Putting a simple mailing list on your blog need not be that complicated. In fact, there are a few very easy ways to do this and to then make sure that you are getting the best from your efforts. There are a few steps to take to make sure that you are seeing mailing list the very best results. Personally, I use two different ways to run mailing lists. There is a third way that people sometimes try thinking it is best, but in fact it turns out to be very problematic. And that is the manual approach. Do not try this! Some people think that if they have a simple contact form to collect email addresses and then send emails through outlook they can run a basic mailing list. Do not bother - it is doomed to failure through spam detectors and upsetting mailing list your ISP. So, what are the realistic mailing list choices? Well the first is to install a plugin, such as the imaginatively titled Newsletter plugin and to use that. It is very easy to install and set-up and really needs no explanation. The only issue is the bulk sending of emails might offend your ISP. Therefore, the next best solution is a free mailing list provider. For this I use ymlp.com and sign up for their free service once the trial period is over. This is a good one to use, although there are plenty of alternatives. Again this is simple to install. You just tell them what fields you want mailing list to collect (for example name and email) and they give you the HTML for the form. Copy and paste that into a suitable page on your blog and you have your double opt in mailing list set up. That is the sourcing of the mailing list sorted, but where do you collect the information?