Beating the Bounce!
25 February 2008If you are new to e-mail marketing, then you should know that there are a couple of things to consider before starting your first campaign.
One, if you are planning to use your website address for the mailings, make sure it’s hosted on it’s own server. Why is this important? Because, with shared hosting you run the risk of someone else on the server getting your ip blacklisted from major e-mail services for spamming. That means that your e-mails will automatically end up in the bulk/spam folders, reducing deliverability. Wasting your efforts in collecting and utilizing your hard earned e-mail list.
Two, you should consider tracking the results of your e-mail marketing campaigns. When you are small time and starting out, any action/sale from the campaign is probably good enough for you. But, when you really get into it, e-mailing on a regular basis, you will be only guessing at which e-mails worked and which ones didn’t. This is where tracking comes into play. If you are using your e-mail list to make a living and not for part-time peanuts, it’s a must. Your stats will help you refine and learn from your e-mail marketing efforts.
What if you aren’t on a dedicated server? Or what if you can’t find a decent e-mail tracking script or program? There is a service named iContact. They ensure 98-99% e-mail deliverability due to agreements and associations with top e-mail providers. Their other features include tracking stats, autoresponders, message scheduling, bounce-back handling(when someone’s e-mail isn’t valid, it cleans it from the list), survey creator and many other features. You can see a screenshot here, iContact Screenshot, of their backend interface. They will meet all your e-mail newsletter needs.
In short, if you have any doubts at all in your ability to serve up an income generating e-mail marketing campaign, you should seriously consider using a professional service. All the ‘big dogs’ do. And it’s not very expensive. Well worth the expense.
If you use iContact’s service, we’d love to hear from you! Always, glad to get readers feedback! 
