How to Get Smtp Outgoing Settings Right for Email Marketing Software

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Bob just downloaded an email marketing software from the Internet and he is striving to make his first powerful email blast. He is happy, he is anticipating the moment when the first thousands of dollars will start to arrive. He already subscribed for an email mailing list service in a reputable company and composed a beautiful email message template that perfectly fits into the list subject. He hits the send button in an email marketing software and oops, he gets a message that he needs to configure smtp outgoing server before he can go on. Bob is confused, why doesn't this bloody Send button behave as it is supposed to and what the hell do smtp settings mean?

Bob closes the error box and opens smtp settings. He sees a window full of alien words he does not understand. What the hell is smtp host? A french maid or something? Bob is totally confused when he sees smtp port setting. He grabs a telephone book and tries to find a phone number of the port named "Smtp Port". May be they know how to help. A guy on the other end picks up the phone and recommends Bob to visit his psychiatrist. Sure you wanna know the end of the story, but hey!. It's just a joke.

In the real life, when it comes to entering smtp settings in an email marketing software, a similar thing usually happens. Most of people got used to user names and passwords but smtp host and smtp port are not fully understood. Although every email provider has a FAQ and help desk where the user can find the full information about his or her smtp settings, nobody seems to pay attention it. Anyway, who wants to read those silly small letters? And, you know, you don't have to. If you understand the basics, it is not necessary.

Smtp host is not a person. Smtp host is a computer that works as an smtp outgoing mail server. It has an IP address and is normally associated with a domain name. Since this computer can host other services than smtp and even several smtp outgoing services, ports are used. Smtp port is a number from 0 to 65535 that specifies the number of the service you want to work with. It is like office number in an office building. You go to the office 25 in a big building if you want to visit Great Helicopter, Inc. rather than yell loudly in the lobby trying to get attention of somebody in the building.

Smtp host is the most important thing you must know about since smtp port numbers are highly standardized for smtp mail servers and can be easily found by trying several standard numbers in a random order. Smtp host is usually published in email provider's guides, and I personally recommend you guys to check them out. If you cannot find out what your smtp host is, you can use the following rule of thumb to discover it. If your email address is "bob205@gmail.com", your smtp host would highly likely be "smtp.gmail.com" or "mail.gmail.com". Simply add "smtp." or "mail." to the domain part of your email address at the beginning (the part that is after the @ symbol). If this does not work for your email address, refer to your email provider's documentation, FAQ or help desk.

Smtp port is not a facility, it is just a number. Smtp ports are highly standardized. Although, smtp port can range between 0 and 65535, it is highly unlikely that it will be something else than 25, 465 or 587. It could also be 26 or 2525 but these numbers are not included to the standard and are used by a tiny portion of all existing smtp servers. Port 25 is normally the standard port for a regular non-encrypted connection and can also be used with TLS encryption. So you want to try this port with encryption and without it. Port 465 is used with SSL encryption only. Port 587 is normally used with TLS encryption only although it can be used for a regular connections in rare cases. If none of the ports works, refer to your email provider's documentation, FAQ or help desk.

Smtp encryption is used to secure connection between your computer and SMTP server. In most of the cases encryption is optional. If you do not use it, you are forced to use the port 25 only. Since many Internet Service Providers block this port to fight trojans and spam, you may end up having to use encryption just to be able to use a different port, let's say 465. Port 465 uses SSL encryption. SSL encryption assumes the connection should be encrypted before any traffic takes place (This method is often called "SSL" or "Implicit TLS"). Port 587 assumes you start with an unencrypted connection, use plain words to initiate handshake and then you switch to an encrypted channel after you agree to (The common names of this method are "Start TLS" or "explicit TLS" encryption). Refer to your email provider's documentation, FAQ or help desk to find out if you need to use encryption and what type it should be.

Smtp authentication is done with the use of user name and password. The only thing I would like to discuss here is the user name format. If your email address is "bob205@gmail.com", your user name would be your email address "bob205@gmail.com". However it could be just "bob205" (the first part of your email address before @). You should try the second variation if the first one does not work. Refer to your email provider's documentation, FAQ or help desk if none of the variations works.