Group emails using Apple Mail

Question

From time to time I like to inform about 40 people that I have updated my iWeb site. To do this, I have assembled a 'group' of addresses and I send the update information to them.
It does not appear to be possible to do this using Apple Mail. I have tried breaking the group down into small bite sizes but poor old Mail just can't hack it. It is not up to the job using an internet connection in Australia or in Canada.
Creating such a group using Gmail Mailplane) does not seem to be possible. Indeed that is a distinct deficiency with an otherwise splendid facility.
I am always obliged to fall back on my dusty old copy of Entourage which does the job flawlessly. Unfortunately, Entourage does not send the sexy update message so handily supplied by iWeb.
I have just gone through this again today. Mail did not hack it. It first tried to use the Gmail SMTP server and then the old Dotmac one and finally my ISP provider's outgoing mail server. None of thse worked. Error messages about time outs on Port 25 arrived.
It would be nice to have the various Apple products working together seamlessly but, in my hands, this is not the case.
I am using the latest version of all software.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received and acknowledged.
David Amies

Answer 1

Thank you for your time.
Once one has updated iWeb a three pronged invitation appears on the screen. One of these invites you to 'announce' your changes. If you click on that, Apple Mail fires up with a pre-printed message and a nice little logo. It is up to you to insert any addresses to which you might care to send the notification of your up date.
Now, I have created a group of addressees in Address Book that I call Blog Group 1. I have arranged this group such that the addresses of members are concealed from other members. This you can do in Apple Mail preferences under 'composing.'
I then press the send button. Wheels spin and the machine whirrs and I receive a message that it can't be sent and that I should use another server. It supplies a list of possibilities. I try them all with the same lack of success. I no longer have the exact error message to hand and could only get it by sending my stuff out again and thereby unnecessarily bothering my correspondents.
After messing around with all of this, I use precisely the same group with Microsoft Entourage and hey presto! it works.
If I can send group emails with Entourage but not with Apple Mail then I hardly think that this can be an issue with my ISP. (I tried to phone tech support today to clarify the point but they are down!)
Why then not use Entourage and be done with it, I hear you cry? For reasons that I cannot explain, I try to avoid using Microsoft products unless there is no alternative. Apple purports to have nicely integrated software and so why not use that?
Do you now follow my problem? If you have any further insights, I shall be more than happy to hear them.
Once again, thank you for your time.
Cordially,
David Amies