by Jennifer Hadorn » Sun Dec 21, 2003 10:40 pm
My web host comes with a built in newsletter feature that I can just send directly from Outlook Express. I have a small subscriber base, so it works for me. I can send an e-mail to my newsletter address and it goes to all my subscribers. I send text-only e-mails, so it's not necessary for me to have a seperate management program.
I also used (the free version) previously and enjoyed the service because it used double opt-in and no ads were displayed in the newsletter itself, but on the sign up page. I just prefer to use Outlook Express because I've used it for years and I LIKE it. Much easier to manage my e-mail and contacts from one spot, as all my e-mail goes to OE.
A lot of people use and enjoy , but I can't vouch for that because I've not successfully tried it. I had a mailing list there briefly, but I didn't keep it up and it expired so I never got to fully experience the features. Perhaps someone else can help you there.
You can set up Yahoo! Groups to be newsletter only, but to tell you the truth I've grown weary with most of their services. They have begun to put way too much advertising on their services or started charging for services that used to be free. Quite frankly if I'm going to pay for something, it has to be better than what they used to offer for free. I can't see that Yahoo! has improved all that much (over the competitors) to warrant paying for them.
also has a discussion list service. I used it for a short while, and it's very similar to Yahoo! I've also grown tired of MSN sending me spam every day for one of their services.
AOL ranks right up there with MSN, if not worse. They also have community features if you are a member. If you join anything to do with MSN or AOL you WILL get spam from them. It's very annoying to pay (exorbitant prices) for a service provider to send spam e-mails when the service isn't all that great anyway.
These are all the options I've tried. I know there are others like Constant Contact, but I have no experience with it.