Online Marketing Business Blog

Get 500 BlinkCampaign Credits for Free

For the month of June, tell us what you like or don't like about the new BlinkCampaign and get 500 credits on us. Drop us an email (please use the email link here) to tell us what you think, and we'll present you with your free credits within a few days. Be sure to let us know what features you'd like to see in upcoming releases as well!

Be sure to include your BlinkCampaign account information as well so that we can send the credits over to you.

Each account is entitled to this offer 1 time in the month of June.

BlinkCampaign v2 Release

If you're wondering if we were on a long holiday or simply won the lottery (though we wish you were right on both counts), we've been busy finishing up on BlinkCampaign v2, which was officially released this morning.

Along with a new, cleaner look, usability tweaks and performance upgrades, we've addressed other key areas that you've been asking about.

So what's new?

Loads actually. Some of which you won't be able to see (such as delivery and code tweaks), some of which you'll feel (performance), and some which are important to you (white labelling and customization).

New Dashboards

Less clutter, more functions, quicker loading. The new Dashboards in BlinkCampaign boasts way faster loading speeds, as well as a quick links box to help you get to your tasks more easily.

Improved Performance

For the tech geeks, we've overhauled all the markup and optimized the entire application, both on the frontend, as well as our delivery engine.

By the way, we've dropped support for IE6 for its horrendous performance and lack of good CSS support. We hope the browser dies a quick death soon.

Customizing Your Signup Process

Back in 2008, we released some APIs for you to create a signup form on your own website to allow site visitors to signup straight into BlinkCampaign's subscriber lsits. We've added the ability for you to define your own custom error page for the signup process, just in case the user somehow gets an error along the way.

All BlinkCampaign Pages Reflect Your Domain

Yep, we know that some of the system messages had our domain in it. We've cleaned it all up now and your unsubscribe, opt-in, error pages etc, all use your domain instead of ours. On top of that, all system emails (such as your client retrieving their password) will be using your name and email address instead of ours.

Email Tokens Are No Longer Case Sensitive

No worries though, your existing templates will still work. All BlinkCampaign tokens are now case-insensitive to prevent coding errors and errors in generating those dynamic content or links.

What's Next?

There's a whole ton of other stuff that we've done which we won't list here and bore you with. All through this month, you'll be seeing little upgrades and improvements along the way so be sure to watch out for them!

Subscriber List Signup API & More Email Credit Management Features

The BlinkCampaign team has just released a minor update to address some of our most commonly requested features.

Creating a Subscriber Signup Form

Start creating more email marketing opportunities for your clients! Now, you can add a signup form to any webpage and link it directly to your subscriber list. Each list has its own unique API so that you can still manage multiple list for each of your clients. The opt-in process is simple:

 

Of course, you're able to customize the entire process:

• Confirmation webpage
• Verification email (as well as the To and From addresses)
• Final confirmation page

All these features can be accessed under the subscriber list for each client. Just look to the right for the new options.

Managing your client's credits on a "per campaign" basis.

Previously on BlinkCampaign, we provided you the functionality for limiting your client's credits on a monthly basis. This lets you charge your client's $x, generating recurring revenue each month, without having to worry about them going over the limit, and possibly depleting the credits for your other client accounts.

We're happy to introduce a new mode of control: credits per campaign.

Now, you'll have the ability to set x amount of credits for each campaign for a particular client. By doing so, you can limit the amount of emails going out on a per-campaign basis, ensuring your client doesn't burst the credit bank before the month ends.

This flexibility also allows you to charge your client on a multiple tier level:

Base cost + 1st tier cost (after exceeding base) + any subsequent tier

Your base being the x amount of credits for each campaign. We'd love to hear more about other business models or ideas you may have on how you're charging your clients for email marketing services!

Coming soon: credit limit on a one-time basis, due to be released mid-February.

More Generic Domains To Deliver From

BlinkCampaign has just released a set of generic domains for you to choose from.

Under your Agency Module, simply go to Customize > Settings:

Select one of our 3 new generic domains:

• emailmkting.com
• poweremailcampaign.com
• simpleedm.com

Your login URL as well as the web version links, unsubscribe links, etc will reflect this new domain.

Do note that any existing campaign will generate an error once you swap to a new domain so ensure that all your campaigns have expired before making a switch.

Aug - Sept Product Updates

Bounce Reporting

We know how important bounce management is. Properly and accurately tracking your bounce can help your client further analyze their subscriber list and integrity.

The BlinkCampaign team has just released a more detailed bounce report integrated into each campaign's reporting module. With the new bounce reports, we have further broken down your bounces into error codes, as well as bounce by domains. We also hope to achieve further transparency in our delivery services with this information.

More Sub-Domains

Yup, we've already got'em, as well as the ability to create your own custom domains. In the coming months, we'll be registering more generic domains for you to use on BlinkCampaign, especially for those of our users who don't have the ability at the moment to create their own custom domains, or are really unsure how. As we start implementing more domains, simply click on "Customize" under your agency module and select from one or more of our generic domain names.

Bulk Appending Your Subscriber Status

Keeping your subscriber list up-to-date and relevant is one of the most important points in email marketing. Also due to be released in mid-September, the BlinkCampaign Team will be rolling out a Bulk Append feature to allow you to update your list through uploading an updated CSV file. This is especially useful for managing large lists, especially when your client has just sent over an updated list of unsubscribes that they happened to uncover from another separate system. We really hope this new feature will take the pain out of your work in trying to marry and merge various subscriber lists from your client.

Email Campaign Integrated Spam Assessment

Paid for some spam tests elsewhere previously? That's hogwash in our opinion. Coming soon, you'll be able to run your campaign through our online spam assessment engine. With the relevant results, you can help enhance the deliverability of your campaign by tweaking your subject headers and copy straight within your Campaign module. Besides analyzing text copy, we'll also be helping out in throwing in a little spell checker and link validation, just to help make life easier.

Again, these features and updates are free for all BlinkCampaign users. Heck, BlinkCampaign is free for anyone to use for sending email campaigns for up to 5 recipients, just so you can have a go and experience what its all about.

If you're interested in signing up for a free Blink Campaign account or learn more about how BlinkCampaign can help you (that means you, web designers, developers and creative agencies) generate more revenue from email marketing. check out our website and learn how others like yourselves has taken email marketing to a whole new business level.

Blink Campaign v1.3 Release

BlinkCampaign's v1.31 release patches in some new functionalities, as well as enhancements done on the system level to tackle the ever changing environment in email deliverability. We've also set the base framework ready for our eCard module integration and will be investing more time in the new module to meet the upcoming demands for the festive period.

'Tis The Season To Be Busy

Yup, we're getting ready to pack a punch this coming festive season. The BlinkCampaign team is busy working in integrating an eCard module, targetted to be released in early to mid-October.

What's that again?

An eCard Module. We know how your corporate clients love those flashy animated stuff. Stuff that regular HTML emails don't support. Be it this coming Christmas and Hanukkah or 2009, there's an eCard to be designed for every festive occasion.

Why we love eCards

Designers like us

• Its something more visually creative to attempt
• Its a great challenge to blend your client's brand and message with the season
• We can fire up Flash again and hone our animation skills
• We get to create AND deliver eCards, giving us a nice little festive income bonus
• Its great for the environment!

Clients

• They just love those flashy stuff
• Its way faster and more cost-effective
• They get a great excuse to send one out whenever there's a chance
• They'll know exactly who've opened their eCards and who to strike off the list
• The marketing or PR department can simply type their CEO's name instead of trying to forge his signature (Honest, I've heard stories)

Blink Campaign v1.3 Release

We've been busy back in the R&D department for the past month or so, scrambling to put together the next enhancement pack for Blink Campaign. From further usability testing and feedback, we've made a number of subtle improvements in the interface as well as the backend engines. So without further adieu, we are happy to present *drum roll* v1.3.

Blink Campaign v1.2 Release

Since the release of Blink Campaign, we've received loads of valuable feedback from our users, who have basically shaped this feature release. From v1 to v1.1x, we've been focusing more on tweaking and fine-tuning backend matters such as performance and deliverability. For the v1.2 release, we've enhanced more on the frontend UI as well as end-user features. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all that have used, helped and contributed to Blink Campaign.

Agency Logo and platform name

In our prior version of Blink Campaign, you had to add in a name for the application or your own agency name. Logo upload was optional and served to increase the branding visibility of the agency.

With this new release, you now have the option to show/hide the platform name which would allow you to either have a larger (longer width) logo without the text getting in the way.

Then

Now

To hide the platform name, simply login to your account and go to "Customise". You can show/hide the plain text by selecting "Show my logo only".

Custom Domain setup

Yup, its finally here and available to setup on your own! Setting up your own custom domain allows you to hide our domain from your clients while using your own custom domain.

To setup your very own custom domain, simply login to your account and go to "Customise". The custom domain setup is available right at the top of the page. Just follow the few simple steps and you'll be ready in no time!

Do note that you might require your system/website administrator's assistance in setting up a cname instance for creating your custom domain.

Custom CSS class style within <largetext> token

For further integration to the WYSIWYG editor, the <largetext> token now supports inline style definitions.

This allows you to define a CSS class directly in the token, instead of creating a <span> or <div> tag to wrap around it. The CSS styling will also be directly reflected in the editor under the custom classes. To include a custom CSS style to your block of editable text, simply use <largetext style="Custom Style Class Name" />. Example: <largetext style="style1" />

Uploading email templates

I'll be the first to admit that we've been a little strict with HTML markup for upload into Blink Campaign. In addition, some non-compliant, non XHTML valid custom hacks were required for templates to be displayed correctly in various email clients (thank you for the pain, Outlook 2007). With this new release, designers are free to explore and hack away if necessary to ensure consistent visual layout across the more popular email clients. Blink Campaign will only check for valid tokens as well as ensure that a minimum ##UnsubscribeLink## is available in the email template for CAN-SPAM compliance.

Go on, get your creative hats on again and start developing more templates with greater ease!

If you would like to know more about Blink Campaign, or have any thoughts/feedback/criticisms/compliments, do get in touch with us.

Blink is Born

After over 2 years of work, we're happy to announce the birth of Blink Campaign!

Prior to its first public release, Blink Campaign was exposed to a close group of agencies who've provided great suggestions and feedback, resulting in the last minute tweaking and fine-tuning of the system. We've definitely come a long way.

We (Active8) have been designing and developing websites and constructing online marketing campaigns since 1999. We've found that a good website needs online marketing to generate traffic and vice versa. We've tried off-the-shelf products for your email marketing efforts, as well as other online platforms. However, due to the limitations of these platforms from a business angle (think crappy monthly subscriptions or paying extra for each new feature), we've decided to just build our own.