Need a FREE mass mailing software that does not block my email ID

[DreamSkape]

Hi All,

I send out newsletters every week to a list of around 2000+ IDs. The problem is Google will not allow more than 100 recipients in a day as per the Google guidelines. Even then, I have to type in captcha to get access to the google mail account after sending in mails. I am worried that they may ban the ID that I have been using for more than two years.

I have another ID related to GoDaddy for my website. I do not know rules for that. Will they ban if I send mails using that ID?

Currently, I use MS OUTLOOK to send the newsletters, to 50 ids at a time at specific intervals to stay on safe side. Till now, it did not cause much problems except that I cannot access Gmail directly with OUTLOOK after the mailing process until I login to the web Gmail using Captcha.

Is there any reliable FREE or CHEAP software that helps in sending newsletters. At the moment, I cannot afford the services of entities involved in sending mass mails. Also, they cannot be trusted with my email IDs and I do not want my firm's name in anyone's bad list.

Please let me know the options available.

Thanking you,

--

Regards,

DreamSkape

Signed: Sunday, April 26, 2009, 3:00:06 AM IST

[fdv]

You have two issues here.

#2. free software for mass mailing. I see lots of hits when I google for "free mass email software." So, I'll leave that to you. The one I use cost $400.

More importantly ...

#1. your ISP's mass mailing policy or limitations. Only Godaddy's terms of service are going to tell you what you need to know. I will say that I am fairly confident that you'll have to contract with an ISP local to you and pay a fee to use their mail services.

Here's why I say this: it's 2009, man. Everyone's so clamped down on spam that legit mass mailings are impossible to carry out with the bigger ISP's. My company uses a small, local ISP and I'm friends with the guy -- he knows my mail isn't spam. His mail server is set up for only my IP address and I blast 2,000 mails once a month. I pay a little extra on top of my web hosting fee to him, and everyone's happy.

You're going to have to do the same, or find a "spam friendly" ISP (no offense meant, but that's what they're called), because the major players aren't going to let you do this.

[DreamSkape]

Hi Fdv,

I am sorry but I could not understand the connection between the ISP and the mass mails. I mean we pay monthly fee to the ISP to access. Though they give out an option to have an email ID with them but that will be something@ISPDOMAIN.com.. In my case, the ISP name is airtelbroadband.in, which will look weird. And how are they connected to the number of mails we send using the Gmail or my GoDaddy email account both of which, reflect my company name?

I could not find any policies on the GoDaddy forums and support, so I raised a ticket to ask them the potential problems if I send like mails to 500 at a time... Until then, I will have to use the Google but the problem (fear) is that the ID I am using includes the company name is quite famous in the Indian small business field. Hence, I am not willing to risk loosing it.

Any ideas so that I can get my newsletters across but at cheaper rates????

Thanking you,

--

Regards,

DreamSkape

Signed: Sunday, April 26, 2009, 5:23:19 PM IST

[Tripredacus]

Basically, it comes down to this. You need to make sure your ISP (or your mail host) allows you to use email marketing. In other words, this is a business practice. You typically aren't allowed to perform business functions while using a residential or personal type account. You need to check your terms of service that you agreed to in order to see what is allowed and not allowed based upon your service level.

This isn't to say that you can't actually just do it anyways, but they might get you for breaking ToS if you have a normal account. For example, if you are a normal residential internet subscriber (instead of having a business account) you are not allowed to have a server connected. You could still do it, and many people do, but its all about the legalese.

[DreamSkape]

Hi,

Thanks for the clarification. I thought you were speaking about the local airtel broadband service provider. Yes, Google has provisions for mass mailing under its business accounts after verification. Google also offers its business mail services through others' websites. But for that I will have to register with Google Business, which means I will have to wait for another two months as I will have to spare the required money. Currently the biz is going slow.

The Godaddy is still to respond. I will wait for the answer. I hope that it has some cheaper alternative. Until then, I will stop the newslwtter. Its better to stay on the safe side.

Thanking you,

--

Regards,

DreamSkape

Signed: Monday, April 27, 2009, 11:04:43 PM IST

[Tripredacus]

Yes, you only have to worry about your ISP if you are running the servers yourself, or using an email client from your pc to send the emails. Since it appears you are using web-based solutions for your mailings, this isn't going to be an issue.

I have an idea, but not sure if it will apply to you. I can think of a free way to send out emails, but it takes a lot of work. And a better solution may be out there as well.

The simplest way is to install a forum on your site. You do not even have to have open registration, or allow the board to be viewed by anyone. I have a forum on my website that is like this right now. In order for you to do this, your website provider needs to support SMTP. You do not need to receive emails there. It would also need to support MySQL (in most cases) and PHP, although you can get .net boards too.

So you install your forum software (be it IPB, phpBB, vBulletin) and set it up to use email. My experience comes from IPB, so I don't know exactly how to use the other ones, but they can all do the same thing. OK, you configure the forum to be able to send emails. Most forums will have an option that allows you to mass email a certain group, or all members about a forum update, news, whatever. This message will support the features you enable, such as being able to put pictures, links, full HTA, whatever in the message. After you type it up, the forum will send that email to all members.

Setting up a forum can be frustrating, especially configuring it to work properly. But that isn't going to be the hard part. The time consuming part would be how you get all those accounts into the database so you can email them. You will be fortunate at least to be able to use SQL commands to do a mass member import, and setting it up would be faster in the long run than creating each account manually.

So, this is an off-the-wall idea (as I seem to come up with often) and using forum software for something it wasn't intended for.

[DreamSkape]

Yes, you only have to worry about your ISP if you are running the servers yourself, or using an email client from your pc to send the emails. Since it appears you are using web-based solutions for your mailings, this isn't going to be an issue.

I have an idea, but not sure if it will apply to you. I can think of a free way to send out emails, but it takes a lot of work. And a better solution may be out there as well.

The simplest way is to install a forum on your site. You do not even have to have open registration, or allow the board to be viewed by anyone. I have a forum on my website that is like this right now. In order for you to do this, your website provider needs to support SMTP. You do not need to receive emails there. It would also need to support MySQL (in most cases) and PHP, although you can get .net boards too.

So you install your forum software (be it IPB, phpBB, vBulletin) and set it up to use email. My experience comes from IPB, so I don't know exactly how to use the other ones, but they can all do the same thing. OK, you configure the forum to be able to send emails. Most forums will have an option that allows you to mass email a certain group, or all members about a forum update, news, whatever. This message will support the features you enable, such as being able to put pictures, links, full HTA, whatever in the message. After you type it up, the forum will send that email to all members.

Setting up a forum can be frustrating, especially configuring it to work properly. But that isn't going to be the hard part. The time consuming part would be how you get all those accounts into the database so you can email them. You will be fortunate at least to be able to use SQL commands to do a mass member import, and setting it up would be faster in the long run than creating each account manually.

So, this is an off-the-wall idea (as I seem to come up with often) and using forum software for something it wasn't intended for.

This seems a good idea. I have a forum software from ArticleDashboard though i never used it as I never felt the need for it. I will see if I can implement the idea.

Thanks a lot for the gr8 idea.

--

Regards,

DreamSkape

Signed: Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 8:34:43 PM IST