OK- I have several niche blogs, right. I wanted to add a newsletter function to a few of them in order to increase interactivity with users. Sounds pretty basic,right?

Not so fast.

I signed up for Constant Contact for their free 60 day trial and added the subscription box to one website.

That’s where the trouble began.

Apparently either I am a bonehead or they don’t allow users to create a second newsletter list.

If I create the subscription box again,it makes the same code- thereby adding all the fans of site A to the mailing list for site B.

That does not work for me.

I scoured their forums to find the answer and it wasn’t anywhere I could see.

I sent out a tweet to my twitter friends to find a solution

OK- Question- How can I make a 2nd newsletter on constant contact? Using same account?

and CC responded

ConstantContact @mrshannigan If you are managing multiple clients bpart program is great,but call in tom to support and they’ll walk you through anything!

I don’t know what bpart program is,do you? And I’m glad they have a support hotline,I guess that I will call them tommorow.
Then,I get this one,too,within seconds.

CTCTHelp @mrshannigan Here are steps to create an email http://tinyurl.com/yj6nax9 call us @866-289-2101 if you have any questions!

Seriously,don’t give me step A. I appreciate the instant response,I’m sure it’s automated,because neither one really answered my question.

So I respond to CC’s off-base auto tweets

@CTCTHelp missing the mark over and over again. I need separate sign-ups for separate lists on separate websites. How hard is that? thankyou

And their response told me exactly how hard it is.

CTCTHelp @mrshannigan Sry 2 hear of your frustration,you can create your own tool &connect to us w/our api –http://developer.constantco…

So basically,a 3rd party app needs to be created.
I’m sorry- but it seems like it’s a pretty basic feature. On the “subscription box creation wizard”where users pick such trivial things as “rounded corners”and “font”why can’t they also “click which list this is for”

So nevermind,I guess.

I called their tech support (Matt perk up your voice a bit,you sounded like a machine- a bored machine) and was told the same thing. I can access the API and build my own tool. Otherwise,I could sign up under another account. Imagine- separate sign-ups and monthly fees for each different niche. Ridiculous.

It could have been an easy solution. Perhaps I will use this opportunity to check into their developer’s API and create one myself,but I doubt it.

I’m assuming that the reason so many niche bloggers use aweber is because it can handle simple things like this without headache.

I will definitely be reporting back on this issue as soon as it’s resolved. I will probably end up switching. If the whole API thing is so easy to use,I will share that as well.

As far as the newsletter creation goes,their tool was simple to use. I was annoyed that none of my links transferred over from Microsoft word,forcing me to go back and make them all again,but it was my first time using it,if I were staying with the company,I’d just try not to make the same mistake again.

UPDATE –I found a better provider,one I had tried over a year ago and forgotten about. YMLP Rocks,read about them here or just sign up It’s totally free,but if you pay you get more stats and contacts (so start free and then work your way up.)