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With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

tinyletter.com

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With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#1

Post by pud »

I really want to get back into blogging (for many years and ran a somewhat popular blog called Fuckedcompany.com (google it if you're in your 20's)) and it was fun but a full-time job.

Unless you're planning on making blogging your full time job, you're not going to build an audience, which means nobody will see any of your subsequent blog entries.

Twitter helps...because even if I don't tweet all month, my followers are still there. But it seems to me that having an email newsletter is still the best solution for someone in my position.

Sure, we're all already buried under an avalanche of email, and half of it goes into the spam folder. Nevertheless, when I have a large number of email addresses from folks who trust me and want to hear what I've got to say, I'd argue I have the most direct line to them than any other method of publishing.

So I spent a lazy rainy Sunday afternoon today building this: http://tinyletter.com

Thoughts?

With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?
tinyletter.com

Re: With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#4

Post by pud »

I really want to get back into blogging (for many years starting in 2000 I ran a somewhat popular blog called Fuckedcompany.com around (google it if you're in your 20's)) and it was fun but a full-time job.

Unless you're planning on making blogging your full time job, you're not going to build an audience, which means nobody will see any of your subsequent blog entries.

Twitter helps...because even if I don't tweet all month, my followers are still there. But it seems to me that having an email newsletter is still the best solution for someone in my position.

Sure, we're all already buried under an avalanche of email, and half of it goes into the spam folder. Nevertheless, when I have a large number of email addresses from folks who trust me and want to hear what I've got to say, I'd argue I have the most direct line to them than any other method of publishing.

So I spent a lazy rainy Sunday afternoon today building this: http://tinyletter.com

Thoughts?

Re: With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#5

Post by happybuy »

pud wrote: post #4

I really want to get back into blogging (for many years starting in 2000 I ran a somewhat popular blog called Fuckedcompany.com around (google it if you're in your 20's)) and it was fun but a full-time job. Unless you're planning on making blogging your full time job, you're not going to build an audience, which means nobody will see any of your subsequent blog entries. Twitter helps...because even if I don't tweet a…

Wow... I think you undersell your previous blog. Being old enough to remember I think that Fuckedcompany.com was the Techcrunch of its time. Loved to read that site - it brought a sense of reality to the startup/web space which is probably still required to this day.

For tinyletter, I like the idea however the one thing I would note is that it doesn't actually provide any sample of the type of newsletter that it would produce. For instance, what is the value of using this site as opposed to simply having a Google spreadsheet form to collect subscribers and sending the emails using Outlook?

Does it provide HTML templates to easily produce structured newsletters or does it only provide a big text field to type the newsletter? I'd be hesitant to sign-up without seeing at least sample visual of a newsletter that would be produced with the system.

Re: With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#6

Post by pud »

happybuy wrote: post #5
pud wrote: post #4

I really want to get back into blogging (for many years starting in 2000 I ran a somewhat popular blog called Fuckedcompany.com around (google it if you're in your 20's)) and it was fun but a full-time job. Unless you're planning on making blogging your full time job, you're not going to build an audience, which means nobody will see any of your subsequent blog entries. Twitter helps...because even if I don't tweet a…

Wow... I think you undersell your previous blog. Being old enough to remember I think that Fuckedcompany.com was the Techcrunch of its time. Loved to read that site - it brought a sense of reality to the startup/web space which is probably still required to this day. For tinyletter, I like the idea however the one thing I would note is that it doesn't actually provide any sample of the type of newsletter that it woul…

Thanks for the kind words about FC... those were fun days...at least for me :-)

Regarding TinyLetter, I suppose it automates that process were you might collect addresses with Google and sending with Outlook.

Do this to see what they look like: Go through the short sign up process. Then subscribe to your own newsletter. Rhen click "Write a newsletter." Then write something, and click "preview"

Wow that sounds complicated -- trust me it's not. But you make a good point...there should be a way for people to get an example newsletter in the mail so that they know what they look like.

Thanks!

Philip

Re: With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#7

Post by davidw »

Generally, on this site, people aren't going to complain if you promote your own stuff, "within reason". I mean, if you took the time to create it, and link to it like this, it's not a problem.

Looks nicely done, although I don't feel like actually going through and creating it.

One thing might be to watch out for people grabbing 'nice' URL's...

Re: With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#8

Post by DannyCooper »

Firstly great idea! Am I right in thinking this is comparable to a simplified Aweber?

Also I would suggest you have a demo page, for example where it says:

"People will be able to subscribe at: http://tinyletter.com/your-newsletter "

It would be good if that link actually worked,

Re: With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#9

Post by patio11 »

Free is value destroying in newsletters, because I think you will have your sending IPs spam blacklisted by a payday loan affiliate sending spam through your service prior to me sending out my Halloween email to my carefully cultivated opt in list. Charge to keep out the riffraff.

Re: With the risk of being called a spammer, what do you think about my new site?

#10

Post by metachris »

pud wrote: post #4

I really want to get back into blogging (for many years starting in 2000 I ran a somewhat popular blog called Fuckedcompany.com around (google it if you're in your 20's)) and it was fun but a full-time job. Unless you're planning on making blogging your full time job, you're not going to build an audience, which means nobody will see any of your subsequent blog entries. Twitter helps...because even if I don't tweet a…

I'd love to see more infos about the service you are providing, in particular how you handle sending the emails from a technical/deliverability perspective.

Reliable mail delivery will be a major challenge -- what steps did do you take to ensure my mails will reach the recipients?

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