Have you ever received an email from a WAHM’s mailing list that you don’t remember signing up for? You thought maybe you had signed up for it, since, after all, what WAHM in her right mind would shoot herself in the foot by spamming, right?

Apparently, there is at least one WAHM out there who has been accused of spamming. You can read more from the spamming victims at Working WAHM.

In short, a word to the wise: Just because you have access to an email does not mean you can put it on your mailing list.

Spam is the use of a mailing list to blanket newsgroups or private email boxes with messages the recipients didn’t ask for.

The only appropriate way to receive an email for your mailing list is to have the potential member sign up for your list via the internet (or give you permission in writing at a trade show, for example) AND verify their admission via email.

In other words, just having someone tell you they want to be on your mailing list is not enough. Make sure you have your list setup to send them a verification, also known as confirmation, email, in which they must click a link to be included in the list.

This is the only way to ensure that no one gets on the list that doesn’t want to be there.

One last note: Make sure you always include a way for people to unsubscribe in each email.

Popularity: 49% [?]

Imagine having a way to get thousands of qualified prospects on your email list in a short amount of time - and actually get reporters writing all about it. Seem impossible?

Well, my friend and publicity pro, Shannon Cherry from Be Heard Solutions, has actually created a way to do it, without being sleazy or inauthentic.

Recently, she developed a promotional system which gave her more than 2,500 targeted people in just two weeks, as well as 200 media outlets covering the promotion. But best of all, because these people were truly interested, she made a ton of sales right away!

Now, she’s sharing her system to ONLY a few dozen people. And I don’t want you to miss out.

So I called her up and we chatted for a few minutes about her ideas. Even better — I recorded the conversation and will air it next week on Product Sellers Talk Radio.

She shared her top three tips for list building - including a real gem that is BRILLIANT!

She also talked about the teleseminar she’ll be holding in just a couple of weeks. It’s The List Building Promotion Secrets Telebootcamp. You can check it out at List Building Promotions.

Even better: If you sign up for List Building Secrets through my link, she’ll throw in a press release written by her personally, for your target market AND a targeted media list. Her press release alone is worth $1,500. and I’m not just saying that. She really sells her services for that much money, because her techniques get results.

You know the money is in the list. Isn’t it time to get your share?

Go to List Building Promotion and sign up today.

And make sure you subscribe to Product Seller’s Talk Radio in your feed reader or your email, so you can listen to Shannon’s top three tips:

Popularity: 45% [?]

As you may know, the size of your mailing list can reflect the size of your profits. Your “mailing list” is the group of people that have signed up to receive your mailings, which can be a newsletter, e-course, or any other email.

You can set up a mailing list through an autoresponder service, such as Aweber. Once you register for the service, you can set up a mailing list and preload various emails that will be sent to the people that sign up to receive them. Your autoresponder service will give you a bit of HTML that you can add to your website or blog. When people click the link, they will be added to your list. As soon as they are added, they will start to receive your mailings.

To maximize your profits, you will want to have several different lists, and you will want to stay in touch with the people on your lists regularly. For instance, you may have a general newsletter list for your website, as well as lists set up for the specific sections of your website.

If your website focuses on children’s products, you may have a section devoted to toddler-sized clothes, a separate section devoted to early elementary age children’s clothing, and another section devoted to tween clothing. Set up a mailing list for each separate section. You don’t need to have a separate newsletter for each age bracket; however, having these separate mailing lists will allow you to send news and advertisements that each list would be interested in.

For example, if you are a retailer for various products relating to children, you can send an email with some information about toddlers directly to your toddler list. Include your link for a product that they may be interested in. You may notice that your conversions go up, as you are no longer sending parents of older children links to products focused on toddlers. You will be able to send each specific group links to products that they will find most helpful.

The time frame that you use to stay in contact with each list may vary. If someone signs up for your general newsletter list, they may expect to receive a newsletter each week or month. However, if someone only signs up to receive updates for a specific section on your website, they may get irritated if you send them an email every single day.

Use your best judgment when setting up your emails. You will want to stay in contact with them regularly enough so that they do not forget you, but you don’t want them to feel harassed, either.

If you are sending your mailing list regular updates about your site, and including helpful information, you will see that your profits will increase.

Popularity: 32% [?]

A mailing list is a list of people who signed up to receive your mailings, such as newsletters, ecourses, ebooks, and other emails. There are many benefits to having a huge mailing list. Here are a few reasons why you will want to start building one today.

There is an old saying that says, “The money is in the follow up”, and that holds true for your list. Your mailing list provides you a way of staying in touch with people who have visited your website. Maybe they didn’t buy anything the first time they visited your site. However, if you stay in touch with them on a regular basis, they may turn into a loyal customer.

There are several types of mailing list formats to choose from. You may want to include each kind on your website.

You can offer a general newsletter that people can subscribe to. This is a great way to keep people informed on the updates you have made to your site. You can include excerpts from any articles you recently added with links to the full text. If you offer podcasts, you can include information about upcoming information you will be featuring, etc.

You can also choose to have a tips list or ecourse. People love numbers and are eager to sign up for a tips list, such as “15 ways to get organized today” or “50 ways to work from home”, etc. These tips can be small emails that are delivered daily to your mailing list. An ecourse is a great way to promote your information products. You can include a tiny bit of information and deliver a daily or weekly lesson to your mailing list.

The best way to manage a mailing list is through an autoresponder service. When you sign up for such a service, you can create a list and load email messages into it. When someone signs up for your list, they will automatically start to receive the messages you have already written. Each person will receive message 1, and the autoresponder will continue to send the messages in the order you selected.

While the main purpose of having a mailing list is to promote products, your visitors will be eager to sign up for them if you provide helpful information. With your mailing lists, you will want to include a “p.s” after the body of the message. These will grab your readers’ attention. You can use this space to include your affiliate links for other products you are promoting. Your mailing list will allow you to cross promote your products and services and turn “fence sitters” into customers.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Autoresponders are automatic e-mail response programs. They have become one of the most essential tools for Internet marketers, affiliate marketers and other who do a large amount of business on the web.

The autoresponder program will send pre-entered e-mail messages instantly to people who request information from a website, newsletter or online merchant. One of the most common uses for autoresponders is to create a learning course to inform and educate potential customers about the benefits of a business or product.

Autoresponders also allow Internet business people to effortlessly follow up with their clients from time to time.

I recommend the following autoresponders:

• Aweber (my personal choice)
• Email Aces

Popularity: 16% [?]

A woman recently signed up for a mailing list my friend owns. She received the verification email and clicked the link inside which told my friend’s email system that it was OK to send mail.

Now, let’s stop for a minute.

By following the directions in the email, the subscriber opted into the mailing list twice: First by filling out the form with her name and email address on my friend’s site and then by clicking the link in the email. This is called confirmed or verified opt-in and it is the current industry standard for insuring that only people who ask for emails from your list receive them.

So, back to the story.

The woman received the first email from the list — and promptly reported it as spam, using the spam button inside her email account (this “feature” is available on Yahoo, Aol and Hotmail accounts, among others).

A few days later, the subscriber emailed my friend and asked her why she had not received any mail from the list. My friend chuckled to her self (I imagine!), explained to the woman what had happened and helped her fix the problem.

The next time the woman received an email from my friends, list, she reported it as spam too!

The morale of this story: Allowing users to determine what is spam sounds like a great idea. Most of us who have been online for awhile and involved in ecommerce know what spam looks like when we see it. The problem is that some people out there do not know what spam really is and mistakenly report legitimate emails. Some people hit the spam button when they really mean to hit the delete button. And then there are people who receive your email, decide they don’t like what they are reading, or are in a bad mood or don’t like the color of your website, so they hit the spam button.

Next thing you know, your emails are landing in all your customer’s spam boxes! And if the spam reporting service blocks the IP associated with your email, instead of the domain name, everyone on the server where your site is hosted will find their emails landing in spam boxes!

What does this mean? Incorrect usage of spam buttons by anyone with an email account may contribute to why you can’t send your legitimate non-spam email.

What does this mean for the average product seller, who just wants to keep in touch with her customers?

1. Do unto others… When you receive an email that you asked for, it is not spam. Please do not report it as spam. Just click the unsubscribe link at the bottom and remove yourself from the list. Only report email that you know for sure you did not ask to receive. Only unasked-for email is spam.
2. Please note that unwanted email is NOT spam. If you asked for it, it is a legitimate email, even if you decide you don’t want it now, or if you decide in five months you don’t want it. Unsubscribe or delete. False spam reports hurt everyone. (I know…I can’t say this enough!)
3. Teach your customers to add your email address to their contact list (also know as safe or whitelist) or address book, so that their email filter/spam blocker knows that they want to receive the email.
4. Report any spam notification messages you receive (messages stating that your email has been rejected) to your ISP or web host. If you are a Watersweb client and you are sending email from your domain account, report your issue to the Helpdesk, including the rejection message you received.

[tags]mailing list, confirmed opt-in, verified opt-in, spam, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail,safe list, whitelist[/tags]

Popularity: 34% [?]