Newsletter in house or outsource ?

[s2kinteg916]

I am wondering for people who actually run newsletters is there a script u use or do you outsource this ?

I been searching for a while now and still havent found a solution i liked. Im looking for something simple and easy also i want it to be reliable.

[Cutter]

Just sign up for a service like aweber.com (thats what I do.) I have nearly 3,000 addresses, all double opt-in, and it costs me $19.95 a month, I can send as many messages any time I want. Do it yourself and you'll have to deal with technical problems and spam complaints.

[s2kinteg916]

do you think its a problem that users see a outside link when subscribing ?

[Chris]

How is aweber's service? They don't put any ads in your emails do they?

[Cutter]

No ads, I have no complaints about them yet. My only complaints are all the damn AOL users that send me spam complaints. I've gotten complaints by AOL users from the accepting confirmation messge from the double opt-in process! That means they signed up, got a confirmation e-mail, confirmed the opt-in, and then reported the "successfully confirmed" e-mail as spam.

[Chris]

So if people complain about spam to the list it gets forwarded to you?

[Cutter]

If its from AOL, yes. I guess they have a "report spam" button. I even get sent a report that says the number of AOL spam complaints from the last 24 hours, 48 hours, week, and month, so it must be pretty common.

[Chris]

Cutter do you have easy access to your subscriber list if you wish to export it and save it (perhaps for switching to a competing service?) Have you ever had complaints about people suddenly getting spam from third parties after signing up.

[Westech]

I'm a firm believer in outsourcing it like Cutter does. That way you entirely avoid the issue of having email from your server reported as spam.

A certain percentage of people will report you as a spammer no matter how many times they opt in. Companies like awebber and others have relationships with the major ISPs that keep them from getting blacklisted as long as they follow certain guidelines.

I've been using www.ezinedirector.com for a while now and have been very happy with it.

[Chris]

I've been looking for an outsourced solution for awhile, the problem is that most of them want an arm and a leg for the volume I need (120k 3 times a week).

Aweber seems reasonable though.

[Cutter]

Exporting shouldn't be a problem, but if you import I believe they all must be re-confirmed. I haven't noticed any spam. I myself am opted in to my lists with multiple different e-mail address.