Newsletter Plugins - Which is the Best?

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5 years ago

What's the Best Newsletter Plugin?

Hey guys,

I recently had a friend of mine tell me I should start building my email list, so I started looking at a few different plugins that I think might work.

The first thing I did was give MailChimp a try. I didn't like the fact that I had to have my mailing list held outside my site, and build my templates. So I deleted it.

Next, I tried 'Newsletter', which has a very user friendly installation process. It actually has slides that guide you through the whole process step by step. I thought I had found the most awesome solution possible! Then I ran into some technical issues, and when I contacted them for support, I couldn't reach anyone. Deleted. Sorry Newsletter.

Then I tried Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram. It was too complicated for me. Deleted.

Finally, I loaded up MailPoet, and it wasn't super complicated to set up. I received emails with tutorials that showed me how to do everything. Best of all, it's free until I have 5,000 subscribers, just like a lot of other plugins.

Why MailPoet? Why not MailChimp?

The reason I have chosen to stick with MailPoet is that it installs directly into Wordpress, and the support has been really good.

The tools for building templates are very intuitive, and I have built some templates that quite frankly, a monkey like me should never have been able to create. So yeah, I am sticking with MailPoet, and I am cool with that.

Interestingly enough, 1Rudy1 posted a question recently about another plugin that is supposed to be super easy to use called Contact7. A bunch of other WA members chimed in and said it was the best.

Thanks Rudy. Now I feel like a Cotton-Headed Ninny-Muggins! (I stole that from Elf)

Plugins 101 - Do You NEED it?

But then things went from bad to worse! Joezout wrote another blog where he first mentioned that he used to be a programmer. He went on to point out that no matter what plugin you install, it's going to slow down your site; even if it's meant to speed it up.

That's not confusing! That's not confusing at all!

However, I appreciate both Rudy and Joe sharing their knowledge and insights, because now I think I know what to do. Pretty much nobody is reading my site anyway, so I am going to set MailPoet up, and then deactivate it.

When I feel I have enough traffic at www.nootropicscoach.com to justify having a newsletter, I'll put it back up. But for now, I don't even NEED a contact plugin. I'm better off making sure my site is lean, mean, and FAST!

So that has been my experience lately with plugins, in particular contact plugins for newsletters.

I hope you guys found the roller coaster fun, and got some useful "A-Ha" moments out of it.

Please write in with your own thoughts. That's what blogs are for, right?

CashYoda7