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I Love Spam - If You Don't - Read This!

Posted Date: 2007-07-16 10:25, Pageview: 2032

Learn to Love Your Spam

Do you use reverse marketing strategies to build your opt in list? 
If you don't, you are probably frustrated with the volume of "spam"
messages in your email inbox. 

Allow me to share a way for you to start loving your spam, and
some may actually go out of their way a little bit to generate more of it!

First of all, never ever ever use your business email to subscribe to
safelists, FFA sites, subscriptions etc.  If you elect to use these systems
(they won't give you good results, and are really only good as a reverse
marketing system), set up a separate email account especially for that
purpose.  If you are a member of Veretekk, you have the ability to set up
an unlimited number of "stealth email" addresses for this purpose.  If not,
set up a Gmail account - it's free and it allows you to set up a one time
auto reply.

If you elect to use gmail, set up your vacation responder.  Whenever
someone emails you, they will receive an instant reply... with whatever
message you insert into your vacation responder.  I use something like this:

Subject:  In Reply to Your Email

Body:  Thank you for your email, I will read it and respond asap.  In the
meantime, please help yourself to this free marketing tool:  (insert link to
your lead capture site.  I use this valuable newsletter subscription page
Essential Rules for Email Marketing). 

Kind Regards,

Your Name
Your Website
Your rtn email
Your Ph#

Do you smell the power of this?  I gain several new opt in subscribers
daily using this simple set it and forget it strategy.  And it really is a set
and forget. 

Now that you have your email account set up, you'll want to use that
address to subscribe to newsletters, or other systems.  I use my "reverse"
email to subscribe for anything, even if it is something I want to receive.
This way I get to pre-filter - many sites that say they won't give away your
email address, actually do.  I just go to my "reverse" account and forward
emails that I do want to an account that I actually check on.

Questions?  Feel free to contact me!

Karen Weir

PS.  This is not promoting supporting or initiating spam.  It is a legitimate
method of marketing to people who purchase lead lists from unscrupulous
marketers, those who post ads on Free FFA sites and Safelists - and in
general those who are in serious need of help to learn effective marketing
strategies - which you can share through your newsletter!

Karen Weir
Internet Guide



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Comments (38)


HP: 79
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Papierre.com --- Marketplace - 2008-04-08 07:25
Thanks for opening my EYES!
http://www.papierre.com/awardb.html
How to Earn Big Income?
http://orangeleads.com/upgrade.php?id=40050


HP: 53
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BoomSpress - 2008-03-01 14:30
Hi Karen,

Seems like you posted this some time ago.
In any case, I took your great advice then
and have never regretted it! Even added
my own little creation. When people
consistently email me, I filter their addres-
ses to go straight away to a folder. Then
when I do reply personally, to these folks.
I can write a more personal response based
on their previous emails. Sometimes I receive
likewise. Great way to network. I call this
system "Passive Networking".

Paula/BoomSpress


HP: 0
MermaidMonkey - 2008-02-02 17:49
I'll look into GMail. Thank you.


HP: 55
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Xtreme Wealth Online - 2007-11-11 15:09
SPAM IS GOOD!!!!!!!! Karen I've been making good money off spammers for years now. They actually, pay my mortgage, car note and my gym membership. Have You ever thought about monetizing a blog about The MANY USES and JOYS OF SPAM or a Blog titled SPAM IS HMMMM HMMMM GOOD. Spam has been really good to me. :-}


HP: 2331
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Collette - 2007-10-08 11:04
Nice post Karen.
Artfully explained. I also do reverse marketing. Have gotten some quality sign ups as well.


HP: 231
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maxinvegas - 2007-10-04 18:21
I was sure I posted on this topic before (maybe got deleted!)

I am slowly winning the Spam Game - Got careless as a newbie, now I am learning to have all my contacts spam protected - email and even my contact phone number . Who has the time to play games with these predators..

Once I had over 1100 return messages to one of my email addresses that someone used as return address to do mass mailing.

Recently I got some drug newsletters, but they used my email address to mail me. I was about to blacklist the sender and noticed that its my own email address. Don't know how they do that. So I blacklisted the URL in the link anyway.

If you want to have all your email addresses spam proof for free, drop me a message.

Hate Spam or You'll Eat Spam!

max2work - caring, sharing and mentoring.
For More Topics On Marketing & Web Tools, goodnewsforall.com/houseofmaxforum


HP: 109
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Lifestyle Home Services - 2007-10-04 15:34
Therein lies the problem, peaceful, supporting the industry.

I'm guessing since you are using FFA pages, you may be a newbie.

You may want to visit the "Conquer Your Niche", or the "Warrior Forum" to pick up some professional marketing strategies.
Eric J. Smith
Lifestyle Home Services
Lifestyle Organics


HP: 121
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Peaceful - 2007-10-04 15:22
I enhance my reverse-marketing strategy with a free GishPuppy email forwarding address:

Use it to sign-up for ffa and blasters, confirm or accept the offer and then immediately set your gmail to the vacation mode, with your message in there- this way you'll never even have to see spam again- plus email stripper programs will pick up your GishPuppy address and keep spreading it around- forever! :)


HP: 72
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Cyndi Oropeza - 2007-08-20 05:27
I had heard of this before. Just not explained in such detail. Thanks a bunch. I think this will truly be a valuable tool.
Cyndi
Cyndi Oropeza
Proud Plan4Power TeamBuilder & Member.
theminiurl.com/cu22


HP: 439
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Beth of BethsVentures - 2007-08-20 04:44
Hi Karen,

Spam of the sort that comes into inboxes and are truly unsolicited... I just got some that was from subrl... or similar to that.. about 2 dozen but with different names...

can be a nuisance... I have not problem with what was being called spam here in apsense... that was what I couldn't understand..

but thanks to the wonderful signature I have gone to your website and to Eric's website... and that is a much easier way to put a name, face and website together! Lots of people here to get to know and what their business is ... is definitely key to who they are online!

all my best!
Beth


HP: 206
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CoachTeo - 2007-08-19 12:19
SPAM !!!
Thanks for opening my EYES! I recieve about 1000 spam emails per week so I should redirect some spammers to the right place.
Thank you very much Karen!


HP: 242
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karenweir - 2007-08-07 13:27
Hi Paul,

I completely agree with much of what you say. In my years on the internet I have never had a spam complaint against me. Not one, and I have had an auto message responding to incoming email always. I simply changed the message in that responder.

Spam is out of control, there is no doubt about it. But blacklisting spammers only solves one small part of your problem. You still have a problem with getting your messages delivered.

I think eLert is the answer. I joined last week and am moving many of my emailer programs there. I'm getting subscribers from the eLibrary within the system as well. This is a desk top publishing tool - your message goes to your subscriber's desk top, not caught in their spam filter.

http://www.elertgadget.com/pubregister.php?ref=karenweir

I also use desk view and skype. I don't trust email at all anymore for marketing.

Love your recommendation about eating SPAM... LOL that stuff is nasty!

~ Karen ~
Karen Weir
Internet Guide


HP: 109
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Lifestyle Home Services - 2007-08-05 19:20
:o) I won't reply to that one.... refer to my previous statements below...
Eric J. Smith
Lifestyle Home Services
Lifestyle Organics


HP: 242
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karenweir - 2007-08-05 19:15
No worries Eric, just wanted to make sure you understand.

I don't see a problem with setting up a separate email exactly for this purpose. The problem is not the person seeking to be harvested - if there wasn't the software out there... I do not believe the ISPs motives are so honorable.

Spam is never going to go away. Might as well get something from it.

~ Karen ~
Karen Weir
Internet Guide


HP: 109
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Lifestyle Home Services - 2007-08-05 18:56
True Karen, I shouldn't have assumed it's the only method you use, in fact i didn't assume that its just the way i wrote it. I apologise.

I know some people who sign up for free email accounts and post these links all over the net waiting for Harvesting software to pick them up so they can do the same thing you do with the autoresponse. This method (Not you and yours specifically) really does have a huge load bearing on email servers. And because of this, ISP's do tend to block a lot of messages to "Slow the Server down".

The problem is it's not ONLY the culprits emails that aren't delivered... its everyones...
Eric J. Smith
Lifestyle Home Services
Lifestyle Organics


HP: 242
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karenweir - 2007-08-05 18:45
Eric,

The accounts that get that kind of volume are not coming through my ISP. They are on a bulk server. I did not "opt in" to receive the email, and was totally overwhelmed by it. In essence, my address was completely ruined! There was no way that I could manage it. I know that I miss legitimate emails all the time. This was how I chose to deal with it.

To say that ISPs are blocking because of volume is just being naive. I mean, I am getting that kind of volume. My mail is not being blocked on my end. However, I know that there is more mail I am not getting. It is the real spammers that are getting through, but a high percentage of the email I get is from unsuspecting marketers who bought a list of leads and my address is on it.

I use DeskView and Google eLerts to get my messages delivered, plus both systems generate an RSS feed. Google eLert is new and it completely eliminates the spam issue. I barely use email at all in my marketing anymore, and in my opinion, email is dying.

You frequently refer to this as my method of marketing, when in truth, this is such a small part of what I do that it is insignificant. I set up my one letter response months ago. I spend no time whatsoever on this, and THAT was precisely my goal. Because I no longer deal with the spam issue, my time is freed up to market my business.

~ Karen ~
Karen Weir
Internet Guide


HP: 109
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Lifestyle Home Services - 2007-08-05 18:21
I must admit its a very lucrative way you market Karen.

Email is generally used for communication between 2 parties. Delivering information etc. ISP's are simply set up as a middle man to serve email messages from 1 person to another. On average an ISP would expect to pass maybe 10 - 20 emails to 1 particular customer.

I guess by admitting you receive 2000 emails per day, you have answered your own question (in another post) as to why email isn't getting delivered. ISP's can't be expected to handle that sort of volume from one customer on any particular day. Neither should free mail services like yahoo or hotmail.

If you had more than one account and was receiving 2000 emails per account.... Boy thats some massive Bandwidth for the ISP to contend with... no wonder they start blocking mails... IMO
Eric J. Smith
Lifestyle Home Services
Lifestyle Organics


HP: 242
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karenweir - 2007-08-05 17:52
I don't anyone who has been in business online that has not had to contend with spam. Spam on your message boards and forums is one thing, but this article is dealing with email.

I easily get 2000 emails in some of my accounts on a daily basis. I don't even attempt to read it. I scan subject lines and delete the lot of them a couple of times per week, but...

I have a one message auto responder that replies to every email that comes in with a link to my lead capture site, and I get several opt in subscirbers every week as a result. I set it and forget it.

There is no good solution to dealing with spam. It just gets worse by the day. The ones who are opting into my newsletter however, are there by mistake - they don't know what they're doing. My newsletter just might help them.

~ Karen ~
Karen Weir
Internet Guide


HP: 231
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maxinvegas - 2007-08-05 17:16
You are lucky you never experienced spam. Community messages are not spam.

I had to shut down my Guessbook, Ad Board and and block comments in Blogs because of online spammers that deluge your comments with 40 -100 backlinks with porn and drugs, etct. in one comment post - day after day. You black list them to death but they dynamically send new URLS.

I never had a real problem with the business mail for the first year and half. Then my email address got compromised and the flood gates opened. 100's of Fake Lotteries, and people who are dying and want to send you their fortunes, Ad Servers that send out commercial messages on made-up clients email addresses and you have to unsubscribe individually while they still keep coming. Not counting the ones that offer no unsubscribe options.

Playing with spam is playing with fire. Unless you have nothing more important to do!
I learned early not to post to Safelits, and FFA pages. I won't read 1000 to 2000 pieces of mail each day, and I reckon no one is reading mine in their off-shore boxes

Now even my Outlook Express has a spam filter wrapped around.

Here's to a spamless society

The Goodnews Team
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


For More Topics On Marketing & Web Tools, goodnewsforall.com/houseofmaxforum


HP: 242
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karenweir - 2007-07-29 10:30
Hi Rhonda,

If you have an autoresponder, most will have form code that you can grab to make a subscription sign up. There are a number of ways to make the actual lead capture page. You can write your own newsletter, or you can use a pre-written one. The one I use was given to me and I then modified it. I actually teach a free class on creating a newsletter campaign in Veretekk. You can private message me if you're interested.
Karen Weir
Internet Guide


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