$50 a month for a mail server?

To send emails to 3K to 4K recipients?

[dickbaker]

I maintain a couple of sites for non-profit organizations. The sites have been hosted at no cost by one of our group's volunteers.

That volunteer has now left the hosting company, so I've signed up for hosting with a company that I do SEO work for.

However, the owner didn't realize that I regularly send emails to two, three or more thousand addresses when there's legislation affecting our issue.

The owner (my boss) of the hosting company says that, with that volume of email, we'll need to pay $49.99 a month to have a mailing list option within the hosting company's new PEM system. I don't even know what PEM is.

OUr non-profit groups have been sending out thousands of emails for years without problems.

There's no way that a small non-profit group like ours could afford $600 a year just for a fancier email system than what we had before.

Any suggestions? I don't even know how to talk to the owner of the hosting company about this, as I don't know the lingo.

[Marshall]

I suggest finding an inexpensive hosting company that includes newsletter mailings with their service. I know there are ones out there for as low as $99/year and just use the newsletter feature. There are also newsletter services, but one I was gong to suggest charges $50/month for 2,500-5,000. Otherwise, do a web search for newsletter services.

Marshall

[RandomDot]

You could also contact a webhosting company or similar to hear if they wanted to sponsor your emails, perhaps throw them a link in the bottom of it "Sponsored by The Coolest Webhost on the Internet" - that would give them some reputation and credentials you know, and perhaps even some customers.

When you don't have much to go with, you learn to do things in creative ways to make the things happen you want to, without ruining your survival budget.

Sincerely, and have fun

[narsticle]

$50/month sounds a bit steep, i would think closer to $25-$30 for that many subscribers. Although you can go the web server route I think you will see better results going through an actual email company because often times they are white listed where as web servers are not always in as much control over what email is going out over there servers. PM me if you would like email company recommendations. Thanks

[nomis5]

That's extortion! Try Bravenet.com. I use them, I have about 4,000 subscribers. They charge in single figures per month. It works for me.

Sticky me for my site newsletter sign up and an example of the newsletter.

[dickbaker]

Thanks for the replies. I talked to the owner of the hosting company, and he agreed to let us use the mail program for $10 a month. That's a price we can live with.

There is an advantage to using this mail program, as the addresses will be searchable, which will help when people send me emails saying that their address has changed. Right now I have to sort through groups of addresses in Outlook Express to find the email addresses. All manual.

Also, the mail program will allow recipients to have their addresses removed automatically, instead of me having to manually search.

[willybfriendly]

DickBaker, I have done mailings for two organiziations for several years, and have tried a number of different options.

Take a look at Dada mail. Lean and fast, and I have used it with a list exceeding 5000.

Hosts vary in how they deal with large mailing lists. I have a site on one that is limited to 500/hr 5000/day or they shut off access to the mail server.

I have another one on a VPS on which I have never "hit the wall" on the number of mails I can send out.

Moral is, check out the competition. You might find a deal that better suits your needs out there.

[pageoneresults]

What I'd like to know is what type of "deliverability rates" you are seeing with services that are less than $50.00 per month.

Email is not the commodity it once was. Oh wait, it is, and those who treat it like so may also find the recipients treating it like so.

There's always a cheaper price somewhere. I'm a firm believer in "you get what you pay for". $50.00? That's really pocket change in the grand scheme of things. Now that I've had first hand experience in dealing with a mail server, firewalls, etc...

$50.00 is a steal!

[dickbaker]

pageoneresults, we were getting the equivalent of $50 in email services from our prior hosting company, but for free.

One of our volunteers worked for the hosting company, and an employee perk was free websites. Now that the volunteer has quit, we need to find a good hosting company. Because of campaign finance laws, we can't accept free hosting.

The volunteer, as well as the owner of the hosting company I do work for, both told me that the expenses involved in dealing with emails far exceed the costs of just hosting sites.

So, the $10 a month offer is very, very good.

[narsticle]

MOD: I agree with you. There are much cheaper deals to be had but deliverability is a big issue these days so going with an email marketing service that is actually whitelisted will provide much superior results then just sending off a mail server.