newsletter software?

[techbear]

I've got a lot of e-mail addresses, all people who actively signed up to get e-mails from me. But it's a hassle using my normal mail client to send them all a message or newsletter on a timely basis.

What I want is an app which lets me add new e-mails whenever I get them, and simply edit what I want to send them, and the app sends them the message once a week automatically.

Is there anything like that out there?

[Mark Sheeky]

Originally Posted by techbear

Is there anything like that out there?

Yes but it's probably used for spam, not by legitimate companies. It's best to use a newsletter provider like www.ymlp.com.

Mark

[Desktop Gaming]

I use www.ymlp.com too.

[MrPhil]

I did some looking around an settled on Mail Chimp I just started setting things up but so far so good. I liked how you pay for what you used, not a subscription etc.

[lakibuk]

Ouch, why are these newsletter services so expensive.
$100 just for sending out one newsletter with MailChimp?

[Desktop Gaming]

Originally Posted by lakibuk

Ouch, why are these newsletter services so expensive.
$100 just for sending out one newsletter with MailChimp?

That's to send it to 5,000 recipients.

If you've got a mailing list with that many people on it, and enough interesting new products to tell them about, you'll make your $100 back in only a couple of sales. Its potentially much cheaper than YMLP.

[Applewood]

But why does this stuff cost anything ?

Surely it's about 50 lines of SQL program. I kinda assumed something like this would be nestled somewhere within the MS Word suite as a _very_ simple productivity tool.

[Desktop Gaming]

Originally Posted by Applewood

But why does this stuff cost anything ?

Surely it's about 50 lines of SQL program. I kinda assumed something like this would be nestled somewhere within the MS Word suite as a _very_ simple productivity tool.

Well for one, if you start sending mass emails through your ISP's mail server, alarm bells are going to start ringing everywhere and they'll accuse you of spamming.

YMLP also offers archiving, and double confirmation of mailing list sign-ups. Plus a bunch of other features that justify the cost. I'm sure that monkey one has similar stuff.

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by Applewood

But why does this stuff cost anything ?

Surely it's about 50 lines of SQL program. I kinda assumed something like this would be nestled somewhere within the MS Word suite as a _very_ simple productivity tool.

There are a ton of extra things to be done to get mail through to big providers without being filtered (white lists, SPF, etc). Other features like bouncing handler are nice, too.

Personally I wouldn't risk running a large newsletter through your own server.

YMLP is $1 per 1000 emails past their posted subscription rates, by the way.

[Jamie W]

Originally Posted by Applewood

But why does this stuff cost anything ?

Surely it's about 50 lines of SQL program. I kinda assumed something like this would be nestled somewhere within the MS Word suite as a _very_ simple productivity tool.

Phplist is a very good existing (free) solution. You can set it up to fire off say, 200 emails per hour and leave it running over night.

http://www.phplist.com/

[Mark Sheeky]

Originally Posted by Jamie W

Phplist is a very good existing (free) solution. You can set it up to fire off say, 200 emails per hour and leave it running over night.

The problem with php self-automation is that one subsciber who (perhaps even accidentally) lists you as a spammer might get your server blocked for everyone. Imagine all of your emails being labelled as spam by google, hotmail etc.

Mark

[Jamie W]

Originally Posted by Mark Sheeky

The problem with php self-automation is that one subsciber who (perhaps even accidentally) lists you as a spammer might get your server blocked for everyone. Imagine all of your emails being labelled as spam by google, hotmail etc.

Mark

Sure, that's a good point.

Is that not possible though, even when using a service like YMLP?

[gwilnai]

What I want is an app which lets me add new e-mails whenever I get them, and simply edit what I want to send them, and the app sends them the message once a week automatically.

Is there anything like that out there?

Plimus now offers our vendors, at no additional charge, our Newsletter (i.e., email marketing) system. It will allow you to send regular or one-off newsletters or other emails to any customer who has bought from you in the past, or even those who came to your Plimus order pages and did not buy from you (i.e., unclosed sales). We can use your regular SMTP server, or you can purchase a hosted SMTP service for a nominal fee from our hosting partner, Dewahost.

If you have any questions about it, feel free to email us at sales[at]plimus[dot]com.

Best regards,
Guy Wilnai
Senior VP, Worldwide Sales & Marketing
Plimus, Inc.
www.plimus.com

[Mark Sheeky]

Originally Posted by Jamie W

Is that not possible though, even when using a service like YMLP?

No, for a start they use their servers. Mailing list companies usually have agreements with email providers so that your newsletter is not marked as spam. That's a major point of a mailing list provider... your newsletter will make it to the inbox. I used to use a php script but too many emails didn't reach their destination. One spam report flagged every email as spam and even I didn't get my own newsletters!

Mark