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Own autoresponder? Is there another option to paid services?

by burton247
11 replies
I understand that hosts do not really like this and can shut my account down due to the server strain or my messsages might not get there.

But I really would rather not pay out for awebber (yet anyway) Plus I'd rather be able to access the database where my list is stored.

So is there another way to do this? Perhaps extract all the emails from the database and use another service to send the emails out. This probably sounds like a rubbish idea as I'll have to keep adding emails but my intent is not really to use an autoresponder, only for when people sign up initially, I just want to keep them informed so It does not bother me adding moving the address elsewhere.

Any ideas?
#autoresponder #option #paid #services
  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    No offense intended, but if I had a dollar for every time someone posted the "host your own autoresponder" message I wouldn't need any other source of revenue!

    Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but the issue comes up time and time again. It's understandable, I asked it myself 5 years ago when it became apparent that it was pretty simple to host my own autoresponder. Fortunately I was advised against making that major mistake, so I'll do the same for you.

    First, if you have a shared hosting plan then you're doomed from the start. All it takes is one of your "neighbors" (i.e. the others who share the host with you) to end up on an e-mail blacklist and presto - so will you (you share hosts and possibly IP addresses). You e-mails will either get bumped or end up in your recipients junk folder. Do you really want that?

    Second, AWeber and others are cheap - its 19 bucks a month! If you can't spend 64 cents a day on your business then perhaps you better revisit that business plan of yours!

    And finally, if you ignore the above and host your own anyway you'll eventually wise up and use a commercial service that guarantees deliverability. And when you do you'll need to resubscribe all the users on your list, as you can't import existing names.

    If you want to keep your own database of users all commercial services allow you to do an export. You say you don't want to use the service as an autoresponder, just to capture e-mails, but what would happen if you actually got a good sized list? You certainly can't expect to e-mail a few hundred people with your Outlook client!

    Just my 2 cents, take it for what its worth

    Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author burton247
      Cheers for the reply.

      I kind of knew this when I posted it. I wasn't aware you couldn't import emails to aweber though. I thought maybe if I limited the frequency the emails were sent at it would put less load on the server.

      Looks like I'll find a paid instead then. Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author gottahave
      Hi Bill

      It's nearly necessary to have a standard reply for these autoresponder enquiries - they just keep coming up in this and other forums.

      Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author steve919
    Though I fully agree with using a service like aweber (that's what I use), if you must have your own application then I would have to recommend Interspire Email Marketer: http://www.interspire.com/emailmarketer/
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    • Profile picture of the author alb3rt1
      I think you can try phplist is an open source, but I never try it.
      If your mail-list is little about less than 500 emails you can try Mailchimp, it's free in case you have less than 500 subscribers. Hope it helps!
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      • Profile picture of the author DropWizard.com
        Having done both and used Aweber for years I can tell you the paid is better. As someone pointed out getting your IP number blacklisted cost us hundreds of emails to clients rejected by yahoo and others when we ran from our own servers. I'd never do it again at least not on a shared IP and if you have to pay for dedicated......:p
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  • Profile picture of the author SoftwareProjects
    How many emails do you plan on sending per month?

    If that number is below 10,000, there are quite a few free solutions that can work well for you.

    When you get over 10,000 emails per month, chances are you'd be able to justify a nominal cost.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonthewebmaster
    Banned
    Originally Posted by burton247 View Post

    I understand that hosts do not really like this and can shut my account down due to the server strain or my messsages might not get there.

    But I really would rather not pay out for awebber (yet anyway) Plus I'd rather be able to access the database where my list is stored.

    So is there another way to do this? Perhaps extract all the emails from the database and use another service to send the emails out. This probably sounds like a rubbish idea as I'll have to keep adding emails but my intent is not really to use an autoresponder, only for when people sign up initially, I just want to keep them informed so It does not bother me adding moving the address elsewhere.

    Any ideas?
    Dude I use MailChimp, its aweber quality up to 500 subscribers free. The only catch is you can't promote an affiliate program, they don't allow it in their TOS.

    But, for promoting your own products, your good. And who says you can't stuff the affiliate stuff on the backend pages etc

    Anyway, i just switched from aweber to them so thought I would share that!
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      But, for promoting your own products, your good. And who says you can't stuff the affiliate stuff on the backend pages etc
      Actually, if you read the TOS, MailChimp says exactly that. If they find out that you sell affiliate products anywhere in your business, they will close your account. People have emailed specifically to ask (I'm pretty sure that Steve Wagenheim was one that asked).

      You might be fine, you might get caught - do you really want to take a chance on losing your list overnight?

      Another less expensive option to Aweber would be Imnica Mail which is run by a Warrior. The only drawback that I've found is that Imnica is not nearly as integratable as Aweber.

      Tina
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      • Profile picture of the author jasonthewebmaster
        Banned
        Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

        Actually, if you read the TOS, MailChimp says exactly that. If they find out that you sell affiliate products anywhere in your business, they will close your account. People have emailed specifically to ask (I'm pretty sure that Steve Wagenheim was one that asked).

        You might be fine, you might get caught - do you really want to take a chance on losing your list overnight?

        Another less expensive option to Aweber would be Imnica Mail which is run by a Warrior. The only drawback that I've found is that Imnica is not nearly as integratable as Aweber.

        Tina
        oops my bad, I was wrong about that LOL thanks for clearing it up.

        I guess I won't be promoting any aff programs then lol

        Too bad though. I may try Imnica Mail too.
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      • Profile picture of the author telewarrior
        Hi,

        As a friend of mine put it, if I am an Amazon Affiliate, isn't that going to be violating their TOS? Unfortunately I tend to actually read and act on TOS (Google is quite a read and detection of re-entrancy is non-trivial), which make me end up not using what others seem to not have a problem with.

        This makes me utilizing each TOS that is specifically written to allow what I am doing (e.g. not limiting to personal), and yes some are obviously generic to allow wider usage, but every TOS I ever read has a weasel clause that lets them do whatever they want without notice, responsibility, or justification anyway.

        Consider just asking...

        Brett
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