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Bulk Email Versus
Opt-In Email
By Terry Dean
SPAM...Everyone is
talking about it...And Most Everyone hates it. For those who don't know
what "Spam" is, it is the practice of sending email to thousands or
millions of people who have not requested it or have never contacted your
company before. I know you get
"spammed"....Everyone does. Personally, I receive around 50 or so a day of
these emails selling whatever product or service they have to offer. I
delete most of them with barely a glance, yet they keep on coming.
They are usually
(Though not all of the time) poorly written and full of extremely hyped
messages. One will be for bulk email products. The next might be for
search engine submissions (I wonder why they have to bulk for it if they
are so good at search engine submissions?). The list goes on and
on. I get ads for dolls, cars, credit cards, merchant accounts, and more.
We won't even talk about the worst stuff which is sent out. One piece
after another has to be deleted...and it just keeps coming. Why So Much Bulk
"Spam" Email... If everyone is
deleting it, then why do they keep sending it? It's simple. Although the
response rates are extremely low, they still do get orders for their
product or service. Wrong...In all of the
offers about bulk emailing, notice that you never seem to receive the
other side of the story. What happens after you send bulk email?
You could lose your
local Internet Service Provider, your web sites, your email addresses, and
more. Just a few complaints (Which you will get even if you try to hide)
and your server will cancel your account. This doesn't even
cover your reputation or the legal ramifications of sending unsolicited
bulk email. Currently, several states have laws on the books or in the
works which can fine you $500 or more for each piece of bulk email you
send without a prior business relationship. Bulk email just isn't
worth the ramifications. If you have considered bulk email, don't do it.
There are SO many other more effective ways to market your product or
service on the net that it is not necessary to take the risks that go with
bulk email. "What Should You
Do?" I can tell you in one
sentence what you should do instead of bulk email... "You should start
building Your Own Opt-In Email List TODAY!" Email Marketing is
effective. That is why so many people are using it in the "Spam" arena. It
can produce sales constantly in your business! Anytime I see someone
trying to build a business online without developing any type of Opt-In
list I know they are shooting themselves in the foot. It is possible to
build a business online without a list, but WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO? Email is free to send
out. Even if you have to purchase a listserver or some other type of
application to do your email, we are talking about only a couple hundred
dollars a year to send out UNLIMITED communications to your prospects and
customers. Go to your local post office and ask them if you can send out
as much mail as you want whenever you want for one low lump sum. I
guarantee you will be laughed at!
Usually when I tell
this to people, they give me One of three excuses about why they can't do
it: 1) They don't know
how. I usually am the least
patient with this excuse, because everyone of us had to learn at some
point in time what to do. I don't think anyone jumped on the internet and
all of a sudden knew exactly what to do every step of the way. As a matter
of fact, I know they haven't.
There are many
resources online to learn how to start your own ezine. Dozens of ezines
come out every week talking about the subject...not the least of which is
this one you are reading!
Ignorance is no
excuse. You can learn How to do your own Opt-In list and you can learn how
to profit from it. Don't let me hear you use that excuse! 2) They can't come
up with that much content. Maybe, you don't
believe you can come up with that much content, because you aren't a
writer. First of all, I hope you know a lot about whatever subject it is
that you deal with in your business. Whatever you are selling...whatever
problems you are solving...can be the basis for much of your content. The second thing you
can do is use other people's content. Hundreds of ezine publishers will
allow you to use their articles in your ezine as long as you leave their
contact information attached to the bottom of all of the articles. All you
have to do is ask and most of them will give you their articles free to
use. I know I will! 3) There are
already too many ezines and newsletters out there. Who said your Opt-In
Email List had to be an ezine? When I speak of Opt-In Email, it doesn't
have to just mean ezine, although this is the most popular application.
Being innovative and
creative in your online business can often be a major key to your success.
Ezines are not the only Opt-In lists which I have seen become extremely
popular and profitable. To get your creative juices flowing, I want to
give you some other ideas for your own Opt-In list. Besides ezines, a
quick mention of other types of Opt-In lists which I have seen which are
very successful are "____ of the Day" lists. The most popular of these
that I know of is "Joke of the Day." There are also "Recipe of the Day,"
"Business Tip of the Day," and more. What idea could you come up with in
this area? What about a daily
diary of your business? This is one I have started seeing much more
recently online. In these, the publisher writes down something involved in
their business everyday that happened. They did this or that...whatever
they know will be of interest to their readers. This one not only keeps
you in contact, it can also help you develop trust even quicker with your
prospects. What about a Free
Online Class? You could develop a 6, 12, 24 lesson class on a certain
subject and have them receive the next issue every week, every 2 weeks, or
once a month. Then, once they complete that class, you may have advanced
classes, etc. You could also put them on an updates list for new
information constantly.
How could you use any
of these ideas in a new way? Don't limit yourself. One admonition I want
to leave you with though is to get started TODAY! If you don't get started
in one way or another today in either the development of an idea or in the
actual set-up of your idea, you by odds will NEVER do it. Owning your own
Opt-In list is so important to the effectiveness of your business online
that I have to stress you need to get started today if you want to succeed
in your online business. Terry Dean, a 5 year
veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You
Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses
Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More: |
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