Ezines (E-mail Management System)

[ep2002]

Hi All,

I'm trying to get someone to help me here, so I'm trying this forum hoping someone will respond LOL

Okay here it goes...

I started off with one ezine company that didn't have a lot of the features that are standard, so I started looking around.

I came across Constant Contact which I thought was a great company, excellent features, great customer service etc., but than I started to have problems logging in.

They tried to make it like it was my computer, but I wasn't having any other problems with any other site.

This also concerned me as the e-mail management company has to have excellent servers in order to ensure your ezines go out right after you send them.

So, I'm trying to research who is the next best thing. I think BCentral was mentioned, but I'm not even sure that is what I want & I was cared off when I learned MS owns it LOL

Constant Contact's site was excellent & really laid everything out, was colourful, so you know their templates were nice & I could read all the features they offered at a glance.

Does anyone have any recommendations on who is just as good as Constant Contact & has excellent servers?

Thanks so much & I hope everyone is having a great wknd. :D

Michelle

On another note, I have this issues below...

I have a tons of e-mail addys saved up from my time online which is 6 yrs. now.

Most of the people conacted me personally thru dating sites etc, & I'm sure some would very interested in my new e-commerce site. I kept them knowing one day I would finally get my site launched LOL

I want to be able to either send them an e-mail introducing them to my site or asking them to join my ezine.

Last year people were telling me this is okay b/c there had been contact made between me & them at one point or another.

Today I'd like to hear suggestions on how to do this without causing any problems since all the new changes with spam.

There are just too many e-mails to do it one at a time (maybe 40,000 +), so I'd need a program that can gather all the e-mail addys, make sure there are no duplicates & send out a one time only e-mail. I don't even care if I have to do 100 every day just to space it out.

Than I would just delete the e-mail addys unless the person joined my ezine.

Any suggestions on how to do this, whether to get them to join my ezine or present my site or both?

Any suggestions on a program that will pull the e-mail addresses for me & send off an e-mail for me?

Thanks

Michelle

[Arizona Web]

I use constant contact, and they are about as good as it gets. You might want to check out road runner too, but I'm pretty sure constant contact is the tops for email campaigns.

I have also used a program called OEM Pro which is awesome. You can buy this for a few hundred bucks and then you don't have to use an external server. I think they have all the features constant contact does, and if not, they at least compete.

As far as sending out emails, I think you're right, since you have had contact I don't think it violates a spam law, but I would do some research to see if there is a time limit on the contact just to make sure. As for preventing the people you send it out to deleting it or reading it and hating you, it will take some very carefully crafted text. Your message has to be professional, polished, polite, interesting, not spammy, and you have to make them feel safe and give them an opt out. Mention the fact that you had contact with them at one point and that's why you thought they may be interested in your new site. If it is really important to you, you may want hire a copywriter. I can suggest an excellent one if you need one who (and don't quote me on this) will probably write something up for you for around 250.

Good luck, use your best judgement and don't spam. :lol:

[ep2002]

Hi there,

Thanks for that.

I wanted to use Constant Contact, but I need a site where I can actually log in. LOL I wonder why.

Have you had problems with logging in? They even told me their servers were causing problems last week.

I can't afford to buy, but I'll check it out.

I am sure I can write something up that is pleasant & no, I don't spam & am dead set against it. In fact, I'm all for all around good netiquette :lol:

Have a great wknd.

Michelle

I use constant contact, and they are about as good as it gets. You might want to check out road runner too, but I'm pretty sure constant contact is the tops for email campaigns.

I have also used a program called OEM Pro which is awesome. You can buy this for a few hundred bucks and then you don't have to use an external server. I think they have all the features constant contact does, and if not, they at least compete.

As far as sending out emails, I think you're right, since you have had contact I don't think it violates a spam law, but I would do some research to see if there is a time limit on the contact just to make sure. As for preventing the people you send it out to deleting it or reading it and hating you, it will take some very carefully crafted text. Your message has to be professional, polished, polite, interesting, not spammy, and you have to make them feel safe and give them an opt out. Mention the fact that you had contact with them at one point and that's why you thought they may be interested in your new site. If it is really important to you, you may want hire a copywriter. I can suggest an excellent one if you need one who (and don't quote me on this) will probably write something up for you for around 250.

Good luck, use your best judgement and don't spam. :lol:

[ep2002]

Hi all,

I just wanted to let everyone know that my computer was to blame for the problem :(

I had no idea that something has gotten into my computer & put certain sites in my restricted sites area.

It might have been a spyware program that was recently installed, but shouldn't it tell you that it's going to restrict site A, B, etc.?

Even Overture was on there & I don't even go to that site.

Once I found a supervisor to talk to, Constant Contact was very helpful in troubleshooting the problem.

Now I can stop looking for an e-mail management system.

Thanks so much to everyone & have a great week : )

Michelle

[Mike Feury]

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, just want to mention something to be careful of:

As far as sending out emails, I think you're right, since you have had contact I don't think it violates a spam law, but I would do some research to see if there is a time limit on the contact just to make sure.

The real problem in practice is not if it's legal . The practical problem is, if someone reports your email as spam, can you prove prior contact?

In the current climate, you'll usually be regarded as guilty until proven innocent, and in some cases may not even get a chance to prove innocence. So there's a real danger of losing your hosting or ISP account.

There's another potential problem with 40,000 emails gathered over 6 years. Many of them will no longer exist, and larger ISPs could flag you as a spammer if they see a lot of emails coming from you to non-existent addresses on their network.

You could find your server blocked from emailing Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, EarthLink etc or your ISP could come under pressure to shut you down.

If I were in your situation, I wouldn't try to email these 40K addresses. Chances are only 5-10K are still valid, and I doubt you'd get 100 sign-ups out of that. The risks look too high to me for such a likely small reward.

[ep2002]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your pov.

What I am thinking of doing is just sending out like 5-10 at a time.

I know it will take forever, but only when I have a minute will I send out my e-mail.

What do you think of that?

Thanks & have a great night !

Michelle

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, just want to mention something to be careful of:
The real problem in practice is not if it's legal . The practical problem is, if someone reports your email as spam, can you prove prior contact?

In the current climate, you'll usually be regarded as guilty until proven innocent, and in some cases may not even get a chance to prove innocence. So there's a real danger of losing your hosting or ISP account.

There's another potential problem with 40,000 emails gathered over 6 years. Many of them will no longer exist, and larger ISPs could flag you as a spammer if they see a lot of emails coming from you to non-existent addresses on their network.

You could find your server blocked from emailing Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, EarthLink etc or your ISP could come under pressure to shut you down.

If I were in your situation, I wouldn't try to email these 40K addresses. Chances are only 5-10K are still valid, and I doubt you'd get 100 sign-ups out of that. The risks look too high to me for such a likely small reward.

[Mike Feury]

What do you think of that?

I think it'll take 10-20 years :lol:

That should certainly lessen the dangers--and postpone them for sure.

I still think the return won't be worth the effort though. What you could do is separate out say 1,000 addresses to test. If you get a good return from them, keep going. If not, you won't have wasted much effort.

[ep2002]

Thanks Mike. I'll keep that in mind :D

Have a great wknd.

Michelle

I think it'll take 10-20 years :lol:

That should certainly lessen the dangers--and postpone them for sure.

I still think the return won't be worth the effort though. What you could do is separate out say 1,000 addresses to test. If you get a good return from them, keep going. If not, you won't have wasted much effort.

[selfhelpebooks]

Ezinearticles is a good site. I use it and like it.