e-Business-Formula Internet Marketing Discussion Forum

[Kevin Robb]

It is becoming increasingly difficulty to get email messages out to your subscribers.

Super sensitive filters and the unreliability of some mailing list managers are ensuring that most of us are no doubt considering other options.

What other methods are you using to keep in contact with your subscribers?

Describe the success / failure you have had trying alternate forms of delivery.

I would be interested in your comments.

Cheers


Kevin Robb

[Paul_Short]

Hi Kevin,

I'm in the middle of developing an infoproduct right now that basically shows you how to publish content, market products, and track results - via RSS feeds. 2 test sites offering a free report as the "product" have been running for weeks and I'm blown away with the results and possibilities.

All along, one of the major problems with RSS as an actual marketing tool is that results are hard to track since, unlike email, there was no way to gauge things like CTR, open rates, actual subscriber count, etc... mainly because once the RSS file is put online, it could be read by one individual, or aggregated and published on a thousand TE sites.

A little "repurposing" of common tracking tools, brainstorming, and looking at the situation from a marketers point of view rather than a tech or publishers standpoint has worked wonders...

Anyway, regarding email marketing and alternative publishing methods - this morning I sent out my newsletter via email and less than half an hour later my domain name was suspended.

Some idiot sent a spam complaint to my web host about the newsletter. After promising my host that I would not send the newsletter out from my own list mailer on the hosting account again, they reactivated it.

This type of thing is happening all the time these days.

I think my little RSS publishing tutorial will be a hit...

What do you all think?

Sincerely,

Paul Short
http://GetBlogs.com

[Steve MacLellan]

I saw a message from Jim Straw that said that by signing up for this service from AOL:
http://postmaster.aol.com/fbl/index.html

...all of his emails are getting delivered.

This would appear to be AOL's fix for their users who are too quick on the "report spam" button.

[quote]Some idiot sent a spam complaint to my web host about the newsletter. After promising my host that I would not send the newsletter out from my own list mailer on the hosting account again, they reactivated it. [/quote]

This has happened to me, and some of my clients hosted with AMS Computer Services. But once I show them the mail program uses a double opt-in, they don't say too much about it. Of course it helps that I send them so much business, that they don't really want to tick me off by terminating or suspending clients accounts without investigating the incident fully.

One client imported a list one time into a mailing list program I set up for him, and bypassed the double opt-in. AMS asked me to look into it (they were quite upset because they had received numerous spam complaints.) Upon my investigation I found the list. I called the client and told him how upset AMS was and why. I told him I figured I could save him this time, but if he mailed to that list again, his hosting account would likely be terminated.

The client admitted he had collected the list, but didn't realize he was committing a "no-no" and I explained this to AMS. Because of my say so, no action was taken.

Paul... you're not using double opt-in. When I registered my blog with your site, I automatically started receiving your newsletter. In your case... I'm happy to receive it and keep updated on your news... but that doesn't mean every one is. You could discuss this situation with your service provider, and see if you switched, if you could continue using your mailing list software. All they can say is no.

Yes, it mean less subscribers... but it also means less trouble.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan

[Paul_Short]

Hey Steve,


[quote="Steve MacLellan"]Paul... you're not using double opt-in. When I registered my blog with your site, I automatically started receiving your newsletter. In your case... I'm happy to receive it and keep updated on your news... but that doesn't mean every one is. You could discuss this situation with your service provider, and see if you switched, if you could continue using your mailing list software. All they can say is no.[/quote]


Yeah, I know...

You see, when I started up the site, I had no intentions of publishing a newsletter, just an occasional members update as outlined on [url=http://getblogs.com/lma/guidelines.html]The Guidelines Page[/url]. After I sent the first update, I had several positive emails asking if it was going to be a regular newsletter or not, so I started sending it every week.

Right now, out of just over 600 people who have listed their blogs in the directory, I've only had 2 remove requests from the newsletter.

My beef is that the guidelines clearly state I'll be sending updates to members 2-4 times a month, there are remove instructions in every issue that goes out, the two confirmation emails people recieve now have a notice about the weekly newsletter and a link back to the guidelines...

And the spam complaint my host forwarded to me was from a guy using a free email address, who didn't provide a reciprocal link back to the directory..... and why would he try and promote his site by listing it in a directory and turn around and try and have the site shut down a few days later?? I don't understand some people.

Oh, and I never did get a remove request from him either. He just pegged me as a spammer ...

Next week I'll be sending out a short notice in place of the newsletter and asking people to re-subscribe and double opt-in. I'll try a mailing or two from another domain I have. That way if I get a complaint, the main site won't be shut down, and I'll have to use Aweber or some other outside mailing list service that specializes in this sort of thing.

Thanks for your advice Steve. It just irks me that someone can have a legit site shut down on a whim that's all.

Paul Short

[Dan Reinhold]

I'm waiting as patiently as I can to hear all about it, Paul!


Dan Reinhold
Editor, WAHumor

[Kevin Robb]

[b]Guy's,[/b]

This topic is very interesting, each of us seem to be experiencing similar problems but have taken different approaches to get our message out.

[b]Paul,[/b]

Looking forward to your RSS tutorial...this is something that we all need to understand as the market changes, keep us posted.

[b]Hi Dan,[/b]

Welcome aboard...looking forward to hearing how your projects are progressing

Cheers

Kevin Robb

[Bettina1]

There's so much crap out there posing as "content" that readers have become much more selective about what they will and will not read.

I think the challenge is to provide something unique and useful. And that's not easy.