Newsletter subscritpion service

[Sillyperson]

Hi

I want people to be able to click a SUBSCRIBE link on a webpage, enter their email, and be stored on a database for a mass-email weekly newsletter.

Its for informing the public and gaining volunteers for a environmental project.

I haven't a clue how to do this.

Can anyone help?

[ianjrichards]

The answer depends on the size of your mailing list.

If you expect to have a large mail list (> 1000 names) then you will need a complete mail list management program simply to manage bounces, email address changes and other administrative tasks. Virtually all list managers include a subscription module that does what you want.

There are a number of free mail list managers such as Majordomo and EZMLM but these are server products that need to be hosted and good free hosting is hard to find.

If you want to go this route I'd suggest you try this free package

http://www.phplist.com/

It's free, Open Source and in active development.

Don't under-estimate the effort involved in managing a large mail list and administering a large mail list package.

Small lists less than 1000 subscribers can be managed manually but again, don't under-estimate the work involved.

Collecting subscriptions for small lists from your website is easy enough; all you need to do is install a free CGI script on your web server. Some of these scripts also provide basic mail list management functions as well.

To see what's around go to www.hotscripts.com and type "email subscribe" into the search box.

Gizmo

[Sillyperson]

Thank you... you have been a great help.

[Jojoyee]

This is copied over from the old forum about email newsletter programs. A link is added there to point to here. Please take a look.

#1Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 06/19/2009 - 17:27.
new
I've been searching for a good bulk emailer for our nonprofit running group email messages that go out to about 400+ email addresses. So far, with two programs, an SMTP Server and a Bulk Emailer, I've been able to get free solution. Most pay-for programs have them both integrated together.

I found a simple free SMTP email server program: http://www.softstack.com/freesmtp.html

And then you can just use 'localhost' as the SMTP Server in a free bulk emailer program, like Email Marketing Pro: http://www.emailmarketingprofessional.com/
Or, MassMail: http://www.kgpsoftware.com/massmail.htm

I'm guessing it would take a few minutes to send out individual email messages, but I haven't tested them yet for a large group of contacts yet. These programs are free, pretty easy to setup, and the messages are sent directly from your computer with no limits.

Are there any better free solutions out there?

[Sillyperson]

I will look into it...

[SeniorCitizen]

I have local town email lists consisting of around 2K names (swim club, PTA, historical society, etc.) They're in a MS Works database, 2 columns. "Code" and "Email Address". Code tells me where address came from. Some addresses are duplicates.

I want to be able to remove the dupes and also keep the "Code" so I know where name came from (if returned as undeliverable). Then I want to be able to put the list somewhere (I use Outlook Express) so I can send out a newsletter about local happenings. Easy enough mail out manually. Just need something for my email addresses.

Just found this site today. Spent an hour. Very interesting, quite informative, and extremely helpful. Will probably be a daily visitor. Thank you! And thank you to anyone who can possibly help me in my search for an email list management program.

PS -- Am not really computer savvy and do not understand computer terms, i.e., SQL, bandwidth, etc. Need to be spoken to like a child!

[chris.p]

A note on bulk emailing - with a small list of 400 or so it's not so bad, but you'll need to be mega careful with your email procedures if you send out to a list of 2,000 or so. It's very easy to have your ISP or webhost ban you for spamming. To avoid this you might find you need to send them out in groups of 100 or less, and make absolutely sure to have an unsubscribe link at the top of the message.

A proportion of all emails are always bounced, that is, marked as spam or returned undeliverable. If your percentage gets higher than it should be, your ISP gets pressured by other ISPs to shut you down as a spammer.

I had some problems with this and only recommend a commercial service now. Once your domain (website) is greylisted things get tricky. But if you are self-mailing the emails then it's perhaps less of a problem - just be careful. Everyone hates spam, especially ISPs (the people who provide your Internet connection), since a percentage of traffic, which they are paying for, is spam. Your mail isn't spam but all bulk mailings get tarred with the same brush now. The safest way is a double opt-in system, where they have agreed to receive the email and you have a record of that, and there is a prominent opt-out link in the message.

[SeniorCitizen]

Thank you for your reply, Chris. VERY helpful to me. As for my ISP getting upset with me, it won't happen because I already know I can send out 1,000 emails in a 24 hour period without a problem. Last time I sent them out in batches of 100 to 200. Also, have spoken with the owners of my ISP (only a few miles from my home in NY) and he knows what I'm doing. He chuckled. I invite people to local government meetings. Room gets filled with new faces. Only person who gets upset with any of this is the mayor !

Just learned about the "unsubscribe" notice that needs to be included in the email. Will be done. Must keep in mind the info newsletter is only about my small local community and sent to residents.

Last mailing less than maybe 2% were returned as undeliverable. And maybe 5 people wrote "Take me off your list". I of course updated all my lists.

You wrote: "Once your domain (website) is greylisted things get tricky."
REPLY: I do own a domain name but do not use it. Would love to, but do not know how to set up that phpBB forum I once had. A friend had done it for me but he moved away. It was oh so much fun!

You wrote: "The safest way is a double opt-in system, where they have agreed to receive the email and you have a record of that, and there is a prominent opt-out link in the message."
REPLY: Will research this and figure out how to do it and what's easiest. I most certainly do not want to send information to someone who does not want it.

Again, thank you kindly for the information.

[lampada]

Thanks!!! It is very useful and is interesting. Has taken on a note.

[kendall]

lampada, please use English all over, as this is an English language forum. Please do not post headings in any other language too.