Hi Folks Robert details all the steps to keeping an email list "clean and valid". Having done that in the past and for a list of 5000 addresses I would say it is a far better deal to go with one of the email newsletter companies. Having tried several I can highly recommend mailchimp http://mailchimp.com/
They offer several benefits. 1. They clean the bounced email and keep the list valid. (no programing to write and validate) 2. They have deals with ISPs to recognize their bulk email as legit. When I was doing that privately it was a headache to stay on top of all the ISP's spam protections and have my server continually validated. (And if you are on a shared server forget it as you will be vulnerable to all the other user's bad practices and reputation) 3. The time saving was well worth the $s 4. If you do decide to use a provider check their rules about establishing your list. (some such as icontact will require you to do a new optin on your already established list, and then they will block anyone who does not "re-optin". Those address could then never be resubsbcribed even by their owner.) Rob Robert J. Voyle, Psy.D. Director, Clergy Leadership Institute For Coaching and Training in Appreciative Inquiry Author: Restoring Hope: Appreciative Strategies to Resolve Grief and Resentment http://www.appreciativeway.com/ 503-647-2378 or 503-647-2382 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/message.cfm/messageid:360360 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/unsubscribe.cfm