Anyone tried to advertise in targetted web master newsletter/tips/trics email lists? I mean not spamming, but 'tips & tricks' articles where you get 1 or 2 advertising . Does it work nowadays or it's a history? thx

Spam = Unsoliciated, Bulk e-mail.

Do you think everyone on those list wants your e-mail? If you are a host, how many other web host will be on that list. Anytime my company gets spammed from another host - I go crazy and report them everywhere to get them shut down.

I don't care what people say, bought list, opt-in list, etc.. are spam list. You will have a big headache from this.

UmBillyCord, as far as I understood Apollo he spoke about placing a paid ad in a opt-in newsletter distributed to webmasters, something like Sitepoint.

I mostly saw the subject:

Advertising in targeted mailling lists?

To me this is opt-in list. That was my point. However, I will admit I was blinded to the rest. :o .

To quote Gilda Radner, from Saterday Night Live fame - "Nevermind". :)

yes, targetted and quality (if you can call it thisa way) lists not spam/uce - NOWAY! :)

The kind of thing apollo is talking about is advertising in email newsletters. That is, you don't send a separate piece of mail, you buy ad space in a newsletter that people have chosen to receive.

While I don't have any experience with those specifically for web hosting businesses, they can be very effective in general. Like everything else, you have to choose the market carefully, write good ad copy, etc. One tip: the best choices are those newsletters that are being archived on the web and ideally that are getting spidered and indexed by search engines. So if you're thinking about one, do two things: search for it on, say, google using the name of the newsletter to find a copy (unless you have one already). Then do a couple of searches on terms that are in that copy. If they're positioned reasonable well, that's a big plus: not only will regular subscribers see your ad and your url, but web searches might stumble across it as well, and find your link.

Apollo,

We purchased an advertisement in a newsletter, and our ad was sent out twice in 2 weeks. We hardly see any increase in our sale. Our sales were almost similar and felt it is not worth the money you spend on and sale you make out of it. It is also hard to track if the customer was referred through that ad, until customer tells you. Only 2/3 customers informed us that they found us from the newsletter. And 2 other commented that they found about us when we "SPAMMED them" and that was it. We stopped our ad. There are people who don't understand difference between running a paid ad in newsletter and SPAM, UCE, bulk emails etc... and I believe they are in good numbers. May be we have being listed under a list of "SPAMMERS and not to deal at any cost" by few of the users receiving that newsletter... but not sure.

We purchased the deal for $75 per week and for 2 weeks. Guess what after some time we found that the same deal was available for $14.75 per week... but we decided not to spent a penny on it anymore.

Bottom line, can't see much worth out of it and have decided to stay away. Instead emphasizing more on keeping our existing customers. Our average typical sales source is

Referrals by existing customers - 50%+
Web-hosting directories - 20%-
Search engines - 10%-
Others - 20%+

Okay I see - thanks for your great ideas/answers. Sincerely --Apollo

m6.. How many subscribers does that list have? And was the list orientated around web developers?

Originally posted by m6.net
Apollo,
customers. Our average typical sales source is

Referrals by existing customers - 50%+
Web-hosting directories - 20%-
Search engines - 10%-
Others - 20%+
THX!

Originally posted by apollo
lists not spam/uce - NOWAY! :)

What is UCE?

Unsolicited Commercial Email

Originally posted by UmBillyCord
Spam = Unsoliciated, Bulk e-mail.

Do you think everyone on those list wants your e-mail? If you are a host, how many other web host will be on that list. Anytime my company gets spammed from another host - I go crazy and report them everywhere to get them shut down.

I don't care what people say, bought list, opt-in list, etc.. are spam list. You will have a big headache from this.

Opt-in is not spam. It is e-mail addresses gathered on signup forms where people check the "I want to receive special offers from your partners in my E-mail."

The problem is that many people fill out so many forms that they forget about this and end up reporting it as spam. If it is sent from a legitimate opt-in firm, the chance of shutting the host down are very slim to none, and they are not at fault. They simply baught advertising, if you want to get someone shut down then get the opt-in co shut down (if you can.)

Dan

You can't really say opt-in mailing lists aren't spam.. I get about 20 opt-in spams a day that i never signed up for and everyone knows what happens when you opt-out :D

Originally posted by OKIHost
You can't really say opt-in mailing lists aren't spam.. I get about 20 opt-in spams a day that i never signed up for and everyone knows what happens when you opt-out :D

Well, that is the problem. A lot of companies are starting to call their spam opt-in when in fact is is flat out spam.

However, there are legitimate lists. I know this because my company handles a few of them (mailing and ad sales in them) and we do unsuscribe if someone clicks the link, and it is instant (not like some of them where it says unsuscribe may take 3-9 weeks.)

Dan