Westwood Village Computers

Are you finding that your business needs an effective way to get the word out about yourself?  Does your business ebb and flow with the amount of networking you do?  Perhaps what you need for your business is a way to maintain contact with your customers so that they have a lasting experience from your company?

Some of my readers might already be familiar with web sites such as Constant Contact.  These are websites that allow you to send out a newsletter, and they host all the data for your company’s contacts.  It’s a great idea for the scads of people that have never heard of the software that I’m about to tell you about, and that want to maintain that much sought after relationship with their customers.  However, I’m a major proponent of the open source software revolution.  I’m also all about not having someone else having all the access to my data.

If you’re like me, you might find that PHP List is a great piece of software.  My wife and I use it for our real estate investment business, to maintain contact with our network.  Using PHP List, you can maintain several newsletter mailing lists, with very little technical knowledge.  It comes with a complete subscribe/unsubscribe system so that you can adhere to bulk mailing requirements in certain US and/or Canadian jurisdictions.  Certain states (and possibly provinces) have very strict laws on what constitutes unsolicited email (spam).  In some states and/or provinces for instance, as long as you have an existing relationship with an individual, you can add them to your mailing list.  However, in other states and/or provinces, the subscribee has to specifically opt-in.  Check with your lawyer before sending out bulk mail to make sure you’re in compliance with any local regulations (California spam regulations for instance still apply to you, even if you’re not in the state of California.)