work at home
Ezine Management: The Right Resource is Everything
when managing an opt-in email list.
By Jim Daniels -
Work at home
site.com
Throughout the last five years, I've stressed one particular
online marketing strategy more than any other -- growing
your own opt-in email list. It is an essential Internet marketing
component that no business, large or small, can do without.
So today I'd like to share with you some of the web's best
resources for starting and managing your own opt-in email
list.
When beginning your list, you basically have two options...
You can either A) use list management software at your site
or B) utilize a free or paid list hosting service.
Here's a quick overview of each solution, including the pros
and cons of each...
Choice A involves a one-time purchase of software or a
cgi-script which is installed on the server that runs your
website. You'll also need to go through a bit of a learning
curve or training.
While you can save money using an installed solution, this
route is probably best for folks with some technical experience.
Things like setting up subscribe forms, processing them and
automating unsubscribes can take a bit of time to conquer.
If you DO want to try this route, here are some popular
applications being used...
MailLoop - http://www.bizweb2000.com/mailloop.htm
This is a great program for managing an email list. It
allows you to filter email addresses from text files, purge
duplicates, combine lists and automate just about every task
necessary to run an opt-in list through your own server. It
is a bit pricey, but when used effectively it can save you
quite a bit of money in the long-run.
SubscribeMe - http://cgi.elitehost.com
This is a cgi script that can handle your subscribe and
unsubscribe requests as well as automating maintenance and
delivery. A popular script among do-it-yourself ezine
publishers.
Now let's move to option B, utilizing a free or paid list
hosting service.
This is probably the best route for most new businesses to
take. It requires less setup time and a much shorter
learning curve. In a nutshell, all the work is done at a
third party server so all you have to do is learn to use the
service.
There are numerous list hosting services available on the
web. Some are free and some are not. And there are
advantages and disadvantages to using each.
Free List Hosting:
The premier FREE list hosting service on the web today is
provided by Topica. <http://www.topica.com> Actually, Topica
offers both paid and free list hosting. If you choose the
free service Topica places third party advertisements in
your newsletter. If you prefer to go without ads, you'll
need to opt for the paid version.
Another FREE solution for opt-in list management come from
ListBot at http://www.listbot.com/p_websiteowners.shtml .
Listbot will host your mailing list for free and in
exchange, they put a small ad at the beginning of each
message that gets mailed out.
Yahoo! Groups (formerly eGroups) at http://groups.yahoo.com
is another free, advertiser supported list management
service.
Now before signing up with ANY free list hosting service,
consider the final choice I'll cover, Paid List Hosting. It
does have benefits and is worth the price for many opt-in
list owners.
Paid List Hosting:
I know what you're probably thinking.. "Why PAY for list
hosting when you can get it for free?"
Well, there are lots of reasons actually. But the biggest
benefit you get when you pay for list hosting is that you
won't have to show third party ads unless you want to. And
if you DO want to sell ads YOU collect all the income from
them.
That said, here are some reliable sites that offer paid list
hosting...
An great list host and the one I use for delivering my
Gazette is called SparkList
- they offer a hybrid web interface for simplifying your
list management. Their servers are fast and they offer
excellent support.
WebBusinessWizard.com
also offers mailing list features now, and their low cost
solution is ideal for publishers. For a low monthly fee
you can deliver text or html emails to your list and have
them fully personalized.
OK, that wraps up today's quick tip. If you have not started
your own opt-in list yet, now you have no excuses. Select a
solution from above and get started growing your list today.
* This online business tip by
Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing Co., helping webmasters prosper since 1996. If you
want to work at home here's all
the help and expert advice you need.
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