Safelists

Are They Worth Your Time?

So you've seen the ads, **Mega-Safelist Blaster! Blast your ad out to 200 trillion people!** Do they really work? Is it worth the effort? In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of safelists, and how to effectively use them to market your opportunity.

Safelists are lists (often huge) of people that have opted in to receive email advertisements, ergo the term "safelist." With the larger lists you will undoubtedly receive hundreds of advertisements daily. Which brings us to the first con of safelists.

Con - "safelist" email address used, ad may never be read

Pro - catchy headlines may get your email read

Knowing that your email will be flooded with ads, many people who sign up for a safelist use an account that either automatically deletes the messages, or the user goes in and manually deletes the messages. And who has time to read through 500 messages in one day? There is however, a silver lining to this cloud. Often times, with free accounts that have to be manually deleted, you can't help but to glance at the headlines as you are deleting them. If you have an interesting headline, your ad may be opened and read. For example, I use the following headline to promote Neee!, "FREE Ezine Ad Blaster! No cost EVER!" This headline is catchy for people who are looking to advertise their business, but don't want to pay any additional money to do so. When I post to my safelists using this headline, I will get anywhere from 5-10 subscribers.

Okay, I know what you're thinking - K, I don't have my own ezine! I don't want people to subscribe, I just want them to buy my product / join my opportunity! Yes, that's true, but it's very rare that you will get someone interested in what you're offering in one email. What you must do, is setup an autoresponder, so you have a way of presenting your opportunity several times (see my previous article, "Lead Capture and Autoresponders," http://www.vpwn.com/article_1.html)

To get people to join your autoresponder, offer them something free right in the header of your email. If your free offer is interesting enough, people will open the email, visit your site, and sign up for your autoresponder to get the free offering.

It does take some time to set these things up, and to clear out all the email you get from the safelist. Which brings me to the second disadvantage of safelists.

Con - takes time to clean out your mailbox and post to the lists

Pro - many are free, or one-time payment

It can be time consuming, especially if you have several safelists to post to, and several email boxes to clean every day. There are ways to automate this, there are safelists that will blast to several lists, and there are filters you can set with certain email providers. Other email providers offer the ability to automatically clean out your mailbox at a predetermined interval. Here's my overall strategy: I stick to the major safelists, the ones with several thousands of members, and post to those everyday - it takes me less than an hour to get through it all. I do about 3 or 4 of them everyday, and as I mentioned before, I will usually get anywhere from 5-10 signups for this effort. Then I have to clean out my mailboxes approximately every 2-3 days.

Is it worth it? Definitely. At some point, when your opt-in list has grown significantly, you will be able to determine exactly how much a subscriber is worth to you. For example, if you can get 1 out of every 100 subscribers to join your opportunity or purchase your product, which nets you $40 profit, then each subscriber is worth about .40. It really is a numbers game. If you can use safelists for free, then the time it takes to post and clean out your mailbox (usually less than a hour) will be worth the effort to build your list.

But what about the quality of the list? Isn't it just a bunch of other people trying to sell you something? Good point. This fact is actually both a con and a pro.

Con - other marketers trying to sell you something

Pro - online business owners that have already proven they can invest money and time

It's all in the way you look at it. How many people do you know who work an online business, and only have one business that they work? I don't think I've met even a single person that fits that description. Most of the people I know are involved in several programs and actively work one or two. It's actually a good way to diversify your income in case one of the programs goes under (hey, you never know)! They have already shown that they will invest the money for the right program. They have invested time to work other programs. These are exactly the kind of people you are looking for! This works especially nice when you are offering something that will help them promote their primary program. Anything that will complement their efforts is a plus. You want to avoid having them feel like they have to abandon their opportunity to work yours.

So those are the pros and cons of safelists! Here are the major safelist blasters that I use on a daily basis:

Marketing Kit:
http://www.vpwn.com/marketing_kit.html

Marketing Paradise (also has a free option):
http://www.vpwn.com/marketing_paradise.html

101-Website-Traffic:
http://www.vpwn.com/75million_emails.html

Optin Safemail:
http://www.vpwn.com/optin_safemail.html

I have yearly subscriptions to both Marketing Paradise and Optin Safemail, but the Marketing Kit and 101 Website Traffic were both a one-time fee.

There are also plenty of safelists you can join for free. These two are my favorites:

Herculist:
http://www.vpwn.com/herculist.html

Safelister:
http://www.vpwn.com/safelister.html

Good luck with your promotions, and Happy Safelisting!

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