Anyone have ideas on sending out Bulk Emails ? I normally use outlook express but have issues with it often times with sending out bulk emails.

I found that using word wrap in word , then having it connect with outlook is good, but it makes my virus detector go CRAZY. Anyone have ideas or sugguestions? I'm hoping to send out emails to the large producing real estate agents around me, as well as to my clients.

Thanks!

I use onletterhead.com for bulk e-mails.

Here's one that I use for several clients that works very well, and it's free!
phplists

Your website host likely has it available for you to install via your control panel.
This script can 'throttle' mailings to satisfy any throughput restrictions placed by your host. It will process non deliverable mail, provides unsubscribe options for recipients, has optional tracking capabilities, along with complete database management functions.

I use the Mail Merge to Outlook. It works pretty well for me.

Be careful you are not spamming.

Bulk emailers often are reported to their ISP and can be shut down.

It's safer to use an external source when bulk mailing. Those companies generally use ISP's in India or Russia to overcome any difficulties.

In the US the biggest complainers about spam come from AOL addresses. Be careful of them.

Brandon,

The safest way to send email today in a bulk fashion is to develop a way for people to Opt-In. You can set up an auto-responder with http://www.getresponse.com or http://www.aweber.com.

If you just send email to people who don't give you permission you are really asking for a lot of problems. Since the 2004 Can Spam act was initiated it can really cause you a lot of grief if you don't follow the guidelines for permission based email.

The best thing is to go with a service that is white listed. But if you do that and you don't have the rights to the email addresses you send out you will get banned. I recommend either MyNewsletterBuilder or ConstantContact.

I use iContact. I like the interface. The cost scales as your list size increases. One benefit of using a service like iContact is that you can see who's opening your messages. Another is that you can create opt-in forms for your websites that add leads directly to your database.

Yeah be carefull on the SPAM side! - i recommend constant contact - have used them for around a year now and are excellent.

If you have a large amount of opt-in clients - you can have a personal account manager there too to look after your needs.

The templates on there are excellent and they can design a bespoke template for you as well.

I don't send out bulk e-mail as it is more trouble then it is worth in most cases.

You only have two options. Collect email addresses yourself or work with a direct marketing firm who has PERMISSION to send out emails to potential clients. Otherwise you are spamming.

The best situation, and the worst situation.

Opt in is gold. I don't know of anyone that accepts marketing emails, other than those looking for freebies.

But there are other options. virtually every business has a client list renedered in email addys. Cross marketing can be extremely successful.

I have used Swiftpage (http://www.swiftpage.com/site/index.htm) and vFlyer (www.vflyer.com) These may be fancier than you are thinking of, but they are both good options. Swiftpage has more database and email management options, but vFlyer is easy to use.

I also get a lot of bulk emails from people who use http://www.constantcontact.com.

ConstantContact is overpriced. I use yourmailinglistprovider and it does same things as constant contact accept for $5.99 a month instead of $75

I use IContact myself. After tracking several newsletters only 13% of the people in my data base actually open the email. Terrible stats. I think people are just getting tired of it all...

StevenB you maybe right but email is growing daily.

You need to look at your content. Offer people good information and don't make it a sales letter.

Give before you want. Build the relationship first.

One that is built specifically for Real Estate is QuickeBlast.com
by Quickspace

I use a free product called Groupmail 5 (http://www.group-mail.com/asp/common/default.asp) which is easy to use, but does not provide as many list management options as their retail version.

I discourage bulk email, unless you have a true opt in list.

With that being said, I bet you dollars to doughnuts, your webhost has a mailing list feature on their mail server. Simply upload your email addy's and send one email to the list. The mail server takes care of the rest.

Fast, free and you won't get blacklisted. Problem solved.