e-cards

[qwerty]

I'm thinking about adding a free e-card service to one of my sites, as a viral marketing tool. It would just send a still picture and a brief message, along with a mention of the site, which exists to promote a fashion model -- the pictures would all be of her.

I've checked around, and found something called vCard Lite (http://www.belchiorfoundry.com/), which looks good, but it requires MySQL and PHP. The site's host will be offering both of those soon, but there will be an extra charge for them.

Does anyone know of a free service that doesn't require anything like that? I only plan on using 5 or 10 pictures, and I don't intend to save any of the information people enter, so I'm hoping there's a version that doesn't require a database.

[urbanlady]

Have you ever thought of getting a php mysql host? They can be had quite reasonably. For a small site GoDaddy, the domain name people have a beginning account with these features for $3.98 a month. Cheapest one I have seen. There are a lot of them for $5 a month.

Regards,

Nancy Kramer
www.digitalphotoartistry.com

By the way I am interested in post cards for my flower picture site above. It would be a nice addition to the site.

[qwerty]

My current host is going to be offering it in 30-60 days, they tell me. I don't know how much extra (if anything) it will cost, though. If it's cheap, I'll probably just stick with them, especially since I think I'm due to renew the hosting for another year some time this month.

But I was really hoping I wouldn't need to support a database just to implement something like this.

By the way Nancy, you can put a link to your site in your signature file. Makes it easier for those of us who want to see your work ;)

[urbanlady]

Didn't know if the link was considered too much self promotion. Here it is http://www.digitalphotoartistry.com
I have PHP and MySQL on my site. It comes with the deal. Haven't used it yet but figured it would be a "nice to have" to add features to my site like the Ecards.

For your situation possibly Javascript Ecards exist. That's what I would look for. I have a lot of JavaScript books but can't remember ever seeing an Ecard application in one of them. Look at sites with free JavaScript scripts. If you find one let me know. One can send email from JavaScript and one can build HTML pages so it would seem that something like that could be done.
Seems like an interesting problem although I don't have time to play with it right now.

By the way what is the url of the site you want to do this on?

Regards,

Nancy Kramer

[Bernard]

Nancy, use the user cp button at the top of the forums to edit your signature file. Signature files are appended to each message you post, so your site will appear every time you post.

Also check out the vB Code Help link to the left when you are making a message. It will explain how to make a "live" link.

[qwerty]

I found a site called PPost (http://www.ppost.com/) and tried it out. It's free, but you have to settle for users seeing a banner ad when they create the card. Apart from that, it looks pretty good, and if you want to pay through the nose, you can get an ad-free version.

I created a page, but haven't added it to my navigation while I'm testing it. If you want to take a look, it's here: AnnaGrams (http://www.annasinkovska.com/annagrams.htm) (the model's name is Anna, hence the name).

[urbanlady]

Thanks for posting this. I sent a post card from one of the pictures on your link. Will check out how it works. My biggest concern with these folks would be that they don't get enough advertising and will shut down because they run out of money. Otherwise it seems to be a fine service.

Nancy Kramer
www.digitalphotoartistry.com
and other sites.

[jitenjain]

Well, instead of installing few scripts at your site which puts loads on your servers, I would suggest you to look for some free ecards service providers like all-yours.net or 123Greetings.com . I am using the service of 123Greetings and getting a good response from the associates system.

May be u can give it a try.

Jiten Jain

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums Jiten! :hi:

[qwerty]

Well, since this thread has been brought back to life, I may as well mention that the service I recommended above no longer exists. It was shut down about half a year ago.

[srikanthsh]

Hi Jiten, welcome to the forums :hi:

[Connie]

Just curious. Did you ever find a solution to your problem?