I am considering on buying the gold e-mail package on this site http://emailtheworld.biz/ 150 million e-mail address's to advertise one of my sites where im giving away some PSP's I was wondering 1. Do you think it is worth it 2. Is it legal to e-mail people like this??
Depending on where you live, here is something to consider: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm In a nutshell, it is illegal to send unsolicited email in the US.
You should look at building your OWN list. It's illegal to send unsolicited messages BUT when people opt in and join your mailing list (double opt in)...they have agreed to receive messages from you. Also make sure you have an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email you send out.
Good suggestion Ana, especially with all of the email marketing software out there that makes it so easy to manage the lists.
If you do end up building your own list, I recommend Campaigner.com. It's owned by Yahoo!, and has a very intuitive interface. Very customizable. I used microsoft's email marketing tool once about a year ago and was really unimpressed. It was surprisingly archaic. Another one that seems to work well is constantcontact.com. I might give them a try next time around.
Like everyone else here I would advise against this which is considered "spamming". Email advertsing today is very difficult. I recently spent $1000 on a co-registration email campaign where people optin to receive more info on your product. I got 3000 subscribers but after mailing the list several times I have yet to get a single sale from it. Some have told me the list was too cheap and that for $1000 I should only get 1000 or less subscribers. Unfortunately there is no "silver bullet" for advertsing -- most methods just end up taking your money.
Finding the right tools to perform your mailings with is the key. Mailing list software is available just about everywhere these days. Most can provide you with basic statistics regarding "clicked links" and "opened emails" (HTML formatted mailings only, and its not always functional), which is important to have of course. Disclaimer disclaimer... the following may be considered an advertisement by some, however the informtion is pertinent to the question. My company offers a service which plugs directly into most any mailing list program to provide you detailed statistics on delivered, bounced, blacklisted/banned, and much more. This information can be very useful to help you see exactly which individuals are blocking your emails, or if a specific host is "banning" all of your incoming emails. This kind of information can help dramatically increase your delivery rate. http://www.InboxResponse.com/ This kind of information has been limited to those using an email service provider, but with the release of our InboxResponse.com service, any mailing list software developer, or just the mailing list user, can integrate these kinds of statistics directly into their existing software. We offer full tutorials as well as a "guided configurator" which will ask you a series of questions to provide you with the specific integration documentation that you'll need. The service can "post" just the bounced email back to you, or if you wish details of every single email that we process for you. Good luck in your email marketing. Remember to only send to those that have asked to receive your information, and offer them a way to stop receiving that information. ResidualGuy
Very nice features, I use Verticle Response and all I get is the number of bounces. What's the difference between accepted deliveres and successful deliveries?