[Peter Bowen]

I've done email marketing since 9k modems were considered state of the art. I'll tell you about some of the mailing solutions I've used, perhaps they'll be helpful to you. There are of course a huge pile more out there.

Desktop software:

A plugin for outlook (google for it) that allows you to generate personalized bulk mail using fields from the address book.

Internet Marketing Center's Mailloop. Don't waste your money on this one.

I would not recommend using a desktop solution because ISPs can get a little vexed if you start sending tons of email on your account.

Server software

phplist - free but takes some knowledge to install unless your host has fantatistico (lunar pages has this then it's pretty easy). It can't do autoresponders which is a nuisance.

SendStudio - costs a bit but very powerful. They'll also do the install for your for a few bucks.

Hosted Solutions

Aweber - you pay them $20 per month and they do the rest. You get up to 10 000 emails for this price and can run multiple lists, autoresponders etc. Very easy to use. You can't import your own contacts without having them confirm opt in (not necessarily a bad thing).

I recommend that if you are starting you go with aweber.com The price is not an issue and you'll be able to focus on developing the relationship with the list instead of messing with the delivery mechanisms

Cheers

Pete