The best form of marketing and a must for every website is a mailing list. Don’t miss the opportunity of grabbing a new subscriber when they visit your website. Now you understand why, we’ll move onto which software..
There are two forms of mailing list software: self hosted and hosted. Yes, both deliver opt-in, newsletter templates, admin maintence, some free, some paid.
Hosted means you host the software on your server. Yes, there are some good software out there specially for WordPress but there are 2 issues I wish to warn everyone about.
- Disk space – While not initially, disk space becomes an issue when the list reaches 1,000 subscribers.
- Delivery – (Important! – most hosting packages (specially on shared servers) are not suitable for sending out 1,000+ emails (newsletters).
For WordPress (mailing list under 1,000 subscribers) consider aWebber, Newsletter, SumoMe, SendPress, Optin Monster, Chimpmate
Subscription plugins: aWebber, Thrive Leads, Convert Pro, ConvertBox, Bloom
BEST BY A MILE
We’ve been with aWebber for over 10 years and highly recommend everything they do.
Worth mentioning
Many countries like Australia have very strict laws when it comes to email and list management. Make sure the software you choose is law friendly. The most important aspect is that every subscriber is opt-in validated.
Opt-In Subscribers
Opt-in requires every subscriber to confirm their email address by clicking on a link sent to the address. You only need one complaint with fines starting at AU$20k PER EMAIL! Which leads to my next (and important) point. All good mailing list software (like aWeber) requires every subscriber to be confirmed. This means when you import/move subscribers from another mailing list, it requires every subscriber to be RE-Subscribed. In other words, why not start at aWeber (Free and Pro versions) so subscribers are only validated once.
