My inbox is a disgrace. It’s turned onto a non-stop ad dispensing service – I do like to subscribe to a large number of “newsletters”, to keep my finger on the pulse and also to (hopefully) learn a thing or two from other marketers and product developers. To be fair, some actually do that. Unfortunately, many don’t and that’s a real shame.

Now I’m fully aware that it’s completely acceptable to offer products and services in a newsletter (everyone does, and that’s fine). The problem I have is when I see headlines like “New Hyper Traffic Buster Tool – Only $1 – Go Go Go Go Go! (Go!)”. Oh, and entirely by the way, the next person who sends me a mail with multiples of “Go!” in the subject is going to get it firmly in the ribs.

If out of curiosity I click, it’s typically a 2 paragraph blurb on how above tool is certain to fill my paypal account with chunks of hot steamy cash and how I don’t need a blog or site or anything to make it work. How wonderful! Again, it’s not the concept that someone is selling something that troubles me – it’s the fact that I’ve invested my valuable time to sign up to a NEWSletter that should provide a little mental stimulation or at the very least some news as well as the featured product or service. Don’t you think?

You see, this is exactly why the marketing industry has developed such a diabolical reputation. It’s a shame, because as far as niches go the internet marketing one is a sizzler. But I’m sorry to have to report, it’s lost it’s way as far as email marketing is concerned. People are promised newsletters that inform, even entertain – and they end up with a 24 hour ad channel in their inbox. There is one “marketer” I know who sometimes sends out 2 mails a day – both loud sales pitches, and both neither with even the smallest snippet of useful information. I bet you he looks at his P/L everyday and wonders why his conversions are so low. I’m involved with many niches – and the standard of emails within IM is just terrible. It just wouldn’t wash in other online niches (such as stocks and finance for instance, the quality of content in that niche is generally very good). I think we all have a collective responsibility to improve this situation – so that when people from outside the industry come in for a look, they don’t end up thinking “man, this is pure trash”.

So, if you’re about to embark on a newsletter set-up yourself, remember WHY you’re doing it. Yes, a well constructed newsletter is a marketing tool – but only when done right. It should help build credibility and trust and you can only do that through good content. It should help to prove to your subscribers that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re not just a crap merchant after some cash. Because, if all you’re doing is legally spamming your subscribers with sales pitch after sales pitch, it’s unlikely they’ll stick around for more of the same.

Finally, I’ll sign out by saying that over the last few weeks, my wife Kez who reads this newsletter prior to publication has been tutting me a lot on my aggressive commentary. “It’s always moan, moan moan – why can’t you ever write anything nice about our industry?”

And that’s the sad part – I would if I could.

My own newsletter can be seen here

Today, we tackle a topic that should be topmost on every serious marketers daily “to do” pad – list building. It is THE most important thing that you will ever do for your business. And, along with a highly optimised site/blog your list is THE biggest asset your business will ever own.

Learn How To Grow Your List Rapidly With The Viral List Blueprint Videos – Or Get It As Part Of A DRR Membership

** Not Started Building A List Yet? Here Is How You Can Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers FAST…

1,000 subscribers is a KEY figure, and I’ll tell you why – because once you get to this magic figure, you can start leveraging your list with other similar list size owners (via ad swaps) to build your list exponentially. Intelligent internet marketers have put thousands of new members on their opt in lists in weeks through this method. But…how do you get started even getting to this magic number? Here’s the fastest way:

1. Create A Simple Freebie That People Will WANT -  Lets assume you’re trying to build a list within internet marketing. Think of a topic that marketers want to know about…for example traffic…then create a simple but well presented product for this topic that you will give away. You do not have to be an expert to create it, simply use a good quality PLR product.

2. Use JV Giveaways And UPGRADE – If you’re starting off with a zero list, then joining product giveaways is a very good idea to start collecting subscribers. You really should upgrade because it will give your product maximum exposure and therefore the most subscribers. Usually, upgrades can cost between seven to thirty bucks and if you get subscribers at about fifty cents each then it’s a very good investment. Of course, if you have a list already or you have other promotion channels you can still benefit and get new subscribers by being a free member of the giveaway.

There are product giveaways going on all over the place every month (I believe I counted 20+ in September) – and like it or not, they WORK (granted, some work far better than others but on the whole they provide a decent number of subscribers)

Want to know where you can find the latest giveaways for free? I have a page dedicated to them on the DRR blog giveaways page so you can find the existing ones easily:

Once you’ve got to that magic 1,000 – you’ve got a list that you can leverage to your hearts content. And here’s a tip for finding ad swap partners – a lot of the contributors in giveaway events also like to swap ads with fellow list owners. So make a note of existing contributors and contact them about an ad swap. If their list size is bigger than yours there’s a simple solution – tell them you’ll promote their email twice. Once you get a few ad swaps going, your list will grow from strength to strength…and this will ultimately show in your bottom line.