Top 21 email marketing information sources

Latest list update: February 26, 2008

When you've ploughed through several thousand articles, sites, blog posts and emails to create a resource like this, you get a pretty good feel for which people and places provide the best information.

So I decided to compile a list of the Top 21 information sources for email marketers.

To get on the list, the place or person had to produce info that was useful, timely, relevant and trustworthy. And largely avoid the overt pursuit of any agenda or self-interest. (Pretty much the criteria that make a great email newsletter.)

There are dozens of great sites, blogs, newsletters and writers in the email marketing world, of course. But these are my personal favorites, based on hundreds of hours of reading and evaluation. If you feel a top resource missed out unfairly, let me know: I already have a second list in preparation.

In no particular order, I present you the official No man is an iland Top 21 Email Marketing Information Sources:

The Email Roundtable
This marketers-only discussion group has some of the brightest folk in email marketing on board. The discussions deal with the day-to-day strategic and tactical issues faced by email marketers and are characterized by their pragmatism, experienced insight and friendliness.

Click Z
Look out particularly for columns by...

• Derek Harding, CEO of Innovyx (useful material on the kind of topics often ignored by others, such as the deliverability of transactional emails or understanding feedback loops.)

• Jeanne Jennings, consultant (Jeanne's column is always packed with useful practical advice and she's also the author of probably the best email marketing print resource ever published: Sitepoint's Email Marketing Kit.)

• Karen Gedney, copywriter (often with insight on the more creative and messaging aspects of your email)
  

• Stefan Pollard (see below under EmailLabs)

• Jeanniey Mullen (see below under Email Experience Council)
  

Email Insider
This MediaPost blog hosts various excellent columns. Personal favorites:

• David Baker, VP e-mail solutions at Avenue A/Razorfish. David's columns are the definition of idea leadership. Always thought-provoking, always insightful. One for those looking to tomorrow's email marketing tactics and strategies. Also check his blog.

• Melinda Krueger, Principal of Krueger Direct/Interactive. The "Email Diva" offers solutions to reader problems and gives us a heap of insight into email marketing realities at the same time.

• Loren McDonald (see below under EmailLabs)

• Chad White (see below under his own entry)
  

iMedia Connection
Check the site for regular articles on email. Again, my personal favorite is:

• G. Simms Jenkins, Founder and Principal of BrightWave Marketing. Simms has a knack in his column of producing thoughtful articles that cover areas you may have never thought about before. He is also behind the excellent EmailStatsCenter.com website
  

Campaign Monitor and the Email Standards Project
The Campaign Monitor blog is rich in contributions on email design, documenting important design issues and leading the effort to get HTML email standards established. The latter initiative led to the creation of the Email Standards Project.

EmailLabs | Stefan Pollard & Loren McDonald
The folk at EmailLabs are notable for producing really excellent articles on a range of key topics. Stefan Pollard, their Director of Consulting Services, has an equally valuable column over at ClickZ. And any article you see with the byline Loren McDonald is a must read: check out his column at MediaPost.

The MailChimp blog
An ESP blog which often comes up with great insights and stats, such as numbers on the effectiveness of different subject lines and advice on what kinds of address lists can be used for email marketing.

Tamara Gielen, OgilvyOne
Owner of the Be Relevant blog, aggregating the best email marketing content out there. Her Email Marketer's Club is also an excellent networking and forum resource.

MarketingSherpa
A remarkable source of case studies, practical guides and research insights. Their Email Marketing Benchmark Guide has achieved iconic status in the industry.

Michael Katz, consultant and speaker
If you produce an email newsletter and haven't read his articles, you are a fool. Gets extra points for focusing on the busy professional or small business with little time to become an email expert.

The Email Experience Council
Vendor-dominated membership organization which is a valued source of surveys and best practices. The only reason I don't join is because someone has to stay independent and it might as well be me. Founded by Jeanniey Mullen (see her ClickZ column.)

The eROI blogs
This vendor has several blogs which are always great and regular sources of practical tidbits, event reports and musings from the front line of email marketing. My faves: Return on Subscriber and The Email Wars

Return Path
Return Path are never shy about commenting on issues that coincide with their interests. But they offer a different vendor perspective as they are not a traditional email service provider. In particular, Stephanie Miller (Vice President of Strategic Services) gets through my trust barrier. She contributes willingly to email marketing discussions in various places: check out her posts at the Return Path website.

Chad White
Chad operates the RetailEmail.Blogspot site which is a super public source of insight into what the big retailers are doing with their emails. He's also Director of Retail Insights at the Email Experience Council. See his column at MediaPost.

Tom O'Leary, Editor-in-Chief, Infacta
Tom writes the Messaging Times blog for this email marketing software company. Check out the articles section which successfully manage the trick of actually helping out those who don't live and breathe email marketing (which is most people.)

The AWeber blog
The folk at AWeber are very good at highlighting key stuff for small business and those with smaller lists and autoresponders. Look out particularly for Justin Premick's posts.

Al Iverson of ExactTarget
As well as the occasional appearance on the ExactTarget blogs, Al pops up in various places to display his in-depth knowledge of spam, deliverability and blacklisting issues.

Email Karma | Matt Vernhout
Matt's blog is relatively new, but has already proved itself as a source of top-notch inside info on email marketing issues. A welcome addition to the fold.

Adventures in Email Marketing | Anna Billstrom
Anna's blog is also quite new, but excels with detailed advice on specific topics. Good source of ideas and insight on areas covered too superficially elsewhere.

Vertical Response | Janine Popick
Janine's blog posts take a small business focus, and go beyond the mechanics of email marketing to cover other business aspects relevant to the "small" emailer.

Ken Magill, journalist
I know marketers who read Ken's columns just to make sure they're not in them. He is just about the only one out there willing to burst the cozy mutual backslapping bubble that all industries wrap around themselves.

Kevin Hillstrom, multichannel marketing consultant
Kevin's blog posts cover a much wider brief than email marketing. But his discussions on measurement and analysis are hugely insightful for email marketers, who will learn lessons they've been trying very hard to avoid...

Bronto Blog
The Bronto bloggers have impressed of late with a concerted effort to bring useful hype-free info to the community.

(OK...that's 23.)

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