The SEO News Blog from Pat Marcello

You know, it sucks when things go wrong in cyberspace. And they always do.

Last month, the autoresponder I use in connection with a List Builder Pro account had a DOS attack. We got no notice of this, and the only way to find out was to put in a ticket to their support desk, which of course, they never answered.

But here’s the dumbest thing of all: I didn’t have my list backed up! That was really, really stupid on my part. So, remember this story.

I was assured by the List Builder Pro people that all the leads had been saved and would be restored. So, I waited. And waited.

Two weeks later, I got just over 2,500 of my leads back. I figured it might take a while to get everything re-loaded, so I waited some more. But nada. So, I wrote to the help desk again, asking where the rest of my list was.  We’re talking about 6,500 people. Not a huge amount, but a lot to me. My list was just over 12,000, and I was making good affiliate commissions in everything I promoted.

No response.

No nothing from List Builder Pro — Erik James’s program, to be exact.

Finally, I get this message like, “These things happen.”

No apology.

No offer to assuage my anger and frustration with their lack of responsivness — NOTHING.

So, by this time, I’m hurting and really, really pissed off.

It was definitely MY own fault that I hadn’t backed up my list since July. My fault. My loss.

But then, I couldn’t use the autoresponder, which is integrated right in with List Builder Pro, for a month. They charged me!

OK… no offer to reimburse for time lost — STILL nothing from them.

So, now, I’m like really frickin’ fried. I told them to cancel my account AFTER they delivered the leads that I had paid for. None of them had gone into my autoresponder, but they said they delivered the leads, right? I mean, I basically paid for leads that went into the crapper.

I’ve been with them for 2 years. This was the second time that their system just crapped out and they are totally irresponsible in the way they handle customers! I mean, you wait for weeks to even get a response to their help desk.

So, what did they do? They immediately cancelled my accounts — THAT I’VE ALREADY PAID FOR!

Basically, they totally suck. I was an affiliate for them, and told my people that the fastest way to build a list was with co-registration. This was a great service, and yadda,  yadda.

Now, they’ve totally made me lose all confidence in their system. Had they been concilliatory — sympathetic even, kind… NO. They’re arrogant about everything that happened.

What’s my recommendation?

If you have List Builder Pro,  back up your leads every day. You never know when this could happen again. If you’re using their autoresponder, stop.  I’ve found another one that seems pretty powerful called “ByReply” at http://byreply.com. Check that one out.

I contacted Get Response, but they won’t allow you to import co-reg leads, though they have a co-reg service. Makes me laugh. You can only use their service, if you buy their co-reg leads, which are overpriced. Kiss it.

iContact is totally too expensive.

I wish AWeber would change their policy re: coregistration. They’re still the best autoresponder, hands down. But I have to say that ByReply is much more sophisticated. Many more options and easy to navigate. I’ll let you know how it goes.

But the re-confirm thing  just sucks.

Moral: Don’t be dumb like me. Back everything up. Grr.

If you’ve read my blog before, you know I work with the uncrowned King of List Building, Tellman Knudson.

I started working for him 2 years ago, and then, I had about 200 people on my list. I thought that was respectable. LOL What a dunce!

So, Tellman suggested I start list building by using co-registration. If you don’t know what that is, co-registration is a way for you to advertise your ezine, newsletter, special report, or whatever with a group of other ads. The co-registration service does all of the advertising for you, and you’re guaranteed a certain number of names and email addresses each month.

This is NOT the same as buying a list. Never do that because it’s illegal. You only want people on your list that ask to be there by opting in.

Even with co-registration, it’s a double opt-in process. Someone sees your newsletter ad, checks a box saying that they want to receive your information and he or she confirms the email address, as well. They want to be on your list. See the difference? Anyway, my favorite co-reg service is List Builder Pro. You should check it out, if your list is small.

What’s a respectable size? Well, you can’t do much with the big names, unless you’re talking 10,000 names or more. It takes awhile, unless you’re good at joint ventures, which are hard to set up, if you have no list, right?

Anyway, after two years of list building heavily (It should be your main focus.), I’m seeing the results.

I respect and honor the people on my list. I’ve been bringing speakers to them for my Blogging4Boomers teleseminar series, and directing them to some cool free stuff that will help them to move their businesses forward. I also do Q&A sessions twice a month. And I send them offers, but only for products I know are good.

Tellman was right.

Tellman is right.

If you’re not list building, you’re missing the boat. I just got a nice check in the mail today and that happens a regularly these days. Pretty sweet. Want yours?

Always be list building! Always.