Opt-in email safelists are one of the best Internet marketing
strategies for getting your product or service immediately in
front of many thousands of people. In this article, I will show
you how you can successfully work with them.
Benefits of Opt-in Safelists
1. Email to thousands - this can be done with free safe lists or
paid safe lists. Even if you only get a 1% response from thousands,
you interact with those that will respond.
2. It's immediate – you can instantly send your ad and receive
an immediate response from those interested. With ezine ads,
you often have to wait for days or weeks before your ad is
displayed.
3. Test your product or service – safelists are a good place to
begin testing your ad, before you spend a lot of money on
other advertising methods.
4. Track your ads – track those ads that pull the best. (Some
safelists incorporate tracking in their subscriptions). You can
then use these same ads repeatedly in other forms of
advertising. The key is to have a great headline, because users
will be scanning them for what catches their eye.
5. Low cost way of email marketing – this is a much faster,
less expensive way to market than offline marketing. You can
reach many more people in a shorter space of time.
6. No fear of spamming or being penalized for spamming – this
is because all subscribers are strictly opt-in.
Types of Opt-in Safe Lists
Free Safelists - Pros
It's free to email to the whole list – you can mail to all free
and paid subscribers.
Email to thousands immediately
Pays commissions on referrals
Cons
Fills your email box with thousands of offers from other
subscribers.
No tracking of ads provided
Email once a week only
Paid Safelists - Pros
Email the list (free and paid) every day or every 2 days. Doesn't
require you to receive other e-mail ads from subscribers.
Membership fees are low
Tracking of your ads
Pays higher commissions
Personalize your messages
Cons
Most customers will not see your ad at all. People on these
lists are more concerned about others seeing their own ad, than
seeing yours.
Lose money if you paid to subscribe, but didn't
get any sales.
This is just a general list of safelist features, however each
safelist has its own unique features and benefits.
How to Use Safelists Effectively
Choose a targeted list – if you are targeting Internet Marketers,
then don't subscribe to lists that are contain home owners.
The more focused the list, the better your chances of success.
Use a benefit-laden headline in your ad – if you don't capture
the attention of users in the brief second they see your
headline, they will pass you by.
Use a follow-up strategy – direct customers from your ad to
your web site or your sequential autoresponder. It often takes
up to 7 times for users to see your ad before they respond to
your offer. Instead of losing them after the first message,
allow them to see another sample of your offer by following up
on them every few days. This will increase your chances of
making the sale.
Tracking and Testing – track the responses to your ads to know
exactly which one works and which does not. You can then test
which headline pulls the best. After a one-month subscription,
you will have some idea if the safelist is worth staying with.
If it isn't, unsubscribe!
If you are getting a good response from the free lists, then
pay the monthly subscription fee, so you can send your ad more
often. You will also benefit from all the features they
provide.
Use several safe lists – subscribe as a free member to several
paid lists. Test which safelist pulls the best response. Paid
safe lists are of higher quality than the ones that are free
(no paid subscriptions). As a free member you can often send
your ad once a week to all members. If the response is great,
pay your subscription and send your ad more often.
Utilizing Opt-in safelists is one strategy in your marketing
arsenal that will quickly determine if your ad will be
successful. Now explode your sales by implementing an email
marketing campaign.
About the Author
Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and
author of iSiteBuild.com (www.isitebuild.com/safelists)
Get a FREE Web Site Designed, when combined with our Low Cost
Hosting Plan (www.isitebuild.com/freedesign).
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