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1. Free Installations Until January 15th
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We'll be changing our installation service after January 15th. We wanted to make sure to give you advance notice so you could take full advantage of the current free installation service! Here's a quick note so you know what's exactly happening.
Any purchase made before January 15th includes a free installation, while additional installations are priced at $49.
After January 15th all installations will be $19.95.
With free installations being discontinued after January 15th, if you would like your software installed for free, now is the best time to take full advantage this.
Everything else - great products and great support, remains the same.
If you would like to place an order or have any questions, you can always give us a call (toll free 1-800-752-0455), send an email, post in the forum, or message us through live chat.
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2. Tis The Season To Be Jolly
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So here we go, the final newsletter of 2006. Another year come and gone.
I'm just wrapping up my Christmas shopping. I wish I'd gone earlier, the malls are already crazy and if you were there recently, you know what I mean. But to me, it's worth braving the crowds: nothing makes me happier than saying Merry Christmas with a bang, giving someone a gift that they truly wanted or really needed.
In last year's final newsletter I gave tips to the male subscribers on buying Christmas gifts for their wives and girlfriends (hopefully they never meet). Those kinds of tips can save your life! Anyhow, I didn't want the ladies to feel left out, so these next few tips are for you, from my perspective as a man:
- Yes, I need socks, underwear, clothes, cologne, or whatever you like. This is YOUR chance to get me into something that you want me to have! This is your rare opportunity to get me into that new shirt you want to see me in. You might not get this chance for another year (well maybe a few months until my birthday). One note of caution, please keep my dignity, if I don't ever wear pink shirts or striped sweaters, now's not the time to start.
- Do I have a hobby? Probably. Maybe it's sports, collecting things, online gaming, or something else. If I do, I sure hope you know about it. You might think it's too easy or too obvious...wrong! If it's obvious, it's for me. Ask my friends, they'll know where to get what I like. :)
- If you're dating or married to that fellow who's young at heart (I'm 28 and I still like to pretend I'm a teenager on Christmas Day :), then he probably likes video games. Was he eyeing that Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3? Good luck on finding one, but if you do you'll be his hero. It's not just some gimmicky electronic thing he thought was cool, those games really do make his day!
- The old saying "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" is totally true, guys love to eat. A gift certificate to his favourite restaurant, stocking up on his favourite cheese, or a great bottle of wine (or beer for the game) is always good. Plus, if the gift certificate is a dinner for two, it means quality time for both of you! :)
- I think tools are cool, and make practical gifts as well. It's true, women and men think a little different! It may be potentially fatal for a guy to get a woman something she can use around the house (for the guys reading this, you might think that vacuum cleaner will make a good gift... bad idea!), but your guy would probably love a cordless drill, a variable-speed reciprocating saw, or whatever else he can fix (break) things with. I was at Home Depot the other day buying Christmas lights and I kid you not, a guy was telling me how he hopes his wife gets him some new drill bits. Sounds like a great stocking stuffer!
Anyhow, I hope this helps. If you're looking for some suggestions, feel free to email me your ideas and I can give you my feedback.
Remember, the real holiday season is about sharing, spending time with loved ones, and relaxing. And guess what, we'll be doing exactly that, too! We'll be closed on the following days:
December 24th
December 25th
December 26th
December 31st
January 1st
Every other day, we'll be here to answer any questions you have. So until next year, I hope Yule have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
Happy Holidays,
Luke Holzken
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3. Ask Donna: How Do I Send My Articles As A Newsletter?
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Now that Article Manager 2 comes with RSS by default, I get a lot of people asking...what's it for? Well, RSS (short for "Really Simple Syndication") is the standard for letting your readers know that you have new content for them to read. Since content management systems like Article Manager now have RSS built right in, you don't need to know much about setting it up: It's already there!
However, from the end user's perspective, things might not be so easy. Those who have been using RSS for a long time throw around words like "aggregator" and "feed reader", but what if your readers aren't the net savvy type, or don't want to mess around with installing new software just to keep up to date on your site?
So, instead of saying "Here's my RSS feed, you figure out what to do with it", why not give them some extra help? With a service like FeedBlitz, you can allow visitors to easily sign up on your website to have your articles emailed to them. FeedBlitz is a service that reads your RSS feed, and sends that content out to each of your subscribers automatically. No messing around with a complicated aggregator, no extra software to install, you don't even need to worry about running a top-heavy mailing list; FeedBlitz takes care of it all for you.
Here's how!
- First, go to FeedBlitz, and create an account. Once you've logged in, you'll be at your FeedBlitz Dashboard.
- Under "My Account", choose "My Syndications", then "Add a New Syndication".
- Now, enter the URL of your RSS feed. To get this, you can go to the front page of your Article Manager 2 site, and look for the little RSS button like this:
 . Click the button, and you'll be at an oddly formatted page. This is your RSS feed.
- Grab the URL from the address bar (it will be something like http://www.yoursite.com/artman/publish/rss.xml) and copy & paste that into the Feed or Blog URL at FeedBlitz.
If your site is password protected, you can enter in the username & password for your site so that FeedBlitz can access it. But take their warning well! If this information needs to stay private, you probably shouldn't use this service.
If your site is not password protected, you don't need to enter anything here. Do NOT enter your Article Manager username and password, for instance -- it's not necessary, and you definitely don't want to give that information out!
- Once you've filled out the required fields, click "Publish Feed".
You'll be taken to a page with some neat information about how to publicize your feed. For instance, you can take the HTML Subscription Form Code, and copy & paste it into one of your Article Manager templates. Once you've republished your site, you'll have a field on your site where users can easily sign up for your feed. Or, you can add a "Feed Count Chicklet", letting others know how popular your site is. (Although, you might want to wait until you have a few subscribers before adding that one... advertising that you only have one lonely reader might not be a great endorsement!)
A few other options are offered, for example you can move your existing newsletter subscriber list over and use feedblitz instead. So take a look at those and pick the one that fits your needs the best.
And that's it! You've now given your visitors an easy way to keep up to date using your site, without them having to install complicated software, learn a new technology, or create any extra work for yourself!
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4. Slow Holidays? Get Started With Article Manager Now
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The holiday slowdown is a great time to get started with Article Manager and get the jump on your competitors. We often see a slowdown in support activity during the holiday season followed by a huge rush at the beginning of the new year. That's when everyone gets back on track with their web projects.
Getting started now gives you the chance to begin learning Article Manager's many features and benefits before anyone else. As soon as the new year rush begins, and the projects come pouring in, you'll already be ahead of the game.
By providing your clients with the right tools for managing their site you'll be able to show them that you're a leader in your field. And you'll have all the knowledge you need to provide your clients with a top-of-the-line content management system.
With Article Manager you can:
- Give your client total control over their website. Let your client update their own site, saving you that precious time updating it for them. Instead, work on what you want to, creating great websites.
- Ensure your client's site matches the exact look and feel that they want. Easily integrate Article Manager to work with the site you designed.
- Set your client up with a revenue-generating site by integrating Google Adsense with Article Manager. All the more reason for your client to get started today.
- Educate your client about any of the 15 reasons why they should use Article Manager to power their website.
As a developer there won't be a better time of year to learn Article Manager. Get started now and be ready to go in the new year.
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5. Useful Links For Developers
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As a final holiday treat I thought it would be nice to share with you some of those rare gems that one can find on the beloved World Wide Web. This time I have two for you, and if you're into building web sites (just a hunch but I'm guessing you are) then you're going to like these.
Web Design Inspiration
Looking for some inspiration? If you're ever stuck on ideas while working on a site design, often the best thing to do is look at other sites for inspiration. Here you'll find screenshots of 300+ beautifully designed websites with a link to each so you can get an even closer look.
CSS Tab Designer
If you're looking for a quick way to create tabs in CSS, this is the perfect tool. You can easily create your own tabs and generate the source code in a matter of seconds.
And that's it for this issue. See you in the new year! :)
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About the author
The interactivetools.com newsletter is written by Luke Holzken.
About interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com creates world-class web software. Web developers use our software to provide their non-technical
clients with an easy-to-use system for managing their websites. Visit
interactivetools.com or try an
online demo, free! Call us at 1-800-752-0455
if you have any questions not addressed on our site.
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