[Katatonic]

I'll be one of the voices of dissent here.

Don't buy an email list. Generally people hate receiving unsolicited emails and will mark the emails as spam. This will get your autoresponder accounts (the reputable ones) banned. It was a very effective practice a decade ago, but one I wouldn't touch today unless I wanted buy massive lists on the cheap and spam the shit out of people. Even then, it only works if you're willing to take a 1/10 of 1% conversion rate with perfectly optimized spam.

The proper solution is solo ads. Pay someone with a great targeted list between $0.30 and$0.70 a click to send your ads out for you. The conversions are far better and you capture the email addresses of qualified customers while you're at it.

[puckerman]

Yes, the you-CAN-SPAM act was passed several years ago. Legal or not, you are a spammer. You are also an asshole and deserve nothing but my contempt.

This also means that someone may complain to your Internet provider. Hopefully, they will do the right thing and terminate your Internet connection. Then, what are you going to do?

I'm a network and system administrator myself. I work with servers, network, security, and email. We control how these systems work and operate. We have nothing but pure hatred for spammers. We already know that the email system is basically lost anyway. But we still hate you for obvious reasons.

Also, when you spam people, you opt-in to receive it. I would happily give your email address to any spammer. How about all of you spammers just spam each other and leave the rest of us alone, okay? And you are also more likely to piss off a hacker.

[SteveCR]

Call it what you want, puckerman. You seem to be filled with negativity. You should find a creative outlet for your stress; all of that pent-up anger surely can't be good for your soul.

[Dragonstone]

I know nothing about, and nor am I commenting on, the legal implications of buying the list or sending the e-mails.

I'm with the earlier posts pointing out that whoever would sell these to you is not entirely reliable. Why on earth would they sell you this "valuable e-mail list" for $250, if they had so much income from it to make selling the business viable in the first place? While I understand the seller already sold the business (and still owns the e-mail list), $250 sounds....low, unless you aren't the only person they sold the list to. Presumably, someone willing to turn on a buyer for another $250 would be willing to sell the list to someone else as well.

[Katatonic]

(07-13-2014 10:45 AM)SteveCR Wrote:  

Call it what you want, puckerman. You seem to be filled with negativity. You should find a creative outlet for your stress; all of that pent-up anger surely can't be good for your soul.

In puckermans defense, these fucking spammers have really upped their game lately. It is starting to get annoying for me too. Try buying a domain without private registration, or launching a simple wordpress site. You will be inundated with spam.

[puckerman]

(07-13-2014 01:18 PM)Dragonstone Wrote:  

I know nothing about, and nor am I commenting on, the legal implications of buying the list or sending the e-mails.

I'm with the earlier posts pointing out that whoever would sell these to you is not entirely reliable. Why on earth would they sell you this "valuable e-mail list" for $250, if they had so much income from it to make selling the business viable in the first place? While I understand the seller already sold the business (and still owns the e-mail list), $250 sounds....low, unless you aren't the only person they sold the list to. Presumably, someone willing to turn on a buyer for another $250 would be willing to sell the list to someone else as well.

He's going to sell the email addresses to anyone who will buy them. He'll sell them to Ashley Madison and people selling prescription drugs on-line. He probably got them from a similar source.

[puckerman]

(07-13-2014 03:00 PM)Katatonic Wrote:  

In puckermans defense, these fucking spammers have really upped their game lately. It is starting to get annoying for me too. Try buying a domain without private registration, or launching a simple wordpress site. You will be inundated with spam.

They have made email almost unusable. I remember when I got about a spam per month. I don't think we ever thought it would get this bad. For a long time, I reported all the spam I got. Now it's so much that it's impossible to do that.

Now when I contact people I use social media if I can. This is one big reason why sites like Facebook have gotten so big. The SMTP email system was a truly great and wonderful invention. It is very sad that it has been destroyed when it had so much power for good.

[SteveCR]

How are ya'll getting so much spam? Spam filters work really, really good. I get a few a week that sneak into my inbox, but it's no reason for me to get upset over it.

[jamaicabound]

Im guessing the "spam" some people are referring to is actually things they signed up for. Rarely do I get actual spam like viagra ads or fake verify your email emails. Most "spam" I get is like 5 groupon deals a day. Though not something I like getting anymore I did at some point sign up for it. Like you said spam filters are pretty good rarely of ecer do I get actual spam in my inbox

[Katatonic]

Most people probably don't run in to the same issues guys like puckerman and I do. When your primary business requires you to have a large online presence, spam becomes a problem. Sure, I could nofollow all of my contact pages, but they do play an important role in search algorithms. Since I refuse to take that chance especially in competitive niches, I leave my sites open to being scraped for email addresses.

Of my 80 or so current email accounts, less than half have a bad spam problem. The best spam filters around can't stop smart spammers though. I value the finite amount of time I have per day to build my businesses, and every minute I have to deal with spam is money out of my pocket.

[SteveCR]

I run an online business, and I have websites in various niches. My websites are all ranked in Google, thus they've been crawled repeatedly. My servers get scanned repeatedly by people trying to hack. I get plenty of spam, thousands and thousands of emails per day, but all but a few a week go into the spambox.

(07-15-2014 11:54 AM)Katatonic Wrote:  

Most people probably don't run in to the same issues guys like puckerman and I do. When your primary business requires you to have a large online presence, spam becomes a problem. Sure, I could nofollow all of my contact pages, but they do play an important role in search algorithms. Since I refuse to take that chance especially in competitive niches, I leave my sites open to being scraped for email addresses.

Of my 80 or so current email accounts, less than half have a bad spam problem. The best spam filters around can't stop smart spammers though. I value the finite amount of time I have per day to build my businesses, and every minute I have to deal with spam is money out of my pocket.

[worldwidetraveler]

(07-15-2014 11:54 AM)Katatonic Wrote:  

Most people probably don't run in to the same issues guys like puckerman and I do. When your primary business requires you to have a large online presence, spam becomes a problem. Sure, I could nofollow all of my contact pages, but they do play an important role in search algorithms. Since I refuse to take that chance especially in competitive niches, I leave my sites open to being scraped for email addresses.

Of my 80 or so current email accounts, less than half have a bad spam problem. The best spam filters around can't stop smart spammers though. I value the finite amount of time I have per day to build my businesses, and every minute I have to deal with spam is money out of my pocket.

Most people are not on this forum. My only income source has been solely online for the past 8+ years, so you and puckerman are not some special snowflake in that regards.

Getting upset like puckerman isn't the answer. I doubt you work more than I nor value your time more than others here.

Concentrate on the things you can control and stop worrying about spam and others things you can't. That is what people who value their time do.

Bitching and getting upset about something out of your control is a waste of time.

80 email accounts, eh? Sounds like you need to rethink what you're doing if you need that many email accounts.

[Katatonic]

I get a little annoyed at spam, but I never get upset. As far as the special little snowflake bullshit, the vast majority of people who use the internet do not make their living on it, hence they are not subjected to the same problems with spam. I was pointing out that there are a good amount of people who have to deal with spam.

As far as valuing time goes, I reread my post thinking maybe I unintentionally tried to whip out my cock and show everyone that it is bigger and more important than theirs, but I didn't. I was explaining the reasoning behind my annoyance with spam. I do think a lot of people don't value their time, but a forum centered around self improvement isn't exactly the place to hurl those accusations.

[SteveCR]

If you want to tap into email lists, this is how you do it legally and profitably. I make a good living as an internet marketer and email traffic along with facebook ads make up the bulk of my traffic generation.

What you want to do is a 'endorsed mailing' also known as a solo mailing or solo ad.

Visit nextmark.com for targeted mailing lists (my favourite resource) or do a search on google for websites in your niche. See if they are capturing emails and check their advertising tab. If they are offering an endorsed mailings you can go forward and discuss prices, average open rates and average click through rates.

This way you are in effect renting somebody else's list and your offer or service is being endorsed by them.

I don't recommend you send the traffic directly to a sales page, capture the leads and send them through a good sales funnel.

This is what I do and it works like clock work.

Important points
- Get endorsed mailings from buyers lists, this way you are tapping into people who are already spending money in your niche. They are proven buyers and the ROI will almost always be superior.
- Make sure you have a compelling squeeze page.
- Your email marketing / sales funnel should be informative and entertaining. Think of it as an email magazine. Check out Andre Chaperone for his email writing training.
- Most importantly your offer / service must be good. The sales copy / video needs to convert. If you can't right good copy then get a professional to do it. Expect to pay $1000 - $5000 for a good job. Or promote an already high converting affiliate product.

Most important thing is to test, test and then test some more. Remember a 5% increase in your optin rate can translate to a huge rise in earnings. Especially if you have a high ticket offer / service on the back end.

I would say that if you are paying $1 - $2 per optin then you are doing very well. I don't mind spending $10 per optin on a good funnel because I know the ROI is there.

Good luck with your venture.

[jamaicabound]

(07-16-2014 07:34 AM)007 Wrote:  

If you want to tap into email lists, this is how you do it legally and profitably. I make a good living as an internet marketer and email traffic along with facebook ads make up the bulk of my traffic generation.

What you want to do is a 'endorsed mailing' also known as a solo mailing or solo ad.

Visit nextmark.com for targeted mailing lists (my favourite resource) or do a search on google for websites in your niche. See if they are capturing emails and check their advertising tab. If they are offering an endorsed mailings you can go forward and discuss prices, average open rates and average click through rates.

This way you are in effect renting somebody else's list and your offer or service is being endorsed by them.

I don't recommend you send the traffic directly to a sales page, capture the leads and send them through a good sales funnel.

This is what I do and it works like clock work.

Important points
- Get endorsed mailings from buyers lists, this way you are tapping into people who are already spending money in your niche. They are proven buyers and the ROI will almost always be superior.
- Make sure you have a compelling squeeze page.
- Your email marketing / sales funnel should be informative and entertaining. Think of it as an email magazine. Check out Andre Chaperone for his email writing training.
- Most importantly your offer / service must be good. The sales copy / video needs to convert. If you can't right good copy then get a professional to do it. Expect to pay $1000 - $5000 for a good job. Or promote an already high converting affiliate product.

Most important thing is to test, test and then test some more. Remember a 5% increase in your optin rate can translate to a huge rise in earnings. Especially if you have a high ticket offer / service on the back end.

I would say that if you are paying $1 - $2 per optin then you are doing very well. I don't mind spending $10 per optin on a good funnel because I know the ROI is there.

Good luck with your venture.

I know this info is available online via an easy google search but when I was doing blogging and messing with affiliate programs I was kind of learning as I go and doing things my own way but I'd always read about squeeze pages and sales funnels and list building. Was just curious if you could do a little paragraph or two writeup about what exactly these things are and how they work?

[puckerman]

(07-15-2014 10:19 AM)SteveCR Wrote:  

How are ya'll getting so much spam? Spam filters work really, really good. I get a few a week that sneak into my inbox, but it's no reason for me to get upset over it.

Based on my experience, they are "really, really good" at blocking email I actually want. That's why I call them email filters or email blockers. If they only blocked spam, they might actually be good.

Most of my spam is in foreign languages.

[puckerman]

(07-15-2014 12:34 PM)Katatonic Wrote:  

I get a little annoyed at spam, but I never get upset. As far as the special little snowflake bullshit, the vast majority of people who use the internet do not make their living on it, hence they are not subjected to the same problems with spam. I was pointing out that there are a good amount of people who have to deal with spam.

As far as valuing time goes, I reread my post thinking maybe I unintentionally tried to whip out my cock and show everyone that it is bigger and more important than theirs, but I didn't. I was explaining the reasoning behind my annoyance with spam. I do think a lot of people don't value their time, but a forum centered around self improvement isn't exactly the place to hurl those accusations.

Why is this discussion even here at all? It's asking advice on an activity that is highly questionable to begin with.

People never liked junk mail before the days of the Internet. But there is one big difference. The cost of junk mail is paid almost totally by the sender. This isn't the case with spam at all.

I am doing what I can. I am trying to discourage a person who appears to be a legit businessman from engaging in questionable activity which hurts almost everybody.

[jamaicabound]

Hey guys appreciate the discussion. Im not some affiliate spammer and though I knew of the candpam stuff its complicated to read it what it actually mean. I didnt realize all the rules so appreciate bringing that to my attemtion.

The gentlemen Im buying the list from is in my niche and going out of business so I didnt really think of it as straight up spam as its very relevant to these peoples interest. Just to be on the safe side as well as it probably being more effective maybe Ill have him an send an email saying something along the lines of I appreciate your business. Im closing up shop but would like to introduce you to such and such. I feel they are trusted and can continue filling your needs. That way Im within the law and kind of get a glowing recommendation or referal from someone they already know and trust and have dealt with.

It does seem somewhat stupid however just the semantics of the while thing. IF its spam its spam either way but because I send it it violates canspam but if someone else sends the very same message its okay.just seems pretty trivial but rules are rules.

[SteveCR]

(07-16-2014 09:46 AM)puckerman Wrote:  

The cost of junk mail is paid almost totally by the sender. This isn't the case with spam at all.

Laughable. I don't know if you're lumping all commercial email into the 'spam' category, but companies that adhere to CAN-SPAM have high expenses to send email (and inbox).

But I would like to know how 'spam' hurts everybody. Email is just yet another usage of bandwidth and data storage. It doesn't cause anymore damage that any other usage of bandwidth and data storage.

I don't know, I just can't understand how somebody could have a hatred for commercial email. It's puzzling to me.