It’s no secret that I dislike lists, and no I’m not talking about a shopping list either. Nope, the lists that get my goat are those ones that you always come across on the Internet where you have to supply your details in order to get some crappy Ebook or something.
What I didn’t know the first time I gave my details to one of these sites was that I was inadvertently giving them permission to add me to their email list. That in itself didn’t seem so bad until I started to get all these emails trying to encourage me to invest in the REAL Ebook, the first one being just a teaser, some affiliate or some other scheme they’re promoting.
You know it was ages before I found out that you could unsubscribe from these things 
I know stupid right? But heck they place those things way, way down at the bottom of the email and there is a whole lot of blank space between the end of the email and that unsubscribe link. :furious_tb: 
Image by the Italian voice via Flickr
It wasn’t until after I had a conversation with Kimberly on her New Comment Policy post that I decided to start my own list. You can see the link in the top of the sidebar, the one that says Sign up to be notified of new posts. I don’t expect too many people to sign up for it, especially as I’m not going to promote it or anything, but it’s there just so I can say I’m part of the ‘list’ gang. 
So, what can you expect from joining my list? Well one thing you won’t get is a whole pile of emails trying to sell you something. Nope the only time you will get an email is when I’ve posted a new post. That email will contain a link to the post with a, hopefully witty, comment by yours truly. I may once in awhile include a link to something that I’ve found to be useful, or perhaps even a joke that I’ve found particularly funny. Yes, there may be an affiliate link in there every now and I’m not going to lie to you by saying there won’t be.
In case you’re wandering I’ve decided to use the free version of MailChimp to power my list. If I ever get anyone to sign up I’ll do a post evaluating their service.
Anyway, the balls in your court now; if you feel like getting this kind of email from me just click on the link. OK, make my day, who’s going to be the first on my list.
:smile2_ee:
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Hi Sire
I have unsubscribed from so many lists! They usually do offer something for free like a report. In the early days I thought I would be learning from these list people but then got bombarded with emails for their ‘must have’ gizmo.
This past few days, my in-box has been flooded with the Christmas offers from some of these marketers. I press delete before I even open any of them.
Have been thinking of doing a newletter but not sure yet. It is a way to grow your reader list if done in a non-spammy way.
Cos you have lots of people visiting your blog, you will probably get people to sign up as they know you. You waited till you had been blogging awhile and I think that is a good way to do it.
Trust builds up and if you did recommend a product (sounds like you would have to change to AWeber) you would more likely get a positive response.
Patricia Perth Australia
Twitter: AussieSire
Aweber is out Patricia because I’m not paying $19 a month for their services. No wonder these guys have to flood your email box, if they don’t they’ll go broke :tongue_rolleye_ee:
OK, maybe they’re making too much to go broke, but I’m not that interested in having one that I’m going to fork out that amount of cash. If anything I’ll look for a simple free version.
Sire recently posted…There’s More To Helium Than Meets the Eye
Hi Patricia
One of the reasons that I don’t use a list is because they are associated so much with spam.
I have an RSS feed and email subscription via Feedburner so I’ll stick with that for the moment.
Keith Davis recently posted…Look for the Shining Eyes
Sire – I thought I was the only one that didn’t know you can unsubscribe from their email list. It took me two weeks of getting constant promotional emails until I found out I could unsubscribe.
I have never heard of mailchimp until now and I was surprised when @Ben said they didn’t allow affiliate links. Have you tried constant contact or benchmark email is a pretty good one.
Twitter: AussieSire
That’s why they stick that link so far down the bottom, they realize most people won’t scroll that far and therefore they won’t see it.
I found that a bit weird, it seems the only thing you can use them for is newsletters so I can’t see too many people upgrading from the free version.
I haven’t tried those others. I may have to look into them, thanks John.
Sire recently posted…DoFollow NoFollow War Compared To The Toilet Seat Saga
Hi Sire,
You’ve just retold my story with the email auto-responder (aka marketing funnel).
Can you imagined I’ve worked for an Internet marketer for a few months managing his email list?
Ok, about mail Chimp, if you read their term of service they don’t allow affiliate marketing. I read of cases where they’ve terminated some account because of breach of the term of service.
Ben Wan
P.S. I also hate those pop-over. I don’t want to be forced into subscribing to a list.
Ben Wan recently posted…8 Tips to Get Your Blog Comments Approved
Twitter: AussieSire
Hey Ben, reckon that will teach me not to read their term of service. That’s quite a big list of things they don’t accept.
Oh well, looks like those emails won’t be including any affiliate links then
Sire recently posted…There’s More To Helium Than Meets the Eye
Agree with you about the popovers (is that what they’re called) – hate them, they annoy me and they make a site look cheap.
Keith Davis recently posted…Public Speaking Rapport
I know quite a few using Mailchimp, although I dont, and so this line of comments about the TOS was news to me. I’ve started a thread for some additional feedback inquiring on my FB page as well http://www.facebook.com/Ask.Kim/posts/116398271761906 and we’ll see what it generates in the next 24hrs. Of course you’re really not stuck you could always export whoever signs up and add the Subscribe2 plugin and host your own list, fully in your control, right off your blog (most of the time theres no issues with that until you’re over 500 subscribers and by then then other options come into play again. We’ll see what this follow up has going on. I apologize that I may have guided you wrong mentioning them – since I dont use them – but I do know quite a few affiliate blogger types using them so I’m awfully puzzled at the moment.
Kimberly
PS: What is the plugin thats giving the link to another article in the category in your footer now? I’ve seen that before its nice, what is it?
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted…Affiliate Summit West Plus Social Media Marketing
Twitter: AussieSire
No need to apologize Kimberly, I didn’t really get it for the purpose of affiliate marketing. Besides, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have one at all. It will be interesting to see how many people will sign up.
I’ll be interested to see what replies you get from your Facebook friends though.
As for that plugin, it’s pretty neat isn’t it :cheese1_ee: it’s called ‘upPrev: NYTimes Style “Next Post” Animated Button’ and it will come up if you past that into the search box of the ‘add new plugin’ section in your dashboard.
I actually mentioned it in this post, reckon you missed that one. See, that wouldn’t happen if you were on my list
Sire recently posted…Top 5 Reasons Why No-One Is Advertising On Your Blog
Darn, that plugin and the wibiya toolbar are competing for space. I may have to talk to my friend Nile and see if she can code a little padding into it to make it move up about 20 pixels. Thanks for the name of it though! (That’s a mouthful of a name!)
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted…How to Choose a Quality PLR Provider
Twitter: AussieSire
Kimberly, you can adjust the settings so it appears somewhere else.
Sire recently posted…Top 5 Reasons Why No-One Is Advertising On Your Blog
I tried that and wasn’t thrilled with what happened when I dropped the resolution of the page (remember we have to be aware of mobile devices etc) and so I actually managed to do a very simple tweek of the code (changed a zero to a 40) and now it works :) Getting a blog post together at the moment with a link to you. TYVM!
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted…Adding Photos To The Facebook Profiles Picture Boxes
Twitter: AussieSire
I didn’t think it played with the resolution of the page Kim, it simply tells how much of the page in % a user should scroll down before it appears.
Your system my be better. You are a smart one.
Sire recently posted…DoFollow NoFollow War Compared To The Toilet Seat Saga
The plugin itself doesn’t affect the page resolution, but if you narrow your browser up snug against your content box (to imitate a low resolution browser) and have it set to display before #comments rather than after, the width of the fly-in box will lay over the right-half of the comment field. This isn’t really a huge issue, as a visitor can “x” out the fly-in, but I think we both know how annoying it can be to have to stop what we are doing (especially if we’re headed to leave a precious comment) to find an itty bitty little x button (nearly impossible on a mobile browser at times).
I probably pay more attention to this than most bloggers do because I surf blogs on my phone and so I have a good idea of what breaks (about half the tweet buttons out there) and what is frustrating (x buttons) etc for our mobile visitors. I’ve noticed in my google analytics that I get more than a few mobile visitors and so I try to keep my site as easy for them to visit as possible … heck if they love me enough to visit me from their PHONE… now thats love! and I owe it to them to keep an eye on not running them off.
Thanks Sire!
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted…What Is PLR
Twitter: AussieSire
OH :bigsurprise_ee: That makes a whole lot of sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
I subscribed to your FEED, will that get me the same info?
I prefer feed subs to email subs if the info is the same.
Rob McCance recently posted…Atlanta’s Business Environment
Twitter: AussieSire
Hey Rob, not exactly because with a feed you have to physically check your feed reader to see if I’ve written anything new. If you’ve registered to a lot of feeds and don’t check every day there’s always a chance that you can miss a post or two.
Reckon I’d have to be a really special blogger to have people go that extra step.
The emails drive me crazy. I use Google Reader and as long as I keep up I get a nice bolding of unread posts and new posts that works for me.
Rob McCance recently posted…Atlanta’s Business Environment
Twitter: AussieSire
Yeah, too many emails can be a pain, especially the junk ones. I was getting so many I had to purchase software so I could get my sanity back. I reckon I may post about that in case others may need it’s services.
Sire recently posted…Twitter Is More Fun And More Profitable When You Follow The Right People
Hey Pete!
I have a loathing for email lists simply because so many (at least 99%) of them are complete crap. I don’t know how many lists I’m on, but I do know how many I read… none!
Actually, I don’t even see them. The MUA (Mail User Agent) that I use learns what I like and don’t like and hides the rubbish from me. Of course, it helps that I told it that all mail coming from Aweber is spam. :-)
And now to do a complete flip-flop, I keep telling myself that I should have a list of my own. What stops me? I have absolutely no idea what I’d put on it. I also have no time to devote to it. It takes all of my time and energy to write 3 articles a week on my blog.
Kind regards,
Steve
Twitter: AussieSire
Aweber must love you for that one Steve
Well I reckon you could start the same sort of list that I am Steve. Who knows we may actually start a new trend, and list that promises not to spam the crap out of you.
Sire recently posted…Learning How To Use Market Samurai
It’s only me, you, and my MUA that knows, Aweber is oblivious to it. Unless of course if they read your blog. :-)
Well I think what I might do is subscribe to your list and see what you put on it. Providing you’re not using Aweber so I actually get to see it. :-)
Twitter: AussieSire
Don’t judge it on the first few Steve as it would probably take me a few shots at it before I get it all worked out.
Sire recently posted…A Blogger’s Christmas Wish- Love And Peace To All
You won my loyalty and friendship a long time before you ever decided to start your list, I’m sure I’ll will survive you finding your legs with it. You’ve nothing to fear.
You only need to be 10% better than the other lists out there for yours to be awesome. And believe me, that won’t be hard. :-)
Twitter: AussieSire
Thanks mate, that sure does put me at ease.
Exactly my dilemma too. As I still haven’t dropped the habit of researching for ways to make money online, I still bump on all these ‘the money is in the list’ blogs. Even now, I still haven’t gotten over their persuasion and thus thinks that the money is indeed in the list. However, I ask myself if I can handle the required work on research and writing. I can barely post articles on my blog as it is. And the niche to focus on is a blank wall to me. Also, I don’t want to fool everybody with every email about crap products promising to make them rich instantly. Lastly, there’s the monthly cost required to keep Aweber rich and happy.
James Moralde recently posted…2011 Year Of The Rabbit
Hi James!
I just wanted to point out one thing… A email list does not have to cost you a cent to run.
Aweber is a paid service, but they’re not the only kids on the block. The reason that you see every man and his dog promoting them is because they have an affiliate programme.
Some hosting providers will provide mailing list and newsletter list services as part of the hosting package (mine does this and there’s no limits on the number of subscribers). There’s also “MailChimp” that I know a lot use. They have a paid premium service too I think, as well as their free service.
You can even run a list completely by yourself. I did this for years before I found an affordable hosting provider (I ran everything myself on my local machine: web server, mail server, DNS, etc) and moved my life into the cloud. :-)
Twitter: AussieSire
I’m using MailChimp at the moment and I’m pretty impressed. It’s free as long as your lists under a 1000 but affiliate marketers won’t like it because it won’t allow affiliate links. I actually sent them an email about that asking to clarify a few points I wasn’t all that clear about.
I checked my host and while it does have a simple auto-responder it’s too simple for my liking.
Sire recently posted…A Blogger’s Christmas Wish- Love And Peace To All
Twitter: AussieSire
James, it may well be that the money is in the list but I for one will not try to sell any snake oil just so I can get people to sign up. I’m sure there are a lot of people who sign on just to get a product and then unsubscribe once they find out it was all crap.
That’s one hell of a way to ruin your credibility right from the get go.
Sire recently posted…A Blogger’s Christmas Wish- Love And Peace To All
Hi Sire,
I am subscribed to your feed and I actually like it that way because I use feedly which has some neat features.
But if you really want I will subscribe, although I would get almost the same info on two ways.
About lists, many people say the money are in the list. I can’t really comment on that mainly because I don’t use/have a list. But maybe the money are in the list, but only if used right, and not in a spammy way.
I like those that send useful stuff via email, how to’s, information from their niche and from time to time send some affiliate products also related.
Have a great and spam free Christmas!
Alex recently posted…Hannah Montana fotografii
Twitter: AussieSire
Hey Alex, that’s nice of you to offer mate, but I’m not going to twist your arm. If you’re happy getting the information from your feed then that’s good enough for me.
Yeah, the money is in the list alright, but I’m not interested in that particular form of marketing. I’m happy enough promoting my affiliates via my blogs. it may not make me a fortune but I sleep better at night :cheese1_ee:
Sire recently posted…Be Creative- Be Innovative- Be Positive When Blogging
Having trouble getting this reply to be with the post it belongs to but that happens sometimes surfing blogs from my phone is an interesting experience…
Anyways…
Just wanted to say that I signed up before I even took the time to comment! Unlike some in not an rss addict and definitely prefer to hear from you, any promos and all, in my inbox.
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted…Are You DisAllowing Facebook Likes On Your Profile
Twitter: AussieSire
So glad to have you on board
Sire recently posted…Procrastination And How It Can Cost You Money
I’ve been using a free “Feed My Inbox” account to bring particular feeds (or more often a certain category’s feed on a blog) to my inbox. However, they limit me to 5 feeds brought that way for free so I’m always glad when I can get my favorite blogs directly. I do like the category feeds for blogs that don’t have one niche though or even a broad topic niche. If a blog blogs about opera, blogging, tea parties, music and SEO, I tend to hesitate to subscribe to a full update list because I dont want “all” of it. (Same is true for guest blog heavy blogs, I tend to only follow the primary author’s feed). Yet I’m definitely glad to have yours in my inbox makes it easier to remember to get my booty back over here!
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted…How to Choose a Quality PLR Provider
Twitter: AussieSire
Don’t you worry none Kimberley, I promise not to fill your inbox with junk.
LMAO! Sire, I’m honestly convinced that you don’t even know how to spam! :P
I have so little fear of you spamming me that that reply was comic. We trust you.
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted…What Is PLR
I also integrate mailchimp in my blogging tips blog which is because for sake of the list only — not for the making money purpose. However, in future, I may promote it heavily if decide to make money from it. ;)
Twitter: AussieSire
Well if you do decide to make money out of it just make sure you don’t promote affiliates or anything because as Ben said above their TOS won’t allow it.
Sire recently posted…FlexSqueeze Latest Update Can Make Your Posts Rock
Of course I’m a RSS feed guy, so I’m godd with what I have. Then again, if you have a feed through Feedburner you can just add the code like I did so people can subscribe to the email feed instead. But you have to try something new here and there, eh?
Mitch recently posted…Why I May Not Comment On Your Blog
Twitter: AussieSire
Yep, that’s me always trying something new. I reckon my way would have a more personal touch than those old email feeds.
Sire recently posted…There’s More To Helium Than Meets the Eye
Personal; humph! Unless it’s coming directly from you, it’s the same thing.
Mitch recently posted…What Do You Want For Your Blog
Twitter: AussieSire
It is coming straight from me. Each one will have a personal note from yours truly.
Sire recently posted…Be Creative- Be Innovative- Be Positive When Blogging
I also hate lists, but not ALL lists, just the bad spammy type that push trash. If you can set yourself apart and give quality content they are great. Will give yours a goround.
Twitter: AussieSire
Well all you’ll get from my list is notification that I’ve just published a new post with a personal not from me. I’m hoping to make these emails a little entertaining.
Hahaha, you are totally right Sire!
One time a really long time ago I got some book from a blog and they started sending me like 5 emails a day!
Oh My God! It was so annoying because I trusted them and gave them my real email account but instead they just spammed the hell out of me!
Nice to see you again Sire!
Fernando recently posted…Do You Have The Passion To Become Rich
Twitter: AussieSire
We all learn from our mistakes Fernando. Thanks for dropping by.
Sire recently posted…There’s More To Helium Than Meets the Eye
You have to be careful what you sign up to. The only list is the milionaires list, Sire
Happy Christmas to all here!
peter
peter petterson recently posted…Information- disinformation and changing the rules
Twitter: AussieSire
You too my Kiwi mate, all the best to you and your family.
Sire recently posted…DoFollow NoFollow War Compared To The Toilet Seat Saga
Look, I am on to you (whoever you are).
In the last month or so this blog has posted that they are now going to do SEO and keyword research and now a list.
I’m not sure who is writing under Sires name but, you need to return the real Sire. We know he would never post or do the type of things you have been saying here. :nono_tb:
I think as of right now I am on 4 list. Those are 4 people that I actually deal with. Everyone gets deleted if they send 3 mails that are sales letters and nothing that is just info. If the unsubscribe doesn’t work or they have put into more than 1 of their list…I either filter it straight to trash and it never sees my inbox OR I start hitting “report as spam” on each one.
Now, I am on “list” as far as belonging to social sites or forums and do get an occasional sales or general email from that site but, it is very rare.
Sheryl recently posted…Beef Up Your Article Marketing
Twitter: AussieSire
Hey Cheryl, don’t you go wagging that finger at me woman or I’ll put it to some other use
Seriously though it is me. In regards to the keywords I just felt it was about time to do something about it and as to the lists, I just wanted to use one in a manner where I don’t piss anyone off. If anything I want people to look forward to their next email from me. :smile2_ee:
Sire recently posted…Top 5 Reasons Why No-One Is Advertising On Your Blog
Hi Sire,
I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but getResponse is having a 33% off holiday promotion at the moment.
I’ve made a table of price comparison on my blog.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted…GetResponse Autoresponder Holiday Promotion Bonus
Twitter: AussieSire
Thanks Ben, but I’m not that serious about having a list that I’m willing to pay for it.
I’m on your list Sire
Don’t think that you are the sort of guy to bombard us with spam – got you down as one of the good guys.
How about a short post on Mailchimp – I hear lots of good things about them.
Keith Davis recently posted…Fear of Public Speaking
Twitter: AussieSire
Thanks Keith and I couldn’t live with myself if I did that.
Hopefully I’ll get that post out today.
Hi Sire,
Cool post!
I think it’s neat that you are clarifying to your potential subscribers what kind of emails they will be getting from you. At least you won’t leave them hanging around about what you’re up to. You’ve just given the best ideas that every email marketer has to know in order to make their email marketing program successful.
Thumbs up for this!
Harriet
Twitter: AussieSire
Yep, and the fact that my list is slowly growing means that my method works.