SendBlaster - Offline Newsletter Manager
The Value of Newsletters for Bloggers
Establishing a regular newsletter, whether monthly or bi-weekly, has long been a goal for many bloggers. Newsletters provide a multitude of benefits for content creators and their audience.
They foster a direct, personal connection with readers. Furthermore, newsletters cultivate a valuable email list comprised of addresses willingly provided by interested individuals.
Re-Engaging Your Audience
While attracting initial website visitors is crucial, maintaining consistent engagement is equally important. A newsletter serves as a powerful tool to recapture the attention of subscribers who may have initially visited your site and then subsequently forgotten about it.
Securing newsletter subscriptions provides a reliable method for continually drawing visitors back to your website. Each newsletter issue, packed with compelling and informative content, acts as an incentive for return visits.
Leveraging Newsletter Management Systems
Effective newsletter delivery relies on utilizing robust website newsletter managers. These systems streamline the process of creating, distributing, and tracking your email communications.
Consider these advantages:
- Direct Communication: Reach your audience directly in their inbox.
- List Building: Grow a valuable asset – your email subscriber list.
- Content Promotion: Share new blog posts and updates effectively.
- Audience Retention: Keep your website top-of-mind for readers.
By consistently delivering valuable content through a well-managed newsletter, bloggers can significantly enhance audience loyalty and drive sustained traffic to their websites.
SendBlaster: A Streamlined Solution for Newsletter Management
For those seeking an effective website newsletter management system, it’s important to recognize that not all applications encompass all necessary features. A robust system should facilitate the acceptance and storage of new subscriber details. It must also offer a user-friendly graphical interface for newsletter creation, storage, and distribution. Finally, a valuable system provides insights into the performance of your newsletter campaigns through statistics and feedback.
Previously, MakeUseOf has explored various newsletter approaches, including Dean’s method for crafting a PDF newsletter. Aweber, a paid service, is also utilized by MakeUseOf for its own newsletter distribution.
This review focuses on SendBlaster, a particularly useful website newsletter manager, especially well-suited for smaller websites.
It’s important to note that while SendBlaster is available at no cost, certain limitations may become apparent as your subscriber base expands. The free version restricts you to a maximum of two mailing lists, each accommodating up to 100 subscribers. Beyond this threshold, upgrading to the paid software or exploring alternative paid solutions may be necessary.
The "Manage Lists" section allows you to assign a descriptive name to each of your lists.
SendBlaster functions as a desktop application, rather than an online service, ensuring that all email addresses within your subscriber lists are stored securely offline on your computer. You can manually input email addresses directly within this interface. While comprehensive contact information fields are available, only a valid email address is strictly required. As your list grows, the subscriber details are displayed in a table at the screen’s base.
The primary benefit of an automated newsletter system is minimizing manual effort. The objective is to integrate a link onto your website that, when clicked by visitors, automatically triggers an email to a designated address within SendBlaster. SendBlaster periodically checks your inbox, and upon detecting a subscription email, automatically adds the contact to your locally stored mailing list.
The initial step involves configuring this email address on the "Manage Subscriptions" page.
Input your POP email server details for the account designated to receive subscription requests. Once completed, scroll to the page’s bottom to locate the HTML code. This code represents the Subscribe or Unsubscribe link.
Copy this code, enhance it with imagery for visual appeal, and integrate it into your website. For a Wordpress blog, consider utilizing an HTML text widget. Alternatively, explore the dedicated Wordpress widget offered by SendBlaster, which includes an automated email response for new subscribers.
Whenever a visitor clicks the subscribe button and sends an email with "Subscribe" in the subject line, the SendBlaster application will recognize the new subscription request and automatically add the contact to your mailing list upon checking your email.
This completes the setup of your automated subscription system, enabling effortless updates and management of your mailing list.
Crafting and Distributing Newsletters
A crucial aspect of any newsletter system is the ability to create and deliver engaging newsletters that encourage readers to return to your website. Within the SendBlaster software, initiating a new newsletter is straightforward; simply select "Compose Message."
The interface is designed with a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor, offering features like image insertion, precise alignment, and hyperlink creation. Furthermore, a collection of pre-designed templates is available to expedite the newsletter creation process.
Accessing the "Send" option in the left-hand menu directs you to the SMTP email server settings configuration page. This is where you define the parameters for the email account used for sending.
Scrolling down reveals options to optimize the software for spam prevention. This is achieved by implementing delays between individual or groups of emails. Although this may extend the delivery timeframe, it enables the transmission of large email volumes without triggering spam filters.
For those who prefer to prepare newsletters in advance, the "Schedule" section allows for future publication. Newsletters can be scheduled for regular intervals, such as monthly distribution.
In conclusion, SendBlaster stands out as a remarkably versatile and comprehensive free newsletter management system. Given the current trend of escalating fees for similar services, the ability to manage multiple mailing lists – up to 100 subscribers each – provides significant value for smaller blogs and websites.
Do you currently utilize a newsletter system for your website? If so, what solution are you employing? Could SendBlaster be a viable option for your needs? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
