SEO : 5 tips to improve your ranking

Thanks to digital marketing, getting the word out about your business has never been easier. However, it often takes time for a potential customer to go from visiting your website to buying your product. A strategy to generate leads can help make sure that you identify interested users. Then, follow up and make the sale!

In this article, we will reveal simple ways to put your digital publications to work as lead generation tools.

The pop-up contact form is a classic method to generate leads online that we have mentioned before here on the blog.

While pop-up forms are a great choice, especially if you are producing exclusive content, they can be time-consuming to manage. Consider an even more streamlined, user-friendly approach: a smart Contact button.

Why does a Contact button help generate leads?

No matter what kind of content you are publishing digitally, you’ll want readers to be able to contact you as easily as possible. Our Editor lets you add links inside your publication for users to email or call your business.

Creating a Contact button makes an easy path from browsing your content to getting in touch. As a result, users benefit and you capture high-quality leads. In fact, this simple tool saves readers from having to:

• return to your site
• hunt for contact info
• open their inbox
• enter your email address

That’s a lot of work just to ask a question! Instead, potential customers are free to check out your publication, click your contact link and call or email you instantly.

How to add a Contact button to your publications

Once you have decided where your contact links will appear in your publication, all you need to do is open it with the Calaméo Editor.

Next, select the External Link icon and draw a link in the place you’ve picked for a contact link.

To create an email message from your contact link, enter “mailto:” followed by your business’s email address in the External link field. If a reader clicks this link, her computer’s email client will open a new message to the chosen address.

To add a telephone link, enter “tel:” followed by your business’s phone number in the External link field. Your readers can place a call directly from your publication just by clicking the link!

💡 TIP: Note that telephone contact links are only authorized for devices with native telephone capabilities, such as tablets and smartphones. Email contact links work on any device.

How to add a Contact button to the viewer

By investing a little extra time, you can also make use of contact links in our publication viewer to generate leads. We recommend creating a custom Skin to include a Contact button. Here’s an example in the toolbar of our Default:

You can learn more about how to design your own Skin on our Developers page or in our illustrated, step-by-step tutorial. Plus, making changes is easier than ever with our Elements feature, which lets you edit your publication’s viewer Skin right in your Calaméo account. 

Whether you prefer a Contact button on the page or in the viewer, it’s a must-have for generating leads from your online content. And with Calaméo, you never have to sacrifice the immersive experience offered by digital publications for seamless customer contact.

In short, contact links are one more way that interactive digital publishing on Calaméo helps your business go beyond the PDF!

To try out these ideas to generate leads with digital publishing, request your 14-day PLATINUM Demo. You’ll enjoy access to all the great features of our professional plan, no credit card required.

We have all seen a bad newsletter: messy visuals, too much text, a confusing format, boring content. In short, neither engaging nor fun to read. Luckily, the Calaméo team is here to help with all you need to know about newsletters! Publish newsletters that people actually want to read, with the aid of digital publishing and Calaméo’s easy-to-use platform.

1. What is a newsletter?
2. Why send a newsletter?
3. Define your objectives
4. Engaging text
5. Simplified formatting
6. Spice up your visuals

What is a newsletter?

A newsletter is a publication about a specific subject that is destined for a limited audience. Newsletters have been around a long time – even the ancient Romans used them – and are still a great means of communication today. Most newsletters are not very long (only a few pages) and include both text and visuals. Newsletters are similar to magazines, but magazines are typically longer and written for a wider audience. On Calaméo, your newsletter appears in its entirety in a flipbook, scroll, or slide format with turning pages and interactive details, rather than a flat and mundane PDF. (This article will focus on online newsletters that are hosted on digital publishing platforms like Calaméo, not email newsletter campaigns.)

Example of a newsletter from Neuropedia.

Why send a newsletter?

There are many reasons for creating and distributing newsletters. Companies may want to send out internal newsletters to employees to update them on company policies, events, or big news. An external newsletter is a great sales and marketing resource to send to clients and prospects. Clubs may send newsletters to members, religious institutions to congregants, local government administrations to residents, and educators and academic institutions may send newsletters to students, parents, or staff.

If you are currently distributing a paper newsletter, consider making the switch to a digital version. Not only will you save natural resources, your publication will also be dynamic and engaging, available online for consultation 24/7. If you are sending your current digital newsletter in a PDF format, now is the time to publish it on Calaméo and take advantage of our fabulous interactive features! Read on for our tips on publishing digital newsletters.

Define your objectives

There are questions you will need to ask yourself before creating your newsletter. First, what is the purpose of this newsletter? Are you creating a newsletter in order to share information, sell or market a product, or another reason?

Next, who is your audience? A group of people with similar interests who already know the topics included in the newsletter? Or a larger group that is unfamiliar with you or your organization? These questions will help you decide if you need to include background information or if you can use subject-specific language without needing explanatory text or visuals.

Finally, how often do you want to publish issues of your newsletter? Weekly, monthly, quarterly? PREMIUM and PLATINUM members can plan publications in advance to save time and keep to a regular schedule. Defining objectives around your newsletter will help you construct a relevant publication that people will actually read.

Engaging text 

Throughout the pandemic, newsletters have been an excellent tool for keeping employees and clients (and other audiences) updated regarding changing health regulations and conflicting information. They are excellent channels for providing up-to-date news.

So special consideration should be taken while creating the content of your newsletter. The body of your newsletter should have enough text to relay your information but not so much that your reader gets lost in the details. Make the content of your newsletter dynamic and engaging. Your articles should avoid too much fluff or filler; get to the point and show your subject knowledge or industry expertise by sharing relevant information. If your company has made a recent policy change, or your club has updated its calendar, those should be included. Announcements should appear in a prominent location in your newsletter. 

Simplified formatting

Formatting is usually an afterthought. However, good formatting will help your newsletter flow and draw readers’ eyes to critical content. You want your readers to retain the most important information and leave your publication feeling better informed, not overwhelmed by a wall of text or wasted space. 

Have these tips in mind for a well-formatted newsletter:

• Keep it simple
• Limit the amount of text on each page
• Stick to your brand style guide (use same font and color scheme as your other publications)
• Include calls to action in visible places
• No unnecessary visuals
• Avoid background images 
• Make use of Calaméo’s Zoom feature (PREMIUM and PLATINUM accounts)

Spice up your visuals

A good newsletter must include graphics (but not too many–see above!). Because newsletters are a visual format, take advantage of charts, graphs, and other visual aids to help share your information and illustrate your articles. Avoid clip art and other amateur graphics, especially if your newsletter is a professional publication.

The beauty of using an online digital platform like Calaméo to host your newsletter is that you can use our Editor tool to enrich your publication with dynamic visuals, like videos and GIFs. With Calaméo, you can also embellish the viewer. Personalize the theme of your viewer, add your logo, or even use our White Label feature.

💡 TIP : Make sure to optimize your documents before publishing!

Stay tuned

Part one of our newsletter series was all about the content of your newsletter, and part two will focus on the important steps to take before and after sending to ensure its success. Stay tuned for the next article in this series about newsletters. And in the meantime, sign up with Calaméo today to get started on your digital publishing journey!