Topica Inc., San Francisco, a provider of e-mail content, said it has added its 50,000th e-mail list to its newsletters, discussions and opt-in lists.
The company provides free hosting and tools for companies or individuals who want to create and distribute e-mail lists or discussion groups. Topica said it delivers 300 million e-mails a month to more than 8 million unique subscribers.
Topica also offers an optional advertising and list promotion network, which offers publishers the ability to place advertisements sold by Topica within their e-mails. In exchange for the placement, publishers can collect dollars or advertising credits.
“Topica provides professional list management in exchange for a little mention of itself on the list, so it's not intrusive or crass in its approach,” said Steve Harmon, publisher of Topica-hosted technology investment newsletter High Velocity.
Ariel Poler, Topica's CEO, said his service helps marketers to target users.
“We can put ads inside newsletters or discussions,” he said. “We also can send stand-alone ads to people who opt in.”
Poler said the Topica service, which began in 1999, added about 1 million new subscribers in November alone.
“And we did it without spending much money,” he said. “We had a pretty strong word-of-mouth factor. List publishers tell other list publishers about us.”
Poler said that while other companies offer list hosting, the market is fragmented and no company offers services similar to Topica's.
“No one is aggregating all the best e-mail content out there,” he said.
