Using MailChimp with WordPress

If you are taking the time to write regular WordPress blog entries, you will want to make sure that your readers know when you’ve posted something new. One way to do this is to email your new posts to subscribed readers. This can be set up using MailChimp, a WordPress plug-in –  and a bit of set up:).

Note: to follow these instructions, you will need to:

  • know how install a WordPress plug-in
  • know how to add a widget to your sidebar
  • be able to make changes to your WordPress theme
  • have enough understanding of HTML to be able to format your MailPress template.

MailChimp

MailChimp is an online service that you can use to send out email newsletters to subscribed users. Usually, you would create your email newsletters in MailChimp and then use MailChimp to send them out to your lists of users. However, in this case, you will instruct MailChimp to make emails out of your new WordPress posts, instead of creating the email content in MailChimp. You can find out more about MailChimp at the MailChimp website.

Step 1. Get a MailChimp Account.

The first thing you will need to do is review the MailChimp pricing. As long as you will be sending emails to less than 2000 people, and sending less than 12,000 emails per month, MailChimp is free to use. If the free account is not appropriate for you, you could consider one of the paid accounts.

Sign up for a MailChimp account

Step 2. Set up your WordPress post categories

Make sure you have set up a post category in WordPress.  Later, when you create posts that you want emailed to subscribers, you will add the post to this category.

Step 3. Make a list of your RSS feed URLs

MailChimp will use the RSS Feeds from your WordPress website to get the content for the emails it sends out. To set this up in MailChimp, you will need to know the URL for the RSS feed for your category. The RSS feed url for a category will probably look like this:

http://www.example.com/category/slug/feed

Replace “www.example.com” with your domain name, and “slug” with the slug for your post category.

Try out the RSS feed URL for each of your category in your web browser, and when you have the URL correct, make a note of it, as you will need it in the next step.

 

4. Create a MailChimp List for each of your categories.

In MailChimp, create a new List for your WordPress post category. For clarity, give the list the same name as the corresponding category.

Add yourself to the mailing list, just to make sure there is someone in there – MailPress won’t be able to start your email campaign unless there is at least one person in the list.

5. Set up the RSS Feed Campaigns in MailChimp

New-MailChimp-CampaignCreate a new campaign in MailChimp. Choose “RSS-driven campaign” from the list of campaign types.

Paste in your RSS Feed URL, and choose an appropriate time for the emails to be sent out (note – actual emails will only be sent when there is a new post to send, so what you are really setting is the time that MailChimp will check for new posts).

MailChimp-RSS-Feed-Settings

In the next step, choose the Mailing List that corresponds to the category you are setting up the campaign for.

In the “Campaign Info” step, give your campaign a name, and edit any of the other details if necessary.

Then choose an existing template, or create a new one. Ideally you will create one that matches the style of your website. This may take some patience…

Next you will go through a couple of screens where you check your settings, and then, when you get to the last screen, scroll down and click the “Start RSS Campaign” button.

You have now set up MailChimp to automatically email your new posts out to people in your MailChimp mailing lists. All that is left to do is to provide people with a way to get onto your mailing list.

6. Add a Subscribe form to your WordPress website

To allow people to subscribe to your WordPress posts (and corresponding MailChimp mailing list and campaign), you will need to provide a sign-up form. Install the MailChimp Widget plug-in to accomplish this.

Download, install, and activate the MailChimp Widget plug-in.

Then go back into MailChimp, and choose “API Keys & Info” from the Account menu. Create a new API key, and then copy and paste it into the MailPress widget settings in WordPress (in the Settings section of the Dashboard menu). This is needed to give permission for your sign-up form to add people into your MailChimp List.

Once you have done that, add the MailPress widget into your sidebar. Select the MailChimp mailing list to add people to, and adjust any of the other settings if necessary.

7. Reformat the subscription form

When you view your website in your web browser, you will most likely find that your subscription form needs some reformatting. This is something that will need to be done in your WordPress theme files.

Mobile Tags

qr-quakeWhat is a Mobile Tag?

A mobile tag is a type of barcode that is designed to be readable by smartphones. There are various types around, but a common one is a QR-Code. It looks like this:

Try it now – scan this tag to find out about the latest Christchurch earthquake.

Make sure you have a QR tag reader installed on your smartphone, then use your phone’s camera to scan the tag.

The mobile tag contains a message for the phone that reads it. It might tell the phone to go to a specific web page, to ring a number, to show a particular location on a map.

Mobile tags are increasingly being used in marketing – you might see a tag in a magazine advertisement and when you use your phone to scan the tag in the advertisement, the phone might take you to the web page for the advertised product, for example.

Mobile Tag Ideas:

The basic concept with a mobile tag is that it is a quick way for people to jump to some internet-based information. That information could be a web page with textual information, a YouTube video, a FaceBook page – there are many possibilities. So, in this way, you can incorporate online material into what was previously an off-line experience. (For example, when reading a book, you might scan a tag to see a video related to what you were reading).

If you take into account the fact that web pages can DO THINGS, there are even more possibilities – scanning a tag might lead to tweeting, requesting someone to call you back, making a donation, locating the nearest store where you can purchase something, adding information about an item into an online database….

Here are a few ideas of how you could use Mobile Tags in your business:

Business Cards

Include a tag on your business card, providing people with a quick way to access more information about you and your business – by linking to your website, or other online resource such as FaceBook.

Product Information

Include a tag on printed materials related to your products, providing people with an easy way to access more information about the product (videos, specifications, instructions…) – by linking to specific pages within your website, or to YouTube videos. If you include a tag on the actual product, customers will be able to use it to locate instructions or other information long after they have lost the manual.

Customer Engagement

Encourage customers to explore your website or printed materials by “hiding” mobile tags within it. When found and scanned, the tag might provide the customer with a discount code, or some other reward.

Tracking Resources

Tags can be used instead of standard barcodes, within your business, to keep track of equipment that you hire out. Because your employees will then use a phone rather than a scanner to scan equipment as it is hired out or returned, they will be able to do these tasks when away from a computer or from the office.

Adding your business into Google Maps

googlemaps_smallWhen people perform a location-specific search in Google (or Google Maps), the search results they are shown include a map with markers to indicate where businesses included in the search results are located.  You can list your business for free in Google Maps at Google Places for Business.

First you will need to sign in to Google using a Google account. If you don’t already have an account, you can sign up for one using the link near the top of the Google Places for Business log in page.

You will then enter the information you want included about your business – this includes contact details, a description, category, and, of course, your address. You can even add photos (e.g. your logo, a photo of your premises…) and videos.

When you have submitted your information, Google will then need to validate your listing. They do that by sending you a postcard to the address you specified for your business. The postcard will include activation instructions.