Newsletter Management Using Php W/o Mysql For Beginners
|
|
Let's begin by setting some limits. If you're like me, you like to keep it simple. All we're doing is collecting email addresses together for our mailing list, so biochemical engineering is out the window. If you're using Thunderbird (or that MS product), you can send nicely formatted newsletters out and retain all of the other awesome features of your email program so there's really no need for databases, logins, or pretty much anything else. We're going to stay far away from anything non-essential.
To keep it simple, I'll assume you have Dreamweaver or a comparable WYSIWYG composer; however, if you are editing source code you can click here to see an expanded version of this article with source code. Also, I've assumed that you have an extremely basic familiarity with PHP. If not, please begin by reading this PHP introduction (for absolute beginners).
There are only 3 steps we're going to need:
Marching on, we need to put some HTML on our page to let the visitor enter in their name and email address. To do this using Dreamweaver, you'll need to create a form with the POST method, a text input named visitor_name, a text input named visitor_email, and a submit button.
We now have our excellent mailing list form up and you should check to make sure that it ended up where you planned. At this point, you may need to make another slight change. If the file's extension is not php, php3, php4, or phtml you should change the file's extension to php. Now, you will need to be careful here as file extensions are extremely important, so you may lose functionality when you change the file's extension. If this is the case, look up the extension and find a tutorial for the language.
Take a breather and get ready for step 2. Since this is a PHP tutorial, we're going to take a closer look at the PHP code used to send us the email. Being a language, we'll need to learn enough of the PHP vernacular to 1) use the information the user submitted, 2) create the body of the email, and 3) send the email.
The form we created sends 2 pieces of information: visitor_name and visitor_email. When PHP receives them it realizes that someone POSTed some information and to make it easy for you to get ahold of it creates a couple of special "things" you can use to refer to what the user entered: $_POST['visitor_name'] and $_POST['visitor_email']. Why does it call them by funny names? Well the $_POST part assures you that it was information that was submitted by your visitor and not some other PHP somewhere on your page. The part in quotes allows you to pick which piece of information was submitted by your visitor (don't stress on the brackets - they just separate the two pieces of information).
Great! We now have our visitor's information, so let's send it to ourselves. Sending email in PHP almost seems too easy. We just need to modify this line mail(TO, SUBJECT, MESSAGE); by replacing each of the bold capitalized words and adding this inside of PHP tags to our page. Replace TO with your email address in quotes. Replace SUBJECT with the subject you want to appear on the email inside of quotes. In an effort to keep it simple, replace MESSAGE with "{$_POST['visitor_name']} at {$_POST['visitor_email']} would like to subscribe to your mailing list." By now, the MESSAGE replacement is probably self-explanatory except for the curly braces. The curly braces just reassure PHP that the information inside of them really does refer to something it should already know (in this case what our visitor submitted).
Now we just need to include our modified line in the HTML page. Here's the whole modified line (don't forget the PHP tags!):
mail("MY EMAIL ADDRESS","Newsletter Subscription","{$_POST['visitor_name']} at {$_POST['visitor_email']} would like to subscribe to your mailing list.");
If you're a really observant reader, you're already wondering how PHP knows to wait until someone's submitted a subscription request. Well, in the example above, it doesn't. It's also missing some kind of message to inform your subscriber that their request was successful. Since this is introductory material and already lengthy, I'll save that explanation for another article. Just follow everything you've learned above and use this line of code instead (I've bolded my special addition), substituting the success message for one of your own:
if (isset($_POST['visitor_email'])) { mail("MY EMAIL ADDRESS","Newsletter Subscription","{$_POST['visitor_name']} at {$_POST['visitor_email']} would like to subscribe to your mailing list."); echo "Subscription Complete. Thank you!"; }
Er, that's all folks! You'll start receiving emails which you can then add to a mail list in Thunderbird. To manage unsubscription requests, just have a little note at the end of your mailing list saying to reply to the email to be removed and then edit your mailing list.
Jeremy Miller - Webmaster of Script Reference - The *NEW* PHP Reference & Tutorial Site For Non-Programmers
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterWebsite Conversion Rate: More Keywords Equals More Sales
Your website conversion rate should concern you. This simply refers to how many visitors to your website it takes before you make a sale. It is called conversion because you are 'converting' a casual visitor into a buyer. Website conversion should concern you because when you can increase the rate at which your website visitors convert into buyers, you make more money without increase your costs. Let me explain.If you get one sale for every o...(related: Web Development)
Launch Your Own Website Today - Its Easier Than You Think!
Thousands of people are now making a living online and the opportunities are abundant as the Internet continues its growth. An ...(related: Web Development)
Top 5 Webmaster Tools You Can Pick Up For Pennies
1. SiteSpinner V2 - On Salewww.deprice.com/sitespinner.htmSiteSpinner is a user-friendly web site development tool that includes many advanced features such as drag-and-drop positioning, built in FTP to publish directly to your web site, an image editor and graphics creation all in one.2. Codelock 2.0 - On Salewww.deprice.com/codelock.htmCodelock encrypts PHP and any HTML generated by your PHP scripts. You can password protect your scripts, create an expiry time or unlock key, lock to IP or URL and more. Codelock Offers strong protection for an affordable price. The Encryptor software works with any install of PHP4.x or better. Requires no additional software to be install...(related: Web Development)
Does Your Business Really Need A Website?
Website, website, website, everyone says you need one. Butdo you really? It all depends. It depends on your market,business objectives, and even your comfort level and if youare willing to step outside of it.If your customers live and work within a few miles of yourbr...(related: Web Development)
Web Accessibility For Screen Magnifier Users
The needs of screen magnifier users are overlooked when implementing web accessibility on to a website. Screen magnifiers are used by partial...(related: Web Development)
Search Engines And Customers Want Focused Web Site Content
How do you decide on the content, products and or services you will promote on your Web site.Or should I go back one step further and ask why did you decide to create a website in the first place.Just thought I would ask to see...(related: Web Development)
How To Start Your Own Website
I'm one of those people that always wanted a website, but had no clue as to using the internet. I could check my email and that was about it. I never heard of ISP, FTP or all those other "words".When I discovered that I had the website making program Microsoft FrontPages I was determined to learn something about html. Then when I discovered I could earn some money by having a website I wanted to start yesterday! And here I am, still don't know hardly anything, but I'm running a website! ...(related: Web Development)
Adding Word Rich Content To Your Website
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.Adding Word Rich Content to your Website. Duplication vs. IndividualismHow can we add Word Rich Content to our Websites without overtly duplicating others website content, and as an end product maintain our own Individualism?In theory Article Libraries are the answer to the above question. But, is it true that if you continually add like information to your site, you no longer maintain an individual posture?Not every article that is submitted to your site will fit the needs of your particular agenda. Your site contains individual keywords that are meant to enhance the theme of your pages. Although it is true that many persons who submit articles t...(related: Web Development)
Wheres Your Focus, Money Or Customer?
Is your website Really useful?I had a 'rep' in yesterday who was telling me he had a website, not realising I'm a man of many talents he was telling me about all the new companies he was working with and the great products he could offer and reminded me to go to his website.When he'd finished, I asked him:-
How To Get Your Website In Front Of Thousands Of Customers At No Cost To You!
Dan Kennedy once said that if you can't make money without money? then? you won't make money with money either.Those words swirled in my brain over and over. Then, one fine day, I decided to test them out. Here's what I did:I was running my own promotions and noticed that the Internet was beginning to unfurl. A little voice in the back of my head told me I had better jump into cyberspace.But I did not have a websit...(related: Web Development)
Beautiful Web Sites Seldom Make More Sales
Designing an E-commerce Web site is not as simple as having a "pretty" site that is a pleasure to visit. While it is important to have an attractive site, as much thought must be given to functionality as to appearance.Many Web designers seem to focus more on appearance than functionality, and while an attractive site is helpful, visitors that become frustrated by the inability of a site to function well, will leave almost immediately, never to return!Just as important in designing an e-commerce-style Web site, is a somewhat basic knowledge of Web site design, with some simple design skills included. While a thorough knowledge of design and functionality is not important, designing an e-commerce site does have some requirements, or else you'll always find yourself g...(related: Web Development)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Development