Discussion: please how do i create a listserv and the process of distributing an html newsletters?

I received this message in the Kabissa support mailbox recently from a Kabissa member:

please how do i create a listserv and the process of distributing an html newsletters?

Below is my response, which I thought was worth sharing because newsletters are something that all organisations need to know how to set up and manage. I'd welcome your input to gather more information and resources - perhaps we can start a wiki on the topic of newsletter tools and strategies.

You have alot of options, of course. What you choose will depend on your time and skills, the number of subscribers you have (or want to attract), and how frequently you will be produce in your newsletter. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1) If you use Google Apps for your email, you can use it to create mailing lists that you manage yourself there to mail your newsletters to your subscribers. Advantage: mailing sent from your own domain, you control the list completely. Disadvantage: no online archive kept, you have to manually handle subscribe/unsubscribe requests.

2) as a Kabissa member, you can create a group on Kabissa for your organisation, invite people to join it, and then send out your mailings via the News content type in the group. Participants can then allow them to respond to posts and participate in discussions via the blog. News posts would then be posted to your group and visible on your organisation profile page for all to see as well as mailed out to group members. I would be glad to help you set this up. Advantage: interactive, subscribers are more engaged, in control of their own participation. News automatically archived and associated with your organisation. Disadvantage: you don't have control over the subscribers, format of mailed newsletter is converted to plain text so not fancy formatted emails.

3) install a newsletter app like phplist or dadamail on your mediatemple account - I am not in a position to help with this but if you go this route would be glad if you could document the experience for the benefit of others. Advantage:

4) Use Google Groups or Yahoo Groups to create a mailing list. Advantage: user has control of their own subscription. Disadvantage: advertisements

5) If you use Drupal and CiviCRM for your web platform, you can use CiviMail - which is a great option that Kabissa is fully taking advantage of for our own Gong Gong member newsletter and special mailings. Advantage: users manage their own subscription, powerful integration with content management system and very powerful contacts management tools. Disadvantage: takes more time and skills to set up, may be overkill for your needs. 

Here is a great article from Idealware that you might want to read through. It's from last year and oriented more to US-based organisations, but you might find it helpful. http://idealware.org/articles/fgt_email_newsletter_tools.php

Warm regards,

Tobias