Internet Marketing Tips - A Recommendation For ListDotCom... Or Not.

Because I am a person who has had to be concerned about finding the least expensive ways of building online businesses, and because I've always been interested in passing along information on effective resources at little or no cost, I'm always on the lookout for what really works.

There are a number of websites, products and services that claim to help new marketers with business building. One of those is Mike Filsaime's ListDotCom.

In a nutshell, ListDotCom is a giant email list for marketers who have not yet built lists of their own or have had difficulty in building a substantial list. ListDotCom provides a means for having a list to whom products and services may be marketed.

Advertising to the members of ListDotCom is free or nearly free. In return, all members agree to be included on its email list to receive messages and offers from other members. A good deal for all concerned right?

I have been a member of ListDotCom for about a year, having received it as a bonus for purchasing a particular product. But in the last couple months, I have seriously considered unsubscribing. One reason is that the messages just aren't of interest to me. The majority seem geared toward new and less experienced marketers. Another reason for considering unsubscribing is that the volume of email I now receive from List.com has greatly increased recently. With each new day, I'm receiving more and more sales messages, and rather than offering information or services and products I might really be interested in, they just seem increasingly "spammy".

From a marketer's perspective, I also think that the list is losing its effectiveness for anyone using it to distribute their promotional messages. Because ListDotCom is hell-bent on branding itself, all of the messages it sends are branded with ListDotCcom's name. So, when the recipient of any of the email messages from ListDotCom views the message's "sender", it is always shown as ListDotCom (rather than the individual sender). While that's a great for ListDotCom's branding (otherwise, why would they do it), it certainly creates a bit of a disadvantage for the marketer actually sending the message.

The reason? When I open my email box and see that two-thirds of my messages are from ListDotCom, I tend to indiscriminately hit the "delete" button. And the thing is, I may very well be missing a message that I would otherwise be interested in, but because it's another "ListDotCom message" I'm much more inclined to delete it without ever reading it.

So, if you're an entrepreneur looking for ways to get your message out to a larger audience, is ListDotCom worth your time and effort? On one hand the answer may be "yes". It's a legitimate list and I think a responsive one, much more preferable to using safelists (which have not worked for anyone I know) or huge email blasts. However, due to the current level of messages they're distributing, it's likely that the responsiveness from ListDotCom's list may soon be compromised because people won't be opening the messages.

If you're using ListDotCom, you should only be doing so as a temporary measure, while you diligently work to build your own list. In the long run, that's what's to your best advantage.