Best Safelists

If you are planning to use email advertising to promote your internet business, you’ll want to know about safelists.

Definition of Safelist

Let’s start with a definition so we are on the same page.  A safelist is an email mailing list of safelist members who opt-in or agree to receive email ads from other members who belong to the same email mailing list. Sounds a little incestuous doesn’t it?  But if the safelist is large enough, you should have some success posting your email advertisements.

But you may wonder why would anyone involved in internet marketing spend time looking at someone else’s ads? 

First, by clicking on other people’s ads, you typically earn credits with the safelist group which entitles you to send more emails to the list.  Also, by looking at other people’s ads you start to learn what works and what doesn’t.   Make sense?

Joining a Safelist

When you join a safelist, you generally get a promise of a fixed number of emails per month that you can send.   If you join for free, the safelist owner is basically trading your email address (which the owner can then add to the growing safelist) for some amount of monthly credits.  If you join for a fee, you’ll get other bonuses depending on how the safelist operates.  You’ll probably get additional credits.  You may also be able to use those credits for advertising using things like banners and solo ads.  We’ll talk more about banners and solo ads in another post.

When you join a safelist, you’ll probably be given a “OTO” or one-time-offer to upgrade to a paid-membership.  Usually these “OTO’s” are truly one time offers and you won’t see them again.  It’s a gamble whether to pay for extra benefits when you’re not really sure about effectiveness of a particular safelist.  But, on the other hand, if a safelist is highly recommended, taking advantage of the OTO can pay off in the long run.  You’ll usually be able to email more people in the group and email them more often, resulting in your ad being seen more.

In rare cases, you may be given a partial list for your own use.  This would only be a benefit for paid members, and it’s pretty rare indeed.  Afterall why would a safelist owner give away his or her asset?

When you join a safelist, you enter your email address and name.  In turn, you’ll quickly receive an email from the safelist server autoresponser which serves to verify that you really wanted to join.  This is the double opt-in step.  You opted in the first time by signing up.  You opted in the second time by clicking a link in the email that the safelist sends to you.

Most safelists will ask for two email addresses from you.  The first one that you sign up with is your “best” email or your contact email.  This is the email address that the safelist owner uses to communicate with you in case there are problems or other notices.  The other email address is your list email address. This is where email ads from other safelist members are directed.  You could receive hundreds of emails each day to this address.  To earn credits you’ll want to open some of the emails; the ones that interest you.  You will also need to clean out your list email inbox periodically else the safelist will disqualify you because you can’t receive any emails.

Safelist Advantages

The safelist has a couple of advantages.  One advantage is that it’s safe…duh.  That means you won’t be guilty of sending UCE or unsolicited commercial email also known as spam.  Every member of the safelist has opted-in or agreed that’s it’s ok to receive emails from other members of the safelist group.  Second, it’s usually free.  For the new internet marketer this “free” aspect can be helpful to get started.

Standard and Credit Mailers

When you send an email you’ll use either the standard mailer or the credit mailer.  The standard mailer sends email to the number of recipients that you signed up for.  Free members may get 1000 per month with 2 sendings per week.  Paid members may get 5000 per month with sendings every other day.

Some safelists to try out

Here is a site that lists 21 of the best safelists:

https://listhoopla.com/safelist-directory/

One of the recommended safelists is the EuropeanSafelist ….I’ve used them in the past……they are ranked well in the above directory.

http://europeansafelist.com/members/login.php