Thread: Mailing list program!

Help!

Hotmail only allows so many contacts, and mine has filled! Not to mention you can only send to 50 people at a time.

Does anyone have a mailing list organizer they use that they can send periodic emails through that isn't too costly? I'd love to be able to link it directly to my site as well!

Have you tried Gmail?

I thought you said you were no longer on Bhuz..:) HA!

haha, I cleared my internet options. I'm addicted, I need Bhuz Anonymous

I've recently started using the free e-mail program through Bravenet.com. It's free and sends nicely formatted html e-mail newsletters. I like the template and it's easy to use -- and did I mention it's free? It has all the features you need to be a non-spammer, including double opt-in and unsubscribe options.

As soon as you give them your old list (which you do just by pasting it into a box and hitting 'enter') your peeps will immediately get an opt-in e-mail to confirm being added. So if you use it, notify your list first of the change, and set up your options before you add your list. You can add text to the confirmation e-mail for instance, and set up the page they'll go to when they click on the confirmation.

I really like Bravenet a lot. I pay for a few services so they can be ad-free, but I use a lot of free ones, too.

Ooo, can they pick what type of mailings too?

Originally Posted by amity

Ooo, can they pick what type of mailings too?

I don't think so. It's a simple subscribe/unsubscribe, just one list. You can see the signup box here: Belly Dance Stuff

The only way to offer multiple types of mailings would be to have multiple lists, which would require multiple Bravenet accounts because you only get one free maillist per membership.

I have two memberships at Bravenet, one as Bellydancestuff.com and one as Lotus-Arts.net and they each have a mailing list, which are for very different things.

I use constant contact and they are great. You have to pay for it but its totally worth it and its not that expensive! Plus it will allow you to send mass html based e-mails and you can add links to your site!

I just started using Constant contact and I LOVE it. The reports are extremely useful too. It's really not expensive if you pay 3-6 months at a time.

I organise my mailing lists in Microsoft Outlook, and that works really well. It's pretty easy to add people when they send me enquiry emails. I can also do basic formatting and include pictures in the email. The only issue is the program's attached to your computer, and you need to re-set it up again if you switch computers (last time I did that the mailing lists would not transfer over. Arghhh!). There isn't any auto unsubscribe option, but I get people to send a return email if they want to be unsubscribed, then just delete them from the mailing list.

By the way, a tip - back up your mailing list in another file eg: excel...just in case something goes wrong!

I use GoDaddy's Express Email Marketing. I've had some tech issues with them in the past, but generally speaking it's a good program at a reasonable price. I might start looking at constant contact though when I'm up for renewal. Lots of folks seem happy with them.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I've recently started using the free e-mail program through Bravenet.com. It's free and sends nicely formatted html e-mail newsletters. I like the template and it's easy to use -- and did I mention it's free? It has all the features you need to be a non-spammer, including double opt-in and unsubscribe options.

As soon as you give them your old list (which you do just by pasting it into a box and hitting 'enter') your peeps will immediately get an opt-in e-mail to confirm being added. So if you use it, notify your list first of the change, and set up your options before you add your list. You can add text to the confirmation e-mail for instance, and set up the page they'll go to when they click on the confirmation.

I really like Bravenet a lot. I pay for a few services so they can be ad-free, but I use a lot of free ones, too.

I just tried this and the subscribe e-mail they sent to all my contacts freaked everyone out and I think I lost a lot of people that way. I kept on getting e-mails like, "What is this Bravenet thing?," What is this for?," and "I don't think it worked." This is because you can't personalize the initial subscribe e-mail. Now I have to go through the list and figure out how to add like 280 people because they didn't respond to the subscribe e-mail...oh and you can only import names once, so there is no second chances on this. I was really dissapointed, but I guess it's my fault for not studying up on this first.

Does anybody use a UNIX script that runs in your cgi-bin area and goes through your list of names one by one and sends them an email using the sendmail utility?

I had some of the same problems, because I got overanxious and imported my list first, before I fully explored the site. (I almost posted all the info here, but no one seemed interested in the free service so I didn't want to be presumptuous!)

You can personalize the initial e-mail, and tell the program what web page to direct people to when they click on the initial link. (The default is the Bravenet site, but now they go to a Thank You page on my site). All those options, and more, are in the 'general settings' area under 'setup options.'

For anyone new starting up, WAIT to import your subscribers until you've got everything set up!!

I sent an e-mail through my old list, told them I jumped the gun but if they went to a site called Bravenet they were good to go, and told them if they lost or threw away the initial e-mail to let me know so I could delete & re-add them.

Bravenet will let you override the 'only import once' feature if you send them an e-mail -- they tell you how on the screen that says you can only do it once. It's just not automatic because they don't want spammers importing whole lists every day.

Thanks Lauren! That is helpful!