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A Simple Guide to E Mail Marketing
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You don’t need me to tell you that if no-one knows your business exists - online or off-line - you won’t survive for very long. When you’re starting out, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is how you tell others about the opportunity you are trying to promote without spending a fortune. There are several different ways you can address this issue, but it’s an accepted fact amongst virtually all online marketers that e mail marketing is one of the most powerful methods there is of “getting your message out there”. In this page I’m going to give you an overview of how you can e mail literally hundreds of thousands of people each week by using what are known as Safelists... and it won’t cost you a penny!
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What is a Safelist?
In simple terms, a safelist is an e mail list made up of members who have given their permission to receive e mails from all of the other members in return for being able to send an e mail out to other members themselves. It is totally free to join a safelist, although you will find paid upgrade options available within each list offering a number of different benefits.
The size of each safelist varies. Some only have several hundred members, whereas others have thousands. Some allow you to send single messages only once a week, whereas others allow you to send several e mails every day.
All of the information in this guide relates to credit based safelists, because these are without doubt the most effective. Whenever a member of a credit based list clicks on a web link in another member’s e mail ad, they are awarded credits after viewing the ad for 20 seconds or so. The more credits they earn, the more people they can e mail. In addition to the thousands of regular e mail ads delivered every day, some members also pay to send out what are known as solo ads. These messages are delivered to the contact e mail addresses of each member and you earn more credits when you click on them.
Every person who joins a safelist agrees to receive ad messages from the rest of the list, so you can rest assured that any promotional material you send via the safelist will not be returned as spam. There are however certain rules you need to follow and some genres of site such as adult and gambling related are not accepted.
Almost all of the safelists offer very attractive rewards - both in the form of cash and additional credits - when you introduce a new (active) referral to their program. I’ll tell you about a really excellent free way you can do this a little further down the page.
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Before You Start
When you register with a safelist you will be asked to provide two e mail addresses: a list address and a contact address.
Your list address is the one which will be literally bombarded with e mails from other users so it is absolutely crucial you have a totally separate address for this purpose. I advise you to use Google Mail as it is accepted by all of the safelists.
Your contact address will be used by the safelist admin team for sending occasional updates and messages. Solo ads are also sent to this address. You can use your private e mail address here if you wish, but if you want to keep all of your online marketing activities separate, then I suggest you set up a second Google Mail account for your contact address also.
When clicking for credits, it will save you a great deal of time if you use tabbed browsing. This means you can comfortably have up to 10 windows open at a time and click from one to the other. Mozilla Firefox is ideal for this purpose. If you don’t already have Firefox installed, you can download it here for free: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
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How many safelists should you join?
Because of the sheer volume of e mails received by safelist members each day, it’s an accepted fact that a high percentage of the ads you send will be deleted without ever being seen. To stand any sort of success you need to actively use at least 20 safelists on a regular basis. Just because a safelist has tens of thousands of members doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to get better results by using it - quite the reverse in my experience, so don’t dismiss programs with a small membership base.
A really excellent free program worth joining is Traffic Hoopla. Every week the TH team publish lists of the top safelists as voted for by their users. It’s an impartial and really useful resource. What I also like about Traffic Hoopla is that you can join any of the safelists featured directly through their site, add your unique user name for each list in your private members area, then anyone else you refer to Traffic Hoopla and who joins one of the safelists automatically becomes one of your referrals. This can result in you earning literally thousands of additional credits as well as cash rewards.
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Useful terms to know
Credit Mailer - Once you have accrued enough credits by clicking on other members’ ads you can use your credits to e mail other members in return. Each safelist specifies the number of people you can promote to when you use the Credit Mailer as well as how often you can send out mail.
Standard Mailer - You can send mail to safelist members using this method but they won’t earn credits for clicking on your ad. This is useful if you’re running low on credits but is nowhere near as effective as using the credit mailer.
Solo Ads - Members pay a fee and in return their ad is delivered to the contact address of every member. Solo ads carry a higher number of credits and have a much higher click through rate. Research has proved that solo ads are one of the most effective methods of e mail marketing available.
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Recommended sites for free members
The following safelists have really struck the balance right in my opinion. They send out a handful of solo ads each day but not so many that members don’t need to surf through the free members’ ads too in order to earn credits. This means it’s a win win situation for both free members and those who want to invest in paid advertising.
Global Safelist - 10,000+ members Free members are able to e mail all 10,000+ members up to twice a day through the credit mailer and there’s a standard mailer which you can use in addition to this. Upgrade packages start at $4.95 per month and solo ads cost $23.95.
Ad Tactics - 10,000+ members. Free members can e mail up to 9982 members once every three days. There are five levels of upgrade available and solo ads cost $30.
Got Safelist - 20,000+ members Free members are able to e mail 2,500 members once a day. Upgrade packages start at $7.95 per month and solo ads cost $59. Got Safelist works particularly well because all members earn random amounts of cash as well as credits when viewing ads. Once your balance reaches $50 you can request a Paypal payment or spend your earnings on ad packages.
Elite Safelist - 5,000+ members Free members are able to post ads to all members once per day Upgrades cost between $5.97 per and $19.97 per month. There are no solo ads available for purchase but the admin team do send several solo ads out each week. There are, however, regular clicking contests and added bonuses for members based on how many e mails they read.
Adsolutionline - 22,000+ members. You can e mail two ads per day to 9,000+ members through the credit mailer and there’s a standard mailer which can be used daily also. There are currently no upgraded memberships available but you can purchase blocks of credits starting from $10 for 20,000. You can also purchase solo ads for $35.
European Safelist - 6,000+ members. There are three levels of membership: Free, Silver ($3 a month) and Pro ($7 a month). What sets European Safelist apart is that the two upgraded memberships include the use of a free autoresponder. You can view a free demo of how this works via the members area. Free members are able to e mail 3517 members once every three days and solo ads cost $25 each. As with all safelists you can post banners and text links but I have found that text links work particularly well through this site.
Freesafelist Mailer - 35,000+ members. Free members are able to post ads to all 35,000+ members once every day using the credit mailer. To help you boost your credits total it’s worth remembering that all ads delivered to your list address with “LIST SOLO” in the title are worth 500 points each. If you’re considering testing the water with paid advertising it’s worth thinking about a list solo ad. At $8.99 it works out cheaper than the solo ads which are $34.99 each, but the incentive for members to click is still great. FSM also has a “Word Cloud” where you can pay as little as $0.50 to display your link on a designated page accessed only by other members. Upgrades are available starting from $7.95 per month.
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Smaller safelists that really pack a punch!
Traffic Pro List - 1,000+ members. This site has recently changed ownership and has almost doubled its membership since doing so. As well as being a responsive Safelist, there are many other ways you can earn through this site and you can also promote up to 3 of your own earning opportunities to anyone who you introduce to the program. There are four levels of upgraded accounts varying in price from $2.95 to $14.95 per month and you also earn commissions for reading mails. This certainly looks like an up and coming list.
Vital Ad Views - 1,600+ members. Although as a free member you can send ads out to all members every three days, I have found it more beneficial to take advantage of the system VAV has introduced which enables free members to send out solo ads, using their credits as a way of payment instead of cash. A solo ad will cost you 25,000 credits but it is a “true” solo which doesn’t include any other advertising. If you haven’t got the time to click through the ads you can purchase blocks of credits starting at $2.50 for 1500. It’s also worth checking out the helpful free tutorials available through the members area
Newage Marketing Supreme Safelist - 3,500+ members. This is probably one of the most effective safelists for free members because solo ads are sent out very sparingly so you need to focus on clicking the e mails of other free members in order to earn credits. There are three levels of upgraded membership starting at $6.97 a month. Solo ads cost between $5.97 and $9.97 and you can also purchase blocks of credits for as little as $6.97 for 30,000.
Supremelist - 2,400+ members. This site has a clean, simple layout and offers free members the chance to e mail all members once a day. There are three levels of upgraded memberships costing between $4.95 and $15.95 per month. Solo ads cost $7.95 each. Supremelist have recently introduced a link and article directory where you can post for free providing you include a reciprocal link from your own site.
Dusty’s Magical Marketing - 2400+ members. Free members can e mail to the entire database once every three days. There are 7 levels of upgrade which vary in price from a one off fee of $70 to $20 every month. Some of the upgraded memberships include being able to send out regular solo ads to all members, or you can purchase a solo ad individually for as little as $3.50 each. The layout of the website is rather basic but don’t be deterred by that because it’s a responsive list which is constantly adding features.
Get Your Ads Read - 1,000+ members. As a free member you can e mail 946 members every day. To upgrade to a supreme membership costs a one off $75 and solo ads are included in the package, or you can purchase a solo ad for just $2.50.
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Getting organised
It’s a time consuming business posting to safelists but you can save a great deal of your precious time if you’re methodical. Following the steps below may take you a couple of hours - but this is nothing compared to the hours of slog and frustration it will save you in the long run.
Once you’ve downloaded Mozilla Firefox click on the bookmark menu and create a new folder called “SAFELISTS”. As you join each new site, you can then bookmark the different log in pages within this folder and it makes it much easier (and quicker) when going down the list posting ads. After you’ve created your Google Mail account, you can filter out all of the non-credit based e mails sent to you by clicking on the “create a filter” link and following the instructions. You need to make sure you’ve added the word “credit” in the box marked “Has the words:” It speeds up the process immensely if you can just work your way down one list of relevant e mails rather than fishing them out of a jumbled inbox. If you need more detailed advice about how to do this check out the Safelist Marketing Tactics e book featured at the foot of this page. Create a spreadsheet or table containing the names of all of the safelists you’ve joined along with your user name, password, unique affiliate link and any other useful info you might need relating to each safelist. This is a really useful back up and reference point. Decide how much time you are able to dedicate to your safelist marketing. If, for example you only have 30 minutes a day, or an hour every other day to spare then a realistic goal would be to post to 20 safelists twice a week. As each list offers varying amounts of credits, and some have a much larger membership base than others, you’ll need to work out how many e mails you need to click each day to earn enough points to be able to post to the 20 lists you’ve joined.
Tips to help you create a successful ad
Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, in my experience you find that the vast majority of safelist users are quickly clicking from one ad to another, earning as many credits as they can, and not paying a great deal of attention to what you’re trying to say in your e mail. I’ve found it is much more effective to use a short, eye catching subject and keep text to the minimum. A word of warning though, try to avoid using all capital letters and too many *!@ type characters in your title or it will more than likely be delivered straight to your recipient’s spam folder! Splash pages work just as well in safelists as they do in traffic exchanges! Try to avoid information loaded affiliate pages or at least offer your readers the chance to bookmark your page so they can return to it when they’ve got more time. You can use your safelist credits to post banners and text links as well as e mail ads. These are displayed randomly throughout each program - some at a much faster rate than others. If you only have limited credits to spare I recommend you prioritize posting text ads as they seem to attract a far higher click through rate than banners.
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If you w ould like more detailed step by step instructions about how to carry out any of the tasks outlined above, I reccomend you download this free e book by Jerry Iannucci.
Jerry has been involved in internet marketing since the late 90s and this book gives you some interesting background information about safelist marketing as well as a series of invaluable tips to help you get the most out of your e mail marketing campaigns.
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online-resources@workathometips.org
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