Delivering Your Email Newsletter

Title: Delivering Your Email Newsletter





Author: Robert F. Abbott





Summary: Finding your way through the delivery choices for an email


newsletter or ezine can be a big job. But, be grateful for the choices,


and use free versions to find out which works best for you.





Keywords: email, e-mail, newsletters, email newsletter, delivery,


delivering, Abbott





Author Email: robert@abbottletter.com





Author photo: http://www.managersguide.com/images/r-abbott.jpg





Web location: http://www.communication-newsletter.com/delivery.html





Length: 747 words (including byline)





Terms: This article may be used in online or offline publications,


provided the content and the byline are used as provided. Notification


of use is appreciated but not required.














Delivering Your Email Newsletter





By: Robert F. Abbott





After creating your email newsletter, you face the challenge of


delivery. With a printed newsletter, there's usually only one method of


widespread distribution: the post office.





Fortunately, though, publishers of email newsletters have several


choices. Let's now work our way through this small jungle, and try to


remember that although these choices force us to do extra research,


they also give us many more options than we have with printed


newsletters.





The first choice is between manual and automated mail management. The


manual approach is how many, if not most, email newsletters get


started. And, it's a good system as long as the mailing list remains


small, say something less than 100 or 200 names (depending on how


efficient you are at managing your email program). You can do this with


an email program like Outlook Express or Eudora.





But, if your list is growing, you'll soon grow impatient with the


amount of time it takes to manually add and remove subscribers, as well


as to send the newsletter. For example, you might need to divide your


list into parts, and send out a series of mailings rather than just


one, to keep the size down.





That's when it's time to check out the automated approach, using


mailing list managers. These programs and services come in several


forms. By the way -- and you'll need to know this when you go looking


for an automated service -- the difference between an announcement


list and a discussion list.





An announcement list is essentially one way, which takes in most


regular newsletters, or ezines. You are the only person allowed to send


a message to the people who have subscribed. You're also probably the


only person who knows the email addresses of the subscribers.





However, if you want to make it interactive, with recipients allowed to


post contributions, as well as receive them, then you need a discussion


list. For most of us, though, an announcement list is the best starting


point for a newsletter.





Now, if you have chosen to automate, you need to decide whether you


want to do it yourself, or have someone else do it for you. If you plan


to do it yourself, then you need a dedicated mailing list program. A


couple of well-known providers are Dada Mail and MailLoop. To find


other mailing programs, enter the phrase "mailing software" (with or


without the quotation marks) in a search engine.





Of course, it's much easier to have someone else do the mailing for


you, and that's where we're going next, since few of us have the


expertise or time to do it ourselves.





Full service providers take care of all, or almost all the work for


you. You fill in a few forms, make a few choices, and then they take


over and do the rest. Those duties include adding and removing names,


sending the mail, and handling mail that can't be delivered (expect as


many as 5% of messages to 'bounce' back after each mailing, once your


list begins to grow).





So, if you've decided to use a full service provider, you next have to


decide whether to use a free service or pay-for-service provider.


Again, free generally works well when your list is small, and grows


more problematic as the number of subscribers increases.





Free services offer many of the same services as the commercial


services, but don't charge a fee. The catch? They place an ad in your


e-mail newsletter. If you sell advertising the free service takes away


a revenue spot. Or they restrict the number of subscribers or the


number of mailouts. Services I've used include Topica, MailerMailer,


and at the moment, I use ResponseBot. Again, you can find other


services by using a search engine or directory.





One of the great advantages of using free services is the opportunity


to try out different services before making a commitment. Test drive


each one for a few issues to find out whether or not you like it, then


make your choice.





Summing up, finding your way through the delivery choices can be a big


job. But, be grateful for the choices, and use free versions to find


out which works best for you.





Robert F. Abbott, the author of A Manager's Guide to Newsletters:


Communicating for Results, writes and publishes Abbott's Communication


Letter. Read more articles about Internet communication, as well as


email and printed newsletters at:


http://www.communication-newsletter.com/ic.html