Learning Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Reference Guide

Help with Animated GIFs

1 Quick Start with Animated GIFs
2 Help with More Features
- 2.1 Animated GIFs for Animated (Rotating) Banners and Images
- 2.2 Recommended GIF Builder Software
3 Help with Common Features
4 Contact Live Support

Quick Start with Animated GIFs

Why do I need a GIF building tool?

The GIF format is the only image type that supports animation and is universally supported in formatted html email messages.
The ability to create animated GIFs is not built-in with most digital camera software and online photo sharing websites.
The best and fastest way to make a professional looking animated banner image is to use an animated GIF building tool installed on your computer.

What about web-based animated GIF and banner building tools?

Please see http://www.makeagif.com/ for an easy-to-use image builder.
We have offered online tools for creating animated GIF images in the past, but preferred the results from the tools below.
We do have plans to develop a Flash-based tool to create animated GIFs in the future, but do not have an expected release date at this time.
We want you to have the best results from your email marketing and make every effort to recommend the best options.

What other animation and interactive multimedia options are available?

Using our built-in integration with JukeBoxAlive, you can add one-click audio tracks, playlists, albums, video, calendars and animated photo montages to your email marketing.
Using our partnership with eVoiceSpot, you can add one-click animated photo presentations with your own personal voiceover recorded on your computer.

Help with More Features

Animated GIFs for Animated (Rotating) Banners and Images

We often talk with members of MyNewsletterBuilder about creating more eye-catching and effective email marketing content. In addition to providing custom email newsletter templates and one-click pop-up Flash multimedia content, we often recommend animated banners as one of the best email marketing software solutions for increasing open rates, read-through and click-through on email marketing campaigns. One of our favorite email marketing enhancements is adding custom rotating or alternating images as the graphic banner image at the top of the email marketing message and up to one animated image per “page” for longer email newsletters.

Because universal email graphics support varies widely among subscribers, and new content can be blocked by some email systems, we recommend using GIF image format for animated, rotating images that move or change in email messages. For most professional email marketing messages, use just one animated GIF image at the top of the email, with the GIF changing every to 5 to 15 seconds, and never have more that one animated GIF image visible, to keep your email from looking too wild and flashy. (Of course, if you are promoting something wild and flashy, like a discotheque, you can throw this recommendation out the window.)

Recommended GIF Builder Software

With any of these software programs, including the free software options below, you can create animated GIFs and banner images for your email newsletters and email marketing. By including an appealing animated GIF at the top of your email newsletters, you can improve open rates and email marketing results.

These programs allow you to combine multiple images into an animated sequence which you can add to your email newsletters to create attention-getting banners, slideshows, and graphics for your emails. These programs also add the ability to crop and resize your images to your preferred size, a feature that is rare and difficult to find in web-based animated GIF builders.

Photoshop Elements for Windows or MacOS – $99, Trial Version Available
What is it? A full-featured consumer image editing program with animated GIF and customer support.
Tutorial: http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/build_animated_gifs_in_photoshop.html
Download: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/
Manual: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PhotoshopElements/7.0_Win/index.html

Gimp for Windows, Linux and MacOS – Free
What is it? A free, full-featured, open-source image editing program with animated GIF features.
Tutorial: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Simple_Animations/
Download: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Advanced Gif Animator for Windows – $35 to $50, Trial Version Available
What is it? A smaller, inexpensive commercial program for building animated GIFs.
Download: http://www.gif-animator.com/download.html

GifBuilder for MacOS X and Classic – Free
What is it? A free tool for building animated GIFs.
Download: http://www.tucows.com/preview/206447

We are not currently recommending any web-based GIF animation tools.

Custom Design
If you would like for us to design a custom logo or image for your email marketing, please contact us at info@mynewsletterbuilder.com.

Help with Common Features

On-Page Help

The best place to look for help is on the page that raised your eyebrows. When available, click the on-page Help Icon for more feature-specific information. The on-page Help Icon looks like this: .

On-Page Help List

My Account

Template:My Account Pop-up List

Template:More Features Pop-up List

Footer

The blue footer bar at the bottom of each page includes the following links:

Contact Us – Our web-based contact form
Terms of Use – Legally binding terms for using this MyNewsletterBuilder account
Privacy – Our privacy policy
Legal – What lawyers like to read
About – MyNewsletterBuilder and other JBA Network online marketing solutions
FAQ – Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

There is a separate FAQ for website visitors that can be accessed here: Free Trial FAQ

Help Center Sections

My Account – Manage your personal account information, select payment options, and change your email settings.
- Quick Start with My Account
  - How do I update or review my email marketing software preferences?
  - FAQ List for Start, Login, Username, Account, Settings
1. Home – The first page you see when you login to MyNewsletterBuilder.com.
  - Alert Messages – Special messages regarding your account and important upgrades.
  - My Quick Links – Links to commonly accessed or recommended features.
  - About Our Features – Description of the features found under each tab of the web-based email marketing software.
2. Account Summary – Review your email marketing services.
3. Upgrade – Select your upgrade level and pricing.
4. Billing – Please follow on-page directions.
5. Renewal – Please follow on-page directions.
6. Password – Please follow on-page directions.
7. Account Settings – Access the full power of email marketing with these settings.
  - Member Profile – Update contact information for CAN-SPAM compliance.
  - Content Editor – Default selections for creating email newsletters including Content Editor Mode, Auto-Save, Editor Warnings, and Content Sharing.
  - Tracking and Analytics – Default selections for tracking email newsletters with Link Tracking Reports and Google Analytics Tracking.
  - Footer Options – Choose footer language, add tagging for social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon, and select a default pre-made or custom footer for your newsletters.
  - Integrated Network – Options for communicating between JBA Network sites and your email newsletter and email marketing account.
  - Subscriber Information – Choose email lists (Subscriber Categories) and contact information fields (Subscriber Data) options when someone subscribes.
  - Subscription Preferences – Choose what happens after someone Subscribes, Unsubscribes, or Confirms their email address.
8. Mission Control – Enterprise Solutions for large organization email marketing.
My Newsletters – Our templates take you Step-by-Step through the email newsletter (email marketing) creation process. Create, Edit, Preview, Schedule, Send, Publish-to-Web, Delete or Archive your newsletters at any time.
- Quick Start with My Newsletters
- My Quick Links – Links to commonly accessed or recommended features.
1. View Newsletters
  - Filters for View Newsletters
    - All Newsletters
    - Sent Newsletters
    - Draft Newsletters
    - Scheduled Newsletters
    - Archived Newsletters
  - Actions for View Newsletters
    - Send – Use this action to Schedule and Send your newsletters.
    - Icon Key for My Newsletters
    - Info
    - Copy
    - Preview
    - Delete
    - Publish
    - Unpublish
    - Archive/Unarchive
    - Convert to Raw HTML
    - Welcome
  - Status for View Newsletters
2. Create Newsletter
  - Select Template
  - Select Template Border Style
  - Name
  - Email Sending Options
  - Content Options
  - Editor
  - Preview
  - Review
3. Auto-Series
4. Instant Import
5. Surveys
My Subscribers – Add and Manage your Subscriber Email Lists.
- Quick Start with My Subscribers
1. Categories
2. Search Subscribers
3. Add Subscribers
4. Remove Subscribers
5. Update Subscribers
6. Manage Bounces
7. List Cleaner
My Reports – Track Surveys and Newsletters. View statistics and Create Segmented Subscriber Lists.
- Quick Start with My Reports
1. Email Campaign Reports
  - Sent Newsletter Reports
  - Sent Newsletter Detailed Report
2. Auto-Series Reports
3. Survey Reports
4. Manage Bounces
More Features – More Tools for your email marketing and email newsletters.
- Quick Start with More Features
1. Personalization – Customize Subscriber Pages, Email Notifications, Links and Signup Forms for your website.
  - Signup Builder – Create customized Secure-Subscribe forms and links for website and profile pages.
  - Publish-to-Web Profile – Create your Publish-to-Web eNewsStandOnline Profile to build your opt-in email lists, search marketing and online marketing traffic.
  - Custom Branding – Select custom colors and account logo for tools used by your subscribers.
  - Subscription System – Customize your hosted subscription forms.
  - Confirmation Emails – Customize subscriber confirmation emails.
  - Forward to a Friend – Customize your forward to a friend page.
  - Custom Contact – Add contact photo or custom HTML to your newsletter templates.
2. Library – Save and edit reusable newsletter content.
3. Auto-Responders – Create an automatic single email Auto-Responders for your website.
4. Auto-Series – Create one or more Auto-Series using saved newsletters.
5. Instant Import – Pull shared newsletters into your account to edit and send.
6. Surveys – Create a trackable Survey and add it to your newsletter, or post it online.
7. Help with Animated GIFs – Resources for animated newsletter content.
Help Center – You are currently viewing the MyNewsletterBuilder Help Center.

Contact Live Support

MyNewsletterBuilder is here to support you. If you are not finding the help you need through on-page help and this help directory, please contact us:

Chat – Click the LiveSupport button, Monday through Thursday, 7 AM – 10 PM EST/EDT, and Friday, 7 AM – 9 PM EST/EDT
- We provide personal help through a Live Chat window on your computer screen.
- Our LiveSupport button is located in the top right corner of each web page.
- If the Live Chat system is busy or unavailable, your message will be sent by email.
Phone – Call us at 1-877-FLY-JBA8/1-(877)-359-5228, Monday through Thursday, 7 AM – 10 PM EST/EDT, and Friday, 7 AM – 9 PM EST/EDT
Email – Send email to support@jbanetwork.com
Web Form – Contact support using our Web-based Email Form

We provide Live Support 15 hours a day weekdays excluding major holidays. We also check support emails at night and over the weekend. Inquires received after 10 PM EST/EDT (after 9 PM EST/EDT on Fridays) are responded to via email as soon as we have answers to your questions.

Please include your name, username and contact information when you contact Live Support.

If the issue is related to a specific newsletter, please provide the name of the newsletter, the web browser version and the operating system (Windows Vista, for example), and a description of the steps to take to reproduce the issue. This small amount of information allows us to see what you are seeing and address your concerns as promptly as possible.

Yes, we provide Live Support for Free Trial customers. If you do not have an account with MyNewsletterBuilder, the best way to find out how easy it is to create your email marketing is to start your Free Trial today.

Retrieved from "http://help.mynewsletterbuilder.com/Help_with_Animated_GIFs"