Opposites Attract! Part One

Love it or hate it, email and link marketing is an integral part of marketing on the Net. Combine this with trying to reach the ENTIRE NET and this becomes daunting concept to approach. Like where do you EVEN BEGIN!? Add in the countless ads in your face flaunting that THEY have the answer and all these promises of instant success, wealth and fame (or at least a good healthy 6 income figure allowing you to quit your day job in the non-cyber world and the opportunity to tell you boss to take a flying leap into the abyss), it becomes downright disheartening. Especially when after 6 months or so it becomes apparent you will just have to hang on to that lil’ ol “I quit” love note to your immediate supervisor.

Truth is no one place, product, company or site holds all the answers. And, chances are you will not ever reach across the entire net. However, there are great places to start your marketing odyssey and desirable resources to add to your marketing portfolio. And Email marketing ranks high on the list!

The next series of articles will deal with Email and link marketing, what to look for, (what to run away from), what to expect from a product or service, and what constitutes a good buy. We will start with the concept of “mass email marketing”:

Mass Email Marketing: When you want to get the word out to the broadest reach possible, you go with Mass Email Marketing. This means Safelist submitters, Pro FFA accounts with daily leads, FFA submitters and Adblasters. (Just to name a few). You can search and find and join a number of the aforementioned. You can find them free, pay to obtain and etc. Whatever you are looking for when it comes to “mass email marketing”, the best sites offer a wide range of services and products. Now, while numbers do count, you must balance this with the fact that broadcasting to 40 million members is only a drop in the overall internet bucket. However, you want to get as wide as reach as possible, getting your name and site out there for at least "name recognition", and that usually means Submitters.

When it comes to Safelist submitters you want to look not only for numbers of lists, but UNLIMITED VALIDATIONS FOR BOTH LIST AND CONTACT EMAILS. This is an absolute requirement now. Safelists are now requiring that you verify BOTH emails. The standard Safelist Submitter on the market now only validates ONE email box (usually your list address) and ONLY ONE TIME. This means that as new safelists come on board and you join, you end up having to hand validate your two email accounts every time you join the lists.

This ALSO means that if something happened the first go around with your email account and loads of lists did not get verified: too bad. One time validation for one email. So, you want to look for submitters that offer this wonderful service: THE VALIDATOR. Mr V is industrial strength validations for both email addys each and every time you join the lists. These are three lists which use Mr V: postadsubmitter, FastAdSubmitter, XtreamSubmitter.

The next thing you look for in a submitter are all the “value-added” goodies: banner ads, mailbox cleaners, link trackers are a start. Associated Email marketing resources like Adblasters, Daily leads, FFA submitters and similar products lend great value to your membership at a Safelist Submitter. Software downloads do as well, especially if they are marketing related.

The other thing you want to look at is member support. How does the owner/admin respond to your emails? How do they respond to issues? Let me assure you that Safelist Submitters, no how simple they seem, are extremely complex sites and STUFF HAPPENS. How support responds to issues is always a key factor in my eyes. I have always had fantastic member support from all of Debra's sites, (fastads, postads, Mr V) and have tried to emulate her in many ways.

Bottomline: product, addon products, service and support makes or breaks a site. Spend money only on those which deliver.

Next time: The opposite of Mass Marketing! Meet SAL
- Cherie Halliday
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Odd writing my own quick bio here - lol. The flagship of my marketing sites is XtreamSurf.com. The Xtream Email Marketing center is XtreamSubmitter. Personal Email marketing is with our XtreamSal. While only involved in “online” business for little over one year, I come to the net with experience in both military and civilian management and organizational experience. I have been involved in starting up a number of offline businesses and hold a degrees in “Mass Communications (emphasis in media and marketing - imagine that!) and in Business Management. That and $2 buys you coffee in a cheap place now days. Lol. I love the Net and its potential and hate “hype and hucksters”. Pet peeves: “free sites/offers/products” which ARE NOT! Tell me the truth and let me reciprocate without offense and you have a friend for life. Do the blame thing and you lose me quickly. If the only way you can promote your site is by bashing other sites - yeah, those I rather run away from. Lol.
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