After 5 years running my own online health & fitness business, and a long career history as an executive assistant and legal assistant, I decided to put my knowledge & skills to work, helping others.
This journey started with tools & resources created specifically with other online health coaches in mind. I love helping coaches take some of the "fluffy" work -- like graphics, templates, etc -- off their plate, leaving them more time to focus on what matters, like building relationships with their clients!
Now, we've branched out to be inclusive of other business types as well, offering freelance assistant services, branding bundle options, and so much more!
It's really important to me to help you learn how to make your business more efficient so that you can focus more on the important things in your life!
Check out the website for more info: melissazimmermannva.com
You talked about setting up streak as a service. I guess I need to know if streak or mail chimp is better for my business and get one of those types setup. Message me if you have time to discuss that. Thx Lance
Wow! That was easy breezy. Thank you Melissa. I just did that in less than 2 minutes and I thought it was gonna be hell to accomplish. Very much appreciate you. Stay blessed.
There's not an easy way, unfortunately. You technically could export to an HTML embed code and, if you have enough HTML experience, edit that to input into Gmail. However, because Gmail editor is a WYSIWYG editor now, there are a lot of steps to having the HTML based email work properly within Gmail. You'd also likely run into issues with who you're sending it to, based on their email clients. If you want more customizability with direct links to work in emails, your best option is to use a newsletter platform, like Flodesk.
Unfortunately you can't :( For the newsletter, it's just one larger PNG canva file. (PS I follow you on IG and have some of your stickers on my water bottle!)
@@MelissaZimmermannVA Omg small world much! That is awesome! I was so stoked when I came across your vid haha :) I will check out the newsletter option! I was juts adding pages oops lol. Thanks for responding so quickly! You are awesome! <3
I literally use a chromebook, everything i do is via my google account. im saving the files to my google drive, i see them when im in my google drive. but when i go to do the steps for the email they are not shown in my google drive via gmail? what am i doing wrong?
You're not inserting it via Google Drive. You'll be inserting an image and then linking that image to the PDF file that happens to be housed in your Google Drive (or anywhere else). You'll need to copy the public share link from the PDF uploaded in your Google drive first.
Yes. Essentially you're creating a graphic for the email that links to SOMETHING else. Generally it's the PDF version of the same graphic, with the various links a person wants included, but you absolutely could link it to your website.
Wow. This looks like it may appear much more nicely than the free MailChimp newsletters I'm doing at work. I've been having trouble with MC locking up on me over and over within the last year. We're already paying for Canva, so I wonder if I should switch. My question is about putting in the contacts. Is there a way to do this rather than just copy and paste? I have them all in MailChimp already and they are in our Electronic Medical Record system. I can download a CSV file from there with names and emails. How can I import them and make a mailing list in gmail?
So sorry for the delayed reply. This video is a bit on the old side now so the button name may have changed. You're just looking for the Share option and then grabbing the link that allows anyone with the link to view.
TYSM Melissa, this was very helpful! I've always wondered how these email marketing templates are added to an email. I'm also glad you mentioned to use the png file instead of a large pdf print file.
Hi, how you did the png file suddenly? I lost it, could you explain please? because in the previous step you just copied a link... thank you in advance
So sorry this reply is delayed -- did you see it in the description? "The size I'm using here is approximately 600 x 3000 px. This MAY require a Canva Pro account, depending on the available Canva plan features at the time of reading this."
Hi Melissa -- oh my gosh!!! Your video was a LIFESAVER. I spent about two hours trying to figure this out -- downloaded chrome extensions that didn't work, was fooling around with HTML under the "inspect" tab in the email, you name it, I did it. I was about ready to give up when I found your video. It works perfect for my purpose and I am SOOOOO grateful. I know the video is three years old, but just wanted you to know that it's still so valuable - thank you!! 💗
Hi, my VA is creating a template for a newsletter for me , where should I put it so I can access it? Then I will send it out to my data base which is in my crm
Hi Melissa, can you share instructions on how to redirect (not transfer) Outlook (GoDaddy told me that it is a so-called Web version or maybe 365 web version ) to Gmail? ((((unfortunately GoDaddy does not want to help with this issue......) Thanks, Christopher
Sorry, I didn't see this until now. I'm not all that familiar with Outlook but I'm sure in settings there is an option to forward mail from there as well.
Hi Melissa, thank you for posting. Is there a way for a hyperlink to go directly to a website rather than to the Google Drive PDF where it has to be clicked again before it goes over to website? I'm looking for any free option whether it Canva or another design system to send a promotional email with a link that goes directly to a website. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help. 🙏🏼
So sorry for the reply delay. You would just link the png graphic, that you're inserting into the email, to your website instead of the Google Drive PDF.
So sorry for the reply delay. You would just link the png graphic, that you're inserting into the email, to your website instead of the Google Drive PDF.
Hi Melissa! Thank you for this. However, I am having concerns as to why can't my newsletter be readable when using a mobile phone and also, the pdf with clickable links always appear as an attachment. I am wondering how can I optimize the newsletter so that it would appear to be friendly to all mobile devices. I am using a surface pro laptop btw. Thanks in advance for helping me out.
Sorry for the delay in my reply. Unfortunately, with this method you're essentially just adding a PNG graphic to the body of the email and linking it to a PDF version in a Google Drive (or similar cloud system). It's a free alternative to having to subscribe to an actual newsletter system so it won't be optimized for mobile readability. If you want to have an email newsletter that is mobile friendly, you'll need to subscribe to a system like FloDesk (check the video description for discount code to sign up). Regarding the PDF part -- go back through the video again. You're actually inserting an IMAGE and linking it to a PDF that is housed somewhere else. Hope this helps answer your questions!
Sorry for the delay in my reply. Unfortunately, with this method you're essentially just adding a PNG graphic to the body of the email and linking it to a PDF version in a Google Drive (or similar cloud system). It's a free alternative to having to subscribe to an actual newsletter system so it won't be optimized for mobile readability. If you want to have an email newsletter that is mobile friendly, you'll need to subscribe to a system like FloDesk (check the video description for discount code to sign up). Regarding the PDF part -- go back through the video again. You're actually inserting an IMAGE and linking it to a PDF that is housed somewhere else. Hope this helps answer your questions!
Hey Melissa! I loved your video and I loved how easy all this was however, I was trying to upload the PNG to my email that I was sending however, it was saying that the file was not supported, and I was wondering what I should do?
Hm that's strange. Make sure the file actually was saved as a .png and maybe try again? You could also clear your browser cache and give it another shot. If that doesn't work, I'd contact Gmail support. PNG files are absolutely supported.
This was so helpful, thank you. Do you have any tutorials about doing exactly this but embedding video? I tried the exact method with the mp4 but it wouldnt load and it popped up as a mp4 player and I was unable to scroll like a typical newletter.
Sorry for the delay! Unfortunately, in an email, you won't be able to embed a video. A free workaround would be uploading a screenshot of the video play screen and linking that to the actual video (that would be uploaded elsewhere, like Drive)
Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I've been trying to figure this out for work. It makes so much sense once you describe the process, but I was stumped. Of course, I'd love the links in my newsletter to be directly clickable, but this is better than nothing.
Sorry for the delay in my reply! If you are purchasing a MailChimp template from someone, you should only need to click the link they send (while signed into your account) and it will add to your MailChimp templates. Honestly, though, these days I'm recommending my clients switch to FloDesk. It's cheaper, more user friendly, and way prettier. If you need help moving over your MailChimp to FloDesk, or want a discount code for FloDesk, feel free to email me!
Aw, so glad! Send me a message and let me know what kinds of digital products would help your business in particular. I'm happy to look at creating new things for new clients!
Hi Melissa, Your video was quite interesting....Well I would appreciate if you could let me know how to send a newsletter through an official email ID (not the gmail ID)...? Regards, Uday Padhye
Hi Uday -- sorry for the delay. Can you tell me more about what you mean by sending "through an official email ID"? Do you mean a different platform than Gmail?
You are BRILLIANT! No one else knows how to do this but you and you showed us who's boss! OMG I love it!! Yay!! Thank you so much for this video. I knew it was possible but didn't exactly know how to do it. Your step-by-step made it so easy. You are a blessing! Woo hoo!!
