We had a voting in our last newsletter as to which features our customers most wanted to see added to Ecourse Wizard.

You Voted! We Listened!

Two of the most needed features have been added to Ecourse Wizard. This is going to blow you away!

Let’s first see which feature won the most votes. It was
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DRUM ROLL
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Pop up Subscription Form

And yes it has been added.

Login to your control panel, go to Settings - Subscription Form - Pop up Form and enjoy experimenting. You can make your own pop-up to match your website. It cannot get cooler than that!

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We hope you are just as pleased with the second feature as we are. This is going to be one of the most useful features if you use the Autoresponder Sequence and add to it continuously. You must know by now that once subscribers receive the entire message sequence, they get archived.

So YOU ASKED, “But what if I want the archived subscribers to start receiving the additional messages I add to my sequence?” So we have worked on YOUR ANSWER and here it is:

Go to Autoresponders - Activate Subscribers. You can choose to restart your archived subscribers from any message in your sequence. Added message 4 and 5? Activate your subscribers from message #4.

Today our feature is one of our clients, Jamee Culbertson and Marie Favorito and how they are using Ecourse Wizard to their advantage. Let’s see what these two are up to.

Name: Jamee Culbertson and Marie Favorito, Boston Healing Tao
Website URL: www.bostonhealingtao.com
Subscribe Address: BHT@ecoursewizard.com

What is your list all about?
The list I am growing on the internet is for people who are interested in Reducing Stress in their lives. We provide information about Meditation, Chi Kung and Tai Chi specifically.

What benefits do your subscribers gain out of your ezine?
We give them notice about classes, workshops and special events we are giving in our area as well as posting articles that would educate them. We also provide video interviews and podcasts with experts in Meditation, Tai Chi and stress reduction, basically anything we feel would be helpful information for people to live a full and prosperous life. We can also let them know when new products are available. We currently have 3 guided Meditation CD’s and a Tai Chi Short Form DVD made. We’ve got 3 more Chi Kung DVD’s in post production after having traveled to Southern Utah in April for filming in red rock country! The ezine allowed us to tell them about our trip and what we are planning. Now people know we are producing these and are eager to know when they will be available. The Ecourse Wizard ezine is the best way to let the people on my list find out when they will be ready and what we are up to.

How long have you been running the ezine?
We launched our first ezine in April of this year!

How has Ecourse Wizard helped you out in this regard?
Internet technology was new to me at the start of this year. Working with Ecourse Wizard has made me feel like I was not alone in what seemed like a ‘technical internet marketing jungle’. Anytime I had a question about setting up the ezine or my autoresponder email series I got a response within minutes. This really blew me away since I figured I’d have to sit with my quandry for a day or so and not really make any progress. To my continued delight I always get a response that is timely and useful.

Ecourse Wizard also helped me customize the look of my ezine so that it looks like my website. That way people see a familiar look and feel in their inbox and feel better knowing that the message is from us. The Ecourse Wizard system safeguards against spamming of any kind so that only people who want to receive messages from us do so. I feel good about this to protect our audience.

Which Ecourse Wizard features do you use the most?
I wanted to start getting useful information out to people as soon as possible so I started with the ezine feature. I can send as much or as little information as I want at a time. The links allow me to segregate the information into chapters so people can read what they are interested or have time to read and then come back for more later knowing where they left off.

I also like the ‘test’ feature. When I write an ezine or series of messages I can do a test run that only gets sent to myself and anyone else I specify so I can see what my list will be getting first before they do. This way I can be sure I didn’t make any mistakes with links etc..and it gives me a chance to make corrections first.

I also like being able to add links and pictures to my newsletter so that accessing information is as easy as clicking. In these days of high speed living, the easier it is for people to find the information they are after, the better.

Did you find ‘Ecourse Intro’ helpful?
I enjoyed the Ecourse Wizard ecourse - about writing an ecourse - this has been helpful and informative.

Because this course lays it out so simply I am inspired to write one myself. I haven’t written one yet but by reading how ecourses are used it has helped me get ideas on how to build one for my audience. I can see forward, that once I’ve cleared some time I will enjoy putting these ideas into a course for people.

[You can subscribe to Ecourse Intro by sending a blank email to ecourseintro@ecoursewizard.com]

How will you rate the customer service?
Stellar customer service at Ecourse Wizard , stellar!. I imagine them behind the scenes wearing wizard caps and waving magic wands to make things happen for me. There is no apparent effort as far as having the right answers for me to be successful using their system.

[PS You can subscribe to Jamee’s newsletter by sending a blank email to … BHT@ecoursewizard.com]

Everyone loves good content in an ezine! But time to time you need to add an interesting twist…something that will catch the attention of your subscriber and get them to participate actively.

One such tool are polls. It takes less than a minute to participate but involves your subscribers. Question is how to add one using Ecourse Wizard?

It is very simple.

Have you ever used the ‘Track Links’ section?

That is a brilliant tool and a great way to set up a poll.

Of course first you must come up with poll questions and answers. Then follow these steps.

Step 1
Set up a thank you page for your poll. This will need to be at your website.

Step 2
Next login to your Ecourse Wizard Control Panel. Click on the campaign you want to work with. Next choose Track Links from the top menu.

Step 3

In Description: Enter you Poll answers so you may know which answer each tracking link represents.
For URL to track: Enter the URL of your thank you page.
Repeat this process for all your poll answers.

Step 4
You now have a separate tracking link for each answer. Even though they all lead to your thank you page, the results for each answer will be calculated separately.

Step 5
Place the Poll in your Ezine using the tracking Links as follows:

For an HTML Ezine:
Your question comes here (please click on the link to vote):
This is my favourite (use tracking link for option 1)
I don’t think so (use tracking link for option 2)

For a text ezine, the links will need to be placed separately:
Your question comes here (please click on the link to vote)

This is my favourite
http://www.ecoursewizard.com/cgi-bin/ewiz/t.cgi?k=poll_test:1

I don’t think so
http://www.ecoursewizard.com/cgi-bin/ewiz/t.cgi?k=poll_test:2

Now everytime your subscribers vote and click on a link, it will get recorded. You can view the votes via your Track Links - View Click-thru report section.

The count column will show how many times each option was clicked.

So make your ezine more interesting and start adding polls.

Everyone’s had those ‘uh oh’ moments where you sent a message and then realized that there was a mistake in it. A typo can be a simple spelling mistake or it can be a huge life altering (read: lose money, lose subscribers, irritate your customer, etc, etc) typo. Imagine sending the price of your latest Ebook as $9 instead of $90.

We have a simple solution: Test your message before you send it. See how it will look to your customer. Read it, proof read and read it a third time.

Here’s how:
1. For Ezine: Click Ezine-Send Ezine

Enter your ezine message on this page.
Scroll down.
Click on ‘Test Ezine’ or ‘Test and Save Ezine’.

A Test Ezine will be sent to the email address in your profile.
It can’t get simpler than this.

2. For Autoresponder Sequence: Click Autoresponder-Test Messages

a. Select the message range you want to test along with the email address you want to send them to.
b. Add values for any personalization fields you want to test. For example if you have entered ~~NAME~~ in your sequence, you can enter John as the value you want to test. Click ‘Test Now’.

c. A list of test messages sent will be shown here.

Please note: Autoresponder sequence testing will work great with a new account without subscribers. However, if you are live and want to add messages to the sequence, it is a better idea to test them using the Ezine option first.

You can market all you like but unless and until you market to the right list, your message effectiveness is not going to be very high. It is very important to target the right people and then send them messages geared towards their profile.

The question is how do you do that? You made an Ecourse Wizard Account, put a simple subscription box at your website and now you have this bunch of people who are interested in your product or service.

It’s a good start as your list already comprises people who are interested in your subject. However, there might be times when you may want to send messages to a subset of the list … may be to a certain age group, people in a certain locality or any other criterion.

The good news is Ecourse Wizard lets you make sub sets of your list in a very simple way.

1. Go to Ezine > Add List Segmentation Questions

2. Here you can set the questions and answers that you want to use to break the list into sub lists.

For example:
You can put the question as: What is your age?
The answers can then be: Under 13, 13-25, 25-40, 40 plus.

Or it can be: I am a?
And the answers may be SAHM, WAHM, Housewife, Student, etc

Each answer goes on a separate line and will be included in your subscription form as a drop down option.

As you can see the possibilities are limitless.

3. Next you need to have these questions in your subscription form so you can get the correct answers from subscribers. Go to Settings > Subscription Form > Multiple Fields Form.

4. Select List Segmentation Questions from the list. Click Submit.

5. You will get the code for a subscription form with all your questions and answers. Copy/Paste this form and place it on your website.

6. Next time you are sending a message via the Ezine section, you can choose your list criterion according to the answers you received to your list segmentation questions. For example you can choose to send the Ezine to SAHMS over 40 or to WAHMs 25 – 40. Or you can just choose to send to all subscribers from age 25-40. There is a lot more flexibility available with regards to who you send the message to.

The following updates have been made to the Ecourse Wizard Control Panel:

1. Demographics

You might have noticed this section has completely disappeared. It hasn’t really disappeared. It has just merged with the Ezine section. The Demographic’s Add/Edit Questions can now be found under the more aptly named Ezine > Multiple Choice Questions. In the Send Ezine section you can also choose your target list according to their answers to these questions.

2. HTML Templates

Even more streamlined, now you can preview the template directly from the main HTML templates page and then choose to view the Code for the one you like.

Better still, you can directly save this code in your Send Ezine section. No more copy/pasting!

3. Testing Ezine

Previously, in the Send Ezine section, you had to first save an ezine and then test it to make sure your changes did not disappear. You will now see an extra button called ‘Test and Save Ezine’ which saves your ezine and tests it out at the same time.

We will be adding tutorials and new tips on these changes soon.

Don’t you just wonder who is reading your newsletters and clicking on your links? Isn’t it one of the ‘must have’ statistics? Don’t you just want to know how many people you convinced to visit your website?

You can find out how many times your newsletter links were clicked using Ecourse Wizard’s ‘Track Links’ feature.

First step is to add the links you want to track in your newsletter. For example you may want to place your main link in your newsletter.

1. Click on Track Links > Add Links.

2. Add the URL you wish to track (eg: http://www.dotsndashes.com) and a description and click ‘Create Link’.

3. You will be provided with a new tracking URL (eg: http://www.ecoursewizard.com/cgi-bin/ewiz/t.cgi?k=ecourseintro:9) that you must use throughout your newsletter.

4. You can login to your Ecourse Wizard account anytime and click on Track Links > Click-Thru Report to see how many people clicked your links.

These links work well in an HTML newsletter. Every time your subscribers click on this link, your statistics will be updated and they will be directed to your original URL.

What are RSS feeds?

They are just another way of receiving content. You take the RSS feed URL, add it to your feed reader and you get updated content from the feed you added. Compare it to an email where you add email settings to an ‘email reader’ (read email program) and you can download your email.

As an example this blog has an RSS feed. You add the URL to your feed reader and you will receive the content added to this website.

Although RSS feeds have been around for a while, only a small minority of Internet users is familiar with them and an even smaller number uses them.

So what’s the solution?

Offer another option to your visitors. Everyone uses email … everyone’s familiar with it. So why not email them the information?

Ecourse Wizard makes this option very easy by letting you email your RSS feed content via email.

• Click on Settings > Main Settings (1) in your main Menu.
• Scroll down the page to the end.

• Here you will see “RSS Feed Updates”.
• Add your RSS feed URL.

This is all you have to do. Now every time you update your content, an email will be sent to your subscribers in the following format:

Your subscribers can then visit your website to view the newly added content.

And where do I get this RSS Feed?

If you are using a blog software, it should come with its own RSS feed.

For WordPress users it should be:
http://example.com/wp-rss2.php
http://example.com/?feed=rss2

or if you are using Permalinks, it should be:
http://example.com/feed/rss2/

You can also provide feeds to only specific categories on your site by adding the following to the end of the link:
http://example.com/wp-rss2.php?cat=42

If your blog is hosted at WordPress.com just add /feed/ at the end of your main URL
http://example.wordpress.com/feed/

For Blogger Users and Others with Atom Feeds
Ecourse Wizard currently supports RSS 2.0 feed. Blogger uses Atom 0.3 which is now deprecated. But no worries, you can convert this to a RSS 2.0 feed by using a service called FeedBurner.

• Enter your feed URL
• You will then be asked to make an account.
• Choose your feed URL ID and enter your username, password and email.
• Once inside the control panel, click on Optimize from the top menu.
• Click on Convert Format from the side margin.
• Select RSS 2.0 and click convert.

You now have a new feed in RSS 2.0 format with the URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/your _feed_burner_id

Just enter this in your Ecourse Wizard account as detailed above and you are set to go.

Other Useful Links
Feed Validator: Validate your feed

“What does that mean?” You ask.
It means that your text message should be presented nicely to your subscribers. It may not have the font and color options of an HTML email but that does not mean it cannot look good.

Your content width should ideally be around 4 inches for it to be most readable. It becomes very difficult to read if your eyes have to go from one corner of the screen to the other and then back again.

So what to do with your text messages? Break them up after a certain interval so your message width is controlled. Ecourse Wizard has a ‘Wrap Text’ utility which allows you to do just that.

1. Click Text Wrap Utility from your Ezine or Autoresponder section
2. Copy/paste your message in the window that pops up.
3. Press Wrap Text
4. You will get the text-wrapped output.
5. Copy/Paste that in your message window.

Your message may not look too good to you at the moment. Just test it out using our Test Ezine option in the Ezine section and you will like the results much better.

Ecourse Wizard is continuously being improved to provide you with the best possible service. In this regard, we have added the following features:

1. RSS Feed Updates

If you have a blog, chances are you also have an RSS feed. Not many Internet users are familiar with RSS feeds and even fewer subscribe to them. However, almost everyone is familiar with email and uses it, too. So why not provide these users with the option of receiving updates via email as well?

• Login to your Ecourse Wizard account.
• Choose Settings from the main menu.
• Scroll down the main settings page until you see RSS Feed Updates.
• Add the URL of your RSS feed.

Now just sit and relax. Every time you update your blog and your RSS feed is updated, your subscribers will be sent an email with the titles and links of the updated content. See your traffic rise as people get reminded of new content at your website.

*Available to Value, Maxi and Xtra account holders.

2. HTML Template Generator with ‘Custom’ Templates

Are you tired of playing around with HTML and just want a simple solution? Our HTML template generator lets you do just that. All you have to do is fill out a few forms with your newsletter content, choose your template and you have the HTML code generated for you.

You might say: “But I still have to work with HTML. I have my own template.”

We have great news for you! For a small fee we will integrate your custom template with the Ecourse Wizard Template Generator. Just imagine the time and energy you will save! Interested? Contact us.

We have even better news for you. This offer is now available to our Value account holders as well. So all those with a ‘Mini’ account may want to think about upgrading