If you need a free software to send newsletters than i suggest phplist. It can be installed in shared hosting, virtual server (vps) and physic servers.
- Download the latest version in the download section
- Unzip it in you machine ( Pc or server )
- Upload the lists folder in your public_html directory ( Depending from you internet speed it will take some minutes )
- Create a database, user and password ( please do not use the root user, bad for security if the server get hacked )
- From my experience in lists > config directory you will see 2 files, config.php and config_extended.php. Rename config.php > config_backup.php and config_extended.php > config.php, you will have all the options for a better customization, if you do not know what of the options means please leave it default, it will not cause any problem.
- Open the following directory lists > config > config.php via ftp connection or file manager if you are using cpanel, change the following lines according to your mysql credetianls
[code]# what is your Mysql database server
$database_host = ‘localhost’;# what is the name of the database we are using
$database_name = ‘databasename’;# who do we log in as?
$database_user = ‘username’;# and what password do we use
$database_password = ‘password’; [/code] - Go to you domain and open
[code] http://yourdomain.com/lists [/code]
- Click on “Initialise database”, this will setup the database of phplist.
- You had setup the phplist in your host.
Now if you are using a Virtual private server or physic server it will require some more steps to properly configure the server, this part is only for Linux server.
Login via ssh on the server and type the following command
[code]nano phplist[/code]
[code]#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/php /home/website/public_html/lists/admin/index.php -c /home/website/public_html/lists/config/config.php $*[/code]
[code]cp phplist /usr/local/bin/phplist
chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/phplist[/code]
Open the crontab and add the following command
[code]0-59/5 * * * * phplist -pprocessqueue > ~/processqueue.log 2>&1
0 3 * * * phplist -pprocessbounces > ~/pprocessbounces.log 2>&1[/code]
You can check the real emailing speed in the processqueue.log file and pprocessbounces.log for the bounced emails via the “tail -f processqueue.log ”
Now open config.php and change the following lines to look like this:
[code]define (“MANUALLY_PROCESS_BOUNCES”,0);
define (“MANUALLY_PROCESS_QUEUE”,0);[/code]
You need to create at least 2 email accounts for phplist, the first one is for sending emails, the second one will be used for bounced emails, you do not want to see all the bounced emails in your inbox folder.
In order to configure the bounced email please change the following lines in the config.php file:
[code]$bounce_protocol = ‘pop’;
$bounce_mailbox = ‘/var/spool/mail/listbounces’;
$bounce_mailbox_host = ‘pop.example.com’;
$bounce_mailbox_user = ‘popuser’;
$bounce_mailbox_password = ‘password’;
$bounce_mailbox_port = “110/pop3/notls”;
$bounce_mailbox_purge = 1;
$bounce_mailbox_purge_unprocessed = 1;
$bounce_unsubscribe_threshold = 5[/code]