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Major Communications
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Major Communications
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I believe you all would agree that the solution to not being accused of spamming is to stop sending out any ads. However, this viable conclusion would not be a popular answer.
First, we must agree on the definition of Spam. To an ISP, spam is sending Email to more than 100 recipients at one time on a regular basis. For the purpose of this week’s topic, we are choosing “unsolicited email” as our definition.
The most oft mentioned practice to avoid being crowned “Spammer of the Week,” is to save and “reply” to ads you have received. Unfortunately this practice could be limited by allotted email memory, as well as its sister solution of adding received ad email addresses to your address book, and permanently storing every ad you have received in preparation for being accused of spamming. Not only are the above inconvenient, their practice certainly does not create a comfortable business atmosphere.
Another recommended procedure is to only send ads to fellow members of “safe to email to” lists. One must remember, if you join too many of these, the ratio for ads received per ads sent is about 150 to 1.
So what do you do?
1. Send out one ad per day to one of your lists. As a rule, one ad does not irritate anyone, and even if you share membership in several lists with multiple people, they will still only receive one ad from you per day. Hence, no animosity. (Unless of course a recipient is having a bad hair day.)
2. Use alternate methods; e.g., classifieds, free for all (FFA) link pages, ezine advertisements.
3. Remember that subscribing to a list does not demand that you send out one or more ads per day. I believe one of the choice “ads” I received was from a fellow “safe to email to” list member who sent out an apology note to the group because his computer had been acting up and he was unable to send out his daily ad the previous morning.
4. Always use each list’s “Spam Disclaimer” introduction at the beginning. (Of course this does mean one must adhere to the “one list at a time” rule.)
5. If you receive an ad which was inadvertently sent to all recipients as a Cc rather than a BCc, DO NOT add these people to your address book. I know it’s tempting, but there is a group out in cyberspace called “Spam Patrolers,” who entrap people who do this with bogus ads. It’s a great way to lose your ISP, and if you ever are unfortunate enough to receive one of their Member Drive ads, you will immediately note the glee with which they perform this activity.
6. Because someone placed a classified ad, they did not agree to accept your ad. To date I cannot ascertain why anyone would assume because I submitted a classified for herbal tea, I was undoubtedly interested in a “cellphone” MLM. I still think the most original had to be the gentleman who assumed because I sent him a “thank you for signing my guest book” note I assuredly could not exist without having my own 900 Psychic Hotline Number. Actually there was one other that ranked pretty close to the aforementioned - a woman who “was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt” that because I publish CSN, I must be “over my head” in debt. (Hopefully she was not a member of the previously listed Psychic Hotline.)
7. Stay clear of chain letters and the infamous link letters. (No reason necessary, is there?)
In short, if you do not want to be accused of spamming, use some common sense. Oh, I know that your ad is truly “life changing and a sure way to become a millionaire overnight so it’s okay for you to spam because you can save the multitude from a life of poverty and ill health.” Unfortunately everyone else out there feels the same about their own “health and wealth” program - hence, to them you’re a practicer of the “s” word.
Copyright 1998 Herbivore Dot Com of CLUBSUCCESS Newsletter
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