| You wouldn't think that using free advertising | | | | and perhaps eventheir opportunity will be shut down |
| onlinecould be dangerous, but it can. Email advertising | | | | soon. |
| is | | | | Even safelists are not totally safe anymore. In |
| DANGEROUS! Don't be fooled into thinking you have | | | | everyone of the cases listed above, the site owner |
| tosend hundreds of thousands of messages per day | | | | wasreceiving a huge amount of safelist mail from |
| to beat risk. | | | | over 100lists. While not nearly as effective as having |
| THE FACTS | | | | yourown opt-in list, safelists may seem like the |
| I know of three different cases recently where | | | | idealsolution, but ISP's do not always agree. They |
| peoplehave just lost their web sites due to SPAM | | | | knowthat no one could possibly read hundreds and |
| relatedissues with no warning or notification. They | | | | hundredsof messages everyday and they are |
| have beengiven no way to argue the matter; as far | | | | increasingly awareof the amount of resources being |
| as their ISPsare concerned they are done, out of | | | | used to maintain fulland nearly full mailboxes; they do |
| business, with noappeal or refund for their prepaid | | | | not want to bearthat burden. They ask why should |
| service. | | | | they have to pay foryour free advertising. If you use |
| Case 1: The web site owner was mailing about | | | | safelists, limit thenumber you use and do not send |
| 25,000messages once per week with a 5% | | | | them to your primarymail account, send them to a |
| undeliverable rate. | | | | free email account andempty that account regularly! |
| Sounds like a lot, but he was entitled to send | | | | There are services out there that will mail your adfor |
| thosemessages. As the owner of an FFA page, | | | | you from their servers and they will even providethe |
| people who postads to his site agree to receive email | | | | addresses, but these are not free and there isstill |
| from him inreturn for placing their free ad. | | | | some danger. Generally, bulk email services |
| Case 2: The web site owner was sending only about | | | | willrecommend that you do not include a URL for |
| 1,000 messages once per week! He was entitled to | | | | your offerin your message, they encourage you to |
| mailto those people as part of a paid service he | | | | provide a freeemail address in your message where |
| hadjoined and was averaging a 6% undeliverable rate. | | | | people can writefor more information. This, they say, |
| Case 3: This web site owner was not sending out | | | | insures thatyour ISP and your program or offer are |
| largemailings at all! She was, however, receiving a | | | | safe: ifsomeone complains the most that can happen |
| verylarge of amount of safelist mail. | | | | is yourfree email account gets shut down. |
| WHOA! | | | | BUT I THOUGHT. |
| What is happening here?! Clearly, SPAM is | | | | Remember, when gurus tell you that email |
| reachingepidemic proportions and the result could well | | | | advertisingis the most effective form of advertising |
| be thedeath of email advertising, which is widely | | | | online, theyare talking about sending mail to your own |
| regardedas THE most effective form of online | | | | opt-inlist, that means to people who have |
| advertising. | | | | specificallyrequested your INFORMATION. No one is |
| Host providers are under increasing pressure | | | | signing upjust to get ads, unless it is a safelist, and |
| tocontrol SPAM; too many complaints can get a host | | | | you don't getthose addresses. The idea of email |
| shutdown. Also, the amount of resources it takes | | | | advertising is notto inundate the world with your |
| forservers to send large amounts of mail, | | | | advertisement, no onewants that and if you think |
| handleundeliverable messages and even maintain | | | | about it, you don't wantto be inundated with other |
| accounts witha lot of mail can put an incredible drain | | | | people's ads either. Youneed to take the time to build |
| on hostproviders. They have to be vigilant in | | | | your OWN opt-in list. |
| controlling theamount of mail their clients send and | | | | If you are looking for a shortcut to having your |
| receive. | | | | ownemail list by buying one, or if you are mailing |
| DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! | | | | toevery address you can find everyday (or even |
| The days when you could buy a list of email | | | | everyweek), you are headed for serious trouble. You |
| addressesand send your ad to them with impunity | | | | couldlose your site, you could take down whatever it |
| are gone. It isfar too risky today to send mass | | | | is youare promoting with you, AND you are |
| mailings from yourown ISP. Even using another email | | | | contributing to aproblem that is totally out of control. |
| account can berisky; SPAM complaints can (and do) | | | | WHAT CAN YOU DO? |
| shut downadvertised programs all the time. If ONE | | | | The truth is, beginners should forget about mass |
| personcomplains to everyone they can think of | | | | emailadvertising to begin with. Practice ad writing |
| aboutreceiving your message, your offer can be | | | | byusing a few free safelists. |
| takenoffline with very little, if any, warning. | | | | Create an autoresponder series that people can |
| DO'S AND DON'TS | | | | opt-infor. Be sure your topic is of interest to a wide |
| If you use any form of free advertising online, youwill | | | | groupof people, you have an informative title and |
| get mail in return. After all, there is no suchthing as a | | | | also,that you provide useful information. This is not |
| free lunch; the mail you receive is theprice you pay | | | | ashard as it sounds, but it does take some effort. |
| to advertise for free. Read the terms ofservice! Do | | | | Presumably you are selling a wonderful product |
| not post to free ads to sites that allowall of their | | | | thatanswers an important need for the general |
| members to send you an emailconfirmation. This will | | | | population. |
| cut down on the amount of mailyou receive and it | | | | Your title should project the single best benefit |
| will eliminate the temptation toreply to all those | | | | thatyour product offers and the message series |
| messages, which would be SPAM. | | | | shoulddescribe the problem and provide the solution |
| While you agree to receive mail by placing your | | | | via youroffer. It doesn't have to be 10 messages |
| ad,the people who send confirmations DO NOT | | | | (although atleast seven is recommended); you could |
| agree toreceive your mail. You may not like it, but | | | | talk about onespecific angle or benefit of your |
| that ishow it is set up. If you do not wish to | | | | product in eachmessage with an overall recap for the |
| receiveconfirmation emails, do not use free | | | | last. |
| advertisingsites. | | | | Also, don't forget that there are lots of other |
| Do not use email address collecting software. | | | | waysto advertise online. I have heard many people |
| Ireceive mail to accounts that are not | | | | complainthat FFA's and free classified ads do not |
| publishedanywhere except on my web site for things | | | | work, but Iknow that they do. I recommend an FFA |
| likepassword retrieval. These messages usually | | | | page that hassent me 60 visitors within the 2 hours |
| saysomething like, "Thank you for posting your link | | | | that my linkwas visible! The people who say these |
| to mysite," but I know that this address was never | | | | advertisingforms are worthless are generally those |
| used topost any ads. I also know that this person | | | | who do nothave the ad writing skills necessary to |
| who sentthe message will not be in business for long. | | | | make surfersclick or they are using automated |
| While Iam not crazy about SPAM, I generally do not | | | | submission serviceswhich allow your ad to slip off the |
| complain; | | | | page without everbeing seen by human eyes. If you |
| I use the delete button and for me, that's the end | | | | can't get people toclick on your free ads, odds are |
| ofit. But, there are so many people, especially | | | | people will not clickthrough your email ads either. Do |
| newbies,who absolutely flip over SPAM and I know | | | | not pay for a massemailing service before you are |
| that one ofthese people will complain to everyone | | | | confident of your adwriting skills. |
| they can get ahold of and this SPAMMER's operation | | | | |