Support Manual / Site Specific Help / Blog How To's

Manage Your Subject Line

Subject line will be a huge determinant to your email's ability to get into the inbox. You should not write an email subject line that is significantly longer than your header because the longer your email subject line is, the more likely it would be flagged as spam.

Remember three primary rules:

•     Shorter is better! (But not less than five or six words)
  
•     Don't rely on words that are included in the "spam words" list in the next section of this post.
  
•     Avoid using all caps or special characters in your email. They may end up resulting in having you flagged as spam.
  

You can get away with using "spam words" in your subject line if you have a great sender reputation and use them with moderation. However, if your test email goes to the spam or junk folder and you have a spam word in your subject line; your first test fix should be to remove it.

Write Content that Isn't Full of Spam Words

This rule, as well, may seem fairly obvious. However, you'd be surprised how many emails are sent daily and then end up in the spam or junk folder because they were loaded down with words like "free" or "credit." Writing content for email marketing can be a very specific process that's not different from writing for a Search Engine Optimization page in the fact that you need to write to a certain algorithm. There are many free online tools that will scan your email content and give you a score or a color-coded rating regarding the likelihood that you will be flagged as spam. While these tools are imperfect, they can give you a red flag if you are clearly in the danger zone.

The basic rule of thumb is to understand the words and types of language that most email service provider spam filters will consider likely junk mail. Then simply write in a manner that doesn't incorporate those words or style. It may mean that you need to think a little harder while writing your copy, but that effort will be worth it when you hit the inbox. After all, it doesn't matter how persuasive the word "free" would be with your subscribers if they never actually see the email.

Avoid Emails that Are One Large Image: Minimize Images Overall

Emails that are one large image have a high chance of being flagged as spam if you don't already have a good sender reputation. Using a large image to encompass the entire email is a frequent trick of email spammers. If the entire content of your email is in an image file, then the email spam filters have nothing to spider in terms of content and can't figure out if your message is junk or not. We've all seen emails get delivered to our inbox that are one large image. However, your deliverability chances decrease if your email is one big image. As we noted earlier, even if you hit the inbox, your conversion percentage will be decreased as well.

While images are an important part of any email template, the more images you use the more you may experience spam filter issues. If you are having a difficult time making it into the inbox, then one of the first steps you'll want to explore is to reduce the number of images in your email template.
Minimize the Use of Red Fonts and Huge Headline Size Fonts

Red fonts and huge headline size fonts have also been shown to cause spam filter issues, though not as frequently as many of the other issues noted here. As a general rule, it's just a better idea to avoid using red fonts (pick an off-red color), huge headline fonts of more than sixteen pixels or a combination of both. There are plenty of design options that still give you great flexibility without using those font sizes and colors.

You can do this by going to the "Posts and Comments" area of your Blog Module.

YourDomain.com > Modules > Blog: Blog (mX) > Posts & Comments

Clicking on "Add Post" will take you to an editor where you can create a new post

NOTE: once you save your new post it will be visible (live) on your site

Here is what the create a post page will look like:

You can choose the Author.  (note the author is anyone that is setup in the membership module linked to this blog module, and specified in the "General settings" area)

The "Name" is the title of your blog post.

Categories will decide who gets the notification about this post, and where it is stored.

You can also post your blog to your facebook wall, if you have it setup do to so in the "social media integration" area.

Clicking on "Add" will post your new Blog post.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact support.

You will need to add a page to display your blog posts.

for videos on the blog module, please click here

1. First add a page. (See instructions here on how to add a page.)
2. Next you will want to add blog frames to this blog page.  See screenshot and instructions below

On your NEW blank Blog page, choose an empty frame.  And change the frame type.

Then Choose one of these frame types below:

You will need a "Posts" frame.

and a "Search Box" is recommended.

The "Calendar" and "Category List" are optional.

Repeat the instructions above to add each frame type you would like to use on your blog page.

If you need more frames you can split frames.

please feel free to contact support if you have any questions

You can customize the notifications the system sends for each module.

This Answer will discuss:

• Notifications
• Mailer Variables (and other variables)

To access the area where you can customize your notifications you will need to go to the membership module that corresponds with the module you wish to customize.  For example, if you want to update your blog notifications you will need to go to the "Mailer" area that connects to your blog module. Like this: YourDomain.com > Modules > Membership: Blog (mX) > Mailer

Once you are in the "Mailer" area, you will need to click on the "topics" area next to the "System messages" for the module your are looking to customize.

Once you have clicked on "topics" you will be able to edit any of the individual notifications that go out automatically.

See the lists below to see the variables available for each module.

Blog:

%blogName% - The name of your blog module.
%postTitle% - The title of your post.
%postContent% - The text of your post or an excerpt from it.
%postLink% - The link to your post on the site.
%postAuthorName% - The name of the post author.
%postAuthorEmail% - The email of the post author.
%commentContent% - The text of comment.
%commentAuthorName% - The name of the comment author.
%commentAuthorEmail% - The email of the comment author.
%commentRating% - The rating of the comment.
%commentExtraFields% - The values of extra fields of the comment.
%unsubscribeLink% - The link to Subscriptions page allowing recipients to opt out.

Membership system messages:

%memberLabel% - the value of "Member Label (Singular)" on General Settings.
%memberGroup% - The name of the Group the member is a part of
%memberName% - The name entered in the "Name" field of the members profile
%memberEmail% - The email entered in the "E-mail" field of the members profile
%memberPassword% -  The "password" entered in the "Password" field of the members profile
%memberValidThru% - The expiration date of the member (if set)
%memberPaymentAmount% - This will show the membership price if you have that set
%memberPackageName% - This will show the sign up package name (that is specified in the "sign up packages" area)
%memberXXXXX% - any other fields, XXXXX is the title of the field with spaces removed, case-sensitive.
%memberSignupInfo% - the list of all fields
%memberSignupInfoNoPassword% - the list of all fields excluding the password
%companyName% - taken from "Site Template and Settings -> Company Name"
%companyUrl% - site address with http://...
%companyEmail% - taken from "Membership -> General Settings -> Notification Email"

%memberNumber% - this will show the identification number assigned to the member when they sign up.


Ad module system messages - same as above (taken from the ad owner's account) plus:

%adLabel% - the value of "Ad Label (Singular)" on General Settings.
%adCode% - This will show the value in the "code" field
%adValidThru% - This will show the Expiration of the AD
%adPaymentAmount% - This will show the price
%adPackageName% - This will show the name of the package
%adXXXXX% - any other fields, XXXXX is the title of the field with spaces removed, case-sensitive.
%adInfo% - all the fields
%adInfoNoPayment% - all the fields excluding ValidThru and PackageName

You can define special template variables in the Email Subject setting: http://prntscr.com/9nlhg0
It supports four template variables:
%postNumber%
%adTitle%
%date%
%siteName%

ECommerce System messages:

%store_url% -  This will show the Website URL
%number% - This will show the Order Number
%status% - This will show the Order Status
%date% - This will show the Order Date
%buyer_name% - This will show the Buyers name

If you have any questions please feel free to contact support

One way to modify how your Blog Posts are displayed is by modifying the Layout of the Blog Posts frame.  This Answer will show you how to do that.

(videos on the layout builder & formatting your Blog :more info here)

 The Blog Module has a unique setup with the layout builder.  This area will describe each layout that you see in the Blog Layout Builder:

Image - Starting on the left you have the image field. 

Details - Under that is a "link to details" link.

Code - Going over to the right and top you see the "Code" field. (which is similar to SKU)

Title - This is the title of your Item. (Keep in mind the word "Title" is the "label" and the data that displays for the title is called the "Value")

Description - This field shows the description of your item.

Label -You can choose to not show the "label" (For example if you don't want the word "CODE" to show up, but still want the actual content of the code field there you would choose "none" under the "label" drop down.)

Or you can change what is shown as the label. If you wish the word "code" to display as let's say "company" instead, then you would choose "Custom" in the "Label" drop down.  Then type the word "company". 

Label Format - If you wish to show the label differently you can choose to customize the label format.  (For example if you want the customized label "company" to show up as bold and larger then the other text, you would choose the size and "bold" under "label format".

Value Format - If you wish to display the content of the field in a different format you can do so under "Value Format".  For example.  If you want the description field to show up as Blue text that is bold.  You can do that under "value Format". NOTE this doesn't change the label color.  Only the actual description content.

Show - You can also choose to show the content as a link, and specify the link here.

Max Length - You can choose to show a limited amount of characters.  So if you wish to only have a portion of each AD display you can do so.  And there will be a "read more" link that shows up and will display more content.  Or can be redirected to a page that shows all of the content.  (To re-direct to another page, you can specify that in the "Frame settings" of the item list frame you are working on.)

Visible to - This can be used if you want this ad to be visible to everyone or to "Logged in members".