Basic Guide To Safelists

A safelist is a list of people who agree to receive email advertisements (known as Solo-Ads) from each other. Like the traffic exchanges you receive credits for viewing other members' websites. The difference is that you need to click on a special link in the solo-ad to view the website and gain the credits. The link would have a line above it saying something like “Click here to earn credits…” The credits you receive allow you to mail your solo-ad to the list.

The problem with safelists is that you can expect to receive a lot of email. In fact if you are a member of a few safelists then you can expect a few hundred emails a day. For this reason, members tend to use a separate email address especially for their safelist mail.

Another problem with safelists - due to the large volume of solo-ads being delivered daily to the safelist member database, many members don’t bother to read them. They just scroll down and click on the link to get their credits. It is easy to build a lot of credits just by opening the websites in tabs in Firefox, then close down all the tabs without even viewing any of the websites. For this reason many people don’t use safelists as they don’t believe they work. Actually they do work if you know how to use them.

The secret of getting your solo-ad read is to use a subject line that will capture someone’s attention. If that person is interested in your offer then they are more likely to view your email and your website. It is also recommended that you post the same advert on a regular basis, as it has been proved that people are more likely to respond to an advert that has been displayed a number of times.

If people see the same subject on a regular basis from different people then they are more likely to be convinced that this solo-ad is worth reading. You may have noticed that TV commercials promoting a certain product use the same advertising pitch for a few weeks, maybe months, before switching to a new one. So don’t expect your advert to bring in many results the first time.

Members of a safelist are marketers themselves so they are posting to get people to join their program. Trying to promote a business opportunity to them may not get their interest as they are probably already part of one. So it is better to offer them something that will help build their business.

One safelist I personally recommend is ListDomino. It requires a one-off payment of $20 to join. As many safelists are free there are people who just join and forget about it. The $20 charge to join ensures that the people on the list are more likely to be serious marketers, rather than freebie seekers, who are most likely to pay for your product.

Due to spam filters blocking these types of mail I highly recommend you use Gmail rather than Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL. Gmail is not as strict when it comes to receiving safelist mail so it is the ideal choice. You should set up a separate gmail account to receive all your safelist mail if you intend joining a few safelists, to keep them all separate from your personal emails. You can get a Gmail account by clicking the link below.

So if you plan to use a few safelists then here are some tips.

Set up a separate email address for your email. Call it something like davesafemail@gmail.com. When you join a safelist you are asked for a contact email and a safelist email. Use your personal email for the contact mail as it is only used to send you mail from the safelist company themselves and you won’t receive lots of mail. Use your new email address as your safelist email address.

You don’t need to read every email or click every link. Devote some time each day to building up your credits by clicking on adverts that interest you. You don’t need thousands of credits at once so you don’t have to spend hours clicking. You can always purchase credits if you prefer.

Gmail allows you to set labels and filters. A label is like a box you can store your mail in. You can set up a label for each safelist so you can organize your mail. If you would like to easily go through each safelist’s mail then you can do it by clicking on each label to enter that box.

If you wish, you can set up filters which means Gmail will automatically place each mail into the label of your choice. To do this you need to first create a label, then select the message you want to go into that label by clicking the box next to it on the left hand side. Now click on the “More Actions” menu and select “Filter Messages Like These”.

On the next screen you click on the button that says “NEXT STEP” and on the following screen you select the label you wish the mail to go into. Finally click the “Create Filter” button. From now on all mail from that sender will automatically go into the box.

Safelists may not be everyone’s cup of tea but they are an effective way of free advertising if you know how to use them correctly. Log into your safelist mail account daily if possible and spend some time building those credits. If you have the spare funds then upgrading is recommended to get the most out of the safelists.

You can find some safelists and other useful resources at my Home Business World website.

http://www.hbw-system.com/hbw