Spam Policy

[DRowland]

When I get leads, for any business, I only buy double opt in leads. What this means is that they fill out a form confirming that they want business opportunities. Usually there are two steps involved in this, hence the term double opt in. They fill out the form, then they confirm the information included.
Also, there are dozens of forums set up specifically for people to advertise their business. There are a lot of them through the yahoo forums, and also through hotmail. If you join those and advertise, you are usually asked to advertise once a day, but many ignore that rule.
I don't, because you can get kicked out of the group. But the point is, these are specifically to advertise in, so it's not considered spam. I would say that when you join, set your email options to reading the ads on the website, otherwise you will recieve thousands of emails from everyone else. It's much easier to go to the groups home, and read what you want there.
It's not the most effective way to advertise, but it does get some results over the long term when people see you advertising the same program over and over.
Same principle with safe lists. People go there to post and read ads. So it's not spamming to post there because that is what they are there for. However, always read the terms and agreements before you post anything. And there are ways to get peoples attention in the chat rooms without spamming also.
I use the chat rooms a lot. That is where I've gotten my 4 sign ups from. If done properly, it can be very effective. Also, when someone emails you with an advertisement, you could try sending a bounce back email. When you send the email, do not send your business info.
Instead send something along the lines of:

Hi,

Thanks for sending me your offer, however, I am already with a business that is changing my financial future to the better, and I'm having a blast doing so. This is such a terrific program that I'm telling everyone I can about it. If you would some more information on what's got me so fired up, then please reply to this email and let me know.

Sincerely,Dave
With this email, I am not spamming them, and if they reply, then they are giving me permission to send them information on my business. So it's not spam in this case.

Sincerely,
Dave

P.S. Notice I did not use a sig line in my reply.

[KarlS]

can the link to remove emails be put in our back office??

I don't often have to remove emails but when I do I have to search through the forum for the link..

Just a suggestion..

thanks
Michelle

Hi...

 Each email I send with the invite has a removal link below. If one of those needs to be removed than just click that link your self...
It will remove the customer etc f

Karl

[TroyW]

As long as you are purchasing *leads* from a decent company, GDI can't blame you for *spamming*. When I say decent, I mean that these leads have like email address, first and last names, phone numbers, mailing addresses, IP addresses and request dates. As long as you have all of that information for ALL of your leads...and you are in compliant with the SPAM laws...you provide your mailing address (can be a PO Box) and a way to remove their email from BOTH your emails & GDI's invite system, than there's no way that you can get *in trouble* for SPAM. Just make sure that you are compliant with ALL of the laws. You have to be responsible about it. If you aren't, not only will you lose your capabilities with GDI, but also you can be fined some SERIOUS cash for spamming. So...be careful!

Kyra 

How can we even think of purchasing leads, which may be opt in leads and legitimate..when Nicole said"Any e-message sent to recipients obtained from "opt-in" lists with whom the sender has no prior association is Spam."
How are we meant to market then? safelists mmmm!!
I am afraid that leaves personal referrals and contacts.
Any other ideas on marketing guys and gals....

[ChadF]

Hello fellow members... most of you probably aren't aware that you must provide an opt-out link that forwards to the GDI e-mail removal page on every single e-mail invite that you send that is not being sent through GDI.

For instance, even in SAFE LISTS, you must provide a link to http://mailing.gdi.ws/delete even though the safe list e-mail already has an opt-out link of its own.

If you don't believe me, you can contact the good folks on the support team like Wesley, Isaac and Mireya. This new rule will also be updated immediately in the GDI spam policies.

You may want to contact your down line and let them know before they make a mistake. If GDI finds that you didn't include that link in all of your out going GDI invites, you have to pay a $200 account reactivation fee.

So, ALWAYS include a link to the GDI e-mail address removal page at http://mailing.gdi.ws/delete on all non-back office GDI invites. This includes safe lists, bulk mail, auto-responders, etc.

[ChrisAdamson]

Chad, doest most auto responders have that all ready, i know mine does, if they dont want emails from me they click to remove link and they stop geting sent to them. Thanks for the heads up 

[Roxanne G]

GDI wants people to opt out at the GDI site because of this:

Let's say Suzie emails Joey and Joey opts out of emails with Suzie, but Suzie doesn't opt him out of GDI emails.  Then Carol gets Joeys name (because we all know that if someone filled out one form, they've probably filled out many) and she emails Joey about GDI.  Joey opts out of Carol's autoresponder, but Carol's autoresponder does not opt him out of GDI.  Then Jeff gets Joeys name and plugs him into the invite system.  Now Joey has gotten 3 emails from GDI (or so he thinks) and he knows he has opted out, so he is P*SS*D.  He turns GDI into the gov't for spamming him and GDI has to deal with it.  Also, Jeff will probably get kicked out of GDI and/or fined.  Poor Jeff only emailed Joey once, but now he is fined and has all kinds of problems.  That is why GDI wants people to opt out at the GDI site.

 

[ChrisAdamson]

 I SEE WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT YOUR FORGETING SOMTHING! YOU CAN TELL WHERE THE EMAILS ARE COMING FROM, WITH YOU EXAMPLE THERE WOULD BE TWO OR THREE DIFRENT EMAIL ADRESSES AND IP ADDRESS ,SO JOEY WOULD KNOW THAT IT WAS A MISTAKE CAUSE HE WOULD SEE DIFFRENT NAMES FROM THE INVITES SENT. ALSO IM ALMOST SURE THAT ONCE A PERSON OPTS OUT FROM THE GDI INVITE SYSTEM,NO ONE CAN SEND THEM A INVITE FROM THE GDI INVITE SYSTEM, I BOUGHT LEADS, ENTERED THEM INTO THE GDI INVITE SYSTEM AND A FEW WOULD NOT BE SENT CAUSE THEY WERE OPTED OUT.  BESIDES YOUR ONLY SUPPOST TO SEND INVITE THROUGH GDI IF WE PERSONALY KNOW THEM, OR IF THERE OPTED-IN LEADS THAT ARE TIME STAMPED ,AND IP ADDRESS. IF IM WORNG ABOUT THIS PLEASE LET ME KNOW.  HAVE A GREAT DAY

[ChadF]

Chris, regardless of whether or not your autoresponder has its own opt-out link, you MUST also provide the GDI opt-out link in conjunction.

[TroyW]

Once again I say....
How can we even think of purchasing leads, which may be opt in leads and legitimate..when Nicole said"Any e-message sent to recipients obtained from "opt-in" lists with whom the sender has no prior association is Spam."

Yet I still see people using opt in lists...am I missing something.
I do not want to do the wrong thing.
thanks

[ChadF]

Good question, I believe we are supposed to first e-mail them and ask if they would like more information on your opportunity. But then again, nearly everyone I talk to purchases ip address/timestamped leads and submits them through the invite system without prior contact. Nicole, can you clear this up?

[ChrisAdamson]

Chad,

you got that wrong, we dont email them to ask because the person dont know us, if you have there phone number you can call them, then send the email if its ok.

troy,

With leads, when someone fills out info to a company or where ever, they opted-in themself to receive emails for business opportunitys. so if i buy leads i can send them to the people without asking them first, so there for its not spam i beleave, cause they elected to get emails about the opportunitys untill they opt-out. But this does not give you he right to email them not stop, then yes that would be spaming. Once again if im wrong someone please say so. troy i just think you may have miss understood what nicole had said. hope this helps  good luck to both of you.

[Roxanne G]

If you have ONE (just ONE and ONLY ONE) person email GDI and say you are spamming them (even if they are opt in leads) your GDI account (including your personal website) will IMMEDIATELY BE SUSPENDED.  It happened to me.  I had to jump through all kinds of hoops and go back to the original lead provider and get the lead capture page and the original form that was filled out.  I had to get a statement from the lead provider.  Even though I had the IP address and date/time stamp, it wasn't enough.  AND - according to GDI - even if you can get these things, if it ever happens again, you will be terminated WITHOUT notice until a fine is paid.

If you are purchasing leads from someone who purchases them from someone else for resale, you may not be able to get that info so easily even though they come with IP and date/time.  That is not always enough.  GDI takes this very seriously.  Make sure the lead source you are using can provide these things if ever needed. 

I no longer send people to GDI.  I send them directly to my website and I set up a link in my emails to report spam to spam@mywebsite.ws.  That way, they don't even go to the GDI site unless they want to sign up. 

[ChadF]

Chris, you said it yourself, they opted-in to receive a business opportunity offer, therefore it is not spam and you can contact them even if you don't know them. Lot's of times I will include their opt-in information for proof. However, to also stay in accordance with GDI's spam policy, you need to ask them if you can send them information because GDI only wants invites going to people that you have had previous contact with or leads that were purchased from GDI directly.

I have submitted a support inquiry to the support team and we shall soon have the correct answer.

[ChadF]

Ok, here it is... I asked support if we are allowed to submit leads that we purchase outside of GDI into the invite system and the answer is NO. Here is the response from "Lupe".

Good Afternoon,

It is at your discretion to purchase outside leads. However you are not
able to use the invite system from within your affiliate account to send
them out.  You may use your outside email address if you wish to do so.

Kindest Regards,

Lupe
.WS Affiliate Support

So there you have it. You cannot manually enter outside leads into the invite system. So those of you who are manually entering 100 per day into the system, I suggest you stop before your account gets suspended.

Also, to recap what I stated earlier, you must provide a link to the GDI e-mail removal page on every GDI related message you send. This includes every e-mail (even if it is with a newsletter), this also includes every safe list e-mail (even if that safe list has its own opt-out link).

If you want to enter your leads into an autoresponder, I would recommend GetResponse or ProAutoResponder.

[ChrisAdamson]

Great job chad, thanks for taking the time to clear this all up, you just saved alot of Gdi members a big headack. With this business we will allways have the shadow of spam hanging over our heads, but if you stick by the rules, we will be fine. If you have any doubts ask someone first like chad has done.