Joomla - Using Letterman

From CommunityGroveWiki

Overview

The free (GPL) Letterman component adds simple bulk newsletter management features to a web site using the Joomla content management system. Letterman works well for single newsletter subscriptions with up to a few thousand subscribers. The subscriber limit is dependent on your server configuration and ISP rules.

Advantages Disadvantages Very easy to use Integrates well with existing Web content Simple signup form HTML and text formats Can import Joomla user records Newsletter contents is included in site search function Includes throttling to prevent triggering spam alerts Only supports one newsletter and one subscription list per site Limited documentation Poor unsubscribe security

Note: If you need to send more than a few hundred newsletters per day, you should use a dedicated email service, such as Aweber. Through our affiliate relationship with Aweber we offer discounts on their services.

Installation and configuration

If Letterman is not already installed on your site, please contact support. Installation is fast and easy and will not effect the rest of your site in any way. You will need to decide how you want the newsletter functions to be displayed in your menus.

There is one configuration oddity in the current version of Letterman. The component will place the email address of the first Super Administrator account in the footer of all emailed newsletters. The easiest way to deal with this is to be sure this account uses an email address that is appropriate for your newsletter, such as websupport@your_domain.com. Please contact Support if you need help with this.

Adding subscriber records

1. Log into the password-protected back end of your Joomla site.
2. In the Components menu, choose Letterman > Subscriber Management
3. You will see a list of the current subscribers.
4. Choose the Create a new subscriber link at the top of the screen.
5. Fill in the subscriber's Name and Email Address
   

   

   Adding subscribers
6. If you want this subscriber to begin receiving newsletters, set the Confirmed? field to Yes.

Editing subscriber records

1. Log into the password-protected back end of your Joomla site.
2. In the Components menu, choose Letterman > Subscriber Management
3. You will see a list of the current subscribers. To edit a subscriber click on that subscriber's name or choose edit subscriber.
4. Edit information as needed and save using the save button in the upper right corner.

Deleting subscriber records

1. Log into the password-protected back end of your Joomla site.
2. In the Components menu, choose Letterman > Subscriber Management
3. You will see a list of the current subscribers.
4. Select the check box(s) next the subscriber records you wish to delete.
5. Select the Remove button in the upper right corner of the screen.
6. A Javascript alert will appear, asking if you really want to "delete selected items".
7. Choose Yes if you are sure you want to delete them You can not recover these records once they are deleted.

Creating a newsletter

1. Log into the password-protected back end of your Joomla site.
2. In the Components menu, choose Letterman > Newsletter Management
3. Select the "New" button in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. If you are copying and pasting the newsletter text from a MS Word document, paste the Word document contents into the text area using the Word filter. This will remove most of the problematic Word style tags.
5. Continue editing as necessary.
6. Select the Save button in the upper right. This will take you back to the main Letterman screen,
7. Select the Publish button corresponding to your new newsletter if you'd like it to be available from within the Web site.

Creating a newsletter from published content on your Web site

1. Log into the password-protected back end of your Joomla site.
2. In the Components menu, choose Letterman > Newsletter Management
3. Select the "Compose Newsletter" button in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. In the right hand window, click on the titles of the Web content you'd like to add. This will add special tags to your newsletter text which will be replaced with the complete article when you save.
5. In the left hand window, continue editing your newsletter as necessary. For example, you can copy and paste the Web content tags as needed.
6. Select the Save button in the upper right. This will replace all Web content tags in your newsletter with the published Web content, and take you back to the main Letterman screen.
7. Select the Publish button corresponding to your new newsletter if you'd like it to be available from within the Web site.

Sending a newsletter

1. Log into the password-protected back end of your Joomla site.
2. In the Components menu, choose Letterman > Newsletter Management
3. Select the Send now button corresponding to the newsletter you'd like to send.
4. Choose the subscriber group you would like this newsletter sent to.
   Please Note: You can choose only confirmed accounts.
5. Confirm that the mail from e-mail address is correct.
6. Leave the disable timeout and "how many mails to send at once" at the default settings.
7. Review you newsletter for page layout and content.
8. Select the Publish button, this will send the newsletter. Once the newsletter has been sent the date and time stamp will appear on the newsletter management screen.