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Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
#12733 11/13/10 04:42 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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I send my newsletters out the way most do, with images inline, hosted from my website.

A great friend of mine says, "are you crazy" I cannot see the images. They are not there.

He does not seem to get that this is normal, that you need to download the images.

Is it practical to send a newsletter to 10,000 people with jpegs as attachments?

I would not even know how to create it. When you attach a jpegs it just sort of goes anywhere right?

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12735 11/13/10 10:21 PM
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What software do you use to create your newsletter?


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
joemikeb #12736 11/13/10 10:53 PM
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Thanks, Joe.
Dreamweaver, then blast with Max Bulk Mail.

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12738 11/14/10 12:37 AM
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Is it practical? Sure, you can do it. A lot of those ten thousand people might not see it exactly the way you send it, though, since many folks set up their email programs not to show formatted or HTML email, and some other folks might screen or block image attachments.

Most of the folks will likely see it, but there isn't really a universal solution to this problem that can be guaranteed to work for everyone.


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
tacit #12739 11/14/10 01:43 AM
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Tacit,
so you would continue doing it the way I'm doing it, with html.

My great friend keeps arguing, "if I cannot see these important images, and don't know what to do, they there are thousands of others too"

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12740 11/14/10 05:04 AM
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I would probably embed the images, since that is becoming the standard for most email newsletters these days. It used to be that linking to them on a Web site was the standard, but as ISPs have steadily increased the maximum size of a message, that's changed. I notice that some of the technical newsletters have switched in the last year or two to embedded images; in fact, now that I think about it, I don't think I'm currently getting any newsletters with remote-hosted images.


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
tacit #12748 11/14/10 02:33 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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Tacit,
all newsletter I get are remote hosted. I've never even seen embedded. Many newsletters have 10 15 images. Would the receiver get 10 jpegs attachments?
and
1) as you said, don't many have filter to block attachments from those they dont know? for viruses?
2) How do you make a newsletter with lots of embedded images? Can you do that in dreamweaver? When I send image attachments, they just go where they want to.
3) is my friend correct that there are still lots of people who don't know to click the "download images"

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12751 11/14/10 05:25 PM
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The way you are doing it is definitely most efficient for you, and probably works for most people.

An alternate approach would be to save your newsletter in PDF format and send that out as an attachment. Of course, this could be a rather large attachment and not as efficient, but at least the whole thing would get to the recipient in one piece.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
Ira L #12756 11/14/10 07:28 PM
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Thanks Ira, never thought of that. It could be nice as they would see it instantly. But not sure the links would work.

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12760 11/15/10 02:58 AM
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> But not sure the links would work.

I think Ira's idea is that the images be embedded in the PDFs...no links.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
artie505 #12761 11/15/10 03:21 AM
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I'm sure kevs will confirm or deny, but it's quite possible his newsletter contains actual links to web pages in addition to images. Links would work in PDFs, something that's easily verified by for example printing this page to pdf and trying the links it contains.


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Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
artie505 #12766 11/15/10 02:56 PM
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Yes, my thought was to embed the images and if there are other actual links to web sites, as pointed out above, those would remain "live" in the PDF format.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
Ira L #12767 11/15/10 04:28 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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thanks guys, very out of the box idea. Will test this. Anyone try it for big email blast? any downsides?
Only thing with any attachment though it that the blast would take lot longer right? (sending to thousands of people), and some folks wont accept attachments due to fears of virus, no?

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12768 11/15/10 06:02 PM
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Originally Posted By: keys
Only thing with any attachment though it that the blast would take lot longer right? (sending to thousands of people), and some folks wont accept attachments due to fears of virus, no?

There is no foolproof way to accomplish what you are attempting with either a formatted email message or an attachment and you will always be subject to limitations imposed by individual recipients and/or their host ISP.

However I receive several newsletters and while none of them are a big or as complex as you are describing, a common solution that is used to work around the problems is a one page email that is essentially a splash screen or table of contents with a link or links to a web site where the newsletter content can be viewed as an HTML and/or downloaded as a PDF. There are advantages and disadvantages to both formats, but FWIW my personal preference is PDF as it will display exactly the same way on any computer whereas HTML can be subject to lots of variables beyond your ability to control. Additionally this offers the added benefit of conveniently providing your readers with access to past issues of your newsletter.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
joemikeb #12769 11/15/10 07:04 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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Interesting Joe, wonder if it's possible to see an example of a PDF newsletter come into my email box.
Are people doing much of these?
I would know by seeing a .pdf attachment?

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12777 11/15/10 10:51 PM
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Whether the PDF would come into your mailbox or not and how it would be seen is dependent on several factors:
  • Some email clients such as Apple's Mail will automatically open and display the PDF attachment, if it is one page or less in length. Other email clients will only show the attachment icon which must be opened to view the file.
  • As has already been mentioned some users will not accept attachments at all out of fear they contain some sort of malware
  • Corporate and institutional firewalls can make sending attachments problematic
  • Some ISPs have a strict limit on the size of attachments so that could be a problem with your newsletter being as long and as complex as it is.
What I was proposing would not have any attachments, rather it would be a one page rich text (HTML) message that would be the introduction to your newsletter. An attention grabber enticing the reader to click on a link(s) to view the actual content of the newsletter through their web browser. That content would be on the web in either HTML or PDF format. As I said before there is no foolproof solution and I see two possible glitches with this scenario. But both of these are present in your present scenario as well.
  1. The introduction email must be well crafted to create a desire in your reader to click through to see the content of the newsletter. But that is also true of your present scheme if you want the reader to go beyond the first screen without hitting either the delete or junk mail buttons
  2. If the recipient has their email client set to not show rich text making your email "grabber" even more difficult to craft attractively.
An additional advantage of getting the reader to click through the email to your web site files would be the ability to gather accurate statistics on how many of your subscribers are actually looking at the content of your newsletter.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
joemikeb #12780 11/16/10 01:36 AM
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kevs Offline OP
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Joe, wow,
did not understand in you post how to get images into the rich html idea. But then you point out that some can't even get rich html!

My friend, who brought this up with me thinks it's crazy that I have a PS, at the end of my text --that says as a joke "that not me in the photo below."

And that he cannot see the photos (he has G mail), and he assumes that hundreds of others people cannot see the photos, makes me look like an idiot.

But is he correct? What % would you guess who have G mail don't know how to quickly see the images? I'm on Entourage which has a handy "download images" on upper right pane.

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12783 11/16/10 02:48 PM
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Your friend is correct for at least some percentage of your readers. I have no idea how many of your readers use GMail, but having a GMail account does not necessarily imply that the messages are read in Google's webmail interface. I have GMail accounts that I read in Apple Mail just like any other email. In fact almost all email accounts can be read either in the provider's webmail interface or using a email client such as Apple Mail, Thuderbird, Entourage, Outlook, etc. The possibilities are legion.

The possibilities are further increased because many services provide different viewing options for the web interface and using client software on your computer. This means that the same GMail user might see your newsletter differently viewing it on the Google webmail interface than they would see viewing the same message using the email client on their computer. Have you ever noticed a link in a rich text email message that says something like, "Click here if you are having trouble viewing this message."? Those links will invariably take you to a web page where the formatted message can be viewed in a web browser. Those links are there for the very reason we are discussing.

IMO for content as long and complex as yours appears to be, viewing the content via the web browser -- that does not mean via a webmail interface but just as a regular web page in HTML or even better PDF -- will come as close as possible to guaranteeing every reader will have the same viewing experience. With email content there is too much that is out of your control. Using PDF instead of HTML will reduce the variations even further. I receive two or three different newsletter notifications via email messages that say something like, "Your copy of the Daily Quibbler is available for download here." Clicking on the link then uses my browser to download the Daily Quibbler in PDF format.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
joemikeb #12787 11/16/10 03:48 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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Joe,
prospective clients are not going to click download here to see a newsletter. Too much to ask. At least with html letter they see the text immediately. Still don't understand rich text, never seen it ever.

A PDF though is an attachment, so I think that's bad -- attachments are the #1 reason to block emails with filters. Great info, but seem the way I'm doing it is best way. Why my friend, who graduated Law school and is smartest guy around says he still has to look around and figure out how to see the images is beyond me.

Re: Sending newsletter or email blast with jpegs?
kevs #12789 11/16/10 06:42 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
prospective clients are not going to click download here to see a newsletter. Too much to ask.

Some prospective clients won't click download to see a newsletter.

Others, like me, still think email should be text, and will blacklist anyone who tries to send them HTML or graphics-laden email.

If this is a newsletter people subscribe to, why not offer them a choice which format they want to receive? If you do offer such a choice, be sure to honor it. I've had to unsubscribe from newsletters that let me state a preference and then send me HTML anyway.


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