I run a small website that offers a windows share-ware utility. 
Through the registration process I have acquired about 30,000 email
addresses of customers that use this product, and the list is growing
very rapidly.  These customers are aware that they may receive emails
with advertising in them.

So I'm not sure how to go about monetizing my email list.  From what I
have seen, it looks like I need to find a "list broker" and have them
rent my mailing list out - but I'm not really sure this is the right
way to do this.  It all seems very confusing to me.

My question(s) is(are): 

What is the easiest, most direct way to monetize my email list? 
What are the most reputable, easiest to use companies that can help me?  
What should my expectations be about the amount of money I can make from my list?
What are the *bare-bones basic* demographics I should consider asking my customers?

Thanks - and I am very willing to offer a *very* generous tip for a
useful, well researched answer.

(NOTE: I never want to compromise the privacy of my users - I am ONLY
interested in information that will assure the privacy of my
customers.)

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 09 Aug 2005 20:29 PDT

prefetch-ga,


Your list probably has some monetary value, but how much depends a lot
on the list itself.

To mass emailers -- who often deal in lists with millions, not
thousands, of addresses -- a list with 30K names is no big deal, and
may not even be worth bothering with.

However, if your list is 30K names of a well-defined specialty niche
-- e.g. owners of small pleasure boats; wooden duck decoy carvers; ham
radio operators; fire fighters; or some equally specific group -- then
it may certainly be of interest to marketers who target these niches.

Can you tell us some more about your list, and what makes it special. 
What sort of shareware are we talking about here?  Can you provide a
link to your site, so we can have a look ourselves?

With a bit more background, we may be able to assist you.


Cheers,

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by prefetch-ga on 12 Aug 2005 16:26 PDT

It's a desktop software utility, that appeals to general windows
users.  I don't have any demographics right now - but i certainly
could start asking users for it, perhaps for extra features or
something.

At the current rate, think the list may grow to several hundred
thousand in the next 6-12 months.

I understand that very specific demographics are useful, but
unfortunately my software is kind of 'general' and so I can't say that
I have a list of fire fighters or ham radio operators.

I think my user base would be okay about answering a 10-20 question
demographic profile if I gave them a free upgrade to the premium
version of the software.  I believe the quality of the users is very
high - they are professionals that are tech savvy.  These aren't kids
freeloading off my software - these are serious consumers.  The
software is Small/Office/Home/Office related.

Does this help clarify things?

Greetings,

I hope my thoughts can help you in some fashion.

Your email list should remain your email list at all costs. Those
contacts are more valuable then what any "list broker" could offer
you.

Plus you don't really know if that "reputable" list broker company is
truly legit. They could easily send your list of 30,000 emails a
friendly "Click here Free Porn" email. Think of how irate your loyal
customers would be?

Try signing up with affiliate programs that allow email marketing.
Check out CJ.com for starters.

Once you have found products or services that relate to your targeted
demographics (Ex.Dell,Adobe,Web hosting), include these offers in your
email campaigns.

Because you have a large list of emails, I'd suggest signing up for an
account at Constantcontact.com, or a similar site. Sending mass email
from an ISP (Ex.AOL),tends to lead to account suspension.

Final note, try to avoid sending emails that are for sole advertising
purposes. Remember you want to keep your customers, not SPAM them
away. Find a balance in your email campaigns that offer useful info,
and relative ads that are beneficial products.

"Best way to make money online is to not try it."

Cheers:)

Thank you for the advice.  I appreciate it.

I'm hoping someone is interested in helping me do specific research in
this area.  I looked at CJ.com and it's unclear to me that they are
the right solution.

ConstantContact.com looks like a nice way to send emails out, but it's
not going to help me with revenue.

Here are some things I've dug up:

http://www.listservicedirect.com/data_cards/high_tech_households.html
http://www.epostdirect.com/dc/default.aspx
http://rentals.postmasterdirect.com/newwizard/nice_datacard.mhtml
http://www.worldata.com/101com/101email.htm

But it's been difficult for me to determine how to really make heads
or tails of this.  It would be great to have an industry expert to
really give some direction as to how to monetize this list in an easy,
automated way.

Maybe my question is too hard?

Have you try to become an affiliate for diferent places? being an
affiliate is like being a sales man, you promote somebody else
business and they pay you a commision based on sales leads by you, in
this case your list.
Try different companies like commision juctions www.cj.com, or Link
Share www.linkshare.com and there are plenny out there, what is
important aobut being an affiliate is knowing your database and what
will be interesting for them.

Kinds regards I hope this help!