How NOT to sell your product, OR, How most likely to LOSE your prospects!

 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 receiving e-mail from, knew even half of what they should in running a decent newsletter. 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 un-targeted and
unwarranted e-mails advertising health programs automotive web-sites 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 capitalize 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 in-box willy nilly! I repeat, do
NOT just fill their in-box willy nilly! 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 lug-nuts for a classic MG. Just an example, but that is how UN TARGETED some of the e-mails that come into MY in-box 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 going to 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 receiving 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. Separate the offers by Articles. In other words, use a Top, Middle,
Bottom sponsor ad spacing, between 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 niche that was inquired about.
 
 To do this, separate your auto-responder accounts by sub domain or however you need to do it. Just separate them by e-mail address assigned to each subject even. There are some great features on many different auto-responder systems, even free ones out there on the inter net. 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 safe list 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 safe lists as they send e-mails out everyday. Separate the targeted Ads by Targeted Opt-In responders.

 Separate 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 others 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.