My Early Safelist Marketing Returns

I'm gonna start with some facts about online marketing:

95% of those wanting to make money online never make ANY

4% make some money, but not nearly enough to live on

1% can support themselves, their families, and make an ever increasing income

In order to succeed, you MUST learn how to advertise. No 2 ways around it.

The past couple weeks I've been focusing on learning Safelists. I read various sources that all said Safelists are actually very good advertising tools, if done properly.

There was 1 main reason I never used Safelists before - TIME - Everything I saw about safelists required clicking hundreds of ads - constantly - just to send 1 of your own. I didn't like what I saw in Safelists myself and didn't concern myself with them - I just didn't use them

I was wrong - Safelists actually are delivering VERY good results for me. Not anything near PPC quality, but better than Traffic Exchanges (although I love traffic exchanges for different reasons)

I still hate spending a lot of time on anything. I really prefer automated advertising - Set it and forget it! That's what I love - But that costs money.

A couple weeks ago I went through a 3 day period with ZERO signups for my newsletter - ZERO - It was because I had to cut my PPC costs significantly. I was disgusted - Success with ALL online business is about getting NEW Prospects, constantly.

So I focused on safelist advertising - Over the past few weeks my daily signups have gone from 0 back to 5-8 every day.

I've been advertising my home website, AffiliateCurve.com.

My GOALS when I started with Safelists:

Find out if they were effective
Use them with the Least Amount of TIME requirement Possible

That really was it - I didn't want to spend a bunch of time. I don't want to click ads endlessly. I don't want to be forced to view endless ads in order to send mine.

Here is what I'm using:

Elite Safelist - The 1st safelist I joined. Ranked #1 by Traffic Hoopla at the time. I ended up taking the 3rd offer giving me 25k monthly credits for $7.50/month. That saves me HOURS of clicking.

With Elite I'm able to save my messages - So I can just go in and click "Send with Credit Mailer" - It's fast and simple -

What I really LIKE about Elite Safelist is that it takes you Directly to the advertised website. So when people click my ad, they hear my voice and see MY website (not just an email where I have to become a copyright expert)

European Safelist: Again, found on Traffic Hoopla. I ended up getting a silver mailer member here. It's $3/month and comes with 10k bonus credits. You get to send your ads once/day - Again, the credits link takes people to YOUR website

Safelister: 100k credits just by joining. Post your ads when you want. 25k members. Excellent credit rewards here for reading emails. Downside is that because we all get so many credits, less people have to read the emails. So response rates are lower - Still, for absolutely free, you get to go in and email your ad all the time. And the 100k starting credits just for joining is a huge bonus!

Million Leads for Free: Been promoting this for awhile now. Great service - Totally free, click on 10 ads daily, send YOUR ad to 5k people everyday. They have over 3 million members and they have daily log in rates of 65% - 80% - This means a LARGE % of the member base logs in daily to read and send ads. Totally free - Takes 5 min's day - You send ads to 150k people every month - FREE - Unbeatable

IPost Ad: This is something I recently found and I absolutely recommend it. IPost Ad has a 1 click system where you join 2,913 safelists - OVERNIGHT - 1 click and your a member. You get to post your ads daily to over 3 million people, through 2,900+ safelists.

They also include a website submitter - Free
You also get a banner ad rotator - FREE

IPost Ad is running a special where you get the full upgrade for only $12/month. For this amount, you get to submit ads to 2900+ safelists, daily. You get everything included with that $12/month. Over 3million people will see your ads, daily - My results have gone WAY up because of IPost Ad.

Target Pro Blaster: I've used this one for a couple years now and STILL highly recommend it. You get to send your ad to 3+ million people every day. This is a 1 time $10 fee - That's a LIFETIME membership! You also get 100% resell rights. So you earn $10 each time you sell Target Pro Blaster.

You get to send ads daily and you get 100% resell rights. Unbeatable value

Here is how I'm using these:

The safelist reviewers I read say they like to send about noon because that is often a great time for people to go check their email. Sounds good to me -

I "try" to write GOOD TITLES! This is the difference between getting clicks and not getting them!

Try to be catchy and grab attention - Take a look at what gets YOUR Attention, and why - Use different titles and see what gets more clicks.

Getting credits:

You still have to click some - What I do is this:

Update: Important Tip! READ THE SOLO ADS!!! These always carry the most credits. You usually get 3-4x the credits of regular links. By reading 1 solo, you are often getting the equivalent of reading 4-5 single ads (people know this, which is why Solo's are SO Valuable!)

I surf every night for my Ad-Ventures 4U account. While I'm surfing, I just open my "List Email" and click ads for Elite Safelist & European Safelist (sometimes safelister when i'm low on credits)

By doing this, I get 110 credits each link from Elite, 75+ from European.

Since I'm already committed to surfing Ad-Ventures 4U, I take that same time and click ads then.

It takes me about 10 min's/day to send my ads this way

It takes me about 1/2 hour/night to get credits (so I can post daily ads!)

My website hits to Affiliate Curve have gone up 50-80 visitors DAILY since I started using these. My newsletter signups went from ZERO to 5-8 daily. I also got 3 GDI signups the first 2 days I used IPost Ad.

These are NOT PPC results - But PPC costs a lot of money - For very little investment, you will see results from Safelists.

I'm not going to say these are THE BEST safelists ever. These are what I started with, and what I'm using right now.

You can do this same thing in 30-40mins/day - These are proving to be excellent, inexpensive advertising options for me

And that is a VALUABLE combination!

Here are the links again:

Elite Safelist

European Safelist

IPost Ad (my best results so far!)

Target Pro Blaster (100% resell AND daily advertising resource!)

Safelister (100k free credits when joining!)

Million Leads for Free

to YOUR Success,

Paul
AffiliateCurve

How to get MAJOR traffic from Traffic Exchanges

I am writing this blog post because I want to have a "Quick Start" to get traffic exchange success for my Traffic Exchange Profits signups.

However, this is also very applicable to ALL Traffic Exchange Users, if they want to learn how to REALLY drive Traffic with Exchanges.

UPDATE Sept 13 - I've had a few questions about how many hits I'm talking about. I'm talking about 20,000+ hits, every month - That's what I send on Traffic Exchanges - That's what I've been sending for awhile. Over the past 3 weeks (since launch my own exchange, EasyRiderHits.com, I went and bought even more credits and am on a pace to send about 30k this month)

Surfing wise I used to surf 6-8 hours each week. I would surf 9 to 10 exchanges at the same time. Using Firefox this is actually easier than it sounds - On avg, I would get 100 hits on each exchange, per hour - So a 1 hour surf session would earn me 900 to 1000 hits -

So with this math, my approximate surfing results would generate 6k - 8k hits/week -

I did spend some money also - Traffic Splash, Ilove Hits, Swat, HitSafari and a few others I have pro memberships at -

I was surfing this much when I was focused on building Traffic Exchange Profits. Over a 6 week period I got over 250 prospects into that system.

I also used this to build my own Power Traffic Email List - Got over 550 people on that list, but it took several months - *end of update :)

I want to keep this as short and informative as possible, so I will TRY to avoid going into too much detail - Fact is I could write PAGES of tips about what to promote, how to get referrals, how to earn income, what type of pages actually work on traffic exchanges, building your own list -

Short & Sweet "Trust me on this" tips -

Download Mozilla Firefox - Surf 5 exchanges at the same time with Tabbed Browsing - You will get at LEAST 5x as much done this way!

Use a ROTATOR! Enter JUST your rotator URL on ALL your exchanges. Many reasons for this, but most of all it's a huge TIMESAVER! By updating JUST your rotator, you automatically update ALL your traffic exchanges at the same time (vs. having to go into 10 different exchanges updating your websites!) I use Track That Ad - It's 100% free with zero reason to upgrade.

Use ONLY Splash Pages! Short Sweet Pages that demand an action. Do NOT promote an affiliate link or sell anything directly on an exchange. Surfers are only there to get credits to advertise THEIR websites

That's enough to start:

Traffic Exchange Profits is what I use. This is the most streamlined and effective Traffic Exchange system I have found.

It builds referrals for traffic exchanges - You earn instant income - You build residual income - It comes with TONS of EXCELLENT advertising pages - And it only costs $5 to enter and use this system

Short & Sweet Results list from TEP - 72 referrals for Traffic Splash, 42 referrals for Traffic Witch - 5 Traffic Wave signups - $285 instant income - Various other referrals for traffic exchanges because of Traffic Hoopla.

The system does all the selling - All I have to do is give away the free reports - The system does all the followup, all the explaining etc.

In my first 5 weeks with TEP I have 185 prospects - People who have signed up for the free report and are receiving the follow up letters.

Those are OUTSTANDING results from Traffic Exchanges - However, I'm not going to kid you. I send MASSIVE traffic in order to get those kind of results.

Lets get to the DIRT :)

The Best FREE Traffic Exchanges:

WebBiz Insider - Easy to earn credits, top ranked, email your downline features.

Traffic-Splash - Always top ranked, bonus credits, great promotions

EasyHits4u - Great free traffic exchange

Hit Safari - Lots of bonus credits, highly ranked exchange

HitsBooster Pro - Newer exchange, outstanding to surf

4x4 Hits - Great free exchange - Good to VARY your promotions on different exchanges also!

Now, you take 5 of those, add your rotator (only!) as your 1 website, and allocate all hits to it.

Reality Check Time: If you think you will get results from surfing 1-2 hours/week, you are way off. These are the best FREE Exchanges and you can earn enough credits to start achieving results, but you will NEED to surf - The best way to get MORE credits from your surfing is to surf longer sessions - As in, give yourself a 2 hour block of time, open up 5 exchanges, and surf them all.

Why? Because most traffic exchanges give you ESCALATING surf ratios. As in, you will often get more credit after you surf 100 pages in 1 night, vs. surfing 30 pages daily all week long.

Like Traffic Splash has a great promotion where everytime you surf 100 sites, you turn in a support ticket and get 2,500 text ad credits - FREE

So surf 2 to 3 nights/week for a couple hours each night.

How to Spend SOME Money and get MUCH Better Results!

I am a spender when it comes to traffic exchanges. I have several pro memberships and I will buy the OTO credit specials when I have some extra money. The Traffic Exchanges below are NOT worth surfing, unless you are a pro member -

I might be writing too much, but there is 1 important part that I want you to get when it comes to spending any money on Traffic Exchanges:

You don't spend money on a pro upgrade so you can advertise 30 different sites - This does nothing but DILUTE your efforts! You don't upgrade for the 700 credits/month or whatever. You don't upgrade for Banner or Text credits (although you SHOULD be using them - never buy them, but always USE them - they are FREE!) -

The only reason to pay for an upgraded membership is the Surfing Ratio - That's it - With many free exchanges, you have to surf 3 sites to get 1 hit. Those sites are NOT included in my best exchanges (aside from Traffic-Splash, but that is made up for with the bonus credits)

Yeah, even if you do spend money, you should still be surfing. But when you spend money, you get 2-3 times as many credits as free members - That's the ONLY reason to upgrade

Here are my favorite exchanges that I recommend a Pro Membership for:

Traffic-Splash - Good for free also, but the pro earns you 50% commission and a much better surfing ratio

ILoveHits - $9/month gives you at least a 1;1.25 surfing ratio. You will OFTEN be earning 1.5 hits and sometimes 2.5 hits for each site you surf

Hit2Hit - Always top ranked exchange, but don't join unless you get a pro membership. What I did was join free, then waited for a special offer. Right now I'm on a $7.50/month pro membership with 500 credits/month, but I get the 1:1 surf ratio - So take one of the special offers, or don't use it

SWAT Traffic - The sister exchange to ILoveHits - Some of the best upgrades online. 5k hits/month for $15 (special!), $9/month for 2,500 credits, 50k banners, 100k text ads (again, special one time Offer thing - otherwise pro members pay like $16/month here - not worth that much)

Traffic Witch - If you can afford the OTO, GRAB IT! Here is why - $67 for an entire year is a GREAT deal. But beyond this, you will earn 50% on all upgrades. By getting just 1 upgraded referral, you earn $50 INSTANTLY! Nearly paying for your entire year membership! If your using TEP, I would highly recommend getting the upgrade here (and not just because i'm in it :)

HitsBooster Pro - You get an automatic 1 week upgrade here when you join. What I was offered after this was a full 1 year membership for $35! With that I get the pro surf ratio, 50% commissions, monthly credits etc - All on a Traffic Exchange that is top ranked by Traffic Hoopla! This works out to be about $3/month - That's a STEAL

HitSafari - Special offer to TEP members. Inside the TEP members area you will find a very special link where you get a pro upgrade at HitSafari for $6.99/month - The regular pro membership includes 500 credits/month (around that) - With the TEP Pro Membership offer, this same membership gives you 1,500 credits every month! Again, this is ONLY for TEP members.

If you can spend, say, $40/month on traffic exchanges, you will get exponentially more traffic for the same work. You earn higher commissions, you get better surf ratio's, random referrals etc.

Even if you can only spend a few bucks, get a Traffic-Splash pro membership and the ILoveHits membership - You get a LOT of extra traffic this way :)

So yeah, I highly recommending spending SOME money on traffic exchanges - If you want results, you will have to send massive traffic. That comes down to either Time or Money - Save your time and spend some money -

Here is 1 more "hidden gem" - Each time you get a Traffic-Splash referral, you are offered a 1 time credit special for Fast Easy Traffic (in the Da Da Da Downline Email). The special is $10 for 2k traffic credits - If you purchase this from Fast Easy Traffic, you will then get ANOTHER offer for the same 2k credits from Traffic-Splash - If you can afford to buy credits, do this! The regular 2k hits at Traffic-Splash is about $15, so you save $5 each time - And 2k hits is about 20 hours of single page surfing...so it's worth it - if you can do it -

Like I mentioned, this is specifically geared for my TEP signups. But you can use the same exchanges listed here to drive a lot more traffic to your sites - Whether your in TEP or not -

If you want to earn instant income, build referrals for ALL traffic exchanges, and build residual income, use Traffic Exchange Profits!

If you combine this traffic exchange training with TEP, you WILL get outstanding results!

To YOUR Success - Paul

Free Site Signup Review - Go To HELL

I hope this doesn't come off as TOO much of a frustration post - It might, but it is NOT my intention to complain...It just comes so naturally :)

Holy SHIT I've never been so frustrated with an Affiliate Program - Well, not never, but it's been a LONG time since I've been so fuming -

Free Site Signup is KILLING ME!

Last month they sent me 18 notice of earned commissions - Those at $50/each, along with my bonus, had my READY TO BE PAID commissions at $1030 -

Couple days later I go in and it shows only $250 earned - And my signup bonus of $100 GONE -

I have went around and around with these guys - After I paid the 1 year hosting, they somehow cancelled it for a few days. I had to call support to get them to look it up and get it back on -

I spent 2 weeks asking them to fix 1 of the links at the bottom of my page. They kept insisting it was correct, and all i needed to do was "clear your cookies and hit refresh" (As if I'm some f'ing moron, right?) - I finally told them I checked the link on 3 different computers, work, home and my buddies work computer - ALL of them had the same WRONG LINK - Just like I had explained. Suddenly they went in and fixed it -

Over my first month I was getting 1-2 signups (paid signups) everyday, spending about $8 advertising each day. This was a hefty profit margin, since Free Site Signup pays $50/referral. So for my advertising money, I was earning possibly $50 - $150 each day - On Limited advertising dollars

I was intentionally keeping it limited, because of all my experience with Affiliate Junktion. I was NOT going to drop $5k in advertising again and get totally screwed (sorry this isn't a very family friendly email, but i'm pissed still)

After I started to see 2-3 signups daily in pending commissions, I raised my advertising. I was like "FINALLY< some money to be made here!" I mean for me, this is what i KNOW how to do - Pay per click advertising - Yeah, it costs, but it drives visitors in - I am able to get 100+ visitors every day for about $10/day spending. If only 1% convert to a sale, that's $50 earned for each $10 in advertising....

Then the wheels all fell off - Several people from my personal email contacted me, saying their links weren't working right. I took a look and noticed no signups over 7 days, despite increasing my traffic over 2x - I contacted support who insisted everything was fine - But I was positive something had to be wrong - I mean, how do I go from 1-3 signups daily with light advertising, to zero signups over a full week, with 2x as much advertising?!?! Yeah, doesn't make sense at all -

I shut off all my advertising - I didn't email my list - I updated my site and moved it way down the ranks - But still, I somehow had faith in them. I guess it wasn't faith so much as it was almost desperation perhaps.

Because the truth is that if Free Site Signup could keep accurate records, I could easily earn $300+ every day with the program. I know exactly how to get MASSIVE traffic to a website - It's just a matter of if that traffic is WORTH me paying for

Free Site Signup is still telling me that everything they show is accurate and correct - but here is where I'm at as of this blog post (or should i call it Pissed Off Rambling :)

Yahoo charged me for over 5k clicks sent to my Free Site Signup page

I had 12 people from my PERSONAL email list contact me, telling me they joined, and 3 of them sent me their receipt (I had offered my list a special deal where I gave them my own PPC tips and tricks to get massive traffic for cheap - and yeah, several of them took it)

My pending commissions as of yesterday were $250 - Meaning only 5 people joined and upgraded?

The stats shown in my Free Site Signup back office shows over 1,756 clicks - Aside from the fact that this is RIDICULOUSLY low, lets say that's an accurate hit counter - Out of 1,756 clicks they are saying only 5 people paid $8.95 to join and get their $100 signup bonus???

For what it's worth, I have read that 'about' 1% of clicks or visits to your sites will "convert" into a sale for your website - Pretty low percentage, but lets look at that.

if only 1% converted, I would have earned 'about' 18 sales (again, I am 99% positive that their counters are VERY low) - So what Free Site Signup is now telling me is that they have The Worst Converting Pages in the INDUSTRY???

That is VERY hard to believe -

And beyond this, my signup bonus of $100 is gone from my pending commissions. Not exactly sure how that happened, and despite me sending in 4 different support requests, they continue to NOT answer that question specifically - They keep saying "We are aware of your case" -

When I was promoting affiliate junktion, they did a "pay per lead" deal - everyone that visited your site, then clicked through and left their email, earned you $2 each time. I was REGULARLY getting $250+ days there. I was sending 500+ clicks regularly, and would get 75-150 "leads" everyday -

And this is after NUMEROUS support requests sent in by me - They cancelled my account AFTER i paid the hosting fee - They had the wrong links in my page and insisted it was ME who didn't have a clue -

I stuck around so long here because of the earning potential - Fact is I could make a fortune with this - If it would keep stats accurately -

But instead, it looks like I wasted another couple months, about $500 - $600 in advertising, and countless hours of effort and promotion...

And you want to know what is worse than ANY of that? My reputation with my list - My clickthrough % from my personal email list is DISMAL these days. I used to regularly get 15% clickthrough (meaning 15% of the people on my list opened my emails) - Of that, I would also get a healthy "clicked links" % as well -

Nowadays, my opened and click %'s are TERRIBLE - Like often below 5% -

That is far worse than losing the Free Site Signup money. I really do my best to promote GOOD opportunities to my list - And the Free Site Signup fiasco made me look like a fucking idiot - Yeah, obviously I use my email list to earn money and build referrals - But I ALWAYS did it with the best intentions, and I always did it AFTER I tried the program out myself...In this case I did try it out - Everything did seem fine to me - Support was prompt - signups were showing up - Money was rolling in -

I don't really feel like any of it was "my fault", but I know for a fact that my reputation with my list will never be the same now -

and that just fucking sucks - As if it's not hard enough to build a list of subscribers, I gotta have a shitty affiliate company make ME look like the jerk -

Thanks a lot Free Site Signup - Go to hell -

And I do apologize for the Non Family Friendly blog post - But in this case, I still don't think it's enough