Steve Shapiro

I feel that correct spelling and grammar are very important in making a good impression on people who don't know you. I understand that English may not be someone's first language, but if they are going to try to market a product or service, they should do their best to make a good impression on English speaking readers, who make up the largest percentage of buyers.

The issue isn't so much "free traffic" but free traffic that converts. That seems to be the biggest challenge. The best advice I could give is to be creative, think outside of the box. Go beyond the traditional methods that everyone uses. There has to be some great new idea that will convert better than anything else. Maybe you can be the one to discover that method if you put your mind to it.

I've found that one viral mailer/safelist is pretty much the same as another when it comes to any positive results from their use. If you sell anything from using these sites to advertise, it's pretty much just pure luck. The problem is that even though people will click on the link in your ad, they're just doing it to get the credits. They don't actually bother to read what you're saying. It's all a numbers game though and you probably will stumble into a few sales if you send out enough emails through these mailer programs and the site that you're sending people to is appealing on some level or is selling something that people are actually interested in. But the big question is whether any return you get is worth the effort (and possible out of pocket cost) that you're putting in.

When are people going to learn their lesson? If it sounds too good to be true, then it almost always IS. When you find the rare case when it may not be a deceptive scam, please let me know. In the meantime, please throw YOUR money away, rather than encourage me to throw MINE away. Not just money, but time. How many hours were spent surfing to the point where you thought you could withdraw $150?

"most people quit before they give it enough time to work" Very true, but the question is "How much time is ENOUGH time"? People want instant gratification nowadays, Short of that, they at least want to see progress. Some sign that what they're doing is working is essential to keeping the motivation to maintain the marketing effort. It may be only a few upgrades or sales the first month....maybe a few more the 2nd month....but SOME sign of progress. What happens far too often, from my experience, is that the program you're promoting tanks before you can ever build up a profitable business with it. Or maybe it just stagnates. Once people start dropping out, it becomes a snowball effect. So, how much time is enough time kind of depends on what it is that you're promoting and how that business is doing in general, aside from your own efforts.

Maryanne Myers......No disrespect meant to you or the owner of this forum, but if you try to use a safelist on a CPA offer they will consider any clicks you get as "garbage" traffic and likely not pay you for them.

The fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter how good your ad is if nobody reads it. Sites like Herculist are a total ripoff in that the people who receive their emails are the same ones who are sending them....therefore regard them as spam and never open them. It's the same as any safelist. Any sales you make from these sites are by pure luck. You certainly cannot build a business around them.

I'm a big believer in the "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" philosophy. So, if your methods are working to your satisfaction, that's all that matters.

I don't necessarily think it will help sell a product or service that the viewer simply isn't interested in, but I think it will make people pay more attention to your sales page, which in turn could indirectly lead to sales. I think it must help, in general. How many news shows have you seen on TV where the lead anchor wasn't an attractive man or woman? Even down to the field reporter level, they're all pleasing to the eye.

Some people may have a valid reason for not wanting their picture out there. Then again, there's nothing to stop them from posting "any" picture and claiming it to be a current version of themselves. Of course, it does help to present an image of the person that you can relate to, whether it's an accurate image or not. I don't think it's unrealistic to say that I'd be more likely to join a person in a business who I could match their words to a face.

Since the great majority of recipients of TE or safelist emails won't ever read what you are sending, I don't think it really makes a difference whether you include the first name or not. I'll include it, just because I think it looks better, but I don't think it will help you make any sales. People will click the link for credits and the website that you send them to will have to do the selling for you.

Considering Payza's rather checkered history itself (putting it mildly), I would be very wary of them too when it comes to freezing or limiting accounts. But I agree with the poster who says that building a business by earning $.01 at a time is really not how you want to do it.

Sites that give you little information as to what they're really offering seem to be trying to get you on their mailing list primarily. They make their landing page just intriguing enough to pique your curiosity and give them your email address. or to sign up for free. I have to laugh when they advertise "Free to Join". Everything is "free to join" but not free to actually get anything worthwhile out of it. People sign up to these sites because they're curious enough to find out more. As to whether these people are actually good leads or not depends on what they're actually looking for. If they're just initially clicking on a safelist ad to get credits, chances are that they are a waste of time. But you never know. It's all a numbers game. You may get some real signups and upgrades from this group of people, but in my experience, the referrals who may really be worth something significant to you are probably not surfing through traffic exchanges or safelists.

There is no motivation like success. A few sales will go a long way toward keeping a person motivated. If you go day after day, spending hours each day promoting and have very little or nothing to show for it, its hard to stay motivated indefinitely. I'm not talking about "instant riches" or being at the top of the leaderboard. I'm speaking of incremental progress....just something that shows that your hard work has not been for nothing.

I'm dead wrong about what? I said that I don't see any difference in the quality of the members between free safelists and paid safelists. I never said that people who only join free safelists will never spend any money. I just said that people who have no intention of spending money won't join the paid safelists, because they don't want to pay to join.