This section will help you better understand why and how to send thousands of E-mails in minutes using the Acajoom Newsletter component for Joomla. Mass email marketing has become a force to be recon with online. We're tagging along.

(Acajoom) Newsletter Component Management Instructions
(that’s the name of it, let’s just call it the newsletter component, somebody may get the sniffles trying to say this one!)

NOTE! There's also a sign-up module for this component that I put on the home page under the donation items module.
• Does NOT require registration with the site
• DOES require E-mail verification to become active (prevents spam)
• Contains built-in unsubscribe links that does NOT affect their joomla user status!

1. Login to Joomla! http://www.yoursite.com/administrator/

2. Look under the “Components” menu and click on “Acajoom”
-- alternatively you can go straight to the specific area by selecting it from the rollout items.


3. SEND A NEWSLETTER!
a. Click on the “Newsletters” icon (or the rollout link)

b. Here you see the different types of “pre-formatted” templates, I’ve made two just to show you. Make as many as you like.

c. Click on the link that best suits the newsletter you want to send, or click the button in the top right side of the screen.
d. Recognize that layout? That’s right, you have the editor to insert formatted (or HTML) emails and images as well.
e. NOTE! There are pre-defined “keys” that serve as placeholders for specific subscribers info, DO NOT REMOVE THEM or your E-mails won’t be personalized. For example:
i. [FIRSTNAME] = this will insert the users first name anywhere it is displayed exactly like that, with the brackets and UPPERCASE.
ii. [NAME] = full name of the subscriber.
f. The right hand side of the page has “parameters” for us geeks, or “settings” for you non-geeks:

Pay attention to the last two tabs. These are REALLY COOL!
i. Content Tab: This has EVERY article, or page, or entry, or listing practically on the entire site in this window…you can select ANY of them (hold CTRL to select multiple items):

Click on the link you want and it will put a “content tag” in the window right above the list. THIS IS WHAT YOU PASTE INTO THE EDITOR WINDOW FOR EACH ARTICLE YOU WANT TO INCLUDE!

You can NOT just select the item and move on, it won’t know where to put the article.
ii. Paste that code with brackets into the text area of the editor like this: {contentitem:86|0}

iii. That will put the “Robinson Day Care for Adults” entire page into the body of the E-mail right before it’s sent. Too cool!
g. Attachments Tab: Experimental at best, I would only try and attach images or PDFs NO LARGER THAN 1MB. Remember our system will send each one individually and if you have huge files it will not like that very much = SLOWWWW! – I would refrain from this unless you know it’s really important to try to get out to everyone. Then, by all means, let’s push those buttons and rev this thing up! If it breaks we’ll try again.

4. Text E-mails: For every HTML (from the editor window) email that goes out a second “text-only” email goes out in case the recipient does not allow HTML in their email client (very few these days but some nonetheless).
a. Simply copy & paste the TEXT contents from the first window into the second one.
No images in the second window!

5. If you want to save it for later sending, click the save button. If you want to send it right away to all of the users in the list, click the send button:

You will have the opportunity to send these at any time manually so you can create the email (newsletter), get it approved by staff / colleagues, then send later.
6. NOTE! When you the newsletter it will actually start sending at that moment and not stop until it’s finished, no turning back!
7. The servers will send 100 out of the list, take a break for 20 seconds, then send the next batch. This ensures that our E-mails don’t get blocked because of flooding rules. It will finish, give it time. DO NOT NAVIGATE AWAY FROM THE PAGE UNTIL YOU HAVE CONFIRMATION!!!!!!!

8. SEED THE LIST! – Always make sure you are in the list going out. If you create a specific list of users to send a private newsletter to, always make sure your name is in the list. That way you will know without a shadow of a doubt that at least one person got that newsletter!
a. If you are using the list already setup, it contains ALL current users and ANY new users that sign up.

Pretty darn acceptable if you ask me. Next we're going to show you how to setup a perl file that will use a comma seperated CSV file to import however many users you want into joomla - then you can subscribe them to your newsletters and use it as a mass mail campaign!