Business Opportunities and Internet Marketing Systems that Don't Work

Highlights

Internet Marketing eBooks
List Builders
FFA & Free Classifieds
Announcement and Safelists
Link Exchange Sites

List Builders

List builders are just another twist on a scheme that tries to get you to market someone else's program instead of focusing on marketing your own. They are another marketing tactic recommended by internet marketers, which fails on every point.

List building programs function on the principle that you can join a program, and then build your list from the lists of other people - nice concept, IF it worked. Only usually, you cannot get more out of it than you put in, and to get anything, you have to put in a LOT. And what they want you to put in is referrals - fresh meat!

You join this program. And if you make referrals, you get the chance to mail out ads to other members (they make it sound like you get to access existing lists of other members, but you do not - you only get to access members which may have been referred by other members). You can mail an ad for your eZine if you like, or you can just use the program as your direct emailing vehicle. There are a number of problems with them that make them ineffective:

The other members are much like the members in safelists. They are there to SELL, not to buy. They were recruited just like you, and they are there to build their email power, not to buy your product. When your email comes in, they'll delete it without even reading the subject line.
In order to make referrals, you must promote the list program. Now, think about this carefully. They want you to promote their list program. If you do that, then you have to take away from time and resources that you could spend promoting your product. If you were promoting your product, you'd be targeting people who are interested in your product. Now, you have to promote their list, and to do that effectively, you must target people who are interested in listbuilding, REGARDLESS of whether they are interested in YOUR product or not! So the people you recruit to help build your list, to help you to mail to people who are not interested in your product, are not helping you to target your sales in an effective manner AT ALL!
In some programs, you are able to collaborate to leverage the lists of other marketers in the program - but if you are all leveraging one another's lists, then you have 10,000 people, all of whom are receiving the same emails from all of the marketers. It does not mean you have more PEOPLE, it just means that all of the list owners are sharing the same group of people, and each person is on the list of multiple marketers. This means that all of the people who are hearing the message are overloaded with mailings already, and that they are hearing the messages of your direct competitors.

Ah, you say, but maybe they are not my direct competitors! If they were not, then their lists would be useless. If their lists are targeted to YOUR products or services, then they are your competitors. If they are NOT your competitors, then their lists are worthless to you because they are not targeted!

The variations on these programs always require that you focus your efforts on THEIR agenda, not yours. They are not an effective means of building a targeted email list, nor are they an effective use of your marketing time or money.

Now, you may be thinking, why would major marketers swear by these things if they do not work? For two reasons:

1. They work on a multi-level principle. You refer people, and get a credit based on how many you refer. Then the people you refer start referring people, and you get a small credit on THEIR referrals too. So marketers who are not terribly bright will think that if they promote the program heavily, other people will start earning them credit in the system, so they can reach more people without additional effort. They aren't thinking it through though, because they are still putting out effort for a prize that is worthless because their ads are not going to be highly effective.

2. Most programs have a "paid option" where you can go right to mailing, without having to build referrals. And most of those paid options have affiliate programs, which, you guessed it, the person recommending it has joined. They have an ulterior motive for getting you to join, they hope you'll pay, so they can profit.

Save yourself the hassle, and build your list in more direct ways - promote your list directly through articles, sig lines, and through ad swaps in successful eZines, or even paid ads if you have to. Promote the newsletter signup page directly through paid inclusion or other solid marketing methods, but don't bother with List Builders, even if they are free.

Written by Laura Wheeler, MicroBusiness Website Developer, and founder of the MicroWebmasters Alliance

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