Is Aweber worth the cost? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

I'm currently using a Joomla Extension called ACYMailing (free version) for my newsletter subscription, tracking and sending, but am wondering if I should switch to something more standard with more features.  I have just a few subscribers (abt 162 confirmed) but want to make a push to build my list in the near future.

It looks like the Aweber product costs at least $20 a month.  What makes it worth the cost?

I want to get this right as I believe you have to re-enroll subscribers if you switch products. 

Are there other products to consider instead (and why if so)?

Thanks in advance!

Post edited 3:37 pm – September 20, 2012 by michael @ financial ramblings

DELETED — I don't want to hijack this thread. I will post a dedicated thread.

I use Mailchimp as well. I have no complaints with it, plus it's free. I may consider using aweber down the road as my subscription list gets bigger. I have heard good things about aweber.

I use MailChimp and it's been great. As you're getting started you can't beat the fact that it's free, and if you ever get above 2,000 subs then the price isn't that much more than Aweber.

I started with Feeblitz and was able to import into Aweber without my subsribers having to re-optin.   I had to contact Aweber and verify them with this.  

I use MailChimp for monthly newsletter for clients.  It's free and easy. 

For my blog, I use Aweber.   The big component (which I think you would have to pay for Mail Chimp to do this) is the autoresponder.   A constant and automatic touch to your newsletter subscribers is what makes it all worth it, IMHO.  

One of the biggest mistakes that I made when I started my blog was not have an email newsletter.  

Which I so happened to right about here.  :)

Jeff: What's the advantage of Aweber over FeedBlitz? They seem pretty equivalent. You can use both for RSS-to-email and you can also use both to send e-mail blasts (newsletters and the like). And both offer the ability to set up autoresponders.

Is there something I'm missing? Or perhaps FeedBlitz didn't have all these features back when you made the jump?

Another realization of why having a newsletter is so important is the ability to survey your readers.   You can find out their demographic, topics they want to write about, topics they could care less about.  

I just sent a survey to my readers (using Survey Monkey) today and was blown away at some of the responses.   I haven't surveyed them in about a year which is WRONG.   I'm sure Ramit would suggest to constantly survey your readers. 

Sure you can do this on a blog post, but I think you get more candid responses via email and using a survey program like Survey Monkey.  Google Docs could work too but I like the layout features of SM. 

Personally, between blog comments, Facebook messages or emails, I've got the most intimate of responses from my readers through email stemming from my newsletters.   

It's about time you stop being cheap Corey!

Post edited 1:00 pm – September 27, 2012 by Lena Gott

Do you guys recommend setting up a list before you have an exact plan for monetizing it?  Right now, all I have is Feedburner, which just sends out my posts.  It would be nice to have a way to email my subscribers separately without posting on the site.  But, because I have limited time right now, I''ve ignored setting up MailChimp or Aweber, justifying it with the monetization thing.

Jeff – I didn't realize until just now that you responded to my comment in April on your blog post.  LOL  Guess I need to do a better job of keeping up with that kind of thing!  After reviewing your post, I can see the wisdom is setting up a list sooner rather than later.  

So I guess my main question now is: Did you all wait until you had a freebie (ebook, etc) to give away before you put a newsletter box on your sites?  

I suppose deep down I'm worried that I'll go to all this trouble to set up a mailing list, then no one will want to subscribe! Maybe what I really need is a pep talk!