Hi Everyone,
I use classified advertising --- A LOT.
It works very well for me; I enjoy writing adcopy and finding out what works, and what don't.
I really enjoy sending out "Welcome Aboard" eMails for new Its Your Net and GoGreen affiliates who have signed up on my free IYN website. It allows me to send them to this blog (among other things), bring them up-to-the-minute on what's what's going on for we affiliates, and helps guide new affiliates on where to look, what to look for and that they can always ask me for help (and get it!).
That stuff I love. What follows below? Well, not so much.
There's a piece of software out there that targets product sales and business opportunity advertising, and AUTOMATICALLY sends out their sales message and puts it in your Inbox, where you've been waiting patiently for those truly interested in your product, service or opportunity to reply.
Such a message in your Inbox is not just technically SPAM; It IS SPAM.
You posted a legitimate ad to a classified website, seeking interested responses, only to find your Inbox littered and polluted with unwelcome, unsolicited eMail pitches. SPAM by any definition, save for that tasty meat by-product they love to eat in Hawaii. I believe Cary Grant sold it as "WHAM!" ("If you ain't eating WHAM!, you ain't eating HAM!") in "Mr. Blandings Builds a Home".
That's the "old school" SPAM. Some people seem to like that stuff that passes for food, but SPAMMING? I'd rather pet a rattlesnake than deal with SPAMMERS, but getting angry with an Internet sociopath gets you No-Where.
With this new piece of software they are using, they may not think of themselves as spammers, so it is incumbent on us to gently educate them, before we blow them out of our Inbox and sic the Federales on them...
Sometimes they (the "Spammalators") send a nice form letter, personalized with your name (if your ad included it), asking questions that seem innocent enough (e.g., how long have you been in the business, tell me more, provide details, et cetera).
A few "Spamazoids" will even offer up a few of your keywords and catch-phrases from your ad, still asking the same questions, but attempting to make you believe they've paid attention to your ad.
Then you notice they've transitioned AWAY from your ad and attempted to link your business to their "Spamalicious" business, to give you a reason to sign-up with them.
You kinda see where this is going...
Other "Spamholes" are so brazen, they completely blow past responding to your advertisement and begin hawking their offer. All they ever wanted was a path to you Inbox, and of course, with most classified ad sites, they get that pathway.
This has probably happened to you before, and you maybe have simply deleted the message, thinking, "What else can I do?"
Glad I asked.
First, try to give everyone a chance to do the right thing and look legitimately at your offering, so:
Don't EVER delete their eMail.
Attempt to send an informational response, similar to the one I use below; personalize it if you have a name from the eMail. Your response gives them the means to redeem themselves and take action on your sales or business opportunity pitch, but also (very politely) tells them that you have no time to receive their pitch, and that their pitch is UNWELCOME.
Remember, these people were responding to your ad on the Internet. Ads are not crafted and generated to receive another ad in response.
Load your reply onto the eMail they sent you, and hit "SEND".
If your response BOUNCES, mark ALL eMail from that source (and there are likely to be multiple eMails from this source to your different ads) as SPAM. Once again, mark it is "SPAM" with your eMail service, and future eMails from that source should disappear from your Inbox in the future.
On the other hand, if your eMail response is SENT and does not bounce, the recipient may take heart and respond to YOUR OFFER; you should always give people that chance. Remember, your response to them has already (and very politely) indicated that you don't have time to listen to their pitch, and that SPAMMING is unwelcome.
You've said your PEACE.
Look for their response over the next few days. Maybe you get lucky and they sign-up, because they've "seen the light" and love your offer.
If they continue to send SPAM your way, mark all their new eMails as SPAM, and continue to do so until you no longer see them in your Inbox.
You no longer have to be frustrated by these people, and they're not all bad. Don't get angry; give them a chance to do the right thing; if that don't work, mark it as SPAM.
Feel free to use the letter below and customize it to your needs.
Regards,
Kev
This is similar to the eMail I send to potential or suspected spammers:
Hello,
I apologize in advance for my brevity and curtness. Been doing this for 19 months, spending in excess of 80 hours per week chasing my vision of the American dream.
Go to the sites. Join for free, although I recommend participation in the Premium Affiliate programs, which provide co-op advertising, that literally pushes the lion's share of corporate's buying traffic through your free website, a HUGE "bank" for the buck. I am myself an Executive Affiliate.
Even without Premium Affiliate status, you will enjoy a free website, backoffice, and marketing promotions provided by corporate, plus everything I can show you; I've developed a one-of-a-kind advertising technique that I have called "The Snowball Effect", that does exactly that; it makes your advertising efforts literally SNOWBALL. Only my fellow affiliates who've joined me get specific instructions on how "The Snowball Effect" works, AND IT WORKS, and is the PRIMARY reason I have remained so busy and productive over the past 6 to 8 months.
Sorry, I'm just too busy to take any pitches, so if there's a pitch involved, please don't take offense, but it would be an unwelcome tactic I've never needed to employ.
On the other hand, if there's no pitch, you certainly are most welcome to join us and receive amazing insights and support on the most game-changing technologies and services, bar NONE, on the planet. Read my blog (link provided below) and you may get a sense of what I'm talking about.
If you haven't joined for free at http://www.WiFidelityT1.com or http://www.WindZap.com and gotten ALL the info available in your virtual office, then there's no way to objectively understand what's coming, and time is so precious that one-on-one enlightenment is reserved only for those already inside, and not for those merely kicking the tires...
You're also welcome to visit my blog at http://www.WiFidelityT1.blogspot.com . For the past 18 months, I'd been posting updates on Constant Contact, but this blog posts faster, easier and the price is right: Free!
Hope this helps. The answers are there; the price for discovery is right: FREE!
Only you can decide if this is your future. It is, for me.
Kind Regards,
Kevin
http://www.WifidelityT1.com
http://www.WindZap.com
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So, there! I'm done, and said what needed to be said. Maybe this helps you, too. ---Kev
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