GetResponse, Aweber, Constant Contact, iContact, Mail Chimp, RatePoint …

sometimes the list seem inexhaustible. Newsletter service providers or email marketing services – whatever you want to call them, they provide an invaluable service: allowing you to gather visitor information and market your services to a list of interested prospects.

With so many options available, which newsletter service provider do you choose?

While I can’t answer that question for you, I can offer you a recommendation based upon my experience. I have extensive experience working with GetResponse and Aweber and moderate experience working with Constant Contact, MailChimp, and RatePoint.

I’ve been there, done that, and I just switched my newsletter service to MadMimi.

Here’s why I chose MadMimi:

• MadMimi costs quite a bit less than many of the other services. If you have 100 subscribers or less, your account is free. 101-500 subscribers costs only $8 per month. And there are affordable plans for every list size.
• There is no restriction on how many emails you may send per month. Unlike other services, you will not be charged for exceeding the allowed number of emails sent per month. Have several offers for your subscribers? Send away with no worries about cost.
• MadMimi is incredibly user-friendly. You don’t need to know HTML or hire a designer to create attractive custom email newsletters. I’m a designer, and I did create my own custom email template in my former service. It was 10x easier and faster when I created my MadMimi newsletter.
• MadMimi’s customer support is fabulous. They provide online tutorials, and if you need more help, you can get one-on-one help from MadMimi’s support teamthrough their Chat feature.
• MadMimi offers add-on services at affordable rates. I’ve chosen to add on the RSS feed option which will automatically send subscribers a roundup of blog posts at a specified interval. (My monthly cost is $5 less than what I was previously paying, a savings of $60 per year.) I’ve also added the free Google Analytics integration. I’ll be able to see newsletter referrals in my Google Analytics stats. If you have an e-course, you can also add on the Drip email option.

So far, I am very happy with MadMimi. Of course, I’ve only been with them a short while, so I will post an update after a few months.

Which email newsletter service do you use? Are you happy with them? Would you recommend them to your friends and associates? Why or why not?

Note: I am an affiliate of MadMimi and used affiliate links in this post. I am not being paid for this post. This post represents my honest opinion regarding this service.

Last week, I told you about the free IRS Virtual Small Business Tax Workshop. Knowing what your tax responsibilities are is great, but how do you keep track of all that information?

Let me introduce you to Outright.com. Outright is a free online bookkeeping program which was created to help sole proprieters and single-member LLCs “track income and expenses from credit cards, invoices, receipts, or even merchant accounts, or enter records quickly in simple ledgers.”

Not only does this program keep track of your income and expenses, but it also proves to be an invaluable tax tool. It will automatically track important tax deadlines (quarterly filing, 1099 deadlines, etc), manage W-9s, tell you who needs a 1099, and automate Schedule C.

You may be thinking the same things I thought when I first learned about the program. “My financial information is ultra-sensitive. Is this site secure? What happens if I cancel my account?”  Here are the answers I found:

• all information in Outright is encrypted
• the site itself is password protected and encrypted
• data is backup hourly
• all data belongs to you and can be downloaded in a format which can be read by spreadsheet software
• if you cancel your account, you data is immediately deleted

I’m recommending this product not because I receive compensation or incentives for any referrals I may give.  I’m not an Outright affiliate. I’m recommending this program because I use it myself and am ecstatic with the results. Once I had entered my 2009 income and expenses, I was able to view and download a pdf of my Schedule C.  Wow! What a time-saver! My CPA is gonna love me.

What is your preferred bookkeeping method?