I have a rather complex setup where I have 2 servers, one hosts the websites and the applications on that site. The other is just a qmail server which I connect though the SMTP to send the emails. So the second server handles the burden of email sending and wont effect the bandwidth of the sites themselves.

This is actually pretty easy to set up, but probably not necessary unless you’re sending 50,000+ emails a day. I have some other special needs which I use the second server for as well, so it just makes sense for me to do it that way.

You can just install the software on your own server and send though localhost if your just sending once a week.

I use mostly double opt-in and include opt-out links on all emails and because of that I get almost zero spam complaints with the software. In fact, I cannot even really remember the last time I got a spam complaint from my own blast. Almost all of my spam complaints are from affiliates sending and including my affiliate link in their email. Then I have go explain how that was not an email I sent, that it was from an affiliate promoting my site. They are a pain, I have received 2 of those this week.