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This sounds easy doesn’t it! But wait till the time your list grows into hundreds and thousands. Handling such a massive amount would surely become a nightmare. Thus, I would absolutely recommend letting a list server or distribution service deal with these hassles. However, until the time your list grows you may handle these tasks yourself. Here are a few pointers that might help in carrying out the entire process efficiently.
Some people use a plain text editor for storing all addresses. However, you are much better off using a tool such as MS Excel or MS Access. This would make managing your subscriber list much easier. It would easier to locate, edit and delete addresses compared to a text file.
Store your ezine in both text and HTML format in a good word processor such as MS Word. Whenever you need to send out the ezine just copy and paste it onto your email client. Next, you need to enter all the email addresses into the email address rows of the email client.
Please note that it is always advisable to paste all of the email addresses into the “bcc” row. Most email programs will have 3 outgoing fields, the 'To' field (more about this in a minute), the 'cc' or 'carbon copy' field and the 'bcc' or 'blind carbon copy' field. If you paste your list into the 'bcc' field then each address on the list will receive a copy of the newsletter but they will not be aware of the other addresses to which it has been sent.
If, however, you mistakenly paste it into the 'cc' field, each address will again receive a copy of the newsletter but they will also see a full listing of all the other addresses to which it has been sent! The most professional ezines never let out email addresses of other subscribers. This can be done by pasting all email addresses into the “bcc” row.
You cannot send out the mail unless you enter a valid email address in the “To” field. This problem can be solved by having your own email address in the “To” field. Make sure that this email address is different than the one you use to send out the ezines, otherwise your ezine would again look unprofessional. The reader doesn’t have to know that the email address in the “To” field is your own. You could sign up for a free email at hotmail or yahoo for this purpose.
Once you follow these procedures you can send out your ezine. Managing a huge list can be a major problem. However, your worries don’t end here. There are many other problems you are likely to face if you go the manual way.
- Your email program may not support 'bcc'. In this case each newsletter would have to be sent individually.
- Your ISP, or your own modem, may be slow, resulting in a posting which takes a very long time to complete.
- Your ISP connection may be unstable, resulting in a loss of your connection part way through the mailing.
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