This week we will be introducing a new formatting toolbar to the edit boxes within the CMA of your website. When you login later this week you will see that a ‘Word’ style toolbar enables you to bold, italicise and bullet point your content simply and easily.
We have also made it easier for you to add/remove links within the text by using the ‘chainlink’ icons. You can create a hyperlink to a webpage or unlink the text at the click of a button.
The spell check feature is still there and is again included within the new formatting bar – click the ABC icon to check your text for inaccuracies.
A new inclusion is a ‘Source’ button that shows the HTML coding which will help you to understand what has to appear in the coding to make these things happen. It also means that the more advanced can incorporate HTML coding of their own and check that it has been introduced correctly.
This is just one of many improvements to our service that we will be bringing you in the next few weeks.
Hi
Does this allow us to embed a video from YouTube into our source code for those of us who can edit html? Great news if we can!
Hi again
Please please can you introduce double opt-in capture with the Contact Us Form by allowing a link to also send name email and maybe phone number to an autoresponder in exchange for say a quarterly newsletter by the website owner?
I noticed there had been 20,000 visitors, (not all unique, but still, that equates to lost opportunities for sending a special offers out.
I would suggest GetResponse as a first choice because having used Aweber previously I changed across because you can use a variety of GetResponse confirmation link addresses, and even lets you use a chosen domain name, even with sub-domain address (maybe this could therefore work as lelzetgites.enquiries@independentowners.com as an example of how you could make it work for individual sites on your portal as the list name & confirmation link.
Currently I have to enter them manually each time. If you set this up it will be easier for those with no technical skills.
We will need to comply to this, as in the USA, one day I suspect, and it gives us added protection.
regards
annette
Hi Annette
We are investigating how a video can be embedded into one or more of our web pages. At the same time we expect you will have teh ability to include widgets, gadgets and more images.
Thank you for the suggestion of using an autoresponder. We’ll look into your recommendations. We appreciate any further comments on how useful this would be if implemented? Would it be used effectively?
Bob
Hi Bob
I think that there will come a time when we will have to offer double opt-in as it may become compulsory, as in the United States. Spam has become so prolific and can only get worse.
For those who don’t know what double opt-in is – the enquirer would get an email initiated by the contact form, with a link they click in order for us to send them information over the internet – and gives them the protection of being able to un-subscribe from that list at any time). If they don’t click on the link within a space of time I telephone or contact them anyway (and at the same time remind them to click the link. Currently my autoresponder is pre-arranged to update me too.
An autoresponder, once set up, would also suit those who struggle to get the internet, or have very slow connections.
My autoresponder does some of the work for me, by sending an initial well crafted email that I know engages any reader and has been tested to convert well, together with a phonecall and if necessary a brief follow-up confirm of dates, price and call to action.
This in turn frees me up to be able to respond from my mobile with a very short email or messsage, from anywhere in the world, even with these small fiddly devices. (This also brings up another suggestion – giving us a choice of receiving texts as well as email when a lead comes in!)
A second timely email can follow up and be just the tipping point to reminding them to get on with making a decision in our favour if they haven’t already. And later in the season or year I can offer a special deal to extend my season.
Building a list will effectively, and cheaply allow me to collect qualified leads that I can continue to foster a relationship with over time. I already was sending out a mailing once a year, but our email list has really grown and is now becoming costly in terms of postage, postcard print runs etc, never mind the time. I know I could have been sending out a broadcast email newsletter once, to all, instead.
For me an autoresponder maximises all the efforts put into marketing for each main season, and every enquiry is a lead otherwise wasted if we don’t have availability this time. Each offers additional future value.
Every one of those leads are interested in travel, your country, your region, and your self catering property. You can’t receive a more qualified lead than that. So why not periodically keep in touch via say a quarterly newsletter with tempting words and pictures of your property and news and views that would be of interest to them.
I’m all for being able to make life easier, or getting a life in-between marketing, developing another gite, redecorating, organising and entertaining guests. By the end of the season, contrary to what some friends think, we’re all in need of a holiday (now there’s a thought to finish on – we could do a property swap arrangement between members of your portal for a couple of weeks or a month out of season, and be caretakers at the same time!
Annette