Last night I installed a mailing list software package called Subscribe Me Pro on the Real Joe server. It initially seemed foolish to spend $300 on this when there are plenty of list packages out there for free that do a decent job, not to mention the fancy ad-supported and hosted packages like eWayDirect.
But I wanted one that had powerful browser-based admin capabilities, one that would allow people to easily subscribe and unsubscribe to several lists at once (choosing HTML or text versions), and lastly, one that would allow me to track the effectiveness of the links that I include in the outgoing emails. Fellow Minnesotan entrepreneur Matt Noah of NetSuds recommended it.
I had to haul out some dusty old unix commands to get the thing installed. Old friends, from back at my McGraw-Hill days in the late eighties: chmod, and ls -l, mainly. I tried vi, just for old-time sake, but then switched to pico. Whew.
I got it all installed and working after a couple hours, just enough time to head back home and catch the last few innings of Game 3 of the Subway Series. I pumped my fist in a small gesture of satisfaction as I walked out the door. This morning, it occurred to me that I’m a tool guy, of sorts. And I sat down to crank out this week’s article on the subject.