Important New Group Mailing Policy
With SFI’s massive growth over the last couple years, group mailings by affiliates have become an issue.
Every day, around the clock, huge mailings totaling hundreds of thousands of emails, are being sent out. We have determined that this massive amount of email distribution and its impact on our servers is now regularly causing vital corporate messages to be significantly delayed or not sent out at all (important notices of all kinds, newsletters, and more). This is of course extremely harmful on numerous levels.
So why not just beef up our servers? We wish it was that simple! But with millions of emails going out daily, some of the major email services are responding by “gray-listing” (temporarily blocking us)–which could easily lead to black-listing (permanently blocking of all emails from SFI). If we can’t get our critical emails to our affiliates, and you can’t get your emails to your downline, this could be a devastating blow!
Therefore, effective immediately, we are placing weekly limits on how many emails you can send out from the Genealogy.
Note that there are NO limits on mailings to your PSAs. The limits apply ONLY to your CSAs and those in your 2nd-12th generations:
- For non-Team Leaders, the limit is 1,000 emails/week
- For BTLs, the limit is 2,500 emails/week
- For STLs, the limit is 5,000 emails/week
- For GTLs, the limit is 10,000 emails/week
- For PTLs, the limit is 20,000 emails/week
- For DTLs, the limit is 25,000 emails/week
For those who might need to occasionally go beyond these limits, we will be putting in place a way to pay (via TCredits) for extras. Watch for the announcement.
TIP: By using Stream, you can communicate regularly with your entire team and/or all your CSAs without using emails (i.e., no limits for Stream). A method that some SFI leaders have used successfully is to post your newsletter or article on your SFI Leadership Page (blog page), your own blog, or at the SFI Forum (if appropriate), and then refer your downline members to the URL for it in a Stream post. In this way, you eliminate the necessity to use emails, and these new limits will not affect you.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What is the definition of a week for these limits?It will be calendar weeks (from Sunday to Saturday).
Q: What if I select a group to send a mailing to and it puts me over my weekly limit?Should this occur, you’ll need to select a smaller group. And easy way to do would to adjust the filters you’re using or the dynamic criteria used. For example, let’s say you wanted to mail to all of your downline who’ve logged in in the past 180 days, but the number of matching records is over your limit. You could reduce your selected group size by changing your criteria to those who’ve logged in in the last 160 days or 150 days (or whatever number gets you below the limit threshold).
Q: Will these new limits affect me?The limit should actually not affect the majority of SFI affiliates. It’s really only those with extremely large groups that will have to be a bit more judicious in making their mailing group selections now. And for most of these folks, by simply focusing on those that are active, they should be able to maintain at least 99% of the effectiveness of their mailings. Meanwhile, they’re more than offsetting it by helping assure that everyone in their group is receiving their emails, not to mention all the vital SFI newsletters and notices.
Deadline approaching to retain your chosen a2a friends!
As we announced last week, in an effort to prevent abuse and increase efficiency, a2a is now limited to a maximum of ten a2a friends. If you haven’t done so already, go to your a2a page in the Affiliate Center Support area and choose the ten a2a friends you wish to retain by 11:59pm CT on Monday, March 23rd. While you’re at it, be sure to designate those old a2a friends you want to follow at the Forum.Get started by going to: http://www.sfi4.com/14197452/first
Note: You’ll need to select “Old Friends” or “Old Top Friends” to see your existing a2a friends.
NOTE: If you don’t make your a2a choices by the 3/23/15 deadline, you’ll have to start fresh and select a brand new list of a2a friends.
New ECA Referral Gateway!
We’re pleased today to announce a brand new gateway for signing up ECAs.
Check it out at:
http://www.sfi4.com/14197452/first XXXXX = your SFI ID number
Refer companies that sell products to your ECA Gateway. For each ECA approved, you’ll earn an immediate 100 VP when that ECA lists their first product AND up to 10% of the CV (Commission Volume) on ALL of their sales at TripleClicks–for life!
For more ECA marketing aids, see:
Learn more about the ECA program at:
For numerous ECA referral tips and ideas, see:
Today’s gateway is just the beginning of numerous improvements and additional marketing aids we’ll be introducing over the coming months.
Important a2a and Forum update
For the past few months, we’ve been building out our new, proprietary forum software. Many great, new features have been added to make the SFI Forum a highly valuable resource for sharing and discussing news and ideas, for getting questions answered 24 hours a day, and more.Many of these forum features have been specifically designed and added to improve upon what a2a was designed for. That is, a2a was created primarily to provide assistance when your sponsor or other upline members were not from your country or region and, hence, might be less capable due to language barriers and/or due to a lack of knowledge of your region’s culture.
Our country and regional sub-forums at the Forum now allow you to connect with the most active affiliates in your area…and there’s no requirement to make a friendship request and wait and hope for an approval. Just jump right in! Also, many SFI affiliates don’t participate in a2a. Now many more SFI affiliates are potentially available to interact with.
We’ve also created our powerful FOLLOW program. By simply following a person, you can easily monitor all of their forum posts and interact with them directly on the forum. And with follows, you don’t have to make a friendship request and wait and hope for an approval. Just click the follow icon behind their name and start learning!
Today, our final piece for having the forum take over (mostly) for a2a has arrived in the form of a new homepage tab. Effective immediately, instead of the a2a tab, you’ll now see our new forum tab on your SFI homepage. You can view it now at:
The new forum tab is a special page focused on current forum discussions–customized just for YOU! It automatically provides you with:
- Hot (most currently popular) thread links
- Thread links for your country or region
- Links for threads and posts you’ve subscribed to or have asked for notifications on
- Links for all posts by persons you follow
- Links for all posts by any of your downline members (within 12 generations)
- Links for all posts by any of your CSAs (co-sponsored affiliates)
- Links for all posts by any of your a2a friends
Special Note: You are automatically set to follow your Sponsor, Co-Sponsor, and upline Team Leaders. So all threads and posts by these individuals will automatically appear on your forum tab.
To score your daily Action VP for this tab, simply click on any thread of interest and spend at least 30 seconds at that thread at the forum.
We think you’re going to find the new forum tab to be one of the most valuable tabs on your homepage. And, moreover, we think you’re going to LOVE how it allows you to easily and instantly interact with highly-knowledgable Forum Gurus, upline members, downline members, CSAs, and a2a friends at our awesome forum!
So what’s changing with a2a?
First of all, a2a has been moved to our Support area HERE (i.e. you can now find a2a by viewing the options under SUPPORT on the main navigation bar at the Affiliate Center), where you can use it to search and find a2a friends and to maintain your a2a friends list.
The bigger change is that you will now be limited to a maximum of ten a2a friends. Why just ten? First and foremost, a2a has become too big of a risk to keep it as is. Sadly, some have used a2a purely as a method to try to poach affiliates or to solicit them for other business opportunities.
Who knows how many affiliates have been convinced to vacate their SFI account and go join (under another name) someone else’s SFI downline or for other program with the promise of “greener grass” (better support, a great co-op, or other incentives). This had to be stopped. Surely, no one wants to have the affiliates you’ve worked so hard to bring into SFI stolen away from you by unethical persons! We must protect your business and ALL of our affiliates’ businesses!
And while a limit of ten sounds like a small number, we believe that, for just about everyone, if you really analyze your a2a friend list, you’re going to find that you have no more than ten persons who you really, truly have developed a relationship with.
And even if you DO have more than ten, you can FOLLOW an UNLIMITED number…and you can interact with them at the forum (where everyone is safe from poaching and cross solicitation attempts). More on this in a moment.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO NOW:
The first thing you need to do is choose up to ten a2a friends you wish to retain. This must be done no later than 11:59pm CT on Monday, March 23rd. You will do this by simply designating up to ten people as your NEW a2a friends.
The second thing, while you’re going through your list designating your friends, is to ALSO designate those you want to follow.
You can get started now by going to: http://www.sfi1.biz/14197452
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Why limit to just ten a2a friends?Protecting our affiliates is the primary reason. Sadly, a2a has been abused, used for spamming, cross solicitation, and poaching. These are very serious transgressions that must be stopped. By limiting to ten, we GREATLY mitigate the abuses, while still keeping 99% of the program’s value intact (very, very few truly need more than ten a2a friends, and you can continue to interact with unlimited numbers of former a2a friends via the forum’s FOLLOW program).
Q: When is the deadline to select my ten a2a friends?Monday, March 23rd at 11:59pm CT
Q: What if someone forgets to choose and/or misses the March 23rd deadline?If you don’t make your choices by the deadline, you’ll have to start fresh (select a new list of a2a friends).
Q: Can I make an a2a change later, can I drop and add friends?Yes, though to prevent potential abuse, changes will not take immediate affect, communications with new additions will not be immediately available, and there will be a limit on how many changes you can make each month.
Q: Who should I designate as my ten friends? Who should I designate to follow? Any tips?For those you designate as a2a friends, you’ll be able to engage in one-on-one communications via SFI’s TeamMail messaging system and SFI Instant Messaging (coming soon). Factor that in. But mostly, those who you designate as your a2a friends should be those whom you have developed a true and valuable relationship with. If your relationship is only semi-valuable, just follow them instead (you can always make them an a2a friend later). Note that SFI rank, geographic location, and date of last log-in, are provided for all your current a2a friends (and you can also click their name to view their entire Affiliate Snapshot). You can use this information to help with your selections too. For those for whom NO real relationship exists (i.e. they’re just a name on your a2a list), do NEITHER. Don’t designate them as a friend and don’t follow them would be our recommendation.
Q: Will the a2a friends that I designate as my NEW a2 friends have to approve my request?
Yes.
Yes.
Q: Should I set up some people to be my a2a friends AND follow them, too?Doing so may create unnecessary redundancy so we don’t recommend it. Do one or the other, but not both.
Q: How will I be able to communicate with my a2a friends?You will be able to send individual messages via the SFI TeamMail system. Also, we’ll soon be adding your a2a friends to SFIM (SFI Instant Messaging)–which is currently being redesigned with some great new features.
Q: Can I use SFI TeamMail now to send individual messages to my current a2a friends?No, but you can use it for mailings to your NEW, designated a2a friends.
Q: Do I still earn one daily Action VersaPoint for visiting the a2a page?No. That’s now replaced by the one daily Action VP you earn for visiting the forum.
Q: How long must I spend at the forum each day to earn the daily Action VersaPoint?A minimum of 30 seconds, but we hope you’ll spend MUCH longer. And we’ve even made it the last tab on your SFI homepage so you can stick around the forum for a while each day. Remember that the fastest way to build a successful business is to work smarter…and the easiest way to get smarter is to LEARN from the numerous SFI experts at our exclusive knowledge resources like the SFI Forum and Ask SC.
Q: To earn the daily VP, do I have to start from the forum tab or does just going directly to the forum count?Provided you spend at least 30 seconds on a thread at the forum, you’ll earn the daily VP.
Q: Can I make new a2a friend requests between now and March 24th and then designate them as one of my ten new friends?Yes.
New Internet Income 2.0–Lesson #8: Promoting Your Site
We continue with our revised course withInternet Income 2.0, Lesson #8: Promoting Your Site. Course author, George Little, emphasizes strategies to increase the quality and standing of your site.About Internet Income: Each new lesson of SFI’s revised, exclusive course contains updated tips, real-world advice, and in-depth, step-by-step instructions on setting up your Internet-based business. Author George Little uses plain English to explain the ins and outs of starting and running a profitable online business in today’s ever-changing global market.
Log in at the SFI Affiliate Center, then head over to the FORUM–to the SFI NEWS DISCUSSIONS section–to discuss this announcement with your fellow SFI’ers.March’s TC Music “Song of the Month” contest is now up and running
March’s TripleClicks Music “Song of the Month” contest kicked off Sunday, the 1st, and we’re off to an awesome start with 35 great contenders in several music genres. Help us make this month’s contest the best ever by welcoming these competing artists, listening to their songs, voting for your favorite and helping choose the month’s best song at:About the contest: Each month, TripleClicks challenges independent artists worldwide to compete for the best song of the month–as chosen by our members. And as a W3 Member, you get a FREE download of the month’s winning song!
Artists: Enter your song for April’s contest now FREE for major exposure & benefits. Learn more at:
DON’T FORGET: You earn bonus AVP (Action VersaPoint) for each song you vote on and download–for up to 50 VP per month. You’ll also earn 5 MRP (Member Rewards Points) for each downloaded song–with unlimited MRP
March W3 Member Deal of the Month
This month’s exclusive W3 member deal is for a Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale.The Pronto Digital Kitchen Scale by Ozeri is a true multifunction scale for the kitchen and home. Built with the latest generation in sensor technology to ensure accuracy and immediate responses for the fast-paced chef, the Pronto can even double as a postage machine for your mail or a scale for your children’s science projects.
The Pronto features an enlarged weighing platform and is elegantly designed with a refined chrome finish. A widescreen LCD displays results in grams, ounces, pounds, kilograms, and the large Unit button lets you change the unit of measurement with push-button ease. Runs on 2 AAA batteries (included) with an easy-access battery compartment.
Normally $39.99, it’s yours for just $19.75 as a W3 member!
To order yours at this special, exclusive W3 member price, see this page at TripleClicks.com!
Maximum 1 order per member.
Not a WAVE3 Member? Join for free HERE.
The new SFI Forum has been a tremendous success. Participation is at an all-time high and its value as a resource for finding and sharing information has never been better. We are so very pleased!There is one main area, however, where the forum needs real improvement. And that’s theForum Guru program. You see, The Forum Guru program is supposed to identify the best, most knowledgable members of the SFI Forum. So when you see a post by a Forum Guru, you should be able to trust its content and have confidence that the information is accurate, correct, and actionable. This is extremely important. When your new affiliates visit the Forum looking for assistance and they get wrong answers, that’s not good for them, for you, or anyone else in SFI. Our gurus need to be gurus!
But, to date, the Forum Guru program has only been partially successful because the system we have been using to determine Forum Gurus has been based exclusively on “likes” (people clicking on the “like”–thumbs-up–button). We thought it would work, but too many were just not using it appropriately and we felt that this would not change.
So, effective today, a hand-picked group of voters will determine who our Forum Gurus are. Our voters will consist ONLY of members of the forum that have proven themselves to be worthy of this very important role.
Here’s how voting will work:
Each time one of our voting panel members sees a high quality post, they’ll give it a vote. Votes will be tabulated continually and those with the 200 most votes will sport the Forum Guru title and badge (old votes will drop off over time to allow the most active current members of the forum to achieve the rank of Forum Guru too).
For those who had held the Forum Guru title, and now it’s gone, don’t despair. Just keep posting good, quality stuff, and the voters will notice and you’ll regain your Forum Guru title.
Log in at the SFI Affiliate Center, then head over to the FORUM–to the SFI NEWS DISCUSSIONS section–to discuss this announcement with your fellow SFI’ers.
For many of our affiliates who have had a long streak broken, you’ll now have a permanent badge to recognize that accomplishment!
The minimum streak for this new badge is 180 days. So if you’ve ever had a streak of at least 180 days, your homepage, JMT gateway, etc. are now displaying this new badge. If you haven’t yet reached 180 days, this new badge will arrive when you reach 180 days.
- A streak of 365 days (1 year) adds the bronze trim.
- A streak of 730 days (2 years) adds the silver trim.
- A streak of 1095 days (3 years) adds the prestigious gold trim.
Log in at the SFI Affiliate Center, then head over to the FORUM–to the SFI NEWS DISCUSSIONS section–to discuss this announcement with your fellow SFI’ers.
Get an extra Fast-Track pin (or two) for your spouse or team member to help spread the word about SFI, jump start conversations, and attract prospective PSAs (or to display in your office)!
If you’ve met the Fast-Track qualifications for three straight months, just go HERE to order up to two of these Fast-Track pins for only $5 each. Note that if you have not met the qualifications, you will be unable to place an order.
Also, if you haven’t already done so, make sure you receive your FREE Fast Track pin (one per member) by going to this page and confirming your mailing address!
Log in at the SFI Affiliate Center, then head over to the FORUM–to the SFI NEWS DISCUSSIONS section–to discuss this announcement with your fellow SFI’ers.
This Saturday, February 28th, is the last day…1. To get in on the February S-Builder Co-op. Just plug in to our global advertising co-op and within a few weeks begin receiving signups (both SFI affiliates and TC members). Just 72 cents a day gets you on your way; it’s one of most economical ways to build an online business ever! For complete details, extensive FAQs, and an order link for S-Builder, see the S-Builder central info page.
2. To retain your Executive Affiliate status for February. If you’re under 1,500 VersaPoints for this month, get to your SFI Homepage at the Affiliate Center right away and see your SFI To-Do List for a list of ways to acquire the points you need.
3. To vote for February‘s TripleClicks Song Of The Month. Please drop by the TripleClicks Music Center today and help us pick this month’s top song. Our TC Artists from around the world thank you!
Our 11th Time Machine game ended yesterday, giving us our long-awaited answer to our question, How many times will the word “euro” appear in World News at 4pm CT Feb 25, 2015?
Our 11th Time Machine game ended yesterday, giving us our long-awaited answer to our question, How many times will the word “euro” appear in World News at 4pm CT Feb 25, 2015?707 different TripleClicks members predicted the correct answer of 16.
With a final Zackpot of 23,331, each winner received an equal share of 33 TCredits.
For a complete list of all the winners, see:
https://www.tripleclicks.com/games/TimeMachine_winners.phpFun Fact: Time Machine has now awarded over 222,242 TCredits to over 2,680 winners.
Note! A brand new Time Machine question is now live. To enter your prediction, go now to:http://www.tripleclicks.com/games/TimeMachine.php
Tip: See our Time Machine Tips HERE to help you win the new Time Machine Zackpot!On behalf of Zack the Zebra, CONGRATULATIONS to our latest Time Machine winners! Enjoy all those mighty TCredits and your new badge!