Roxy

Ever wanted to start your own mailing list, but didn't know how? No worries, that is what this tutorial is all about!

Installing PHPList

Once in Fantastico, scroll down to the category named Mailing Lists and click on the PHPList link.



On the overview page click on the new installation link.



Before filling out the login details and other settings, go back to your cPanel and create an email for your new mailing list. YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE INSTALLING PHPLIST!



Once you have done that, go back to the details page and fill in where you would like the script to be installed in. (ie: domain.com/mailinglist) Then create your login details. Below that you will notice input boxes with numbers, on the side are the descriptions. Be sure to read them and fill in the boxes to what you feel is best.



Below that you will need to fill in the mailing information with email you created in your cPanel. After that you have the option to work manually or with a cron job for your lists mail management. While using cron jobs is easier on you, sometimes its not the best bet as it can abuse resources and cause problems. Choose which you think with be best. Once done click on the submit button to start the installation.



The last installation page with give you all the details of your newly installed PHPList script, including a link to the admin panel and the option to email yourself the details. This is a great feature for records.



Using PHPList

Clicking on the admin link on the last installation page will take you to the login page.



Once logged in, you'll be taken to the admin panel. At first it might look a little confusing, so for easy navigation, will be working from the right hand side bar.



Let's begin with the configuration page.



Here you can edit all settings for your mailing list and also edit the template emails.



Next lets learn how to create the newsletter. In the sidebar click on the link that says Lists.



On this page, you will notice that there is a default/test list already created but not active. You can either edit this one, or create a new one by clicking on the add new list button below. The next page is where you will create the name and description of your new newsletter. Make sure to tick the radio button to make the newsletter active or else subscribers will not see it on the main page.



Now to create the message for the newsletter. In the sidebar click on the link that says send a message.



On this page is where you will create your monthly/yearly/quarterly newsletter. You are even able to send a test letter to see how it looks. Be sure to take advantage of this feature to make sure things work well.



Configuring PHPList

Being on a shared server, you always need to think about not only your space, but those also on your server. Sometimes certain scripts need major tweaking (fixing) in order for it to work properly and not cause trouble to the server and your neighbors. PHPList is one of those scripts. Below I will show you how you can configure your version to work so that it no one in the end is troubled on the server.

In your FTP account, find the folder with your PHPList files. You can pretty much copy all the files over to your computer, for backup purposes, or just copy the config file over.



On your computer, locate where you just downloaded the file or folder and open the PHP config file.



Inside the config file under the miscellaneous category, you'll see a few options in which you should read carefully and be sure to change them from the default. The first thing that you should change will be how many emails well be sent out in one batch. Say you set the time for every hour, then you should have a small number depending on how large your mailing list gets.



The next important configuration you will need to change will be under the Experimental Features, which is right below Miscellaneous. Locating the Domain Throttling feature will help keep your mailing list from becoming blacklisted by major email providers like Yahoo! and Hotmail.com. How it works is that if so many subscribers use a certain domain email that is the same, it won't send them all at once, which can seem like spam to the email provider. So you can configure it to send say two every 2 minutes. After you are done, just re-upload the file and you're all set!



Be sure to read the rest of the configuration features there in order to have a secure and working mailing list script. Each feature is explained how its works and what its for, so don't be afraid to tweak it to your liking. =)

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Roxanne
Surpass Staff

Urban Roxy -Personal Blog
SH63 - the best darn shared server!

removed

A guide on throttling would be super-cool, too, Roxy. Sending 500 emails at the same time (as would be done if these steps were used) tends to cause issues on our servers.

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Surpass Abuse & Security

unofficial IRC chat: #surpass irc.blessed.net (efnet)

Kayla

Cool tip, removed. This thread does need a little security and stabilization update.

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Samatva

I have used PHPlist on dedicated servers hosted elsewhere - It is a great program, but users must educate themselves. For several reasons - server load and spam related - it is best to throttle the program back to send only a few hundred e-mails per hour. Most of my usage was for lists of only a few thousand at most, and I was sending regularly-scheduled newsletters. It didn't matter if it took several hours to send them all out.

Having PHPlist on a shared server runs the risk of the entire server (IP address) being put in a blacklist... From home, I send e-mail via my ISP, so would only notice being blacklisted when I'm travelling...

Roxy

Thank you for all of your inputs you guys, I'll be sure to implement them all into this tutorial! =D

__________________
Roxanne
Surpass Staff

Urban Roxy -Personal Blog
SH63 - the best darn shared server!