When I first started with list-building I found a lot of guides on what to send to your list and how often but that isn't really step one. What about people who don't have a list? How do you set up an account with a email delivery company at the lowest possible cost and set things up to be implemented on your site? Here are my thoughts.

Part 1

   First of all there are several major email delivery sites to choose from. For the purposes of this post I'll recommend MailChimp mainly for the reason that you don't have to pay anything for a 500 person list with a limit of 3000 emails per month. This takes the pressure off and doesn't force you to rush through to justify the monthly cost. As long as you have under 500 subscribers you won't have to pay anything and have access to all of their features.

    It seems too good to be true you say? Does MailChimp really have all the features of the other sites that don't offer a free option?

1. Interface: The interface of Mailchimp is attractive and simple. Any reports have all the necessary information in graphs and laid out logically. My one gripe is that it can be a little slower than more minimal interfaces.

2. Beginner Friendly? When you are creating emails you will be able to choose from lots of different templates or plain text. Also, you have a visual design option to let you create a signup form that meshes perfectly with your site, no code required.

3. What can I find out about my list? There are extremely detailed and visually appealing reports on almost anything you could want. You get opening stats, who's clicking even a subscriber by subscriber rating out of 10 based on their past history. There's lots more but you'll be able to see everything once you sign in. For a one time fee of $49 you will get even more in depth statistics.

4. Integration: This is a real strong point for MailChimp. To name a few you can connect your account with Google Analytics, Docs and Contacts also FreshBooks, Paypal and e-junkie plus way more. They also have an API and the ability to generate multiple API keys for a single account. This means easy integration with WordPress and their own plugin Analytics 360.

Another little bonus is the Partner Discount section where you will get money off on various products even with a free account.

Part 2

Now that your signed up, what do you need to do? First you want to create a new list for people to opt into. This is going to be the list of people who receive the emails you send.

Heres some list help.

http://www.mailchimp.com/kb/article/how-do-i-create-a-new-list

 Then click Create a campaign on the left hand side of your dashboard. There are 4 options, The first is a campaign with html email and the second is a campaign that will only involve plain text. It is up to you which of these you use based on what you want to send but the second two probably won't be needed to later.

Here is the MailChimp tutorial to finish your campaign

http://www.mailchimp.com/kb/article/how-do-i-create-a-new-campaign

Part 3

Now you want to put the signup form on your website.

http://www.mailchimp.com/kb/article/how-do-i-create-my-signup-form

http://www.mailchimp.com/kb/article/how-can-i-add-my-signup-form-on-my-website

Part 4

 You should be ready to start accepting members to your email list at this point. MailChimp generously provides some great resources to learn more about their service thats accessible to all users.

Live Webinars: http://www.mailchimp.com/support/webinars/

Guides, Videos etc.: http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/

Their Free Email Marketing Guide: http://www.mailchimp.com/articles/email_marketing_guide/

Blog: http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/

And don't forget all the great stuff we have here at WA, there is a whole training section dedicated to email marketing.

Part 5

Another feature I like is the win-win affiliate program. If you use my link to sign up you still get a free forever account and competitive pricing when you upgrade. The difference is should you ever decide to upgrade (no pressure) you will receive a $30 credit for using the link. Basically you get the same payout I do.

If you want here is my link, enjoy!

http://www.my-linker.com/hop/MailChimp

 Thanks for reading and I hope this helps.

Alex