When I got into this business, something was clear to me right from the beginning.
E-mail was a major portion of how alot of this business gets done.

As I progressed, researched here, researched there, another thing became painfully clear.
Not everyone that I was recieving e-mail from, knew even half of what they should in running
a decent newsletter. Let alone a half ways decent e-mail campaign.

What do you mean, that not everyone knew even half of what running a decent newsletter was
about?

Well, where exactly do I start? For starters, let us go with content.
Most operators of these so-called newsletters are doing nothing but repeatedly hitting their
"prospects" with ad after ad after ad after ad, once, twice, three, even four times per day.

I don't know about YOU, personally, but as for MYSELF, I don't have time to go through that sort
of e-mail. To ME, that sort of e-mail campaign, OPTED IN or NOT is nothing more than spam.

Allow me to explain.

When I "opt-in", or as is often the case, DOUBLE opt-in, which is pretty much the standard these
days, I am doing so for one purpose. I am doing so, so that I can gain a peice of information that
person is offering, not so that I can be sold. See, though, and I shall cover THIS later, MOST people
WANT to be sold, they also, don't appreciate a "Hard Sell" approach when what they are doing is
attempting to dig up quality information on a subject they have an interest in.

At this point in the game, they are simply a "warm prospect". They are NOT a "hot" prospect.
They are not truly targeted for sales. They are simply attempting to glean more information, to
make an informed decision in whatever situation that they have found themselves in.

The problem with the content that I have found is that these marketers simply do not give the
oven time to pre-heat. They simply shove the pizza in the oven and say "forget about it" "It'll
cook."

W R O N G !

What ends up happening is that their prospect warms up, but rather warms up and comes out half
baked, a bit on the soggy side, not wanting to deal with that person again, or, they outright wind up
so heated they are burned out on that individual and REFUSE to deal with that person again.

As a point of example, I don't know how many times that I get e-mails from places where I have been
intrigued by great sales copy, and had an overall good experience up to the point of Opt-in and then,
rather than feed me more information first, warming me, fattening me up, wetting my appetite, the
individual starts sending me completely untargeted and unwarranted e-mails advertising health pro-
grams automotive websites and other mlm's and just...well...fishing for some sort of response.

S T O P !

This, is CLEARLY NOT the way to go about it!

Now before you go getting irritated saying "damn, this guy yells alot", keep in mind, I capitilize
for emphasis.
I am not, by ANY means, mad at anyone.

However, I must say that when it comes down to it, you are surely getting the idea that I have experienced
something that is irritating, to say the least.

In my personal experience, what ends up happening with these e-mails, is more often than not, they get
shuffled to the spam filter, no longer delivering the information the person is seeking. They get file 86'd,
trashed, what have you.

If you are interested in making a profit with affiliate marketing, I would suggest that you don't follow
this particular methodology of getting to your prospects, because it is hit and miss at best. At worse,
it's a complete miss.

When someone wants to find info on a particular subject, keep your e-mails to the point on that
subject.

Do NOT just fill their inbox willie nillie! I repeat, do NOT just fill their inbox willie nillie!

The reason behind this is that the traffic that you get from your information that is targeted TIGHTLY
is the traffic that will be most profitable for you, and you, will be more profitable for your targeted
traffic, providing to that customer EXACTLY what they are seeking, not selling them some health
insurance (or trying) when what they came for was lugnuts for a classic MG.

Just an example, but that is how UNTARGETED some of the e-mails that come into MY inbox are
sometimes.
Target the ads to the traffic that wants to know about it. This is why auto-responders are capable of
more than one account.

One never knows, of course, if someone might be interested in something else. This is why a test ad for free
(and viral) information is offered, at some point later.

On to another subject. Frequency.

What is the point in sending me something more than once a day? What, my e-mail provider or pop3
account gonna delete it before I get a chance to read it?

What's the deal?! Probably one of the most irritating things to do. Don't.

Nothing is more irritating than recieving an e-mail, eight times a day, from the same person, on eight
different offers.

If you MUST send more than one and likely NON targeted offer, do so in ONE e-mail. Period.
Seperate the offers by articles. In other words, use a Top, Middle, Bottom sponsor ad spacing, be-
tween articles, musings, funnies or what ever you want in your e-mail. The more original, creative,
interesting or what have you, the better.

So, to recap:
Content; Targeted narrowly to the nitch that was inquired about. To do this, seperate your auto
responder accounts by subdomain or however you need to do it. Just seperate them by e-mail
address assigned to each subject even.
There are some great features on many different auto-responder systems, even free one on the internet.

Add Content. Don't just make every single e-mail an ad. not simply an ad. You may advertise in every
e-mail, just don't make it nothing BUT an ad. Personalize it and speak about something that is
worth hearing, just like you would speak to a friend. DON'T come across like that AOL commercial.

Drop the frequency. There is NO need to hit someone up more than once a day and REALLY there is
no point in hitting someone up more than three times in a week.

If they are not getting your e-mail, they are simply either not interested, have you marked in their non
safelist or they have not yet had time to open it. If they find more than three e-mails in their box after
two days of not checking their e-mail, they may simply opt-out and you have just lost a customer.
This does not apply, of course, to safelists as they send e-mails out everyday.

Seperate the targeted Ads by Targeted Opt-In responders.

Seperate the Ads within the e-mail. Remember, ONLY one per day! Unless it is an emergency
(such as you just came across something your subscribers might be interested in and you want to see if
they will bite), but this is a tactic that should be used MOST sparingly.

Please Folks...

Stop the madness...Pay attention to what you are doing and think about your customer first. What
would YOU want...
As a customer, from an e-mail e-zine or other advertising source when you Opt-into their mail system?

Do unto other as you would want them to do unto you. This is the ONE law this world lacks in. Let's
bring it back to light. Thank You.