Best Email Marketing Blogs Resource Center 

Anna Billstrom is right in there with you in the email trenches, and she writes candidly about what works, what doesn't and what should never have seen the light of day. She pulls no punches either, so if you like sharp, tight writing that doesn't read like a press release or a spec sheet, she's the blogger for you. She manages to marry the technical aspects of email to the marketing side, so that you can plan your campaigns on firmer footing. She also turns a gimlet eye on the commercial messages she receives and dissects them with detailed and intelligent analysis.

If you don't have a close, personal relationship with the postmaster (the head email person) at each ISP, company blogs like this one are the next best thing. AOL's is the newest kid on the block, and it's as close to the inner workings as you'll get. Your tech people probably are watching this one closely; if they aren't, they should be, and so should you so that you know what they're talking about.

One testament to the many eyes following this blog: A post (at the time of this writing) about changes in the way AOL will handle invalid addresses set off earthquakes in the deliverability world. AOL, for all of its lost luster, is still the biggest gorilla in the zoo for consumer marketers, so this blog bears close monitoring.

Tamara Gielen is the one to consult when you want an international perspective on email marketing. (You should, because you never know which country your messages go whizzing off to every time you send.) Tamara's home in Belgium and her job - Director of Email and Digital Dialogue Strategies at OgilvyOne Worldwide – give her a bird's-eye view of trends, attitudes and news.

Hers is the blog that many other marketing bloggers read first for her original news and perspectives. She is also your eyes and ears at the world's major email conferences, because she posts her notes to the blog soon after each event.

One of the best compliments you can give a vendor blog is another vendor admitting he reads it faithfully. That's the surreptitious honor afforded Campaign Monitor. This blog is written for users of the Campaign Monitor email software, but many issues – coding, deliverability, rendering across different email platforms, devices and readers – are universal. The company is in the forefront of the move to standardize many aspects of email design and deliverability, two topics you need to stay abreast of to improve your own performance.

The EEC launched in 2006 as a trade group by and for people who actually do email marketing. It was so successful it got a can't-refuse offer to join the Direct Marketing Association and has since evolved into a major information source. You'll find a fair bit of fresh news here every day, plus tips, best practices and viewpoints (which are newsy rather than self-promoting).

The posting traffic is relatively low, so you can keep up easily, and you don't have to be a member to get the posts. It's also useful for connecting and networking with your fellow email marketers, since you'll see contacts here who don't post in other places.

The name says it all: When you absolutely, positively have no time to read even the elite of the best email marketing blogs, sign up for this blog-of-blogs, which brings some of the best minds out there who are blogging on email, marketing, technology and related issues into one network under the Feedburner roof.

Here you get one collection of posts from nine top blogs, available to read at the site or through an email with that day's posts. It's as close as you'll get to a 360-degree view of the email world, with news, tips, advice and editorializing covering content, subscriber management, deliverability, ISP relations, anti-spam developments, formatting and legal issues. If you have time for only one blog, make it this one.

Ever wish you could sit in while your CEO thinks out loud about email marketing's challenges and rewards? That's what you get when you read Bill Nussey's blog posts. The Silverpop CEO reports on legal and technical issues, muses about issues of the day and shares strategic advice. Every well-written post is worth the few minutes it takes to read. Look for Bill's take on tech developments, strategy, legal issues and better use of your email software, whether you're a Silverpop client or not. Disclosure: Silverpop is an advertiser in good standing with Web Digest For Marketers.

It pays to go straight to the top. This blog aggregates posts daily from top executives at Return Path (deliverability experts), eROI (email agency), Silverpop (email service provider) and others. Look here for breaking news, especially company-sponsored surveys and technical news and precious little brand-flogging.

The bloggers featured here are experts at translating complicated technical news into language the average person can understand, and making them understand why they need to know it in the first place.

John is one of those tech wizards who can take scary, complicated email issues and distill them for the non-techs in the audience. He's the one to follow for the first news about changes and developments on email delivery, unsolicited email and legal issues, among other topics. You won't get marketing insights here, but you will be able to understand and stay ahead of developments on the tech side that can help or hurt your own performance.

His perspectives and advice sometimes run counter to the herd as well, given that he's farther out there on the edge than many email experts or consultants. But, that's a good thing!

Email is a key channel for e-commerce marketers, but it is only one of several in an integrated marketing program that also includes print, broadcast, direct mail, SEO and social networks. How to integrate your email campaigns and make them work with rather than independent of (or even against) your other channels is multichannel marketing guru Kevin Hillstrom's mission.

His blog outlines real-world strategies and looks at ways to sew all the channels together so they work in harmony. If you're a marketing or retail executive, you should be following what Kevin says in his meaty, data-driven posts. This veteran of retail powerhouses like Nordstrom, Lands' End and Eddie Bauer knows a thing or three about making channels work.