Thanks for all the great advice Kickapooh. I've been reading every single page and taking notes (inserting into my own Microsoft word document) on all the highlights needed for me to start my own system. I do, however, have a number of questions to add, which haven't been asked yet.
1. How do you determine when a VPS/domains has run it's course and most emails are being delivered to the SPAM folders? (essentially know when to bail on a VPS/IP) I might of answered my own question here, but do you simply use the resource you gave: http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx
2. Are you on a monthly payment schedule with your VPS providers (as opposed to paying 3-6 mths upfront)? I know this would be the way I would do it, if I knew that any VPS could get suspended at any given time.
3. How do you test out initial deliverability rates or do you even worry about it? Are there other programs/services you use to ensure optimum deliverability? I realize that litmus.com offers a service to help out with this, but its monthly and a bit expensive.
4. What "kind" of VPS do you use? Shared/Private/Other? I read you use overseas VPS. Does this not effect your deliverability......sending email from places like Turkey, etc?
5. How many IPs do you purchase per VPS? Do you have IEM setup to switch the IPs between every X amount of mass emails sent?
6. Do you send out both HTML and TXT emails to your recipients or just stick to one?
Thanks in advance for your response