Laura James

One of the most common aspects of my job involves discussions with others about business promotion methods. A prospective client brought up her involvement with what are called “safelists.” If you are not familiar with this term, safelists contain the e-mail addresses of people who have agreed to receive messages from other members involved in the same safelist. If you’re a member of a safelist, you are allowed to e-mail other members information about your website, blog, promotion, and so on. Please note that some safelists are free, while others will require that you pay a fee to join. It is important to keep in mind that other members of a safelist are typically only involved because they want to recruit you for their businesses. Chances are slim that anyone you send a message to will actually read it, or be interested in the content.

Those who have achieved at least partial success using safelists generally favour them for the following reasons:

1. It’s an effective way to test your product, service, or advertisement among all subscribers who are part of the safelist.

2. Some safelists allow you to track your advertising campaigns. Once you have determined which advertisements are successful, you may then continue using them within other business promotion methods.

3. Safelists provide low cost marketing to thousands of people. Plus, all subscribers have opted in, so there is not a worry about being penalized for spam.

With all of this said, however, it is important to note that many people who have tried safelists are not fond of this type of system. Most will say the only thing safelists will do is crowd your e-bail inbox with numerous, and worthless, offers.

I have never subscribed to a safelist, nor has any staff member of my company. In order to learn more, I asked questions of those who favour safelists and those who do not. I also did some of my own research. Overall, most of the feedback I received has been negative. To be fair, some people actually are successful with safelist promotions. This group primarily includes highly skilled advertising text writers and strategists who already have some type of online marketing following. As someone who prides herself on having a keen business sense, I would respectfully recommend that you avoid using safelists. If you have direct experience with safelists, please let us know whether you would recommend them…why or why not? Thank you.

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The author of this article, Laura James, is the Chief Executive Officer of Best Designed Blogs. This company provides complete online business solutions.

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