Whatever you’re doing online, as soon as you’ve set up your website, you’re ready to set up a mailing list.
Seriously, I can’t think of a single online business that can’t benefit from collecting email addresses from interested people and staying in touch with them with relevant content and offers.
In order to run a mailing list, you’ll need an email management tool that offers you a way to collect names and emails in a database and then email the list at will.
I think it’s important to use a tool that lets you broadcast an email whenever you like and also gives you the ability to set up automatic sequential email course. I also believe it’s excellent to have a tool that lets you manage multiple mailing lists for different projects.
I Recommend These Options:
I used to recommend both self hosted (on your own server) and managed (hosted one someone else’s server) options but today I only recommend managed options. It’s better to let the experts take care of your deliver-ability issues.
- Aweber – Aweber is the King in my opinion. I’ve been using them for years and never had cause for complaint. I run a dozen lists for a variety of websites and projects. They have some pretty amazing new analytic tools that I haven’t tried out yet too.
- MadMimi – They have a ‘get started free’ option which is great for the truly frugal. Aweber is still my first choice, but I understand sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got.
- WAHMCart – This is more than an email manager, it’s a full ecommerce tool including a shopping cart and affiliate system. At $50/mo it’s the best financial deal for everything it offers. I have not used WAHMCart myself but I have worked with several clients who do who are well pleased.
- QuickSales – This is also a full ecommerce tool like WAHM Cart. They have a variety of prices and options. If you choose the highest number of options you’ll pay $99/mo. I’ve been using them for two years now. I love their telephone support option and have used it several times with great results. I would rather use aweber alone for autoresponders but with QuickSales I can connect lists to products and move users from one list to another based on the products they buy. That’s pretty cool.
The sooner you start your list the better. Seriously :)
