Multiple Sends and Other Stupid Things People Do

I see so many interesting things when I'm clicking for credits. Most of them I really don't understand. Here's the short list:

1. People who send the same email in the same safelist on the same day...?
2. People who send looonnnggg, drawn out emails... ??
3. People who add a gazillion URLs in the body of the emails.... ???
4. People who add all those stupid, stupid, squiggleys and drawings-from-symbols-- ARRGGHH!!
5. People who send exactly the same email everyday... ?? In every list... ???

I mean, come on. Do you know WHO you're sending these emails to? Do you understand the difference between email marketing and safelist marketing, because there IS a difference!

Mind you, I'm actually quite used to all these idiosyncratic emails. But I've always wanted to actually put it out there: do you know what you're doing? The answer is: obviously not.

Because, if you knew what you were actually doing, you'd stop dead in your tracks. If you knew that, by sending the same email within the same day, you're just wasting your credits, you'd say, "hey, I have saved emails... why don't I send a different one each time... so they're not getting stacked?" If you knew.

Because at this point about 90% of all members use gmail and, what happens when gmail receives more than one email with the same subject/content? It stacks them... and people don't go looking at stacked email. Why? 2,000 emails per day... that's why.

And, FYI... most people who do trouble themselves to click for credits are opening emails for just one reason: TO CLICK FOR CREDITS! Not to look at your long, drawn out explanations (which, by the way, they will see on your site, so why I are you wasting your time with emails anyway?) or all kinds of stupid marketing schticks. They JUST want the CREDITS!

And you know what? Because they have over 1,000 emails to go through... they are NOT going to rummage through a long email to find the one measley credit from email... they are just going to move on... until they find the shorter email that doesn't require that they scroll down through a page-long ad... I, personally, don't scroll for anything, not even if I need the credits.

If it isn't in the first-fold that tells me this bozo doesn't know the first thing about safelist marketing. So, why should I listen to him about anything? Why should I even give his website the traffic from clicking his credit-link? So what if he thinks safelist marketing doesn't work-- of COURSE it doesn't work, not for people who send out long, long, missives!

Get with the program!

The audience you're marketing to are MARKETERS!-- not some yahoo from the sticks! They are in exactly the same business as you and, chances are, they know MORE about it than you do. Do you think you're impressing them? Well, you're not. Not when you insult their intelligence and waste their time.

KEEP your emails SHORT and TO THE POINT. If you can't say what you have to say in 1 or 2 lines, then you really don't know what you're doing.

Same goes for those little symbol-pictures... ugh. They stopped being cute about 20 years ago. Now they're just annoying. Oh, and... by the way? This little thing called GRAPHICS has been available for YEARS now... and most marketers TURN THEIR GRAPHICS ON in their list email accounts.

Remember? Marketers... not regular people.

And what's up with adding a bunch of other URLs to emails... I mean, WHO is going to click on those when they can click on a link that will give them credits?

It's like, an associate of mine (and fellow safelist junkie) wrote an ebook about safelist marketing. Apparently he, too, became so annoyed by the stupidity that he did something about it. In his book, he tries to keep it positive... tries to get the message across without offending people. Even when they seriously need to GET WITH THE PROGRAM!

Me? I'm not nearly so patient or polite.

I mean, think about it. You are marketing to marketers... and you look like a rank amateur. Don't be suprised when people don't invite you to JV with them... don't blame anyone else when you don't get anywhere. Each person who succeeds as a marketer has exactly one thing in common: they take their work seriously. And they don't really appreciate those who don't.

New Click For Credit Contest At Traffic Pro List

In order to make its services more effective for all members, Traffic Pro List will begin its first ever Click-For-Credit Contest tonight.

Normally members earn credits when clicking on the credit links... and that's reward enough. But for an even bigger reward, now those clicks will also count toward this first-ever (for a safelist) clicking contest.

So head on over to http://www.trafficprolist.com to learn more about this exciting event.

One point about this contest is, because it's based on activity not credits, anyone can do well-- even a free member can win the top prize. In fact, I'm betting a free member will.

Important Contacts

When it comes to credit-based safelist marketing, one thing that many people over look is their contact email address inbox.

Oh, sure, they have one... but all too many delete everything in them, without so much as a quick glance. It seems they especially ignore emails from admins... Maybe it's because they assume that, like other programs, safelist admin emails are just another marketing pitch. And, frankly, it's true that many safelist admins DO tend to abuse their privilege. But not all.

The trouble is, a contact email address is also the ONLY way an admin HAS of contacting a member about his account... or to respond to a support ticket.

Read that line again. Because, in the last week, I have had three ridiculous support tickets-- all because the members did not read the response I sent to their contact email address.

The first was from a member asking about banner ads... I responded within minutes. About an hour later, I received a second ticket from the same member saying, "why haven't you responded? Don't you want my business?" I thought, "well, obviously, he didn't check his email... I'll give him a few minutes." Then I received a third email from this person saying, "Obviously, you do not take your business seriously, since you never responded to my question-- I am taking my business elsewhere."

I wondered if he ever checked his contact email address.

The next day, I received an email from a gentleman, asking why his pages weren't loading. He also said that he had sent a support ticket about this issue a week ago and I never responded and that if I did not respond within 24 hours, the subscription he had just started would be cancelled and he would complain to Paypal.

Now... I always respond to all support tickets immediately. However, since my answer was that his security settings were probably too high, so that his own browser would not allow the pages to load (which is a common problem with many of the newer computers), I assumed his email was probably filtering out my responses, too.

And, while you may think that's not his fault... all I can say is, "why is he using an email address that filters emails?" Sorry. But if he expects a response, it's up to him to provide an email address that works-- and to read the responses I send.

Plus, I did not appreciate being threatened and the assumption made immediately that the fault was mine. So, I went and refunded his money right away-- and sent an email to his paypal email address (maybe he'll read that one), as well as his contact address, answering his question and telling him not only how to fix his security settings, but how to cancel his subscription-- and letting him know that I HAD answered his email, but I couldn't read it to him, too!

There was another incident in which a member had broken the TOS, and I sent him a warning that he would lose his account if he did not stop the activity (posting the same message multiple times within a day). The next day, sure enough, he did the same thing. So I deleted his account-- at THAT point he sent me a support ticket, demanding to know WHY I had deleted his account.

Plus, inevitably, each time I clear off the in-active members, there is at least one person who writes, "why did I lose my account?" This, despite numerous reminders sent out that members must LOG IN to keep their account active...

People... if you're going to belong to a safelist, read the messages from the Admin. There may be some that use it (apart from solo ads, which are clearly marked) for promotion. But this is also the ONLY way an admin can contact a member directly when there's a problem with their account.

I really don't have much sympathy for these members. Why not? I belong to over 30 safelists and even more Traffic Exchanges. Each day, I go through all the emails from all of them-- I want to know what the admins are saying... I want to know about the specials they're running. But, obviously, all too often, members don't bother... not my fault.

I almost feel like running a really, really great special... like, "Free Upgrade For Life" just to see if anyone is watching.

Gurus Out Of Touch... ??

For the last few months I've been mentoring a new marketer... I don't usually do this but when she told me that she had signed up under one of my downlines and they were ignoring her, I felt like I had to. (She wanted to drop out and sign up again under me, until I explained that she was under me because she was under my downline-- not that the person in the middle cares...)

Anyway, she's been coming along nicely, learning a lot. Then she listened in on some webinar by a major player-- somebody everyone in the business has heard of. This guru sold her on the idea of email marketing.

Well... anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows what I've gone through in email marketing. And why I don't do it anymore.

And, when the mentee (??) asked me about email marketing, I explained to her what I've been through-- all the ways a marketer can be side-tracked, even de-railed, when email marketing goes bad. But, you know... this guru is one of those people still chanting that ol' ditty, "the money's in the list," over and over.

Riiiight...

First, a safelist is nothing like an opt-in auto-responder list-- which is what is used with "email marketing." Safelist marketing is completely different. But, since even my host server doesn't understand the difference between the two, why should a newbie.

So, while I own a safelist, I do not engage in any kind of email marketing anymore. And haven't for months and months. I finally closed my auto-responder account (which I'd hardly used this year) in February or March... and I'm still cleaning up the old links.

But.. that doesn't stop the gurus from their chant. Trouble is, their message is ancient-- well, in internet-time, anyway. Haven't they heard? Email servers filter out 90% of everything from most known auto-responders. New ones are identified in record time. Even businesses that use their own, built in auto-responders have trouble sending emails to their own members--

Heck, just today I received a support request in TPL, in which the member said I'd never responded to his last request (I did) and threatened to complain to Paypal about me. But the fact is, I did respond-- only he didn't get the message. This is a confirmed email address. Rather than risk any ire with Paypal, I sent the guy a refund-- and a message to his paypal address (bet he'll get that one) that said, basically, if you don't put in a contact address that receives my emails, don't blame me.

Yet the gurus go on...

You see, one thing about gurus. They're not that out of touch... but they aren't THAT interested in you succeeding, either. They just want you to THINK they're interested. So you'll listen to them... and buy from them. But, whether or not you actually succeed... that's of no importance to them... and they take no responsibility for it.

Oh, no. That's all you.

Oh, remember the downline member who ignored his sign up? The one who, basically, would have lost a sign up if I hadn't started mentoring her?-- he's a recognised guru, too. Can't mention his name... but I'm helping his downline. When she succeeds -- and she will -- she can tell him why.

Thinking About Buying Leads?

It's a very simple but expensive lesson in email marketing:

NEVER, EVER, EVER buy leads!
I know this is an un-popular thing to say in the internet marketing business... But, no matter how hard you try to be sure that the leads you buy are genuine, unless you get them yourself, the chances are very slim that they really are what the generator claims them to be.

Lead "Generators" use various methods to acquire leads, none of which are entirely honest:

• They create lead-capture and/or squeeze pages with generic "Work Online" promises then promote them like crazy and, in addition to adding sign-ups to their own list, they promptly sell their 'leads' (otherwise known as 'opt-ins') to others. This is the least mis-leading form of lead capture, although it makes promises you may not be comfortable with (that is, these are the famous, "do nothing and earn $60K a month" ads)



• They use a "search engine submission" system and, while that does submit the information to the search engines (which hasn't been necessary since about 2002, ever since search engines were able to automatically update their own lists), they also use/sell those 'leads'



• They create bogus search engines (veretekk is famous for this), which are then promoted to the above search engine submission systems so they, too, can use those 'leads'



• They also use a program called a 'troller' which, basically, combs the entire internet for any information that reads 'aname@thisdomain.anything' They then take THAT and sell it as 'leads'



• They also use highly appealing sites such as gaming sites, etc., just to capture leads, which are then sold off (any site that does not specifically say that they respect your privacy -- and some that DO -- probably doesn't)

And, on top of everything else, no matter how much they swear up-and-down that these are "unique leads" -- your VERY OWN-- BAH! They're selling those leads left and right. Just look at your own spam, if you don't believe me.

By the way (just a quick aside), this also explains why and how a brand-spanking new email address ends up swamped with spam in just a few weeks, even email addresses that are never submitted anywhere.

Also, according to various sources "in the know," while spam laws are in place in most of the continental US and Europe, none exist in many of the Middle- and Far-Eastern countries. So... people there can send all the spam they want without any fear of consequence.But, unless you live in those countries, you take a huge risk when buying leads.

Truth is, 99.999% of them are not at all 'opt-ins' or 'double-opt-ins', no matter what the lead generators promise. And they often take the attitude that it's not their problem... they're not sending the emails... you get what you deserve, for trying to take short-cuts and cheat the system... Just like the devil himself: they lure you in, sell you something worthless, then what?

Leave YOU holding the bag when someone complains about being spammed to either their email server or the affiliate program mentioned in your email. And, even more, they have the audacity to actually blame you!

THIS happens ALL - THE - TIME!

And here's the best part. The potential results of a spam complaint lodged against you are any and all of the following:

• Losing your auto-responder account
  (If the complaint is sent to your A-R; and that includes your entire 'opt-in' list)



• Losing your Affiliate membership
  (Including any referrals, commissions or paid memberships)



• Losing your website
  (If the complaint is lodged with your host-server)

The ONLY way to SAFELY ACQUIRE leads is by using your own lead-capture page and advertising it yourself! Period.

With any other method, the risk of losing all that you've worked for, is ridiculously high. You might as well drink 10 shots of tequila, then get in your car and drive past the local police station with your lights off (at night) and your radio blasting. It's THAT bad!

Safelists With Suicidal Tendencies?

As mentioned before, apart from owning a safelist, I also happen to use safelists quite extensively in my marketing. Because of this, I watch this form of marketing with a little more interest than most.

And I keep hoping I'll see other safelists set up better by their owners, so we will build and grow as an industry. Heck, it's enough that we have to overcome the bad reputation of the earlier incarnation of safelists (those without credits). But from what I see, I wonder... Because many safelist seem to have very self-destructive -- even suicidal -- tendencies.

The first is managing basic credit distribution. So many safelists give out either way too many or too few credits with the credit links within each email. And that's bad.

TOO FEW
When a safelist gives out too few credits, this creates a downward-spiral effect, i.e., because it takes longer and longer for members to earn enough credits to send emails, fewer emails go out... so fewer members can send emails... then less emails go out, so members make less credits, then less emails go out, providing fewer credits... on and on, until no one can send an email and no one can earn credits... A downward-spiral.

I guess those guys are banking on the idea that people will upgrade in order to otherwise gain the extra credits -- or -- that members will buy credits. Trouble with that is, because of the way it's set up, the list is worthless. No one takes it seriously and NO ONE is going to either upgrade or buy credits in a list like that.

A safelist's primary strength is in the number of active members it has. To build the membership, the SL has to offer something to its members each and every day. Not just the pro members, either, but all members. And when a member cannot at least send one email per day... that's bad. That's the kind of thing that makes people go elsewhere. Like to my safelist!

TOO MANY
Much more typical is the mistake of giving out too many credits per link-- hundreds, even thousands. The trouble with this is, people are very pragmatic. They are not going to click on credit links if they have 2,893,382 credits and can only use 2535 per email. Why? And if they know that they don't need the credits, they are also not going to open the emails... in fact, they will most likely delete all of them, all the time.

And while more and more safelists are figuring out that giving out massive amounts of credits are actually to their own -- and their members' -- detriment, now they have gone a step further and begun giving out massive amounts of credits in solo ads, as well as sending unlimited amounts
of solo ads.

Great... just great. For me.

In 4 separate safelists that I belong to, all I have to do is check my contact email account, click on the credits in the five or six solo ads and, voila`! I can toss out the other hundred or so emails that have been sent by the rest of their members. The only trouble is... well, unless I send a solo ad, too, chances are, my emails are being tossed as well... so, how effective IS that safelist?

Not very.

I belong to about 30 safelists. But there are only three, in which I KNOW members have to open and click on credits each day. How do I know? Because I have to, even as a pro member. Because the credit ratio is so low that, if I don't, I won't be able to send to the list. And because the solo ads are so infrequent and only offer a lower (but still better) amount of credits.

So, though I belong to 30, I only really have to work three or four. Easy-peasy.

Cleaning House

Today on the Traffic Pro List (TPL) site, was the first of the monthly "house-cleaning" events.

At this point, experienced members know I do things like this. But I know I've made a few newbies (oh, I do hate that nickname) a little nervous.

Some people wonder why a credit-based safelist would deliberately remove members just because they haven't logged into their account lately. The obvious rationale is, this insures the membership numbers (listed at the top of all safelist sites as an obvious influence to entice new members) are truly representative of the current amount of active participants.

What is less obvious is, why is this question being asked at all. This is the elephant in the middle of the room.

Because everyone knows why... but no one wants to come right out and say it. The fact is, reducing a list goes against everything that marketers are trained to think and believe: that the larger a list, the better; that no one ever, under any circumstances would remove members without a very good reason because it takes so long to develop a list, etc., etc. Well, rot. (If you haven't figured it out already, I do tend to fly in the face of convention.)

While I know that the larger the membership, the more appealing it is to join... I also KNOW (from the information I have in my back office) how many people are actually logging in and using their accounts... and how many are not even opening their emails. I know that one really well.

And pretending that things are anything other than they are is, well, dishonest. I only hesitate to say that because I know several other safelist owners with lists much larger than mine -- at least, according to their numbers -- who I'm sure must think I'm certifiable (as in, certifiably insane) to remove members for no other reason than that they're in-active. They've all but said it to my face (well, internet-wise). And I'm not trying to make them look bad. Besides being friends, I actually use their safelists.

The larger problem here is that, by the time someone owns a system like a safelist or a traffic exchange, they're already an experienced marketer. And, just as in any other business, with experience, certain facts are drummed into our heads. But the facts are changing and they don't know if I'm crazy, should be saved from myself, or right. So they remain neutral.

All I know is that, safelists very nearly became extinct because it was too easy to work around the initial, naive` concept of "you read my emails, I read yours." Every body did it-- and no one believed in them.

With credits added to safelists, this CAN change... but not if people continue to play games. And they do. Games like, "oh, sure... we have 2500 members... sure, sure." Well, at TPL, we may only have 1168 members, but we actually HAVE 1168 members-- not 200 members who have logged in recently and 968 who may not even be conscious anymore.

So when you see the "house cleaning" signal go up in TPL (in the member's area), just remember, however it works out, it's for real.--mo

The Truth About Scams (for real)

Okay... at least half of us working online know that scams exist, if only because we have taken that famous "baptism by fire" and lost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to learn this.

Mind you, 99% of the people not working online assume ALL online business opportunities are scams.

But... here's the truth. And I have learned this through two trials: in both cases it was true. Two for two: not a huge field of reference, but enough to convince me of one thing (AND THIS IS IMPORTANT):

MOST SCAMS ARE NOT PERPETRATED BY THE COMPANIES!!

Rather, most scams are perpetrated UPON the companies. Now, think about that. And, yes, bear in mind that I am working only from a reference of two REPUTABLE companies. (There are still a lot of companies out there that knowing perpetrate scams, too.)

How does this happen? My guess is, one or two hackers finds a way around the company's security and proceeds to exploit it. Or, if the company is unwary or has been hit by some misfortune, they tell others about it and it spreads.

In fact, companies are MORE likely to BE scammed than to scam.

Why?

For the pathetic reason that, just as liars are always the first to suspect others of lying, so honest people are the last to think in terms of scams. And, because of that, security is often lax. And, as my son sagely once put it, "where ever there's money, there's someone trying to steal it."

But, trust me... the hackers/scammers ARE thinking in terms of how to hack into or otherwise scam a company-- and, why scam a few people (especially, why draw attention to yourself?), when you can scam a whole company-- and leave the company looking like the villians.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all, if certain large corporations hired these very people to discredit their smaller competition... but that goes along with "paranoid conspiracy theory" that the large companys online are trying to wipe out the independents.

At any rate... the next time you think about signing up for a business opportunity and you're doing your famous "due diligence"... take the time to look at the company in terms of possible breaches; and ask the company founder a few questions about their security. Make sure it can't be hacked/scammed. Look at it yourself, for potential chinks in its armour and either pass it up or point any you find out.

And if you're thinking about starting a business opportunity yourself... when putting it together, think in terms of security measures. Seriously.

It only takes one hacker or scammer to destroy a company that thousands depend on-- and, remember Enron and Lucent... this is true both offline and on.

The difference between traditional and credit based safelists is...

In a word, traffic.

Well, traffic, yeah, but also motivation for each member of a credit-based safelist to actually OPEN those emails. Unlike the old-fashioned safelists, where the safelist would actually ADVISE their members to "remember to delete the emails in your email account..." Not, "remember to read the emails..." Whew!

Now, a credit-basedd safelist is completely different. Like the traffic exchange concept, in a credit-based safelist, in order to be able to send emails at all, you must first earn credits. And, apart from buying them, the only way to do that is by opening the emails sent to you and clicking on the credit-links.

Voila`! A very in-effectual form of marketing transforms into a VERY effectual form... in some ways much better than Traffic Exchanges. Why is that? Because, unlike traffic exchanges, a marketer has a LOT more control on the email content and does not need to know HTML in order to participate.

Also, sending a new message each day is pretty easy (apart from the whole composing the message business). The only trouble is, so many go about it all wrong... and never see much in the way of results.

That is what the first part of this series is about... understanding what safelist marketing is. This is also covered in my ebook, Tracker Mo's Bootcamp (found in the side-bar), and you can get it much faster -- along with a lot of other great information -- or you can wait until I post it here.

After going over that stuff, I also plan to include a review of all the safelists I use. I may even rank them, too.

Anyway, that's the difference... traffic, effective marketing. Oh, did I mention that, in most cases, safelists also offer free memberships? Traffic Pro List offers a free membership that pays (had to mention it: you don't see that everyday).

More later...

The Traffic Pro List Connection

Remember that old shaver commercial? Not sure of the brand (it might have been Shick), but the commercial started with this older guy talking about how great the product was... and ending, with him saying, "I liked it so much, I bought the company."

Well, as I've mentioned here before, I liked safelist marketing so much that I, too, bought the company-- well, one anyway. Traffic Pro List. And, just recently, I added the links to this blog and my main site to the side-bar in the member's area of TPL. So, if you're a TPL member and this is the first time you're reading my blog, welcome!

Also, in honor of this, I will be focusing on safelists for my next few entries. You see, I still market heavily with safelists-- credit-based only, of course.

And that may be the first of my blogs on the topic: the difference between credit-based and non-credit based... because the difference is remarkable. Stay tuned...

The Myth of Email Marketing

I just got an email from someone (don't know who; it was spam) with the title "The Power of Email Marketing." Power... hmmm. Interesting word.

Yeah, power all right. The power to be ignored by major groups of people. The power of email servers to filter out your emails for no reason whatsoever. Now that's power.

I tried email marketing... for YEARS!

I got one list going, spent hour upon hour at it, day in and day out. I built that list up to over 70,000 opt-ins (notice we never call them "people," but "opt-ins"... why is that, I wonder?). Then, one day -- ONE DAY -- it was suddenly wiped out. Why? Well, the day was January 1, 2006. And, apparently legislation had taken effect that allowed the email servers to, basically, do whatever they wanted, regardless of both sender OR recipient.

Suddenly, I went from marketing to a packed house (as it were), to hearing crickets in the dark.

I thought, erroneously, that it must be my auto-responder. Perhaps they hadn't been doing their job of policing themselves and had gotten a bad reputation. So I made the further mistake of taking my list (because I always kept a copy of each "opt-in" offline, just in case there was ever a question) to a new auto-responder.

It was then I discovered that auto-responders, in their earnest desire to a responsible job, don't take kindly to huge imported lists, no matter how much you swear that these people really did opt in and double opt-in somewhere else. Some will only let you import about 1,000-1,500 per day... usually it's less than that. Okay... so I had over 2 months of work ahead of me (give or take depending on how many opt-ins I continued to get each day). So I got busy.

Three months later... I was frustrated to discover that I STILL was not getting the kind of response from my list that I had before. So I ran a test, asking my opt-ins to re-confirm their participation. What do you think the response rate was? 20%? 10%?

Even 1% would be 700. Well, of the over 70,000 members of my list, less than 100 opted in again. LESS than 100. In fact, about .1%.

I also found, to my further dismay, that quite a few people that had actually gone out of their way to subscribe to my (then) newsletter, wrote to ask why they hadn't received it. Why it suddenly stopped coming. Because I wrote it regularly, every Thursday. I was writing it; I was sending it. No one was getting it.

The email servers were sending it to la-la land. Even those who had opted in and opened it and read it. That didn't matter. Heck, why should the choice of the people matter? The email servers all know better. THEY know what's good for us, right?

You see... email servers are nothing like the USPS, which is governed by laws. The USPS (and most governmental postal agencies throughout the world) are not ALLOWED to decide which mail we want and which we don't. The email servers are not bound by those laws. They can do anything they want-- they're providing a service, many times for free or at their own discretion as an add-on to another service (ISP's especially). They don't have to do it at all. They could just shut down and no one can do a thing about it.

So, if they decide that all emails containing the words "money" or "business" or "free" should be filtered out because, after all, they don't want to have their servers clogged up with a bunch of spammers sending emails to people who don't want them. Never mind that you sent a private email asking to borrow some "money" from your aunt to start an apple pie making "business" and you want to see if she's "free" next week to discuss it... She didn't ignore your email. She never got it. (Ahhh... now you know what happened to all those emails that never arrived... you made the mistake of adding one of the thousands (literally) of 'trigger' words... words like "no" (I swear) or 'new' or-- oh, the list goes on and on.)

Yeah... email servers pretty much suck. In fact...

It doesn't escape MY attention that the email servers that are the most vigilant about filters are ALSO run by huge corportions... the kind of corporations who don't like the idea of small businesses thriving... of a bunch of up-start independents making a living on their own. So, gee, if they can thwart it any way they see fit... well. They're just being (dare I say it?) like a BIG BROTHER, aren't they? Looking out for our 'best' interests.

I mean, if we all go off and make our own money from each other, where does that leave them?

They've lost half their employees (who were underpaid in order for the top levels to get those obscene salaries), and they lost half of their customer base (because we're all buying from each other instead of them). But they're not motivated to do anything that would intrude on independent business men... why should they?

Just like, since at least 2006, Micro-soft has NOT been adding 'security' software to all the computers (millions of them) that block out ALL advertising banners and buttons on all pages. Yeah, all those nasty banners are so very "dangerous"-- oooh. I'm shaking.

And they are dangerous-- to corporations. Because 99% of those banners are from reputable, independent businesses, that are working hard to earn enough to live. In fact, I'd say it's more like 100% because scammers and hackers don't bother to place viruses there. And, as already mentioned, that is a threat to corporations. And they will do whatever it takes to stop it, even going so far as to filter out OPTED-IN emails and block out perfectly legitimate banners. (Unless you know to look through your security set-up, you'd never know they were there.)

But, what really, really gets me is all the marketers who still buy in to the whole "email marketing myth." Anyone who had an established list prior to 2005 is probably safe. But, to tell people that email marketing is the way to go TODAY-- is just leading them down a blind alley. I'll tell you the truth: for anyone new to marketing, email marketing is the biggest waste of time there is.

You will spend hundreds of hours and dollars-- and most of your emails will be filtered out, even when they're sent ONLY to those who voluntarily opt-in on their own.

Getting Back To Page One

Well, it's been some time since I updated this. I'm sure no one's still paying attention but that's okay.

A lot has changed in the last year and it kept me away from posting. Plus, of course, I tried to re-direct all my blog entries back to my own site... don't do that. LOL! I lost all page ranking on my blog when I did that-- apparently the Big "G" did not appreciate that in the least. (You do know that Google owns blogger.com, right? That's why blogs on blogger.com get favorable ranking in the google SE.)

Anyway, since the great OPFM debacle, I have been much more careful about promoting anything that I am not 100% sure is honest and ethical. How do I do that? Only market things I am in direct control of, obviously.

Like trafficprolist is my own site... I branched out in Nov 2006 and opened that. And I think it's one of the better credit-based safelists around simply because I, myself, market with safelists. And, frankly, it's because I wanted one to run the way I thought it should.

And LAB, of course... I was offered a partnership (not just a JVP, but a real, working partnership)... and I agreed, because I saw how it was run-- ethically and honestly. Also, it has real products and no MLM... about as non-OPFM as can be. And then, of course, there's my own ebook, Tracker Mo's Bootcamp. Well, that's my OWN product, so I can't quibble about the "control factor" there.

Still, it dawned on me that I really have to get back to basics. Oh, I have several other projects in the works, true... actually, it's because of hold-ups on those that I even have time to write this today.

But I intend to do much more than that.

For starters, I realized I have to go back and practise what I preach; to do as all the conventional wisdom dictates to succeed online. And that is, focus all my efforts on one, single page. I've tried to remain focused. To keep promoting my own home page... But, I thought (which is never a good idea because trying to be smart often back-fires, doesn't it?), if I add a page to my SITE, for instance about TrafficProList then I am still sending traffic TO my page... but that's not how it works.

Instead, I discovered the horrible truth (which, yes, I was vaguely aware it might be so):

ONLY FOCUS

on your

HOME PAGE!!!!!

Otherwise, your marketing, again becomes splintered and, instead of blasting thousands of hits to one, main page, it's all over the place.

This is marketing 101, straight out of PIPs... sigh. How soon we forget.

I really must knock that into my head. What's funny is that I am constantly telling others this. Yet, what do I do? Add a splasph page for LAB and promote that... add a splash page for TPL and promote that... tsk, tsk, tsk. And, then, of course, what happens... in the TEs, I have a gazillion links to promote. And no one but God can garner enough credits to show them all enough to make any one of them successful. Splintering. I might as well not have a website... half the purpose (which is to be able to focus all effort on one, single page -- rather like a ray of sunshine through a magnet, with the website as the magnet) is ruined, you see.

What a waste.

So, in the next few days I hope to go back to the basics... sure, I can add a sales page to my site-- but it MUST have a link on the front page and people MUST go there first!

I know... duh, duh, and double-duh.

Why? Because, if you knew how much marketing I do... and how, theoretically, my page should be on the front page of google for online marketing... but it isn't. And that's all my fault.

It's SOOO easy to get distracted. Or to think that you can promote multiple pages effectively. NOT! SO Not! And, since I plan to add this blog to my site, too, it's not that important what its ranking is... at least MY visitors will have a chance to see it.

So, stay tuned. I will be adding posts much more regularly-- LOTs more, trust me! There is SO much I want to say about marketing and the changing face in online marketing today. Not sure how valuable or original it may be, but I do know I need to say it.

Cheers!

Mo

I get 5-10 referrals every day. Want to know how?

If you think all MLM programs are scams, then consider this...

Avon is an MLM system. So is Mary Kay.

So are dozens of well-known, reputable companies. And many people have built successful careers in these companies. In fact, the Multi-Level concept in marketing has been working successfully for over 50 years.

Then why have MLMs gotten such a bad reputation? Why are they often confused with ponzi systems? And, most of all, if they are not a scam, what does it take to really succeed in MLM?

As anyone who's been visiting this blog regularly knows, I've been marketing for just over two years. In that time, I've successfully built MLM downlines of over 300 people. And they are still growing. In fact, at this point, I get 5-10 referrals just about every day, and my income reflects that. Meanwhile, I do little or nothing... well, it's up to me, mostly.

Now, marketing isn't for everyone. But, if you'd like to know how to succeed at MLM marketing, then check out my latest article:

"MLM Magic: 7 Ways To Build A Winning Downline"

This is absolutely free-- you don't have to sign up or buy anything... and it isn't a sales pitch.

Have a great day!

(P.S. What do you think of my snazzy new signature?? ;-))

Whistling In The Dark...

I guess I'm talking to myself... Google, in its infinite wisdom, has dropped the ranking for this page. Hmmm.

See, this is what I hate about corporations... they abuse their power too easily. Hmmm.

There's something to be said for being all alone here... a lot, actually.

Can Email Be Trusted?

Why do I get Spam?

Each and every day, without fail, I receive between 100-200 pieces of spam in my email. I'm not alone. Most active marketers receive enough spam to choke a full-grown horse. It's comes with the territory of working online.

And I admit, I don't help matters when I have numerous re-directs and POP3 aliases, though most of these have never been registered as a send address anywhere. That is, I have never used these addresses to sign up to any site, nor placed them anywhere but on my own site as a filtering contact address for a particular reason: for bad links, to submit a question, etc.

Yet these addresses receive spam constantly. Why?

Who is stealing these addresses and how are they selling them? I know they are being harvested; I know they are being sold... does no one ever wonder about these things when they buy "leads"? Even when those leads are supposed to be "opt-in" or "double-opt-in" leads.

All of this would be very understandable, even forgiveable (hey! We're all marketing, right?), except for one thing: at least half of the emails I send out are never received. I am not talking about auto-responder generated commercial emails. I'm talking about emails going to people I know and work with personally-- emails to my friends, family and colleaques. They are never received. And their emails to me are never received, either.

In the latest edition of the WebPro News, the leading article is about Search Engine Regulation
(http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/08/09/scholars-push-for-search-engine-regulation). It discusses all the reasons why the major search engines need regulating: mostly because their searches are biased, slanted toward their own view of what is fair and right, something the article goes on to prove.

But what I want to know is, never mind the search engines: let's start regulating the email servers. No matter what else you may say about the USPS, no matter how slow or expensive, when someone sends you a letter, by US Federal regulation, NO ONE is allowed to look at it but you. NO ONE is allowed to decide whether or not to deliver it; even the USPS is only allowed to deliver it. Period. Doing anything more is called Tampering with the mail, which is a Federal offense.

I cannot count the amount of times I have discovered (usually via IM) that an important email did not reach its destination-- either one I should have received or one I sent out.

The email servers claim to be "protecting" us from Spam-- yet, as I said, each and every day I receive up to 200 pieces of spam! WHY??? Legitimate emails are filtered out, but spam is allowed through. WHY?

And, having worked with safelists, I know that many of the email servers simply filter all emails from a safelist out-- WHY??????? Do they KNOW what a safelist IS???? It is a list in which each member HAS ALREADY AGREED TO RECEIVE THOSE EMAILS-- FORMALLY AGREED!!! But the email server says, "no, I don't think so."

What is their reason? By what right do they do this?

Well, if you ask most email servers -- especially those who provide the service for free -- they will say, "our email is not intended for commercial use. Safelists are a commercial, business endeavor, using much more bandwidth than we intended for our free members. Therefore, because we offer our service for free to private non-commercial customers, we reserve the right to block out any emails we deem commercial."

That sounds like a pretty solid argument. Except they block email from the professional accounts even more rigorously than the free ones. How do they explain that?

And let's talk about auto-responder accounts for a moment.

I have an auto-responder account with a list of almost 40,000 members. These are people that have gone through a double-opt-in process... they had to have either signed up for my newsletter themselves and then had that confirmed; or I sent them an invitation which they responded to-- and then they confirmed again. Even more than that, I know many of these people. We have had email and IM exchanges-- many are in business with me. Yet they do not receive my newsletter because their email server filters it out-- BECAUSE it is from an auto-responder!!!

I don't know.... things are beginning to look somewhat suspicious.

Think about it: most of the email servers that offer free accounts are part of large (usually very large) corporations. And they block out legitimate commercial emails. Yet, not by a long stretch do they block out all of them-- many, many are delivered-- particularly the ones that actually do qualify as SPAM (the laws of which, you may be interested to know, actually only pertain to sexually explicit content NOT -- as is the commonly-held belief -- all commercial email-- and the corporations SHOULD know that if they are at all professional, that is-- truth is, they most probably do). Only the ones that are legitimate and, worst of all, the ones that, either by participation in a safe list or an opt-in list (both of which require the recipient's confirmation), the receiver actually WANTS!!!

WHY??

It couldn't be that these large corporations are trying to squelch small independent businesses, could it? It must be just an incredible co-incidence that by "protecting" their free members and limiting excessive band-width, they are also keeping many from successfully making an independent living online.

How better than to interrupt communications? Who wants the individual to be able to earn a living online-- if they did, then who would work for the corporations? Oh, but they have no motive... riiiight.

And before anyone claims, "spam is a scourge," remember: I am talking about emails that people have actively and knowingly REQUESTED.

Also, before you think me a complete fool, yes, I do know how the email filters work: with trigger words. But if you saw examples of those trigger words, you would shake your head as I have. Because the trigger words included are such "highly" suspicious phrases as "today," "offer," "opportunity," and on and on. In other words, many of these trigger words are very common phrases that could pertain to anything. Except... words like, "business," and "join" are NOT triggers.... huh?

Whatever the motives, the fact is, that all of this is proving that email is not the great "boon" so many predicted several years ago. And it is not the spammers who are ruining it; rather those who profess to be protecting us. What I want to know is who determines what protection we need-- and who says those protecting us have our best interests in mind?

By the way... in an attempt to TRY to get as much of my email as possible, I turn off all spam filters on my end... so when my friend's email about her cat is filtered out, I really have to wonder if email can be trusted.

The Quality Of Mercy... ?

It's a known fact that I do a lot of marketing on safelists and traffic exchanges. Once you figure out the advantages of both, they're worth it.

But, let me tell you... one quality essential to this type of advertising is tolerance. A high degree of tolerance for a lot of idiotic ads that you must view from other programs... Of course, in both types of advertising, there are rules. And most of the reputable TEs and SLs follow up on those rules rigorously. (Rules include: no frame-breaking ads; no porn, etc.)

There's also a rule about pop-ups-- usually only one per page. Well, they need to amend that rule: no freezing pop-ups. I don't know if that's really the best term for it, but lately some new kind of command has become popular that forces the viewer to stop and manually close the pop-ups -- or freeze the page until you do -- before you can go on. There's one in particular (who shall remain nameless, since I have no intention of advertising for them. Anyway, anyone who has encountered it will know which one I mean), that really pushes it to the max... technically, it only has one pop-up, which you are forced to close-- but when you do, another pop-up appears; then another....

Of course, I have reported this site to every TE and SL in which I've encountered it. Ever since the "driver cleaner" virus hit last winter (which also used the same "freeze-pop-up" to initiate it), this is particularly offensive.

But what I often wonder is... does the site owner have any idea how many people his design drives AWAY with that kind of non-sense? I mean, I'd never sign up simply because I know those ads offend others-- and I don't believe offending people is an effective way to make a sale. Generally speaking, that's a really stupid way to market, especially when competing with tons of other programs that Don't offend anyone.

In fact, just now (the ka-zillionth time I saw that ad), I was tempted to write to the founder and say, "do you have any idea how many people want to string you up and/or run you out of Dodge because of your stupid ads????? Most say nothing... but that doesn't mean they're "okay" with your ad. They just can't be bothered speaking up. They know you'll be gone eventually."

To anyone who thinks those ads are a good idea; that some attention (even negative) is better because you stand out in a crowd: all I can say is, NOT!!!

Here's a newsflash: you will disappear sooner than later. Your advertising will never succeed because on the internet, offending prospective members does NOT encourage them to join... it encourages them to boycott your site-- and complain about you... like here."

Get a clue.

WordPress, Ugh

As a favor to a friend, I was asked to create a blog for them. Okay, I'm a nice person, yes. And, for some reasons I'm still trying to fathom, they asked me to create it in WordPress.

At the time, I thought, "sure, wherever" since it made no difference to me. But, after several days of tearing my hair out, trying to work out their messed up system, I had to come running over here just to rant about it a bit. (Blogger is going to love this.)

One thing that is very annoying about it is that you cannot even include an image tag within a post. Another is that, while it offers a multiple page area, apparently, each page must be one post long... oh, gee. Well... that's NOT a page! That's a special post-- duh.

I mean, Blogger doesn't have multiple pages, I know... but they don't pretend to offer them, either. Maybe I'm getting old... but I suspect it's more likely I'm just spoiled by Blogger.

Speaking of which:

I have noticed that since Google took over blogger.com (yeah-- didn't you know? Add it to the list of Google's ubiquitiousness), they have made the template "user-friendly." Friendly, that is, to anyone who doesn't know how to code-- annoying to anyone who does.

The introduction of a php feature called, "Widgets" (hey! isn't that something you use to scrap paint off of windows?? Or is that S**T off your heels?--LOL!) which isn't unique to them but a generally annoying php invention, makes it almost impossible to by-pass the "oh-so-user-friendly" template system.

Why do I have a problem with the new templates? I don't know... maybe I'm just paranoid. But then again, maybe I have something I want to add to my blog that doesn't conveniently fall into one of their pre-set categories... what do I do then? Although they do, in theory, offer a way to edit the template in the "classic" way, the bloody thing is so filled with Widgets that it's impossible to guess exactly WHERE my edits will show up??

See... in my typical paranoid state, I just feel like I'm being herded... guided by Big Brother to create "acceptable" blogs that don't include anything THEY deem inappropriate. Hmmmm. I mean, I understand that there must be some restrictions... but when those restrictions also restrict creativity, then I start to feel frustrated. And you KNOW what happens then! Another Rant! LOL!

The Next Level

There seems to be progression that takes place as one works online.

1. Work your bum off and make almost nothing
   (get scammed at least once)
2. Begin to get sales/sign-ups
   (if you're smart and can, follow up on both)
3. Spend more time with follow up than initial sales
4. People actually begin listening when you
   "say" (actually, write) something
5. Starting some kind of online business of your own
6. People actually approach YOU,
   requesting your help with their projects.

That's as far as I've gotten. And, frankly, I'm liking it. :)

Stay tuned...

Focus On Success

This is one of the topics that never quite made it into
The Bootcamp. And it's important because one of the most essential parts of successful marketing is to focus all your efforts. It's kind of like the difference between sunshine-- and sunshine with a magnifying glass. Alone it is warm-- but with the magnifying glass, it will start fires!!

This may seem obvious but, time and again, I see marketers losing their focus, especially when they just start out. And this can be a death trap if you are trying to succeed.

Here are some examples of what I mean and the way to correct each:

PROBLEM: SITE (Or Blog) THAT LACKS FOCUS
This can happen in a number of ways. Either because the content seems to be a mish-mash of information (everything from online opportunities mixed with health care tips and recipes), to a lack of organization on the site, with one subject following another down a long page, to every page having a different style and layout. One of the worst I've seen was for a commercial site selling herbs. Each page had a completely different style (background, fonts, link colors and placement on the page) to the point where I wondered if I'd just left the site entirely.

SOLUTION
Pick a theme and stick with it. It can be ANY theme, but whatever theme it is, each item and link on your site/blog should relate to it directly in some way.

WHY?

For the same reason that you don't sell craft items at a garage sale-- because when you advertise one thing and your customers arrive, they expect to find that thing -- not something entirely different. Not delivering what's promised or even delivering it with a bunch of un-related information makes the site appear unprofessional. And professionalism equals credibility, which equals repeat visitors. With enough credibility, that equals sales.

TIP:
If you find you DO have a lot of different interests there are two solutions.

1. Look at your list of interests and FIND a cohesive theme under which they WILL all fit. So many times, people try too hard to be unique-- but it's no crime to have a generic "online opportunities" page/site. If that's the focus and your main interest you will have much more success by simply being consistent and focusing on that. There may be many others like it-- then just make YOURs the BEST!

2. Blogs are free-- set up one for each separate interest. Link them together ONLY if they relate to each other.


PROBLEM: EFFORTS LACK FOCUS
Even worse than a site that lacks focus is a marketer who does not realize that consistent, daily/weekly effort pays off. And there are many out there who would love to tell you different-- and they will always be there as long as people are always looking for the "easy" way. The easy way... for some reason that always reminds me of that island in Pinocchio-- remember? Where the boys thought they could just have fun and never go to school? Yeah, they did-- until they quite literally, made donkeys out of themselves!

Same thing here. Believe me-- I was just like most when I started out. I thought I could find a simple, no-time, no-effort way to earn money. But if it exists, let me tell you, I haven't found it yet. In fact, the only thing I've come to learn is, if I listen to them, I will soon be parted with a varying amount of cash-- and have no more to show for it than feeling just like one of those donkeys.

SOLUTION
The ONLY way I've ever found success is by working steadily, consistently and realistically, both within my time-limits and budget. And to do that, one must develop a game plan. Now, in the bootcamp, I explain a wide variety of marketing options, most of them free. I don't expect ANYONE to do all of them. My advise is to TRY all of them, then pick two or three methods that YOU are most comfortable with.

For instance, I'm a writer and I find the best methods FOR ME are article marketing, safelist marketing and Forum marketing, as well as providing updates like these. But for someone who doesn't care for writing, there are other ways-- solo ads, network marketing, traffic exchanges, offline marketing.

Whatever you choose, the point is, to FOCUS on those efforts. KEEP doing them, consistently, every day if possible or at least weekly, if your time is limited.

To do one type of marketing then switch to another, then another will never bear any fruit. If something you like isn't working for you, then ask yourself, why? Many people still do not understand the whole idea behind Traffic Exchange tabbed browsing. Yet this is one of the most effective ways to market on Traffic Exchanges. Some even contend that tabbed browsing is unethical-- but it IS ethical, if you understand what traffic exchanges are FOR. They are not, after all, called Advertising Exchanges or Marketing Exchanges, but TRAFFIC exchanges.

At Last: Tracker Mo's BootCamp Goes To Press

I've often heard authors speak of their books becoming like a baby to them... if so, this baby makes Dameon look like a pussy-cat! LOL!

Actually, it wasn't the book itself, but all the peripherials: The rebrander, the MRR script... (I know, I know... I'm supposed to be promoting the ebook, not kvetching about the set-up. Call me cranky.)

Of course, one REASON I had so much trouble was BECAUSE it was my first -- now that IS reminiscent of having children! LOL!

I made the mistake of setting up the MRR (master re-seller rights) first... then working with the re-brander... THEN back to the MRR script-- BIG mistake!

Beside overloading my rather limited short-term memory with too many new instructions at once (compounded exponentially, you understand, because I had to try every free rebrander before finally caving and getting the ViralPDF one), it also includes more links than you can shake a healthy stick at! (56 overall, including 26 affliate links.)

And, to make matters really peachy, if you don't have Word, forget it!-- at least as far as this re-brander is concerned. (I know I'm showing my old-fogginess, but Word is for tourists, if you ask me.)

Well, it's done, finally... and even includes a cute header on each page, plus loads and loads of information... 210 pages in all, divided into 35 chapters, plus 2 glossaries (one for terms, the other for links-- a quick reference, if you will.)

Of course, if you think you're too much of an expert to need this information, don't forget all those newbies in your downlines. Getting the MRR may just save you a few hundred hours explaining the basics to them.

Sorry for the delay. Everyone who's read it says it's worth the wait.

Oh-- if you have any questions about the whole ebook process feel free to ask-- LOL! I think I'm an expert now!--mo