Pick Your Poison - Or Not - 
To Learn The Ropes Of Internet Marketing 
by Bobbette Madonna  
Copyright 2001 & 2003

OK, I've had it! Just had to talk to you about this.

I've been publishing an ezine and promoting our services for
 three years. I totally enjoy what I do even with all the 
"territory" that goes with it - listed below...

When I started to learn all about how other editors "do" their
ezines, I subscribed to several dozen of them. Most were in
text, and a few came in HTML. I could have put ads in all of
them once a week, for free, all with different rules of
course, but guess what? I didn't have time to do that!  I
was too busy reading them and putting out my own ezine. 
Yes, my own fault, I know.

Anyway, I did learn a lot of stuff about Internet business
during that time, and here's some of it:  

There are sets of two theories and my comments in NOTE.
********

1) The most important thing you can do for your business is
give "Great Customer Service."

2) You must be 100% automated so your business to makes
money 24/7. Buy this great autoresponder with 7 sales letters.

NOTE: Now, how does automation give great customer service?
It has its place, but geez - automation 24/7!  With "Great
Customer Service"? What ever happened to personal contact on
the telephone and writing a letter to someone?

Am I wrong or is that not like calling the phone company for
help and getting massive recordings with automated orders as
to how to proceed. Then, having to hang up and try it again,
because you didn't hear that "one instruction" that might
have been the one you needed!

Is total automation great customer service? I don't think so.
********

1) Don't use HTML - it takes too long to load, is hard to read, 
isn't practical, ISPs filter them, spam filters delete them, etc..

2) HTML is professional, high tech, savvy and offers flexibility,
creativity and you can use graphics.

NOTE: There are readers that can't read HTML emails because
they don't know how to set their mail client preference or their
programs don't allow the user to set preferences (like webtv
or AOL & others).

Plain text, then, is OK, it doesn't have this problem, and
it's easy to read. In my estimation, however, it's - BORING!

I like HTML.  So, for those readers that can't read HTML, I
give them the link to go to my ezine, online. It seems to me
that the publisher should use text or HTML as they please,
NOT go by someone else's reasoning. Dare to explore.

Sure, there are good and bad points of both, but I believe
HTML is creative and professional and besides, it is my ezine!
********

1) ADS $ ADS $ ADS $ - Everywhere you look in the ezines.
Ezines are publishing daily to accommodate ads and the
promotion of ads! How else is a publisher to make money?

2) Don't fill your ezines with hype ads. It will turn off the readers 
looking for excellent content! Those ads don't get read anyway.

NOTE: Like any good publication, ads are important. BUT, not
everywhere, throughout the whole ezine. No more than 3 to 5
ads should be on one page. Supplement mailings of ads are
good, I believe, because readers can just delete them if
they want and don't have to skim the ads to get to the
"meat" of the ezine.

Magazines, papers, books, all have ads strategically placed
(mostly in the back pages) of the publication. Ads are
money! I choose to have separate days for ads... And, if I
accept money for an ad, I have to publish it - as is - so,
what if I don't believe the content of the ad is true?
Publish anyway? I think not! No wonder I'm broke ;-)
********

1) You should have a "safe list" to house your subscriber
base and/or list of customers. It's efficient,
autoresponders galore, deletes all unsubscribes, cleans
your list, sends your ezine, etc..

2) BEWARE! Topica, Yahoo!, this safe list and that safe list
company deleted my list!!! I'm out of business.

NOTE: What the heck is this? Just how "safe" is a safe list,
anyway? I think I'd rather do it myself! So, we build
subscriber databases for anyone who needs to be "in control"
of their business. Does it cost? Well, yes, I am in
business, too. I like control. I want to stay in business. I
read too many sad stories to trust a "safe list." Managing
your own database for your CUSTOMERS is vital to your
success. Many have been shut down for spam and never spammed
anyone! How does this happen? Check out the safe list, are
they selling email addresses?. How many know this could
happen when they sign up?
********

1) If you don't have this E-Book, written by the Guru's, you
WON'T make it on the net! Only $19.77

2) Don't believe all the rehashed, outdated Guru e-books
out there, buy this one - fresh and only $19.77 today.
Guaranteed to make you millions your first year!

NOTE: Well, things haven't changed much from how things are
done in the brick and mortar world and the Internet
advertising world. It is my belief that people will say
whatever it takes to get anyone to buy whatever it is they
are selling. Old timers like me won't fall for any of it - I
did, once - so it's the Newbies that get soaked, until they
too, learn the ropes. When I see someone pulling this "bad
ad" stuff (and it's often) I want to visit their residence
and have a talk. Yes, I know, it's none of my business. But
then, if I so choose, I can make it my business for the sake
of my opinion in this article.

There will be a sequel to all this. It is a fascinating
analogy of doing business on the Internet. I offer
consulting services for Newbies and those that are sick of
getting burnt. Oh, yes, I manage my own database, answer all
my emails - myself - every day. I'll leave the
autoresponders to the pros...
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About the Author:

Bobbette Madonna publishes LOGON NewZine and the Guerrilla
Marketing Resource Center.  Also, she is the owner of
www.niba4u.com - a spam watch site and is a partner for the
fight against unfair termination of service at
www.spamattorney.biz The main subscription and marketing
site is located here: www.logonnewzine.com 
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