Spam Free Marketing

I received an email the other day from a work at home mom who recently started a small publishing company. She wanted to start selling advertising to other WAHM businesses but was concerned about bulk emailing them... with good reason.

Spam is the four-letter word that most offends those of us working online. Everyone with a website receives it and like bad art, we all know it when we see it. But also -like art- in a way, spam is in the eye of the beholder. I have participated in discussions that disintegrated because each member had his or her own definition of spam and was angry at those who disagreed.

In the offline world, it is perfectly acceptable to cold-call or snail mail a business to tell them about a product or service you offer. When I worked in an office environment, I took such calls all the time. Often, I said 'no thank you' and that was the end of it. But every once in a while, the call came in at just the time I was searching for such an item - and a sale would be made.

Of course, the power and low-cost of email make this an inexact comparison. So what do you do when you have a product or service that you *know* your target market *needs* -- and you want to use the power of the Internet to let them know about it?

THE PERSONAL APPROACH

The keywords are 'target market.' Find out who they are by doing an Internet search to find them. Check out sites which include directories of businesses in your target market. Then, visit those sites - and send their owners a *personal* email pitching your product. Be sure to use their *names* and comment on something you learn about their businesses from their sites. If they offer newsletters, sign up for them and comment upon something you read there. This establishes a prior business relationship and is not considered spam by *most* people.

However, even this personal approach will offend *some* webmasters, and it will cost you a lot of time relative to the number of people you reach. A more efficient means of getting your message out would be to join discussion groups geared to your audience and announce your product there.

ONLINE NETWORKING THROUGH DISCUSSION LISTS

But message boards and discussion lists have their own spam issues. When joining a list, you must read their guidelines and follow them. Sending out a blatant advertisement to the members of a discussion list will not be tolerated - but you are welcome to describe your business where it is *appropriate* (i.e., someone asks where they can find a product just like yours and you announce that you just happen to sell that).

You are also allowed to put information in your sig line that directs people to your website - so whenever you contribute to the discussion, you have an opportunity to promote your business.

When you join, sit back for a couple of days and follow the conversation so you can get a feel for the tone of the discussion, the people involved and what is customary among them. Then, introduce yourself as a new member (which also give you an opportunity to bring up the subject of your business, website, product - within the guidelines they set when you join).

An added benefit to marketing through discussion groups is the fact that you will build new relationships with other business people that can lead to joint ventures, assistance and even friendship. In the offline world, it is similar to being part of a chamber of commerce or other networking group and it works just as well on the web.

At the ParentPreneur Club, we have our own discussion group, PPC Advisory, where members brainstorm the issues they face as work at home parents. To join, email mailto:ppca-subscribe@topica.com .

Here are more of my favorite groups targeted to work at home parents. You'll find others specific to your needs by searching for them at http://www.yahoogroups.com and http://www.topica.com

mailto:clubmom-affiliates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com This group is made up of members of the Club Mom affiliate program. All members have websites with mom-related content and products, which makes them ideal partners for the Club Mom membership program. You must be an affiliate of Club Mom to be a member of this list.

mailto:DirectSelling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com For direct sales consultants who exchange ideas and suggestions on building a client base, fund raising, recruiting, booking, inspiration, motivation, party games, contests, merchandising, holiday ideas and more.

mailto:EP-subscribe@yahoogroups.com This is a function of the Entrepreneurial Parents (http://www.en-parent.com ) website. A forum for Entrepreneurial Parents (EPs) to connect directly with each other, discussing topics ranging from balancing work and family under one roof, to sharing practical business tips, to collective brainstorming, to supporting each other in responsible parenthood.

mailto:themompack-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The MomPack (TM) is a cooperative, not-for-profit organization, founded by working moms, run by working moms and for working moms to exchange business information amongst each other to help promote and advertise each other's businesses on and offline.

DON'T FORGET THE SEARCH ENGINES!

Do not overlook the value of getting your site listed in search engines, which will bring prospective customers to *you*. There are still many engines that will list your site for free. If you plan to do this yourself, walk do not run to http://www.jimtools.com . Jim Wilson carries one of the most complete free site submission resources we have seen.

Merle at http://www.mcpromotions.com also has a wealth of resources at her site. She specializes in promoting websites and handles our monthly search engine submissions for the ParentPreneur Club. Her prices are very reasonable.

GET PUBLICITY

Press releases should be part of your marketing plan, as well. There is nothing so cost effective as having your business mentioned in an offline publication or other medium. One newspaper article could result in dozens of leads for your business.
Karon Thackston has put together a free email course on how to write effective
press releases. To receive it, send a blank email to mailto:pressrelease@zipresponse.com Karon can also handle your PR needs. http://www.ktamarketing.com

Another interesting offer comes from JeriLynn Thomas of the Womens News Bureau. Jerilynn is offering a PR Boot Camp tailored to the needs of female entrepreneurs. Check it out at http://www.womensnewsbureau.com/prbootcamp.htm

EZINE ADVERTISING

Finally, there will come a time when you will need to pay for some advertising. Ezines that go out to your target audience give you a big bang for your advertising buck - your cost per thousand (CPM) is generally way less than what you could expect to pay in other media. Most sites that publish an ezine carry an advertising page.

We could devote several more articles to the particulars of writing ads and creating marketing campaigns. The one thing you need to keep in mind is that writing advertising copy is not an exact science. No one can guarantee how your audience will respond to an ad, no matter how well you think it turned out. The big marketers always test ads first and we suggest you do. You can buy ezine ads at deep discounts at http://www.ezineadauction.com (another site run by Merle of MCPromotions). We use it ourselves to sell remnant space in our ezines and have bought ads in other newsletters at a fraction of their published rates. This is a great resource for anyone who needs to advertise their businesses.

As you can see, there are lots of low-cost options for promoting your business online that do not entail bulk email. They're easy to implement and are proven to work... try them and see!

--------------------

Donna Schwartz Mills is the work-at-home parent behind the ParentPreneur Club
http://parentpreneurclub.com/cgi-bin/art/pl.cgi?sp Find out how we're getting healthy while earning a healthy living at home - http://www.unitoday.net/socalmom .

Spam: Poison Pill

A common way for spammers to create their vast lists of email addresses is to cull web pages for "mailto:" tags. There are many different programs, available for small to huge costs, which will do this automatically, easily and efficiently.

I monitor my web site log files on a regular basis, and I'm always amazed at the vast numbers of spam harvesting programs that regularly scan my pages. Not only do these obnoxious things steal email addresses, they use bandwidth which I pay for without any kind of compensation. I put up my web pages for people to read not for some scumbag spammer to scan them.

There are many ways to combat the spammer. None of these methods are perfect. As in any war, both sides are continually developing new weapons to use against the other. New methods work for a short time until the enemy comes up with countermeasures and overcomes the weapon.

One of the more effective ways to confuse the spammer (not hard because they don't tend to be very bright) is the "poison pill" defense. This consists of handing the spam harvesting robots some pages which appear juicy, full of yummy email addresses ripe for the picking.

The email address on these pages are fake. They have nothing to do with reality and exist only to choke the spam robots, causing them to overflow and possibly even crash.

Here's how a typical poison pill works. A script is created which performs all of these tasks. It is important that the scripting be done on the server, so CGI, ASP, PHP or a similar scripting language must be used. Server side scripting must be used because many spam robots are not smart enough to understand client-side scripting languages such as JavaScript.

The script creates a page which appears in all ways to be a normal document in a web site. The page may include some text informing human visitors of the intention (this is important so any people who see the page are not confused).

It also needs to include a meta tag informing all robots not to index the page. This is critical, as you do not want robots such as googlebot or scooter (the spiders for Google and Altavista, respectively) seeing this stuff. Don't worry, spam harvesters ignore these meta tags.

The script gives the page a name, usually randomly picked from a database or made up somehow, and fills it with a few dozen (at the most) email addresses. These email addresses are cleverly created to appear perfectly valid but actually are useless - they are just made up.

Links to other fake pages are created for the spam harvester to follow. Any robot (or human being, for that matter) that follow these links will find similar pages, full of desirable email addresses.

Depending upon the robot, it's possible the spammer could gather tens of thousands of totally fake, unusable email addresses before his robot blows itself out of the water. It's even better if the robot survives, as the spammer now wastes his time sending messages to nonexistent email addresses.

In the meantime, the harvester has been lured away from valid pages which may or may not contain email addresses.

My site, Internet Tips and Secrets, uses one of these poison pills. It is called wpoison and it really works well. If you want to see it, look at this page.

http://www.internet-tips.net/cgi-bin/guestlist.pl

If you want to get a copy for yourself, check out the wpoison page.

http://www.monkeys.com/wpoison/

This is just another weapon in the war against spam.

Is it effective?

I know from personal experience that it does trap spam robots, and it does seem to lure them away from real, useful email addresses.

Is it ethical?

I believe so, as long as you are careful to include the meta tags to inform "good" robots to leave the pages alone as well as some text to let your visitors know what's going on.

It's not as satisfying as spamcop.net, and there is no where near that pleasant glow of success upon learning that some scum spammer has had his ISP cancel his account, but the poison pill is useful nonetheless. My advice is to include it in your arsenal along with the other weapons and tools at your disposal.

To see a list of article available for reprint, you can send an email to: mailto:article-list@internet-tips.net?subject=send_article_list or visit
http://internet-tips.net/requestarticles.htm

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets athttp://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to readover 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.

Tired of Bogus Spam Complaints? United We Stand ....June Campbell

If you are distributing material to an opt-in email list, you need to know about a fledgling, grassroots organization called e-Crucible. The organization is committed to "opposing by any ethical, political, and legal means available the vigilante activities of "anti-Spam" fanatics and the unfair and unjust handling of 'Spam' complaints by certain Internet Service Providers."

According to the Executive Director, John Botscharow, e-Crucibles is in the process of acquiring non-profit status so it can exist as a legal entity.

But first, a little background.

As an online publisher, you already know what I mean by bogus spam reports. Either in error or with mischievous intent, a subscriber decides your ezine is spam. Quicker than you can say, "Hey, you subscribed!", s/he sends hostile, rude and often abusive emails to every web site or email address listed in your ezine. In some cases, the complainant includes a worm or virus with the email for added impact. Or maybe s/he reports you to SpamCop, CAUSE or a similar vigilante group.

The bad stuff hits the fan. You're deemed guilty and there is no wayto prove your innocence. Without contacting you, SpamCop emails your ISP, your web host, your advertisers and even the writers whose articles you have published. At best, you spend the next few days explaining and pleading your innocence to the people involved. At worst, your website host and your ISP shut you down. Your business is interrupted until you can make other arrangements. If you live in an area of the world where you have only one ISP available, this can mean the end of your Internet business.

This story is but one example of many. Frank Garon is a webmaster who publishes an opt-in ezine with a subscriber base of 12,000 (http://www.InternetCashPlanet.com). His ezine contains clear unsubscribe instructions. Sometime in April, 2001, a subscriber allegedly sent the entire ezine to SpamCop with the instructions to "shut down this American *&%^ spammer."

Garon reported that SpamCop contacted every email address and web host address contained in the ezine. One victim was a writer whose article had been published in the 'zine. She had the usual resource box at the end of her article, including a link to her site. The writer's email account was shut down, and at last report, her web site was in jeopardy. Remember that this writer did not send a single email. Common sense dictates that she could not possibly have been guilty of spam.

Garon and the writer sent an appeal to SpamCop. The response from SpamCop's "deputy" included the following:"..."If the admin of this ezine would like to pursue punitive action against the SpamCop user for filing a false complaint, we will need to see proof of opt-in confirmation. Otherwise, we will simply consider this matter closed..."

Now here's the kicker. SpamCop did not reveal the name and email address of the complainant. Without identification, how can Garon prove that the subscriber had opted-in? Worse, without the email address, how can Garon remove the subscriber from his list? What's to stop the same subscriber from filing the same complaint repeatedly? Again, it defies common sense.

As Garon wrote, 'To have to spend every day wondering if TODAY is the day some creep is going to falsely accuse you of Spam and cost you and your entire family everything you have put years of hard work into is MORE than a little scary."

To make the story even more bizarre, e-Crucible members state that they have reported real spammers to SpamCop with no results.

If you're an email publisher, the shark attacks come from three sources: odious subscribers, vigilante organizations and ISPs and web hosts who shut you down without giving you a chance to defend yourself. As an individual, you can do little to change the situation.

Please consider signing up for the free e-Crucibles mailing list and help strengthen this little organization with the big goals. Sign up at http://www.topica.com/lists/e-Crucible/ or send email to mailto:e-Crucible-subscribe@topica.com

Please note: e-Crucible is NOT pro-spam. They are opposed to spurious spam complaints that put legitimate marketers in jeopardy.

Visit June Campbell on the web for articles, a FREE ebook, or for guides to writing business plans, business proposals, joint venture contracts and more. http://www.nightcats.com

Anti Spam Fanatics ARE RUINING YOUR Business!

Many marketers online are seriously doubting that "Anti-
Spam Fanatics" are ruining thier businesses. I have a
bit of news for you, IF YOU currently hold that "mindset",
it is time for a rude awakening! Not only are they killing
newsletters and ezines with a variety of filtering software
programs, they're also black listing domains, ISP's and
web hosts.

Don't think so you say? Check out a few of these sites:
http://mailwww.cern.ch/spam/SpamDomains.html or
http://www.spamhaus.org or this http://mail-abuse.org/
Better yet, go to a search engine type in "Spam Filters"
you will be amazed at how many listings there are. Now
what exactly do these sites do?

They collect Domain, Hosting and ISP information and
BLACKLIST it. For instance, if a domain, ISP or hosting
company has a lot of "spammers" as clients, they'll then
put that company on a "Blacklist". So that ANY person
(guilty or innocent) using that ISP, Domain or Web Host
can NOT send any email what so ever to certain parties.

Now incase you didn't get that, I'll explain it in a simpler
form. Let's say you own domain @xyz.com and you are
trying to send an email to @abc.com, BUT @abc.com
uses M.A.P.S ( http://mail-abuse.org/ ) to block out any
"spammers" from reaching their clients. Now, let's say
your Web Host had a few "spammers" on their servers
at one point, guess what? You will NOT be able to send
any email to @abc.com!

Did everyone get that? Even if YOU are innocent, YOU
are really GUILTY, because of some MORON'S idiocy!
YOU are NOW going to pay the price for "anyone" who
spammed from your ISP (the bigger they are, the more
chance of that happening). Anyone who spammed from
your Web Host. And if anyone owned @xyz.com before
you did, you also get to "pay the piper" for their actions.

If you use a third party service to mail out your ezine or
newsletter and their company is blacklisted, well guess
what? Some people just won't be receiving it anymore!
I actually found that out, when I used a well known third
party ezine delivery service. And upon consulting them
about this, I ended up cancelling my account due to the
lack of company concern about the situation.

Thinking about registering that domain name? Or are
you going to jump on some fantastic web hosting deal?
Or are you contemplating switching ISP's for a better
rate? Or considering using a Third Party Service for
mailing out your ezine? Better think again and do your
history on them all, because the Anti-Spam Fanatics
ARE making business online a Living NIGHTMARE!

If you have been falsely accused of spamming or are
now being blocked because of it, you CAN fight back!
Go to: http://www.e-crucible.org and file your complaint,
as there is a pending lawsuit against "Anti-Spammers",
ISP's and hosts that utilize these programs.

Laurie Rogers is co-author of the Ezine Resource Guide, you
can check it out at: http://www.zineadz.com/erg.html She
is the owner of Optin Frenzy a list building program for ezine
publishers http://www.optinfrenzy.com You can also obtain
Laurie's articles at: mailto:ezinearticles@optinfrenzy.com

Finding an Acceptable Solution to Conquer Spam Email

When e-mailing first became popular during the early 1990s, it was seen by many as a quick, convenient and easy way to send a message or image to friends and acquaintances. After all, this is what it was intended to do. On the up side, it eliminated trips to the post office and stationery store. Unfortunately, there was also a down side -it was easily exploited by some as a cheap, simple way to send unsolicited advertisements to lots and lots of people.

Since 1994, the sending of unwanted, unsolicited e-mail, otherwise known as spam (a term borrowed from an old Monty Python satire) has escalated exponentially. Some professional spammers send as many as ten million messages daily. But even if only one in 10,000 people respond, spam can obviously be profitable - otherwise, no one would bother to send it.

For those such as authors, who legitimately want to put their
articles into the hands of publishers, there are services such
as the phantom writers (http://www.thephantomwriters.com), who
send to their lists of thousands of sources. However, this is
all opt-in and perfectly appropriate. And in most cases, services
such as this actually deliver their email to double opt-in lists.

One British spam tracking service, Spamhaus, estimates that more
than 80% of all e-mails sent in the U.S. are spam, and in Europe,
the number exceeds 50%. This is expensive, costing billions of
dollars in lost business and taking up computing capacity that
spammers use for free. In addition, computer security is
compromised.

This has long been recognized as a critical problem, and a
variety of solutions have been proposed. It has been suggested
that perhaps there should be a small charge for sending and/or
receiving e-mail to cut down on traffic The problem with that
suggestion is that the spammers won't end up paying, but instead
will post using a fraudulent account.

The U.S. Government even came up with its own bright solution
to create a "do not spam" list, modeled on the "do not call"
registry that has been so successful. The problem there is that
this isn't going to stop spammers, many of whom are located
outside the U.S. It will simply confirm live e-mail addresses,
providing more incentive to send the stuff. This suggestion
was quickly scrapped.

Currently, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and AOL are working to find
an acceptable solution. It's going to be a very difficult task
and may take a lot of compromise among these companies. However,
from this vantage point, it looks as though whatever is proposed,
the spammers are going to be one step ahead.
Rosalyn Bronstein, for more than 20 years an author and
consultant, has been an advisor to numerous multinational
corporations and international organizations. Understanding
the value of maintaining relationships, http://www.ntouchnrat.com
was created. It's a unique and secure way to never lose touch
again with the people who have brought meaning to you life,
without having to use e-mail.