Site Reference Forums

G'day Linda.

You've got the general idea right.

However, you reader still has to download the newsletter. That's how you view anything on your own computer. You download it. You have downloaded this forum post.

Be careful with free web space. Free isn't always free. That is: not all free web space is the same as the space that I pay money for. You may get a barrage of e-mail. Your newsletter may have pop-ups galore or advertising all over it.

A lady who contributes to the forum has a children's teddy bear site which was on free hosting, and had some ads approaching adult, in nature. Picture ads, that is.

Some free hosting will not allow commercial content.

Your free hosting could also have a limit on the downloads per hour. So you e-mail out your newsletter link and within half an hour, 30 people click on the link. The last 10 are frustrated with you.

There is a post that just tipped off the end of the right side index, dealing with hosting packages. Some good suggestions. I'll find it for you if you wish.

However, there was a thread about six months ago, where soulripper reckoned he had some pretty good free hosting. I s'pose I could find that for you also, if you wish.

Here's the host that I use: http://secure.hostforweb.com/ua/clickthru.cgi/plusone

Some people advise not to get your domain name from the same company as your hosting, but I just ignore that advice. One bill is easier than two.

Regards,
Laurie.

Paid hosting is so cheap these days it is hardly worth going for a free one. Plus you get lots of extras normally through a special script installation called Fantastico

I use the host Laurie suggests, they have been very good for the time I have been with them (many years now).

Wow, thanks so much everyone who contributed their bits and pieces of advice for me.
You've all been great.  I'm so encouraged by all the support here in this forum.
I'll check out all the links suggested and I would like some day to try my hand at html.

I'll be hang'n around here that's for sure.
Linda

Besides this,  your idea is not bad, but why not you use bulk email services which have ready made solutions for your all issues regarding email marketing and have great record of transactions and tracking.

Ryan_steyn wrote:

ye know, you could use googles gspace to store your pdf and link to that. I gives quite a bit of free space.  Personally what i do is use a program like fireworks make an image (it is essentially a picture in the end) add my links into it - export it to html (in slices) and insert that html file into an email. Its not as small as a pure html email but it certainly looks better and is still fairly small.

If you need specifics on that i will gladly write up a tutorial for you but i think that would be best done after you get into the swing of html newsletters (knowledge of html is in no way required but i feel that one is more confident when there skill base is enhanced)

Thanks Ryan,
Would you know where the best place is for learning html?  I need it spelled out very simply preferrably in large print with pictures lol.
Thanks,
Linda

Ryan_steyn wrote:

Off the top of my head - try this tutorial, it doesnt have big text but it does have pictures and explains things in a very simply and easy to grasp way. Once you get the basics you can move on to the slightly more advanced tutorials (trust me, once you get the hang of it you will wonder where the confusion came from)

Much obliged Ryan.  I'll definately check it out.  I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.
Linda

Ryan_steyn wrote:

No problem Im glad you are willing to learn how to do things the right way, please feel free to ask about anything that has you stumped

Ryan....too funny! I just checked out the HTML site you recommended and it's the same one that I had started to learn on about 4 years ago when I was still working at my J.O.B.  (I had spare time at work and the boss let me do what I wanted as long as my work was done.) lol
Thanks again.
Linda

lol, nice,  i didnt realize that site had been around for so long As i said, it was just of f the top of my head (and my google search bar ), the next best (perhaps primary) is W3Schools... as far as ive seen you cant go wrong with em, i regularly use that site as a reference when i get stumped.

The way i learnt (self taught) to build newsletters was to put myself in the mindframe that i am building an incredibly simple webpage. Unfortunately many of the tags wont be read properly by a email application so simpler is very literally better. Images i would generally dump on a server somewhere on the net (hidden on one of my sites hosts), this keeps the email small and gives the people the choice to download pictures as opposed to it being forced on em. Lastly, if you do take my advice on building it like a simple webpage - that simple webpage can be uploaded and linked to in your email (perhaps above the newsletter) in the simple form of "if this newsletter does not open correctly please click here to view it online".

One last thing i dont think anyone has mentioned and will possibly confuse you as much as it did me before i knew about it is how to insert the html into your email. Here is how to do it in office outlook. ...

Open a new mail message >> click on the body (where you would write your email) >> click "insert" at the top >> select "file" from the list >> browse to your html file >> DONT CLICK INSERT >> right next to "insert" is a little arrow, click on that and select "insert as text". And voila... your email is now using your html to display your newsletter as it was intended.

davinci wrote:

These days, not only are there cheap paid hosts, there are free hosts that offer everything a paid host does.  cPanel, Fantastico, cron jobs, unrestricted php, you name it.  I know of a couple that even allow adult and mail list sites.  I won't post the name here but if anyone wants to know it PM me.

However, most free hosts require posting on their forums.  This ranges from 10 posts one time to a certain number of posts every month.  It can be inconvenient for some.  Also, the biggest thing I've had to deal with is that free hosts tend to be 'fly by night' affairs and since it is free they don't feel they owe you an explanation or even a warning.  Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often but be religious with those backups.

The idea of posting for hosting is aiming at the lowest end of the market, those with no budget / more time than money and most likely no idea how anything works. Your noobie Fantastico user isn't going to know what a cron job is, isn't going to know their way around cPanel and will take up more support time and resources than paid clients who know a bit more.

From a host's perspective would you offer these people support and explain why things might not work? From a customer's perspective you can't really expect superior service and support if you're too tight to put your hand in your pocket and stump up some cash.

Killer question: Do you really want to entrust the stability and security of your website in what could potentially be a very bad neighborhood?

While I'm on and getting it off my chest......... The words UNLIMITED SPACE on a hosting site should ring warning bells as nobody has made a hard drive with unlimited capacity yet! Smells like over-selling to me!

I agree 100% about the backups! Keep your own backups - always! Never be lazy and expect your provider to sort it for you, even if it's in the SLA you still need a local backup!

As for comments about getting domain names and hosting from two different providers, I agree. Never keep all your eggs in one basket if you're not in control over the basket in the first place.......

davinci wrote:

cPanel is not that hard to learn......
Besides, do you not use cPanel with your paid hosts?...
I don't quite see your point here....
Everyone starts out as a 'newbie' ......
Are you implying that paid hosts have easier to use control panels?

cPanel is easy enough to get to grips with once you've used it enough to know the layout and the features there. It's the standard and yes I use it on all my sites. cPanel video tutorials here ;)

Hosting company hat: I just see no profit and overheads and that ain't good! lol ;) I am a bitter skeptic!

Customer hat: You get what you pay for. There's no such thing as a free lunch. When there is it's rarely cooked by a master chef!

As for 'noobs' yeah there should be a nicer yet easy to type word for it. I was one of the worst ones possible! Started off down the free route, free hosting, free domain, didn't know a damn thing about the internet, I thought nested tables were something you had at home.....

I wasn't implying anything about paid control panels, cPanel is cPanel if you pay or not. I'd not be surprised if many hosts with custom panels are just using the WHM API to manage everything so there's not much in it apart from what features you're given and your own preference.

davinci wrote:

Sometimes I have to wait a couple of days, big deal. 
So I have to make a few posts on their forum, no problem. 
My opinion, as it boils down, is this:  there is no good reason to use a paid host until your site has grown so big that;

1. you need more and dedicated resources
2. you are making enough money to offset the cost

Luckily, I still had my free host account, going strong since 2005.

I'm too damn impatient to wait even two hours before I'm on the phone (again) to the data center! :)

I agree if you can get everything you need from a free host there's no need to fork out unless you need to but you run the risk of having some dodgy neighbors and shared pitfalls; applies to all shared hosting though.....

I'll also add you're lucky to have found a decent sounding free host who's been around long enough to be there for you.

davinci wrote:

BTW I'm redefining the meaning of the phrase 'paid host.'  Visit the site in my sig, Wealth9, for details.

LOL - so you can't pay for your own hosting but you can pay others for trying free hosting. Ironic?

davinci wrote:

PS I am also a member of a 'domains for posting' forum.  No restrictions, you have full control of the domain.  I have received two free domains so far, so I know it's legit.  Ask me about it if you are interested.

So you can set the admin and technical contacts, lock - unlock and generate codes to transfer out without fees? If yes to all it's cool.

Who? How? I'm interested because of recently paying out $4,000 as an investment on future domain purchases at eNom, now looking for alternative ways to shift them and get some return!

:)