Safelists - Pure Madness or NOT?
By: Paul Legge | Posted: 13th April 2006
If you're anything like me you have been or are still trying
to figure out the best ways to reach people on the Internet
with your offers. I just wanted to clue you in to what I
have learned from my experiences with safelists, also known
as optin lists. You have probably seen or read other
articles on this subject before already, but maybe my
insight might strike a little bit of a different or higher
note in your head. I'm also going to include a little bit on
the safelist submitters too as they are a major player in
the safelist game.
The safelist is a great concept and one that catches
everyone's eye when they first start a program or business
on the Net. And why not? We are all looking for an
inexpensive way to get our offers out in front of some
eyeballs. They actually were pretty decent when they first
came about. Ok, so what's the real deal?
The lists you join usually ask for two different email
addresses. One is called the contact e-mail address, which
is where administration can e-mail you. The second address
is known as the list address which is where the mail from
other members for their ads will be sent to you as a list
member. With your contact address, the administrator will
send you updates along with one other little tactic that I'm
sure you know about if you have tried safelists already,
contact solo ads.
For the most part, the list email addresses that people use
are ones that are set up in one of 2 ways. The first being a
free account where the list mail is delivered to and most
people simple go in and dump the mail from time to time
without reading anything. Sometimes people set up filters
that direct the incoming list mail right into the trash
folder. In other words, your mail isn't doing much good, ;0(
Wonderful huh?
The other is what they call a potty e-mail account that
automatically dumps all the mail at set intervals which
again means, no eyeballs looking at your ad. The funny thing
is that most of the potty accounts are offered by the
safelist administrators themselves. Now, what does that tell
you? Pretty simple answer, they don't care if your basic
list messages you send are read or not. They want to sell
you solo ads which makes them money and there's actually
nothing wrong with that I guess, if you don't mind donating
your money. Even contact address email can and many do get
dumped. It's definitely better than having your message
delivered to the members list addresses though.
Read on, there's more.
The other popular safelist scripts are based on credits. You
usually get a few credits for signing up which is to lure
you into the list. Then you earn credits for reading other
list members emails. Sounds like a winner, right? Hold on a
second now. Lets take a closer look at this type of list
and what is actually taking place.
First off, for the most part you have to read a TON of email
to earn enough credits to send a message. You might read
them for a little while but, believe me, it WILL get old
fast! Oh but wait. You can purchase extra credits to send
more mail if you like. Yup, another way to make money for
the list administrator. Hmmm...again, there is nothing
really wrong with that but, if your messages are simply
going to the list addresses, then odds are they are just
getting dumped and NOT read. Even though you now spent money
for credits to send a mail with, what did you really
accomplish?
Oh there's more, don't stop reading yet.
Most lists offer free memberships which allows a member to
mail the list like every 3, 5 or 7 days depending on the
lists setup. Some of them only allow free members to send to
a specific number of members per mailing. Of course the
lists even have a few paid upgrade options and depending on
which level you choose corresponds to how many credits you
will receive every month to mail with. Generally it's one
credit equals one mail sent to one list member. Great idea,
but again are your messages doing any good? I don't think
so. Who's making the money here? You tell me.
But wait, there are a few credit based lists that offer a
unique feature that is pretty nice. It's the ability to
actually use credits for placing a solo ad to the members
contact address. This means that even as a free member you
can use this feature at least in some lists. Now the nice
thing about this is that once a person receives the e-mail
and open it, there is a timer that runs and you have to stay
on the site until it finishes in order to receive the
credits. But, you usually get a nice reward for your time
and you catch some interesting sites too that just may be of
interest to you. I know I have from time to time. The cost
in credits for a free member to send one of these is pretty
hefty, but I think it's definitely worth it for what you
receive in return for you time. If you would like to get a
look at one of these types of safelists, jump here:
http://tinyurl.com/s3k36
Now here's the real kicker......
You can sign up with a submitter and have your ad sent to
100's or 1000's of safelists with a few simple clicks of
your mouse. This means you can reach all kinds of people,
right? Figure it out. Hundreds or even thousands on each
list times 100's or 1000's of lists equals 100,000 or more.
Yes you can, but once again think about where are your
messages are ending up, ( in the trash). What really
irritates me is when a list owner offers a submitter, for a
monthly fee. Many of them offer potty e-mail accounts too.
Isn't that a double edged sword? Basically you are paying
for your submitter monthly to send your messages to
supposedly reach 1000's upon 1000's of eyes, but they are
actually going to the potty accounts that members also
pay for monthly, so who is reading any mail?
Nobody, it's a catch 22.
That falls right in the lines of what politicians and
magicians use, the old smoke and mirrors routine to cover up
the truth and what's actually happening. Wouldn't you agree?
So what's the answer?
Well hold on a second now. There is a newer type list that
has just recently come about known as a viral safelist. So
what is so different about this over any other lists? Good
question, here's your answer. With this type of list you can
sign up free or of course purchase and upgraded account.
When you sign up members they go into the system and under
you and any members these people sign up go under you too.
This is your personal list. Here's where the difference
lies. Instead of just having your members and the members
that they sign up under you, once a week they do what is
called a shuffling of the list. What does that mean? Simply
that it randomly shuffles all the list members and even if
you did or didn't have any members join under you yet, you
could end up with a sizable downline to mail to that week.
It's a pretty interesting concept. If you would like to see
one of these lists, take a look here:
http://tinyurl.com/l8bqq
Feel free to try it out. It's definitely one of the better
options for a safelist.
You know, I guess it's better than nothing if you can get
even one set of eyeballs out of 1000 safelist members you
send to reading your mail. It's better than NO eyeballs at
all. Go ahead and use the free ones. But, watch out for
paying services as for the most part, they make someone else
money, NOT you or I. Are you really getting a good value for
your dollar?
So, are safelists Pure Madness or NOT?
Probably not madness in the eyes of a safelist
administrator. But, how do you feel now? Hey, do you want
to join my safelist FREE? LOL. Just kidding, I don't have
one.
This article is free for republishing
Printed From: http://www.articlealley.com/article_43353_3.html
Back to the original article
Tags: business on the net, email addresses, little bit, e mail address, clue, solo ads, tactic, experiences, 2 ways, intervals, insight, eyeballs, funny thing, e mail account, real deal, contact address