Paul Coonan

AllAdvantage, a paid-to-be-inline downloadable ad bar, online. I also learned from Amway before the net.

Thanks for sharing Kevin! If you ever have any questions about SOTAM let me know. I know it inside and out... I'm the programmer ;-)

I went to every Chinese restaurant in my town before I decided Chinese food sucks. It was a good thing I did because I have a couple favorite spots now.

There are always acceptions to the rule. Nothing is hard-lined. There will always be viral mailers owned by people that own other sites that provide the income to help prolong the longevity. As well, there are some owners that have money to burn to keep things going, in hopes that they will make something of their viral mailer. Keep in mind, that even with a reputable name, launching a new viral mailer does not mean they know what they are doing. Controlling the credit economy of a mailer is very delicate. The last fact alone is one of the many factors I take into consideration to determine how long a site may last. Reputation and the ability to control a credit economy are not enough to build a truly successful mailer. There is so much backend in multiple areas that nearly all who buy an out-of-the-box script have not clue about to successfully run and maintain a mailer. They really have no idea what they are getting into. Yes, there are viral mailers that have ridiculous monthly fees for what they provide, relatively speaking. To see sites that sell a membership at $20 to $30 a month to be able to send to "all of their members" when that site only has between 1000 and 2000 members, when at other reputable sites a member can send to 3000 as a free member often confounds me. Furthermore, when I see viral mailers that sell membership levels to be able to send to "X" amount of members when they don't even have that many members seems so absolutely unethical to me. No matter what I say, results are results. If a site is working for you, by all means, use it. Just keep in mind that the results could end at anytime when the owner decides to suddenly close shop. It is unfortunate that many of these sites shut down so soon because I am sure most of the people that joined may have likely thought to themselves that the site they just joined might be the "next big thing." The unfortunate part is, when a person joins enough of what they think the next big thing might be, to find those site close their doors, it leaves a mark and that person may drop out of internet marketing and also may think to themselves that ALL mailers are rip offs. That person becomes a lost customer for any other site, and that person may have also given up too soon and potentially lost the extra income that they could have had if they just stuck around a little longer and learned from their mistakes.

There is a direct correlation between price of a viral mailer lifetime membership and how long the site lasts, in my experience. The cheaper the lifetime membership, the faster they disappear.

I just might burst someones bubble here, and I will apologize in advance. I'm not one to sugar coat things. I've been marketing online since 1999. I have watched the trends over the long haul. I have watched the evolution of traffic exchanges, safelists and mailers all these years. To tell you the truth, I can spot a new mailer that is broken right out of the gate, tell you exactly why it is broken, and I like to try and predict how long they will last. Sure, at first glance, when it comes to the new out of the box mailer sites that pop up like weeds, for someone who does not know better, a lifetime offer, especially when fairly cheap, is very appealing. Honest truth is though, those mailers that push the lifetime memberships don't get very large and fizzle out faster than others that do not have lifetime memberships. I have often taken advantage of such mailers with cheap lifetime memberships when they are new. Then I spend about 2 to 3 weeks clicking emails and have enough credits to mail for the entire next year. Most of those sites close their doors before the first year is even up. I'm not special in any way. How many others do exactly what I do? And when enough people do, they all get super-credit-rich and never have to click another email for at least a year (unless they are required to click 5 to 10 links to be able to mail). When everyone is credit rich, who is going to click the emails? That alone is why they die quicker than other mailers that do not have lifetime memberships. In addition, I will never promote a mailer with a lifetime membership. Why? Because once one of my referrals buys a lifetime membership I will never see another commission from them again. That is a waste of my time. Give me monthly payments, please. The mailers that have sustained for many years, the mailers that are looked up to as models/icons in the industry, they do not have lifetime memberships and they most likely never will, if they want to continue to sustain their business model. More often than not, these days, the launch of new 'viral' mailers tend to be nothing but quick cash grabs. They peak in their 1st month and then the honeymoon is very quickly over while they hang on to their ass to keep it alive. The summertime is the cleansing by fire, the off-season for internet marketing, and when the most sites disappear.

It amazing that this site is still alive scamming people. They have been online for well over 10 years now, getting close to 15. That site and many others like it are the reason that PayPal dropped support for what was once called "Paid To Read" or "Paid Email" sites. There were to many disputes so PayPal gave all PTR site the finger, whether they were legit or not.

This is a classic model, invest money, surf sites, get a return on your investment. This goes back to at least 2002 with Fred Srock and 1helluva.com. I do believe he was the first to create this model out the then rising popularity of traffic exchanges. He ran several other ponzi schemes as well but 1helluva was his major cash cow. There has always been a few brave souls that attempt the same model. Over the years they have gotten smarter by setting limits on how much a person can 'invest.' This is how they tend to last longer before they get busted or collapse because people are not getting hurt as bad as with 1helluva.com in 2002 because smaller attention is upon them. Back in 2002, Fred had no limits. I talked to many people who 'invested' their life savings, people who handed over their children's college funds, maxed out credit cards, got loans, and at least one person I talked to took out a 2nd mortgage against his home. Fred eventually was arrested for running a ponzi scheme. Many years later I had found him on Facebook and asked him what he faced. He spent 30 to 60 days in jail, had to pay everyone back, community service for a year and probation for a few years. Part of his probation was he was no longer allowed internet access. I found him about 3 years ago. At that time he stated he was a manager at Big Lots. http://www.fraudsandscams.com/1Heluva/1heluvascam.htm

I can't speak for other mailer owners but I can say this. Unfortunately there is a such thing as too many credits, just as there is a such thing as too little. Finding that right balance of how many credits to give out has multiple affects. Giving more credits out eventually reduces click rates and increases the number of daily emails each member receives. Getting too many emails is the number 1 reason given by people who delete their accounts. I am a member of many mailers and I have deleted accounts with sites that have less than 1000 members because I was getting 150 to 200 emails per day from those sites. Imagine how many emails I would get per day if those sites had 10 times as many members? A site like that cannot grow in membership if it has a problem with too many members abandoning ship. SOTAM gives 10 to 15 credits per email to free members when I see many other sites that require payment to get at least 10 credits. There are many balancing acts required as a mailer owner. There is no exact science, just trial and error. Too much of one thing, not enough of another, tipping the scales in either direction can cause a mailer to fail, especially giving too many credits away which is a trend that has been seen over and over as more 'viral mailers' come online. We all see sites come and go, some disappear faster than others. There is a reason that SOTAM has been open for 5+ years now, we don't give away the farm! Most of these 'viral mailers' have lifetime memberships. I have bought a few when the price was ridiculously low. Then I spent a week or two at each of these sites and gained enough credits to mail for at least 1 year without ever having to read an email again. How many members do that? What happens when enough members get credit-rich, are already at the highest level for life and never have to click another email again? As time goes by, click rates get lower and lower at these places that have ridiculous lifetime memberships because more and more people don't have to click an email. I believe that most people who open a new mailer have the highest expectations of their site doing well and facing the test of time. I believe many new site owners believe that by giving away more, their site will attract more members. This scenario is known as the 'race to the bottom' where all competitors are trying to give away more than the other guys. Classifed ad sites used to be very popular and profitable over a decage ago, until Craigslist was created and now no more classified ad sites because Craigslist gives it all away for free. Little do those owners realize that what they are doing is actually the exact opposite of what they wish, slowly killing their sites. I'm not here to say anyone should use one site over another. I'm just sharing my experience. One should always use what is working for them. One thing SOTAM will never do is get into the race to the bottom. SOTAM will always be here.

15 months later I shall give an update and clear up a couple of assumptions here. In fact, the CFC ads have been quite a success being that Brad and I have been able to attract an additional audience that the vast majority have not been able to attract. From people who have actually been participating, we quite honestly have not had one singe complaint. To assume that SOTAM does not clean up it's member's is exactly that, an assumption. SOTAM is regularly scrubbed several times per day. SOTAM would not be around, as successful as it is for 5+ years, by artificially inflating the number of members. I am offended that anyone would assume that, apparently based upon the actual number of members. Mailer sites get criticized for not showing the member count and others get demonized for showing too many members? As a programmer, yes I understand the assumption and I am totally offended because I wrote the programming to keep the mailings clean at SOTAM, and Brad and I have far more integrity than to play such deceptive games. SOTAM does not need to do that. In fact, the algorithms and systems in place at SOTAM, I would wager are the most complex systems put in place compared to the vast majority of any mailer sites out there. Whom emails are being sent to from SOTAM are far from random. The click rates publicly displayed are the average of clicks received within 10 days. Pure randomness could not display such numbers. http://state-of-the-art-mailer.com/compare.php "Value" is relative. Brad and I, at SOTAM, have delved into another niche of potential prospects. Everyone always wants someone from another niche that nobody else is getting into their site. A member who sends to the Viralist Level at SOTAM is rewarded with a BONUS CFC, Click For Cash, ad. There is nothing to hide. If a member is using a tracking link for their ad, that member can clearly see how many people came through CFC ads. That link will show as being from http://state-of-the-art-mailer.com/members/gridviewx.php Now, clicks given through Cash For Clicks ads are given to members who send their email to the Viralist level, currently 30,000 members. Anyone who send to 30,000 members, at this time, gets extra bonus traffic, absolutely free. So now comes the question of, 'Value.' If you have been paying for a service and all of a sudden the site admin/owner decides he is going to give you something more, something extra and at no extra cost, does that devalue your original purchase? SOTAM members who send to the Viralist level get free bonus traffic from an additional audience that the majority of mailing sites do not offer. So the question is this... "Does the extra bonus traffic that is given at no cost from another audience that most sites do not offer equate to no or less value? Something else to keep in mind in this ADDED VALUE is the fact that clicks from members clicking the CFC ads are 100% unique. What does that mean? On a typical paid-to click site, if you purchase an ad, your ad is available to be clicked every 24 hours, which means that your ad can be viewed, and it costs you money, every 24 hours by the same people. Not at SOTAM. Once a member sees your site though a CFC ad, they will not see your ad again, not even when clicking for credits. And it didn't cost you any extra money because SOTAM paid for that visit out of SOTAM's pocket, not yours! At SOTAM, we make sure you ad gets seen by as many unique people as possible, not seen be a handful of people several times. So since a member does NOT pay extra to have their ad seen by an expanded audience, does that devalue or give extra value to their sent email? If a SOTAM member sends out an email and that email happens to be at the Viralist level (30,000), is their email now devalued because SOTAM decided to give something extra, something that cost absolute nothing and is over and above what they expected? SOTAM members can send to whatever button level they want. If they happen to send to the Viralist Level (30,000) then they get something extra, a CFC ad, at absolutely no additional cost.