Is it a Newsletter or Just One More Commercial?Written by Francisco Aloy
When I purchased my very first computer, not too long ago, I signed up for many Internet Marketing Newsletters. Though it's been a few years, I still have them.I've subscribed to at least 300 Newsletters and it affords me a broad outlook. My idea was to track and compare them. The plan was to see how each one of them changed over time and look for any discernible patterns, any nugget of information. Well, I've been able to spot changes and view isn't a pretty one! The general trend is to give preference to sales instead of communication with subscriber base. Perhaps first few issues are well balanced and in favor of reader. However, as time goes by, universal tendency is to disregard needs of reader. The Newsletters I'm talking about are very easy to spot: they'll devote a single paragraph to reader and immediately insert a product hyperlink. It's gotten so bad, I've received Newsletters with a multitude of stingy 3 or 4 line paragraphs, each leading to a sales link! Try as I might, I can't understand reason for such Newsletters? Can you? What they are saying is this: Hi, this is Joe Blow and let me tell you how this is going to work: I'm gonna send you this irrelevant, so-called Newsletter. I'm going to offer little content and a mountain of product links! To do your part, we expect you to click on links and buy, buy, buy! Oh my! I can't wait a week for next one! They are insulting and a complete waste of time for reader, as well as author. Sadly, they keep pumping them out, week after week! Why would anybody publish such utter rubbish? There must be a good reason eZine Publishers limit submitted articles to a hyperlink in resource box!
| | Avoid, Shun, Thwart, Prevent, and then Filter SpamWritten by Nick Smith
Email is rapidly becoming standard means of communication among businesses, associates, and even friends. While many people have now been using internet and email for years, there are thousands of new users on internet each day. With inexpensive web hosting, free email services, and blog burst upon us, getting your own slice of internet pie has never been easier.Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking for a refresher course, or you’re new to internet and email and want to start off right, here are some easy steps to follow to reduce amount of spam you receive. Don’t choose an obvious email address. Spammers will generate lists of email addresses based on common names. A common list would be something like: nick@yahoo.com, nick1@yahoo.com, nick2@yahoo.com, etc. If you create an email account with less obvious combinations of your name plus some numbers, chances are better that you won’t find your way onto one of these lists. Treat your personal email address with care. Only give out your personal email address to close friends and family who you trust. Give your direct business email only to clients and other contacts you trust to only use your address for legitimate business purposes. Use different accounts for different functions. Create different aliases with your business’s domain name or create a few free accounts from free email servers like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Excite, etc. Use one account that you don’t care about for posting to forums or discussion groups. Use another to subscribe to newsletters and newsgroups. When any of these addresses starts to get spammed too heavily, simply delete account and switch to a different one. Remove your email address from your website. Between blogs and cheap web space, it seems everyone has their own piece of cyberspace. Before you put a link to your email address on your site, remember that spammers have bots that harvest these addresses. They will even find addresses printed in plain text. Consider using a web-based form for communication from you website, or place your address as a gif or jpeg.
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