if you need guidance in connecting and engaging with your customers, this show is the place to meet. Come see us on Stand B414.

If you want to arrange a specific time to hook up with us just call us on 0845 313 0912 or email enquiries@26.co.uk with your preferred date.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Where:
Grand Hall, Olympia, London

Dates:
Wednesday 29th June 2011
Thursday 30th June 2011

Cost:
Free! Register today

Stand:
B414

Suite26 Email Marketing tip 1:

How to change the colour of your links:

Most mail clients and webmail providers will display the links in your email campaigns in the standard blue colour regardless of what colour you set them to in the editor screen.  However, there is a trick to get around this for most mail clients.

Go into Edit Primary Content and switch the editor screen into Source view.   This can be done by clicking the 'Source' button in the toolbar.

Next, you need to add the following piece of HTML code into the source just after the <head> tag and before the </head> tag:

<style type="text/css">
a { color: red; }
</style>

You can change the colour to suit, e.g. green, or you can use normal HTML hex values for the colour (i.e.; #00CC00). Take a look at this full HTML colour chart with HTML colour codes: www.immigration-usa.com/html_colors.html

This will turn all of the links in your email to your chosen colour for the majority of mail clients and webmail providers except for Gmail and Mail.com. For Gmail and Mail.com you will need to highlight each link in your email campaign and set the colour using the text colour selector within the editor.   This solution is not 100% perfect as the line underneath the link within these two webmail providers will often stay in the default blue colour.

Suite26 Email Marketing tip 2:

How to remove the line from underneath your links:

Links display underlined by default in the majority of mail clients, however, you can remove the line underneath the link by adding the following style attribute to your HTML code:

Go into Edit Primary Content and switch the editor screen into Source view.   This can be done by clicking the 'Source' button.

Next, you must add the following piece of HTML code into the source just after the <head> tag and before the </head> tag:

<style type="text/css">
a { text-decoration:none }
</style>

To combine the two pieces of HTML code so that your links stay as your selected colour and display without the line underneath, add the following piece of code:

<style type="text/css">
a {color: #00CC00; text-decoration:none}
</style>

If you need any help changing the colour of your links or removing the underline, please email support@26.co.uk or call 0845 313 0912. Read the rest of this entry »

Latest update: Our BT internet connection is still down at our Harlow offices and looks like being down all day.

That said, you can now email Mark at support@26.co.uk and he'll be able to deal with all your support, sales and general enquiries.

Thanks.