So I finally got the message ....I should build a list ( I caught myself buying something after receiving an email from someone I was on a list of) I was wondering what the best way to go is with building a mailinglist. Should I host a script myself and if so which (free or paid) or should I use a service like aweber?
Years ago, when I set up my first mailing list, I started out by using the newsletter script that my web host provided with my hosting account. At first it seemed to be okay - I had 100 subscribers, then 200 subscribers, then 400 subscribers... But I found out that the system gets quirky when you get up around 1,000 subscribers (actually 800 or more). ALSO, you should know that you are using your hosts "mailservers" to send out those emails to your list. What I didnt know at the time was that most host's mailservers get "blacklisted" all of the time. And you know what? They are not in the email marketing business, and they dont really care. In fact, most of them will tell you straight out "that is a 3rd party script and we dont offer support for it" (ignoring the fact it is THEIR mail servers causing the problem). To make a long story short, I found out that the majority of my subscribers were not getting my emails at all. As for Constant Contact and Topica, they have been blacklisted by certain major ISP's for years. Unless you have a close friend that signs up for your list and then TELLS you that they didnt get your email, you'll likely never know who isnt getting it. When I switched to Aweber a couple of years ago, well - I was skeptical about spending $19.95/month after having my list set up free with my hosting account before. Of course, if you look at the pricing structure of Topica and Constant Contact, you'll see that as your list grows... they charge a whole lot more than 20 bucks! Anyway, I decided to "go for it"... and that was the best decision I ever made. Like I said, I didnt realize how many people werent even getting my emails... but when I started publishing my newsletter through Aweber - my response rate went sky high! People were replying to my newsletter, there was a huge spike in sales, etc - it was a BIG difference! Aweber is the industry leader in mailing list management... it IS their 'job' to make sure they stay whitelisted, and they continue to boast "the highest delivery rate in the industry". That initial experience got me hooked - but it's all of their features that have kept me as a loyal customer. They provide very detailed stats, including how many people opened your email - or which links were clicked on in your message. They also tell you where each subscriber came from (which page or which link they used). They let you split-test subject lines, to see which one gets the highest "open rate" (which one gets more people to open the email). It's unreal what all they offer... Of course, as already mentioned, you can set up as many lists as you want in one account. That is newsletters, autoresponders, you name it - it's unlimited. And now they have a brand new feature in our accounts called the Feed Broadcaster - anyone who has a blog will love this! I have a post about it and an example on my own blog, which you can see here: http://clicknewz.blogspot.com/2005/12/feed-broadcaster.html This is my link to Aweber: http://sswt.aweber.com . You can sign up for the free trial, set up your own account, or even sign up for the affiliate program. I will get credit if you use my link, of course - which would just make my day
Thanks Lynn, I will make your day and use your link. Just a short question you might know. If I signed up for the monthly plan is it possible to change it later into a quarterly or yearly plan? Couldn't find it at the site Regards, Edwin
I have access now to Aweber and still a lot to figure out about building lists...but I must say it is real easy to work with. I have set up a subscribtion boz in a few minutes and ... now we wait Kidding off course as the work has yet to begin any good advice to build a list fast but good
You can "use" someone elses list for a price. A former company I worked for used Choicepoint lists for a long time. I'm not sure if their pricing structure has changed radically, but they used to just charge you by a % of your revenues from using the list.
kinda jv but then in maillinglists...sounds intresting. Looked up choisepoint just now and I think they are doing something else as I can't find any reference to emaillists at their site
I'm not sure, honestly - but they are great to get back to you with answers quickly if you want to ask the sales team. I'd guess they would be happy to let you make the change at any time...
Lynn, does Aweber offer some kind of feature that minimizes the risk of getting mailservers blacklisted? I couldn't find anything on their site about it.. can you point me in the right direction?
Aweber has a lot of pull, being the leader in the industry, and so they have the highest delivery rate out there. They have built-in features to notify people if a particular server or ISP has blacklisted, and are set up to take care of that ASAP. You might email support/sales - or even phone them - to get more details on it. I dont know the techie explanation on it - just my experience with it.
Do they guarantee the e-mail will get delivered to the recipient and/or that the mailserver will not get blacklisted?
Do dedicated servers have a problem with getting blacklisted? I just got my first dedicated server (with 4 ips) so is it still recommended I use a 3rd party service? Also, how do ecommerce sites handle mailing receipts, order followups, etc. if its so common to be blacklisted?
I used Constant Contact for about 3 years with emails I collected through my brick & mortar business. I wasn't crazy about the service, but loved their html templates. They made sending out a good looking Newsletter easy. They just got too expensive though. It was also pointed out that they are blacklisted by some ISP's. I had several people email me and say "I signed up for your newsletter and have never received one, when do you send them out?" I've heard nothing but good about aweber and will be switching my list over to them when I get some extra time.
Allright! Open a free forum... then anyone who signs up will be on your list. You can mass email to all users. Just make the forum interface match the mailing list topic.
There are many worthy email marketing service providers available, however if you choose build your own mailing list, you will want access to the same tools that the email marketing service providers can offer, such as (but not limited to): Delivery statistics, such as successful delivery, permanent delivery errors, temporary delivery errors (mailbox full, connection errors, blacklisted/banned), and more. You should be able to track your email list statistics over time, but also specifically by each campaign. Use a unique identifier on each of your mailings, sometimes added to the email "headers", so that you can either manually, or through an automated system, be able to track your mailings by campaign. You should be able to search your results by a variety of data, such as date and time, delivery status, email address, email domain, server response, mailing list number, and most importantly mailing/campaign ID. Keep in mind that the major Internet Service Providers have been placing stronger and stronger restrictions on the email that they accept from email marketers. America Online, for example, claims that they may ban all incoming emails from any network which sends more than 10% undeliverable email (http://postmaster.info.aol.com/guidelines/standards.html). Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo, and Gmail all have similar clauses in their documentation. Disclaimer disclaimer... shameless plug to follow... My company has developed a service for individuals that wish to keep control of their own email marketing, as well as for mailing list software developers tha wish to add this kind of information to their existing mailing list software. http://www.inboxresponse.com/ We offer a free trial account, and monthly service options for less than $5/month. Good luck in your online marketing. ResidualGuy
If you want to go solo, try this great script: http://mojo.skazat.com/ however, try to get a service with a unique IP (a dedicated server is best) and unique domain, so your working domain doesn't get banned. Avoid spamming anyone and respond to requests to be removed fast.