Have been a member of List Joe a long time. This is not a safelist and you can regulate how many emails you receive a day. I am only a free member and send out a mailing to other members once a week. This works.

Recently joined Got Safelist and did open all emails at first but now get well over 100 a day. Only open a few now.

Have just gone back to surfing a little each day.

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Hint: ListVolta does two neat things – First, the “click for credit” links are at the top – you don’t even have to scroll through the email message to go to the credit window. Second – look at the gray area to the right of the bold subject line and you’ll see exactly how many credits the message is worth. Messages from free members are worth 20 NOKs; messages from upgraded members are worth much more. If you’re pressed for time, pick only the ones with points showing. This is great for the “clicker” but not so great for the advertiser. With so many, many messages every day to choose from, who’s reading those from free members? So, here’s a list where it’s even more important to upgrade.

Re: Lists with no credit links (such as ListBandit, ViralURL) – why on earth would anybody read the messages? I hang in there because these are included in so many downline builders, but I don’t seem to be building a downline in any of the downline builders, so I’m questioning the value of safelists altogether, and most particularly the “non-credit” ones.

As with any kind of advertising, there’s definitely an art to it. Join and mail just won’t get it. You really have to learn what to advertise in safelists, what kind of messages to use, and what sort of landing page to send visitors to. Being absolutely FIRST to mail to the lists with a new TE or Safelist or program that really has something going for it will bring some signups from those who like to jump on board fast (but those folks usually have an “inside track” and join from links from people that they know rather than a “faceless” safelist message or landing page).

Re: Stephen (above) who notes the difference between hits and visitors – he’s right; your hit count will go up, which may or may not have some impact on an Alexa ranking, but if you’re promoting an affiliate URL, that’s not going to do you much good anyway. Again, it’s important to learn what is best promoted in safelists. Traffic from TEs and safelists is not highly regarded by many, including Google and vendors who are looking at your stats to approve or disapprove you as a publisher.

Re: expiring links. I’ve learned that “solos” in some ad exchanges expire more quickly than “super solos” or “sonic solos” (or other fancy name indicating a higher value).

Question: If we’re all learning the tricks of getting credits without reading or responding to messages, what’s the point? I haven’t done nearly the tracking Tim has done, but I am really beginning to question the ROI on the amount of time and energy (and it some cases, money) I am devoting to safelists. At first the new-format ad exchanges were appealing because of the additional flexibility a member has in advertising (formatted messages, graphics in messages, the 600×300 “standard” graphic ad format, etc.), but I question how many members actually log in regularly to their accounts and do much of anything more than send messages. How many are viewing the messages of others within the members’ area?

And at some safelists (ad exchanges, downline builders, etc.), you have so few choices at the free level re: spending your credits that your ability to advertise is severely limited.

I think the jury is still out on the overall value of safelists, unless you’re already making a ton of money and you can outsource the maintenance and operation of your safelist advertising.

There’s a big difference between “hits” and “visitors” to any website. If “hits” is all you want, you got it.

“Hits” are people just visiting for the allotted time to get return hits. That is all safelists (etc.) get you, or promise to get you.

It’s all about advertisers advertising to advertisers, NOT about sellers advertising to targeted buyers.

I have used safelists for a number of years and while there is some success in numbers – that is, blasting emails to thousands of people via submitters, the open rate is very low.

Credit based safelists are the best in my view. Join a limited number and test them for results.

Always use two different email addresses. One for contact and one for list emails. Check the safelist that you are interested in signing up to, as many ban certain email addresses.

When sending emails the heading is VERY important. ALSO – keep your content short, attractive and above the fold. My reasons for saying this are below and relate to credit based safelists.

If you receive solo ads/emails, always open them. These will arrive at your contact email address and will give you more credits than those received at your list address.

Skim through the emails sent to your list address and when you find a heading that appeals to you, open the email. NOW this is why I mentioned above about keeping things short and above the fold:-

If your email is short and snappy, it is likely to be read before the reader clicks on the ‘get credits link’ and moves on. If you have written the equivalent of “War and Peace”, with a multitude of paragraphs, then the reader will simply not read it and scroll to the ‘get credits’ link.

So, in sum – use credit based safelists. Always open the emails sent to your contact address and when sending emails us an attention grabbing headline and a short three to five line email.

Regards,
Jeff Henshaw.

Like most here, I also just pick the ones with catchy subject lines and do not click on any with the same subject lines that I have already clicked on – so changing is very important.

Also, I am one that know they do work – and it’s just like any form of advertising – it’s work.

Great subject again – keep up the nice job Tim.