The tracking ability was an eye opener for me. I realized how many people, even clients, just click delete. Only a handful of people click to read the articles, and they are usually the P&C agents and financial advisors I network with. In any event, I think it serves its main purpose well, to keep my name in front of people.
I link to my blog, as well as specialty sites such as quote engine, international travel, goat porn, dental plans, etc.
Goat porn would get the most clicks, every time.
I used Microsoft BCentral for years because they had no opt in requirements. BCentral went out of business and I was left SOL.
I tried to migrate to Constant Contact and they wanted DOUBLE opt - in which was ridiculous. I am not sure their regular opt in requirements but they are VERY picky on spam, and as you can imagine the amount of people giving a hoot about Insurance is slim, when there is so much goat porn out there to view.
Constant Contact will allow you to put any email address you want to in your list. Then they will send out a confirmation email to the client first. They require them to accept the confirmation, before they send your original email to them.
Has anyone tried ReadyCampaigns? Please wait... I looked at them at one point but their website didn't give me enough detail and I was just annoyed with it.