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OCTOBER 2011 NEWSLETTER
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IN THIS MONTH’S NEWSLETTER…

* CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK (CDN) SERVICE NOW AVAILABLE
* NEWSLETTER BEST PRACTICES
* FEATURED CLIENT: TWEEDANDHICKORY.COM
* FROM THE BLOG…

CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK SERVICE NOW AVAILABLE

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We are pleased to announce that we now offer a new service for our web hosting and ShopSite ecommerce clients, a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

A CDN is a global network that puts a copy of your files (mainly images, JavaScript, and CSS files) across the globe at specific nodes. Visitors to your web pages will load these files from the fastest and closest location to them, meaning faster page loads for your customers.

There are several reasons you would want to implement a CDN for your site:

* Much faster page loads.
* Overseas visitors see drastic improvement in speed.
* Faster page loads means more sales.
* Simple to set up – No rework needed, just a URL change.
* For ShopSite clients, we’ll set it up for all images to use the CDN.

Using a CDN is a great way to make your site faster and it doesn’t require any complicated set up. Pricing starts at $20/month for up to 50GB of data transfer.

Complete details including a sign up form can be found on our website at:

http://www.lexiconn.com/services/cdn.html

NEWSLETTER BEST PRACTICES

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In last month’s newsletter, we focused on various options you have relating to newsletters, including our own in-house solution ( http://www.lexiconn.com/services/mailing_list.html ) as well as Constant Contact ( http://reseller.roving.com/index.jsp?pn=lexiconn&pd=lexiconn ). This section will focus on what you should and should not include in the content of your mailings.

HTML is generally the email format preferred by most recipients and nearly all email clients support the display of HTML emails. That being said, there are still programs out there that cannot display HTML emails, and there are still users who prefer plain text. Thus, it is important that you send out all of your newsletters, specials, etc. in multipart format. Multipart means that the email itself is embedded with both HTML and text versions of your message, and the recipient’s program determines which one to display.

As per constructing the HTML email, you cannot simply take an HTML web page and use that as your message. HTML emails do not need all of the tags that a full web page does, and they should be kept relatively simple from a coding standpoint. You are free to use a little CSS, but do not reference any external CSS as that would get ignored/blocked by most email applications. You also do not want to use any JavaScript, ActiveX or Flash as such content either gets stripped or could cause your email to get tagged as spam.

Another good way to have your HTML email avoid spam filters is to have a balance of graphics versus text. Do not send one enormous graphic as your HTML email as that will likely get blocked by most spam filters. Also, be sure that all of your graphics are called via an absolute path (e.g. http://www.your_domain/image.gif) as opposed to a relative path or as an attachment.

Aside from having a “non-spammy”, yet descriptive subject line, you should also have an instantly recognizable ‘FROM’ name and email address. Once you choose one, do not change it, as your recipients may have white-listed that specific address. You should also include your contact information as well, as that helps people remember who you are, and makes your email CAN-SPAM compliant.

For an in depth resource on HTML email tips, reference:

http://www.crosscomm.net/blogs/web-strategy/online-marketing/how-to-code-html-email/

FEATURED CLIENT: TWEEDANDHICKORY.COM

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This month’s featured client is tweedandhickory.com. Tweed & Hickory is a Canadian based retail company with many retail store locations in Canada. They offer a wide range of apparel, as well as kitchen and home merchandise, including their most successful “single cup” coffee business.

http://www.tweedandhickory.com/

For more detailed information on this month’s featured client as well as a listing of all past featured clients, please go to:

http://support.lexiconn.com/news/viewforum.php?f=4

FROM THE BLOG…

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Here are some recent posts from The LexiConn Blog:

.XXX Domains – Opting Out is an Option
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2011/09/xxx-domains-opting-out-is-an-option/
- You will want to pay attention to this new offering even if your business has nothing to do with the adult entertainment industry.

Google Trusted Stores – It’s Worth Looking Into
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2011/10/google-trusted-stores-its-worth-looking-into/
- Google is rolling out a new service for ecommerce merchants.

ShopSite 11 SP1 – A Must Have Upgrade
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2011/10/shopsite-11-sp1/ – ShopSite has just released version 11 SP1 of its award-winning ecommerce software.

Like what you’re reading? Subscribe by Email
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=LexiConnBlog&loc=en_US
to our blog and receive an email when a new post is published.

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. Complete contact and support options can be found at:
http://www.lexiconn.com/support.html

Sincerely,
- The LexiConn Team

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