Good Co-Reg, Bad Co-Reg: Coregistration Myths

Many people will cringe when they hear the word "co-reg." If you don't know what co-reg is, it stands for coregistration and it deals with a method of getting subscribers. Usually, people signing up for something (even another mailing list) will see a list of available newsletters/mailing lists that they can sign up for. They check off the ones they want and then hit submit to send their details to all of them at once.

That's the good form of co-reg if it's done ethically. But co-reg has a dark side to it.

Some marketers will sell HUGE lists of subscribers who have NOT signed up for an offer from your list (so they are much less likely to read your messages and much more likely to report it as spam). Even more so, some marketers will sell the same list over and over and over again to dozens or even hundreds of others. On top of that, many will put in fake e-mails and such or have non-English people signing up and getting paid to do so.

Obviously, that second scenario isn't going to work out too well, and it may even get you into a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, many people buy into the second option and not the first for a variety of reasons.

First, the first option (the legit one) isn't cheap. A decent co-reg lead might cost 50 cents to a dollar or more per lead. The second option, on the other hand, might be for a penny or less per lead (although when you factor in all the fake sign ups and such, the second option might be $50 or more per real lead). With the first option, you can buy a list of 1,000 subscribers for the same price that you might be able to buy a million subscribers with the second option. Which one do you think will get more attention?

Years ago, there was a lot of buzz about co-reg leads. A lot of it was just a marketing ploy while a lot of co-reg programs were being promoted. Since then, the buzz has died down and it's viewed mostly as a horrible form of marketing ... and sometimes even as a scam. However, several of the biggest companies around STILL do co-reg, which should tell you something. It can work.

The trick is in going for the good co-reg services. Several of the biggest websites around offer their own co-reg services at $1 or more per lead, but their openings are often filled months in advance. Other websites might have private offerings at 50 cents or so per lead, but you have to make sure that you test each one out to make sure you know which ones are profitable and which aren't (this can take a couple of weeks to often several months or a year or more).

But most importantly, you want to make sure that subscribers are signing up for OFFERS GOING DIRECTLY TO YOUR MAILING LIST and not one that will go to dozens of other lists.

I partnered up with Pat Lovell and Robert Puddy to bring you a unique solution that offers an affordable price without sacrificing the quality. It's Co-op Lists at www.Co-opLists.com.

What we do here is simple. We take top quality leads (yeah, those expensive ones that sign up directly for our offers) from a massive co-reg and non-co-reg advertising campaign and get them to sign up for several of our mailing lists linked up to Co-op Lists. Then we let small groups of marketers in the same niche as one of the lists send out a promo e-mail once a month. We still review each e-mail to make sure that it's not spammy and is relevant to the list's interest.

This way, we can be assured that the subscribers to the lists aren't getting bombarded with tons of e-mails, they're getting what they asked for, and members of Co-op Lists can get an affordable solution to e-mail marketing.

You're not going to get rich overnight, nor should you plan on living off of your income just from this, but it's a viable, inexpensive solution to bring the best of both worlds -- good co-reg leads with inexpensive prices.

Check it out at www.Co-opLists.com