How Not to Advertise

Well I'm glad you like sending out sh!t to people that don't want it.

 

Yes, I am sorry to have to bring that to eveyone's attention... but the caution is that your site being shut down is a Real possibility. I have been searching for an Honest and Resonably priced list broker to use...but so far I have not had any luck.
If someone knows one, please let me know.

 

Hmmm... sh!t that people don't want... if you look at the figures again, you will notice that 1,696 people did want to see the info. I have recvd many very nice emails from Members thanking me for letting them know of the site.
We must be careful to consider that what one member of our society objects to is the very same thing that another is happy to have received.
Please don't color all SPAM as bad just based on your opinion.... I did follow the FTC guidelines when sending the emails.
Of course, I have to assume that when you attempt to SPAM google, blogs, MySpace, directories, etc. that there are more than a few people aginst this sort of SPAM...it is just better hidden...but still considered sh!t that people don't want?

 

I agree, so here's my real-life experience with popups...

Really?...Targetted popups with on-topic sites are my most successful list building tool. Unstoppable ones of course...7.8% of uniques sign-up.

I'm glad it's not just me that gets no results with Adwords...program seems more applicable to companies with big advertising budgets.

I don't agree with spam but this action by AOL seems very *extreme* and over the top. You probably put too much strain on their servers! You could of course get your own server and then as long as you comply with CAN-SPAM regs you'll have no problem.

 

I did have my own server... that is why they went to my Registrar to shut me down. Of course, if you have your own Server and you are your own Registrar...then they would blacklist you and not allow your emails into their accounts.
AOL just operates with the attitude that they run the internet. That should be coming to an end very soon according to all the recent news about how they are opening their services to keep up with Yahoo and MSN/

 

Ah...I misunderstood that part...you mean that 3 AOL members hit the Spam Complaint button in their email accounts!!

Even with my double optin I still get Spam complaints when I send out a mailing...mainly from AOL email addresses. Luckily my autoresponder provider understands there are total jerks with zero memory on the net...mainly it seems with AOL email addresses...and makes an allowance for this.

Suppose I could simply put a block on all AOL email addresses signing up? (Apologies to any of you guys reading this who have AOL addresses!!)

 

Suppose I could simply put a block on all AOL email addresses signing up? (Apologies to any of you guys reading this who have AOL addresses!!)[/QUOTE]

A block does make some sense gut you would miss a lot of prospects... I do have a program that removes a specific ISP address from my lists... Ran this and removed all AOL address and went merrily on my way for another 6 months, then ran into problems with people that use SpamCop making reports, so I gave up and tried the broker mailing lists... bad mistake.

You mentioned you have a service that you use??? Is this with a list you developed??? Do they have lists available or just provide the mailing service? If this is someone you would recommend, please let me know how to contact them.

Final Note: “Contrary to widespread belief: The CAN-SPAM Act does Not Ban spam = it Regulates spam. It places restrictions upon commercial email as listed below.”
Above excerpt taken from Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act: A Report to Congress Prepared and presented by Matthew Bishop, Ph.D. 12/20/2005

 

It's tempting to generalize and give your opinion as fact, and I'm glad you back up your conclusions with actual numbers.

I think that every industry/niche/site will have a likely marketing strategy that will work, and many that won't. I don't like uninvited emails any more than the next guy, but then again I've gotten a few that did interest me.

More power to you..

 

It just goes to show sometimes you never know what the results are going to be until you try it.

Just curious Outback, was there anything else that was different about your email spam program in terms of the message you were delivering? IE: was there an irressistable offer of some sort? A free give away promotion? Or was your message pretty much consistent with each medium?

Jeremy

 

I build my own double optin lists using mostly popups. It's a slower process than buying a list.

They do not provide lists just emailing services.
Also, as is common with all(?) autoresponder services there is a 10,000 subscriber number limit after which extra fees are payable.

If you have large list(s) you want to transfer then the problem could be the list would have to confirm they want to receive your messages by opting in ...so you would probably lose a certain %subscribers.

 

I did not offer anything special... just a few facts about the site and what we offered to people. Wording to encourage them to preview the site and become a member if they liked what we were offering. Simple, Honest, and Straight Forward.

An additional note about the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003:
“Contrary to widespread belief: The CAN-SPAM Act does Not Ban spam = it Regulates spam. It places restrictions upon commercial email as listed below.”

Above excerpt taken from Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act: A Report to Congress Prepared and presented by Matthew Bishop, Ph.D. 12/20/2005

Most webmasters/admins have not taken the time to actually read the Act and simply repeat what they hear from someone else. I am like everyone else, I do Not like SPAM that is worthless....But, I try to remain open-minded, I do read and check out "Legitimate" offers.

 

Interesting... what would you say is the difference between the audience from the email list you compiled yourself (with 101,366 emails) and the opt-in email recipients? Was the message the same for all those mailings? Why do you think the response so much higher for your own compiled list?

Jeremy

 

The Message to both groups = Text was the Same... On the Opt-in list I added nice pictures to the email, which should have increased the click thrus and sign ups.
My list was compiled from groups that would Definitely have an interest in my site...
The Opt-in list I can not be sure of but will offer some maybes:

1.) The list may never have been mailed to... no way to prove this, but when the results are that dismal, I have to suspect it. Were the companies that offer the service just taking the money in hopes that I wouldn't know how to get my money back?
2.) Most Opt-in list members receive HUGE amounts of junk mail. I signed up for a couple to check this out... Whew! As soon as you sign up, you will begin to recevie tons of mail with offers totally un-related to your interests. I think the average person just deletes everything after a couple days and lots of junk.
3.) Many of the sites offering this service are Hard Core Spammers... Be very, very careful.... some additional info on this:

AOL: While they spend Million$$ to promote their services and inform you about their safety features against SPAM, spyware, virus protection, etc, etc, etc....
I ran a search on the AOL search engine with the key phrase "email list rental"... this is what I found: On the very first page of the results, they show 2 of the top 10 worst Hard Core SPAM Organizations in the World per, www.spamhaus.org as a place to obtain email lists!!! Why would they tell you how well you are protected using their services and then promote the very organizations they are protecting you from?

I received the SAME Results for searches performed on:
Google Search Engine
MSN Search Engine
Yahoo! Search Engine

Hope this info helps you. My conclusion... If you want it done right... Do it yourself.