For many setting up an email server is something they would never do on their own. I too used to ask others for help when I started with bulk email sending. But soon I realized that it would be a lot better if I do this on my own. Here is why:
- This way I am independent and don't have to pay someone to set up my server
- I don't have to worry about my lists getting stolen
- And this is the most important. If you do something for your personal use you will take care of every single detail that could affect your deliverability.
Luckily I worked in IT and setting up an email server wasn't that hard even for software I used more than 10 years ago.
Today software we use for bulk emailing evolved and become user-friendly. Administration of servers is done in your browser in the control panel.
How much do you pay for email server setup?
I know it's not cheap. But if you are serious about your email business it's time to take things into your own hands. In the long run, it will save you money and time. I can set up a new sending server in less than 30 minutes and have it completely integrated with my Email Management Software Mumara and it costs me about $2 (two) per month. (Not a typo!)
You too can do the same
After years and years of testing, I found the perfect combination and wrote a step-by-step guide you can follow and set up a bulk email server on your own.
Don't worry everything is explained and all you have to do is copy/paste the commands I wrote. Of course, at first, it will seem hard. But after you'll set up a few email servers you'll see that all worries were for nothing.
If you know the difference between IP and domain you shouldn't have any problems. You can of course always ask for help in case you do run into something you can't solve on your own.
Check out my Complete PowerMTA Guide
For Everything You'll Need for Successful Bulk Email Marketing in 2024
What do you need for a bulk email server?
- ESP software
- MTA software
- A VPS or two
Read more about the software we'll be using and how to get it and be sure to check out full system requirements.
Plan before you start sending
I don't know where you got your lists. They could be your real subscribers or you bought or scraped them off the internet. Well, I don't care but think before you start setting up your email server and think of a worst-case scenario.
What is the worst-case scenario?
You bought a server and set it up for bulk emailing. You imported your contacts, created some mailers, started sending, and since it was a long day you went to sleep.
The next morning you wake up all pumped and eager to see how your email campaigns performed. But wait, are we in a horror movie or are you still sleeping? Your server is down and you can't access your Email Marketing Software. Finally, you opened your email and saw that there was 1 (ONE!) spam complaint and your VPS provider shut down your server.
What is even worse is that your emails actually got delivered and all those clicks you got were for nothing.
Now what?
What you read above is a true story I hear from people involved in affiliate email marketing every day. You can't imagine their joy when they hear my logic behind bulk email servers or in this case bulk email systems. Read on and see why it's not a server.
Like I said before when you start building your bulk email server you must plan for the worst-case scenario.
Here is my advice. Yes, it requires more work but believe me it is worth it. There are more and more people, big boy email senders that are switching away from their email servers with 128IPs or 256IPs and are doing what I have been doing for more than 10 years.
They are switching to servers with 1 IP!
Are they insane?
No! They just woke up to what we talked about before and are now realizing how important planning is. Especially if you are sending out cold emails to bought or scraped lists.
So how do you set up your email server?
Like I said before we will not setup a bulk email server. What we will do is setup a complete bulk email system. Why an email system?
It will be set up from many servers so if we relive our horror movie from before we realise that in this case, it's not that bad. It will require about 30 minutes of work to setup a new server but we still got most of the clicks.
In our case, only 1 server was taken down and the rest are up and running and still sending mass emails.
In my bulk email system, I have 65 servers and they all have 1 IP. 64 of my servers are budget VPSes which cost me about $2 each. The only requirement I have is that they have 1 GB RAM so I can use PowerMTA. You can do it with even less RAM if you use Postfix, ... but for bulk/mass sending I would suggest PowerMTA for its queue, easy monitoring and administration.
Only 1 of my servers must have more power. I went with an Intel Xeon CPU with 6 cores, 24 GB RAM, and 600 GB SSD. I use this server for my Email Marketing Software (Mumara) and PowerMTA Management Console. Keep in mind that this is not PowerMTA. It is a monitoring tool that comes in really handy if you have your bulk email system set up like this. It allows me to monitor and configure all my MTA servers where PowerMTA is installed.
This server does not do any sending at all so I never have to worry about it being taken off and me losing all my data and hard work. I can even pay for it for longer periods which is something I never do with my sending servers.
My email system contains 64 Budget Server and One Main
I try to keep my sending servers as far away from each other as possible. And never have more than 3 servers per account. So even if all three are taken down I still have 61 other servers with PowerMTA that are working and are forwarding my clicks through the main servers and are making me money.
Believe me, in the long run it will be worth it even if at first it requires you to setup all these MTA servers.
Another good reason to have your bulk email system set up like this is blacklisting. Even if you have a super clean list blacklistings do happen. With a bought or scraped list, you can be sure you'll end up on at least a few black lists.
With servers with more than 1 IP, you usually get your IPs in a range or at least in the same C-class. When you'll get blacklisted it could affect all your IPs and your deliverability from all IPs will drop.
30 Minutes for a new Bulk Email Server
In my case, all my IPs come from different providers and it's hard for spam systems to link them together. If my MTA server ends up on too many blacklists I can just kill it and setup a new one. It takes me about 30 minutes to have a new server up. Have it configured, connected with my Email Marketing Software, and ready to start sending.
Luckily Mumara does everything for me from creating PowerMTA config files and DKIM keys to importing SMTPs, bouncing emails, and masking domains to my EMS. All I have to do is copy/paste the IP and domain I want to use and click next a few times.
If you too would like to set up a bulk email system like this follow my guide and soon you will be delivering to INBOX.
My guide covers everything you need to setup a Perfect Bulk Email System with a 10/10 rating on mail-tester.com and amazing delivery rates.