If your site is still using our older "Level 1" platform, switch over to our Custom Printer@Work instructions for Level 1 Sites. Question How can I customize the content that goes out with the Email Newsletter? Answer The first thing you will need to do is switch your subscription from "basic" to "custom." This will allow you to create custom content for your Email Newsletter. Switching to the custom Email Newsletter is really as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Log in to your website's Control Center.
2. Click the "My Website" tab and then click "Email Newsletter" left menu.
3. Click the button to switch to the custom delivery mode.

Creating Your Customized Issue At this point the "Create New Issue" link is revealed. Click this link. A new browser window will now open, allowing you to create your custom issue of the Email Newsletter. The tools you need for building your custom Email Newsletter will appear in a gray box on the left. We recommend working your way down the list of links, from the top to the bottom, like this: T.G.I. Monday Cartoon Clicking this link will bring up a panel with options for adding the default T.G.I. Monday cartoon, adding your own custom cartoon or graphic (Change Image), or returning to the Custom Email Newsletter, without making any changes. You can also use any of the archived T.G.I. Monday cartoons, by hitting the "Change Image" button, and scrolling through the images already in the system. "Leaner" Graphic The "Leaner" graphic is the image that appears to the right of the T.G.I.M. cartoon. Its editing panel works much the same as the one for T.G.I. Monday. Again, you can use the default leaner graphic provided by MarketingIdeasForPrinters.com, add your own custom image, or browse through the archive of past leaner graphics to choose an image you'd like to use. Your Message You can edit or use the default message. Simply copy and paste your message from any text editor (Word, WordPad, etc.), and the system will automatically add any paragraph breaks that are needed. Other formatting (bold, italics, font colors, hyperlinks, etc.) can be added using standard HTML tags. See the related articles links below for HTML tutorials. If you're planning to use the default message, with just a few text changes, we recommend hitting the "Revert to Default Message" button, to auto-populate the text fields, then making your edits from there. In any case, be sure to hit the "Update Message" button when you're finished, or the message won't be saved. Idea from your Website's Ideas Collection When you click this link, a dropdown menu will appear. Choose "--Random--" to have the system choose a random idea for the newsletter, "--None--" to have it remove the idea from the newsletter, or any of the titles listed to choose that corresponding article. Once you've made your selection, hit "Update Idea". Adding and Editing Articles To make things easy, we recommend hitting the "Add Default Articles" button, to have the three default articles (Marketing Tip, Tech Tip, Uncommon Product) auto-populate. You can then edit these articles as you see fit. When editing an article, you'll find options for editing each of the four elements associated with that article. "Directory Text" is the line of text that appears in the colorful bar directly below the Email Newsletter masthead. "Teaser Image and Teaser Text" refers to the foursome of graphics that appear below the T.G.I.M. and "leaner" images. These two editing tools should be fairly self-explanatory when you click on them. The other two ("Article Text Content" and "Article Graphic Content") warrant a little more explanation. Article Text Content The article text editor consists of three boxes. The one labeled Header Bar Text refers to the text that appears in the green bar directly above the article. The Article Text field allows you to paste in text from a text editing tool (such as Word), with minimal effort. The system will automatically add any paragraph breaks that are needed. Other formatting (bold, italics, font colors, hyperlinks, etc.) can be added using standard HTML tags. See the related articles links below for HTML tutorials. Article Image Content The Email Newsletter is designed to allow three options for displaying images within each article. Images can appear alone at the top of the article, left-justified within the opening lines of the article, or right-justified in that same location. When adding or changing images, make sure you select the option that best matches your needs and hit the "Save" button before returning to the custom Email Newsletter. Sending the Newsletter With the custom Email Newsletter, you have control over when the newsletter goes out -- and what the subject line should say. When you're done creating your newsletter, you can either customize the "with the subject" field and hit the "Send Now" button right away, or close the browser window and come back to it later, if you want to hold off on sending it. If you opt to hold off on sending the newsletter, you can get back to it easily by returning to the Email Newsletter panel (Control Center > My Website > Email Newsletter > Edit/Send) and clicking the "Edit, Send" button. This will bring you back to the editor, where you can hit the "Send Now" button at your discretion.