How Many List Services Do You Need?

Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, contacted me yesterday when she received the announcement about our teleclass on ezine broadcasting.  We had an interesting email exchange that she's given me permission to share with you.

Joan

Are you going to talk about other alternatives to the shopping
cart, or is this simply a pitch for the shopping cart?

Denise

I don't really consider this a pitch for the shopping cart but a how-to class for those who want to use this system or for those who may be considering this system. We won't be covering other systems because this is the only one we use and recommend to our clients. With the free trial, as you know, there is no obligation for people to pay for it if they choose not to use this system. [It's an excellent way to "try before you buy".]

Joan

Tom [Antion] advised me not to use the shopping cart to send my ezine and, instead, to use a list management company. Why? Because if the shopping cart ever goes down and stays down for a long period, he still wants the ability to mail to his list. At least that´s what he told me about 5 years ago. That may have changed. Also, at the time, the shopping cart wouldn´t let you mail to more than 10,000 people.

Note: Joan is one of Tom Antion's mentees and taken her business to a million dollars.

Denise

My recollection from Tom is that he had his list hosted elsewhere before he had the shopping cart.  His point is valid, and, in my experience with the cart for the last 4 years, it's never been down long enough to be a concern. Plus, one should always be backing up their database.  Any system can go down or go out of business. I personally prefer to have all my contacts in one system so I can track their progress through my business. Finally, you can upgrade your account to accommodate up to 1,000,000 contacts. All good questions and points which I'll include in the class.

Joan then contacted Tom to get his feedback on this issue:

Tom answered my question about using the shopping cart vs. a list management company and said that he usually just recommends people use the shopping cart to send an ezine. The reason he uses more than one list is that he had 100,000 subscribers before KickStart Cart came long. Regarding the "I don´t want all my eggs in one basket" issue, he says most people don´t have many eggs to worry about. Once money starts rolling in is when you have to start spreading out your risk.

Thanks to Joan for allowing me to share this exchange.  Joan's got a great blog about publicity and an excellent ezine you can subscribe to at her blog.

I hope this has helped clarify this issue if it's one you've been concerned with. 

Other concerns or questions about broadcasting your ezine or building your list?  Leave a comment below.

Related posts:
Ezine Broadcasting
List Building Tips
List Building Tips - Part 2
Newsletter or Not?