Marketing with Safe list submitters: Inactive accounts

XtreamNet.org Marketing with Safe list submitters
Q&A Series: Inactive accounts

Q: I keep seeing accounts at the safe lists going “Inactive”. What is going on and how can I prevent this from happening.

A: The most common cause for an account to go “Inactive” is due to email bounce. Keeping your box clean certainly helps prevent this from happening. However, not all bounces are due to a full email box! When you send out an ad from the submitter, that ad is carried to each safe list via the submitter server and your email server. Once it hit’s the safe list server, the safe list checks to see if it is time to submit and ad. If accepted, the ad is then carried via the safe list server and your email server to each members’ email box. There it typically goes through a series of filters before landing in a member’s box.

All this means that at 3 different sets of server must communicate with one another: the submitter, the email and the safe list server. Any blip, wink, loss of communications sends a “not delivered” signal back to the safe list. A safe list cannot determine WHY an email bounced, only that it did. This bounce triggers the “vacation/bounce” feature and your account is then put on hold. The submitter typically interprets a hold as “inactive.”

For the most part, we normally do not have any control over what the servers are doing in the background and whether one server is “talking” to another correctly. And, sometimes this failure to communicate is momentary. If it becomes a chronic problem, the hosts end up checking into what the cause is. In the meantime, this means your accounts at the safe lists become “inactive” and you cannot submit ads to the list until corrected.

Remedy: Go to the “Joined Safe lists” section of your submitter and click on “Vacation Off”. The submitter will then poll the lists, sending the vacation off signal which each will respond to, sending a message back to the submitter. You can view the results in the middle screen in the Joined area.
Regards,
Cherie Halliday
admin@xtreamnet.org
http://xtreamsubmitter.safelisthosting.us/
$1 email accounts: http://www.just4uu.com/XtreamNet/html/account.html
Post your link f/ree: http://www.trafficwave.net/ffa/xts2005.html
Lots of great fr/ee sites here: http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/XTRE1660/

Blog Blaster Scam, revisited

Back in May I posted an article about a so-called "blog-blaster". The blaster in question was nothing more than a lot of hog-wash, nonsense and hooyie dreamed up by an individual wanting to part unsuspecting individuals from their money. She put up a site with a lot of facts about blogs in general and then twisted them around in clever ways to market a lie.

Of course, she was upset. Now, being the fair person that I am, I offered to write an honest retraction if she could give me one tiny shred of evidence that her claims had merit. None (facts) where ever forthcoming, although I did get a lot of email and attitude from her. Lol. Be that as it may, I only wrote the one article and then have watched the site being promoted via emails, some blogs, and via ffa and classified ad posts. I banned it at my traffic sites, so haven't seen it there much.

Now, the owner made an Anonymous appearance here at my blog, which is rather interesting. But, what really caught my attention was a post at ANOTHER BLOG regarding this scam and scammer so I could not resist making this follow up post to my orginal article:

OH that is RIDICULOUS! You are probably a competitor of them.
# posted by Anonymous : 10:56 PM

Hello Marayann, I mean anonymous...Anyone who knows anything about blogs knows your program is a scam! It is not possible to post to blogs automatically, it must be down manually by the publisher!

# posted by Kristen Pearce : 7:38 AM

Well, well, and well again. Here we are a few weeks later and THIS is what one of the now ex-customers of this so-called blog-blaster wrote on his own blog, The Dawg Blog at http://thedawgblog.com/:....Quick update on the blog submitter mess I got into. Getting a refund on the money I spent for referrals. Took a while, but good old credit card company is a joy to work with and will get my refund sometime in the next week. Now to wait for paypal to finish their part so I can get the money back I spent for getting the submitter. If you want to do business with that person with the blog submitter, that is up to you. Personally, I would never spend a dime with that person again. She cheated me, she lied to me, and I know she is doing the same to others and will continue doing so. So, if you buy something on the net, keep your reciepts, etc and if you need a refund, go back to the site you paid with (paypal, credit card site, clickbank) and ask for a refund. That said, I bought a product 2 weeks ago that was not what I thought it was. Withing 10 minutes of purchasing, I requested a refund. To date, 6 emails sent to the person, only reply I got was 'I need the reciept' which of course, not only had I sent him copies before, but I sent it again. No refund to date. So back to paypal and start the refund procedure all over again. It does help to keep copies of all emails you may send to the seller asking for a refund, plus copies of any replies you get from the seller...(Joe is the author of this post.)

Oh,and I am NOT a competitor. I know that claims of having a blog-blaster are, well, a lie. (As I already explained in the article.) Cherie

# posted by XtreamNet.org : 1:18 AM
Notice how some people have to remain anonymous? I am thinking that this is because they really know the truth when they see it and they also know that all others realize it as well. They are too cowardly to use their names for fear of reprisal. Yes, that anonymous person who claims the truth is ridiculous is none other than Maryanne Meyers, the owner of that scam she calls Blog Blaster. What's wrong Maryanne-nothing intelligent to say in defense of your scam to the people who you are ripping off? I rest my case...

I did some further investigation into this whole blog scheme and did find out this: there are some new blog scripts out now that allow for anonymous posts. There are one, possibly two blog sites that use this script accounting for perhaps a few hundred blogs all total. They are calling themselves marketing blogs. Here is the thing though regarding these scripts: the individual blog owner can TURN OFF THE anonymous post feature. And, guess what? They do! #1 reason: those annoying posts that have NOTHING what-so-ever to do with their blog!

Bloggers usually start one for a very specific reason. They might be a Country Music Fan, they might be in the Safety Equipment Business...gosh, I have seen a great looking blog recently done specifically for the new Star-Wars movie opening. David D. has a blog mainly promoting his movie with Robin Williams. This blog happens to be for marketing venues. We discuss marketing sites, venues, techniques and etc. The last thing I want is some anonymous bozo from some anonymous place on this planet (or not) posting some article about viagra or sex-orgies or something.

No one in their right mind wants that happening on their blog, so people end up turning off the anonymous post feature. This goes back to my orginal point about blogs: blogs are NOT safe lists. You want a safe list, you go get one. You want to use a safe list, you go join one. In the meantime, use your blog to post whatever YOU want but forget about blasting to "hundreds of thousands of blogs across the planet."

It just ain't gonna happen.
- Cherie

Marketing with Submitters:

Your submitter is a powerful marketing tool, one that can really boost your sales and sign ups to your programs. It also requires some thought and attention to keep in tip-top condition. Here is some information to help you obtain a basic understanding of submitters and how and why they work:

Safe list Submitter and Safe lists:
A submitter is a rather sophisticated program which “submits” your email ads to safe lists. The particular program I lease http://xtreamsubmitter.safelisthosting.us/ came “pre-loaded” with hundreds of lists. In other words, the submitter provider collected safe lists that accept posts from submitters and which are compatible with the submitter program. Some lists are NOT compatible (which is why you never see them in any submitter.)

Some of the lists belong to “syndicates” or groups which then require you to pay them a monthly “lease” to submit to their sites. The submitter owner then decides which lists to keep (and pay for the lease) and which ones not to keep. Many of the lists are free, and lists come and go at will.

At XtreamNet, there are currently 730 odd lists loaded into the database. Now, it gets rather complicated. Safe lists are, for the most part, individually owned and operated. They also are “hosted” by many different companies. They have a life of their own beyond the submitter, so, you will notice that on any given day not all the loaded lists are “active.”

Being a safe list owner myself, I know there are any number of reasons why a list may or may not be active on a particular day: the server is down, the server is being “tweaked”, the server’s server is down or otherwise inaccessible, the safe list itself my be down for maintenance, or issues, or being moved or what ever. All this results in a discrepancy between “loaded” safe lists and “active” safe lists.

A submitter lets you “auto” join the active lists. When you join, it sends out your information to each active list. The list then deals with that information. As you join, you will see what is happening with that enrollment. Once your enrollment is accepted, the list emails you a “validation” email which you must respond to in order to “activate” your account. Once activated, you can then send your ads to that list.

Let us stop here for a moment. There is another player in this picture that often is overlooked and that is your email account. More and more safe lists are becoming very particular about the emails they will accept. Most of your major free email providers such as Yahoo, MSN, and hotmail (to name a few) are NOT ACCEPTED by safe lists using submitters. There are many reasons for this, mostly having to do with how these services handle commercial email.

Your Email Provider:
Remember, you are in the “commercial email” marketing business. Whether you market a product or a service or are looking for sign ups to an affiliate program, you are in business and your emails are considered commercial email. The majority of your big services, especially and including AOL, actively DISCOURAGE on line marketers from using their accounts for marketing purposes. They really are in the “personal use” email business and are not wanting hundreds and thousands of commercial emails jamming up their servers! When you go into the email marketing biz, they expect you to get a commercial email box.

And, when I say that most of your free email services discourage on line marketers, that is something of an understatement. Many of them simply refuse to receive what they perceive to be “commercial” email. AOL is great at doing that. I cannot tell you how many times an important email from a member, client, or partner has “bounced” because AOL decided it was not going to deliver it. Nothing will get your account deleted at a safe list faster than chronically bouncing email. Those returned emails jam up the safe list server and they get really testy about things which interfere with their operations.

Another reason most safe lists using submitters don’t allow these emails is because the onboard software (like box cleaners) will not work on these sites. Yahoo, AOL, MSN, G-mail, zwallet, netscape, Excite, and etc are what is known as WEB-BASED email services. They are not POP3. And, POP3 is what is needed for box cleaners and validation software to work. And, again, they are web-based and not POP3 for a reason!

I recommend http://www.just4uu.com/XtreamNet/html/account.html because it is 1. No bounce (the server does not return your email) 2. POP3/SMTP so it is compatible with your safe list and submitter software and 3. Very affordable, especially with their $1 30meg monthly email accounts.

So, once you join (opt-into) a list, that list sends you an email with a validation code. Sometimes two as many lists now require you verify/validate your contact email as well. This is for their protection as well as yours: no one wants to have to deal with SPAM complaints later on down the road. This is also why you want to set up a specific set of email accounts anyway for your marketing. NEVER use your personal email account to sign up for offers, lists and etc. You WILL get email from the members and program owners and to then complain later about receiving email is really bad form.

One of the INDEPENDENT features of our safe list is that we subscribe to and use THE VALIDATOR. This is a program that is able to enter your POP3/SMTP email account, find those emails with those validation links, open those emails and then validate them for you. Going back to when you join those hundreds of lists, each one of them sent at least one validation link to your email. Many now send validation links to your contact address as well. This is what is referred to as “Opt-in.” You “opted” into that list. You joined the list and agreed to their terms and conditions and “opted” to accept email from other list members and Admin in return for sending YOUR email out to the list.

THE VALIDATOR:
So, you receive HUNDREDS of emails from the lists that require you (or someone) to validate each and every single one of them. Lol. This calls for THE VALIDATOR. (Affectionately referred to as Mr V.) Mr V is not to be confused with that wimpy onboard validator software that came with the submitter and we don’t use. That program will only validate one email address one time. Mr V goes into both your list and contact emails as long as they are POP3 and validates those hundreds of emails for you each and every time you need him. If your submitter does not have THE VALIDATOR, you can get him for yourself very reasonably at http://www.impressions-hosting.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/a-19

The Ad Posting Process:
Ok. You auto joined the sites that where active and accepting registration, the safe list then sends out a validation email, you get that email (eventually), Mr V goes in and validates the emails he can find, and you are then ready to post an ad.

Now, this is what happens when you press that “submit” ad icon: your ad is sent via your email and our server to the lists‘ servers. From there, the ad is carried via your email and the receiving servers to each individual email server then is deposited into the receiving members’ inbox. Each safe list attaches a piece of coding, like a signal, to that email and tracks that email to ensure it actually reaches an individual member’s email box. Once it reaches its destination ok, a signal is sent back to the safe list that all is well. You received your email as required.
If something happens along the way: one or more of the servers wink off, don’t communicate properly, your email server rejects your email (this is what happens with AOL especially which is why it is banned at safe lists), your box was full and couldn’t receive your email, ANYTHING interrupts that signal, the safe list considers that email undelivered. That sets in motion the “bounce” mechanism.

Safe lists expect the members to receive emails. That is the sole purpose of them. They are vehicles for commercial email and business enterprises. If your email “bounces” for any reason, the scripts automatically set your account to “hold.” Some call them “vacation/bounce”. What ever the case, your account is marked “inactive” and you cannot send email until you “re-activate” your account.

Usually you don’t have a clue as to what is going on with the sending and receiving of your email. You have no control over whether or not one server is “speaking” to another. One thing the submitter does is tell you what is going on with your accounts. This is found in the submissions “reports.”

Submission Reports:
Every time your ad is sent out, you receive a report once the mailing is completed. Depending on your membership level, the submitter automatically resubmits your ad for you at regular intervals. The submitter does not “know” what membership level you have at an individual safe list so what it does is send your ad out to ALL THE SAFE LISTS in the database. (Yep, including the inactive ones.) If it is time for an individual safe list to accept your ad, it will. If not, it sends back a “not yet” signal. If the submitter was unable to log into a safe list, it sends back a “failed to login” signal. If the safe list accepted the ad, it sends back a signal and tells you how many members it then sent your email onto.

A big misconception many people have is that you belong to, say 500 lists, that every time the submitter sends out your ad it will post to 500 lists. Not so. Every list has it’s own time frame on when it will accept your ad based upon your individual membership level. And, unless you are independently wealthy, you most likely joined the lists as a free member. Each list has different rules and allow free members to post any where from daily to once a week. (Of course, if you are independently wealthy and bought Executive memberships at all 500 or so active lists, then, yes, every time the submitter sends out your ads you WOULD expect to see that it posted with no problem…lol.)

Common Report Items and Their Remedy:
Validate your email: this means, for what ever reason, the email from the list hasn’t been validated yet. Those validation emails don’t always get out and into your inbox right away, so some times Mr V comes and goes and then misses the email. If there are a LOT OF THEM, just send in Mr V again. MAKE SURE YOU DON’T DELETE YOUR EMAILS BEFORE VALIDATIONS ARE COMPLETE. If, days and many mailbox cleanings later you find you still have some “validate email” messages, click on the list link right on the report, go to the list and request another validation letter be sent to you. Once you get it, you can hand validate it.

Failed to login: usually this refers to the inactive lists. As mentioned earlier, lists have a life of their own. Sometimes they are on line, sometimes not. Sometimes the servers fail to communicate with one another. It is common and not surprising to see a couple hundred of those little messages in your report. Remember, the submitter tries to communicate with every list loaded in the database. No remedy. This is part of what goes on in every submitter on the planet.

Account Inactive: this means your account has been placed on hold for some reason. Could have been a “failure to communicate” between servers that caused this. Could have been your mailbox was full. Could be the list itself was inactive. Remedy: go to “Joined Safelists” and push the “vacation off” icon. The submitter will communicate with the lists and then report back if it turned your vacation setting off or not.

Not a member: go to “Available Lists” and run the auto join. Note: occasionally you will see “bad option “free” membership”. This means that list is offering upgraded memberships. After you run free, run Pro, then Premium and then Executive. Some times lists offer upgraded memberships at no cost as a way to boost membership. Make sure you have your box cleaners turned off so you will receive (and keep) those validation emails. Depending on how many new lists you joined you may decide to ask Mr V to go in and validate or just hand validate them as they come in.

The main point of a submitter is that it AUTOMATES your submissions so you do not have to 1. Hand post your ads to hundreds of lists 2. Keep a complicated schedule and calendar as to what list you can post to when and 3. Frees up your time to do other things (like sleep).
Links:

XtreamNet Marketing Center: http://xtreamsubmitter.safelisthosting.us/
Just4uu No Bounce $1 email: http://www.just4uu.com/XtreamNet/html/account.html
THE VALIDATOR (Mr V): http://www.impressions-hosting.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/a-19