subject: Will Safelists Work For Your Online Home Based Business? [print this page] If you're trying to decide on an Internet marketing strategy for your newly established home based business and you're considering using safelists you may be asking yourself if they really work? First of all for the uninitiated let's explain what safelists are. If you join a safelist you're basically becoming a member of a club where members email their home business products, services or Internet marketing opportunities to each other in the hopes of generating sales.
Now to the question at hand, do safelists really work? The answer to this question largely depends on who you ask. If you inquire of an Internet marketer or home business owner online who's had success using them then naturally the answer will be an unequivocal yes.
However, if you pose the question to someone who's failed miserably with safelists then the answer will be a resounding no. Even if you've received a resounding no don't be deterred. As with any other Internet marketing strategy safelists work if you use them correctly.
Therefore the short answer would be some succeed and some fail which applies to Internet marketing strategies in general. As with any Internet marketing plan you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. In other words don't base your entire strategy on safelists. They should be employed in conjunction with several other marketing tactics which make up a well rounded approach to promoting your products online.
There are two types of safelists. There are regular lists and credit based mailing lists. With regular listings if people read your email messages you're expected to read their advertisements. There is an element of trust involved and sometimes this is where the system breaks down.
You can't be expected to read hundreds of messages every day. This wouldn't leave time to promote your home business. However regular clubs allow members to purchase banner ads to display and also send solo ads to the entire mailing list which are advantages. However you are restricted on how often you can post to the list which can vary from club to club, but the rule of thumb is generally every couple of days.
Because of the inherent drawback of the trust element imposed by regular lists, credit based email clubs were designed. This was an attempt to overcome this disadvantage by insuring people read the email by adding a link included in the message in order to earn credits which determined how many messages you could send to the list.
This credit based system makes it more likely your email will be read and it's because of this you are more likely to succeed with credit based clubs. With most of these credit email lists you can also purchase credits and also redeem them for ad space. Another advantage of credit clubs is that some allow you to send HTML messages which means you can really grab your reader's attention with a well placed graphic.
The secret to safelist promotion is advertising as often as possible and being consistent with your campaign. Since there are so many Internet marketers vying for attention you have to make your ad stand out and change it up from time to time in order to find out which ones work and which ones to delete.
Also try to take advantage of as many offers available from the club as allowed by your advertising budget. A combination of banner ads placed on the website along with a text ad and intermittent solo ads sent to the entire list can be a very effective strategy. As with writing any advertisement your headline has to grab your reader's attention.
Try to make it unique and something your potential customer will want to invest the time to read. Try to keep your ad copy short while at the same time outlining the benefits of your product and demonstrating the problems it can solve for your readers. Also be sure to include your link as much as possible in the ad copy so the reader can visit your home business website quickly and easily.
Finally before joining any safelist do your research. Try to contact current members to get their opinion on how it's working for them. Try to avoid the cookie cutter list websites with only a few hundred members which offer you the opportunity to start your own list very cheaply.
As with any Internet marketing strategy safelists can be an integral part of any overall campaign made up of several other promotional techniques and can be very effective for your online home based business.
by: Bob Withers
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