I have found a way to bypass a monthly bill!!
Lately I have been thinking about my newsletter that I offer here and on my sewing blog. I have been thinking about whether I really even need it- can I not just use feedburner?, all I am using it for is a broadcast of my blog posts + 1 other newsletter. I have been using AWeber {I love them! don't get me wrong– but just don't have the funds to justify it right now}.
I took a look around for a free service {there are a few, but they have a lot of restrictions} and there just wasn't one for me and my craft business.
Then, I took a look at plugins for wordpress. I thought for sure someone has come up with something that would work. I loaded up a few and took a look around, but there was one that I have found one that I like.
Newsletter Pro I did end up purchasing the pro edition {he has a free one, but it doesn't include the analytics and forms and a few other things}. It is $19, but that cost is for 1 year! So worth it in the end with what you get.
Features:
- automatic delivery: Newsletter Pro can send automatically all newsletters breaking the whole process in small task o avoid overloading of the mail server and to bypass hosting providers limits
- statistics: Newsletter Pro can rewrite links in your messages to track every click on them giving data on which links are more clicked and the number of unique subscriber who clicked
- customized forms, a way to create in HTML your own subscription form with custom fields
- lists: users can subscribe and choose to be “linked” to specific lists you can use to send targeted messages
- locked content: want to make some content available only to subscribers? with a special short code you can hide parts of a post or page
- follow up: automatically send out a series of emails to new subscribers (every a configured amount of days)
- labels: directly from a special control panel you can change any labels (no more need to edit files)
The newsletters work indepedent of the blog. This plugin is aimed as an alternative to Aweber, Mailchimp and other paid services. You DO NOT need a third party service or license to use this plugin.
I think what I like the best is the ability to have it atomatically respond to their sign up. So, you can have a number of emails that are sent to them immediatly after they sign up + they will recieve the newsletters you will be sending.
I also love the fact that writing them is very similar to posts within wordpress. You can add links, colors, fonts, photos..the works. Getting beyond that plain text version.
After a bit of fishing around with the plugin it is quite understandable and usable.
Go check it out and let me know what you think. Do you use a service that works for you?
