Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferus
Sure as hell depends on what hosted solution/service you use. Most places the FQDN you provide for reverse lookup, resolves to an IP shared with a lot of other customers.
If you want total control, set up your own box
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Of course it depends on the service you use, no one suggested using a mickey mouse operation. Saying the best way forward is to use a self hosted solution is totally incorrect and in some cases, very short sighted.
We use to host our own using mailer using Interspire and found the cost prohibitive the larger we grew (in terms of our lists). I'm not just talking money here; I'm talking maintenance, architecture and knowledge too. These have serious impacts and these are the areas where you will see benefits when using a service.
Some people will say build your own mailing application. This isn't as simple as it sounds. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in an application of this nature. So why then re-invent the wheel when there are very capable and tested applications that do almost all of the work for you, like Interspire and OemPro (maybe sendy but I haven't tested this yet).
Similarly, using a service to actually deliver the mail (like SMTP and Amazon SES) have major advantages. You are putting the expertise of people a lot smarter than you to work for you (this is a general you). Yes, some services are extortionate and yes, some services are less than "fit for purpose"but that's where you need to do some research and figure out what is best for you economically and technologically.
Most people wouldn't host their main money site in their garage, and most regular hosts aren't capable of setting you up with a mass mailing solution that covers all the bases for a best practise mailer. This is precisely why you have services.
I'm no mailing guru and I don't claim to know it all but what I do know is that handling the actual MTA isn't for everyone and that it isn't always economically or technologically sound to do it. I know that in my specific case, it made more sense to outsource this to a service (SMTP.com) that knew what they were doing. I only recently discovered Amazon SES and have run a few tests. It works quite well and at $0.10 / 1000 emails, it is a steal. This means more money in my pocket and less hassle too. I don't have to worry about hardware, I don't have to worry about scale, I just have to make sure I handle bounces, unsubscribes, feedback loops, etc. Basically everything I would do if I hosted it myself ...