I am making a bid for a web design project that calls for creating a mailing list (users can join/add their names to a mailing list). I am not even sure what technology would be used for that. Does anyone know how to create such functionality? Does anyone someone who can build that for me? I will probably need to get a quote for the amount of work involved and estimate of cost. Any ideas?
It's easiest to use a free web-based service such as Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. No server is required, and you can set the group to be private if needed.
If you want even more control and privacy, you can use a commercial product, such as the original ListServ or an freeware/open-source alternative, such as MajorDomo or MailMan. These three particular products require a Unix server.
Microsoft Exchange uses a "Distribution List" which doesn't include automated signup and removal the way normal listservs operate. However, there are 3rd-party Exchange add-ons such as Ikakura you can buy that extend MS Exchange's capabilities.
You could also opt to use a blogging system and have all users subscribe to the RSS feed. You can use free services/software such as Blogger and Wordpress, or you can use something more complex such as Microsoft Sharepoint.
You could even use something like this forum, which allows multiple people to post, and provides the ability to get notifications by email or RSS feed. This pipwerks forum uses a lightweight and open-source forum system named Vanilla. The software requires a server that can run PHP and connect to a MySQL database.