35 Comments »

1. Mike Barcus said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 5:14 pm

   Hi Henry,

   I really think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about marketers abusing their lists!

   I rarely unsubscribe from a list but there are a lot of emails from some famous marketers that I just delete, especially when I get a dozen emails from different marketers all using the same subject line.

   The emails I do open are from the marketers I get occassional (no more than twice week) mail from and only if they have taken the time to change the subject of the email to something different than the herd is prmoting.

   As the owner of a membership site myself I try not to abuse my members. I do not promote an offer just because everyone else is doing it and I try to only promote those that I have personally tried and approve.

   Am I cutting my own throat? I don’t think so, I would hope that my membership thinks more of me than just another “marketer”. I would hope that they consider me more than just an “admin”, I really want to be a friend and mentor to my members.

   One marketer whom I truly admire is Ewen Chia, and when he talks I listen and here’s why. A while back while everyone else was promoting an overpriced product. Ewen was the only one with the “balls” to say “Hey it’s not worth it” and went into details on why it was a bad deal. I was so impressed that I immediately sent him an email telling him just how much I admired his honesty. I will be a customer of his for life!

   I just like to add that you sir are also gaining my respect. I like what you have to say and if it was in the budget I would jump at the chance to purchase your Copywriting Secret package.

   Keep up the good work!

   You can bet that I open every email from Henry Gold.

   Best regards,

   Mike Barcus

2. Debbie said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 5:52 pm

   I totally agree with you!
   We have several e-commerce sites that sell physical products. I started “studying” online marketers to see what they do to sell their products so I could apply it to my situation. So, I am on a lot of lists!
   At first it was interesting to see what was being offered and now its just a pain. I am so sick of being sold the “great deal” only to find an upsell waiting for me. Sometimes its more than one offer - I’ve learned to hate it.
   Of course I have tons of products sitting on my hard drive too and I have to watch that I don’t buy the same thing more than once. Half of the stuff I get, I wouldn’t resell to my customers - its garbage.
   The other thing I have learned to hate is the product that has no meat - all it is is a glorified sales pitch to visit the sites they are an affiliate for.
   You are right - not many are teaching us what to do. They tell us through their pdf’s which are really ads for the products they push.
   Here is another thing I do — anyone who’s email address is NOT from their site or a real site - I delete them. If you are a marketer, you aren’t legit if you don’t have a real email address. Aol, yahoo, and the other freebees don’t count. As far as I am concerned, thats a marketer with “one foot out the door” - really to flee if people start disliking them.

   A note about email. I think for the real marketers, the trend is to direct mail. If you aren’t collecting addresses and staying in touch with your customers by real mail, you don’t have real customers. There are a lot of sites out there and its out of sight, out of mind. Brand yourself and stay in touch with your customers.

   Is internet marketing dying? I don’t think so BUT it is shifting (thank god!) to a more professional model. Those who don’t make the shift will die. If I didn’t look after my customers they wouldn’t come back to buy.

   With all the recent launches and ‘new’ products that have come out, I have slashed my list drastically. I’ve sorted them by who has given me real content in the past and who continues to give me something for my money.
   Oh and a word about the personal emails. One marketer in particular had a kinda cool name for her site so I joined. The emails I get are TOO personal. I have read about her family problems, divorce, abuse, her sisters premature twins and on and on and on. I have even written back to her tell her that 90% of her customers don’t want to know about that stuff — keep it professional. The emails have a begging, pleading tone - I just delete them now. Its sad, really.

   A word about affiliates — I think its gotten out of hand. When you pay your affiliates more than yourself, its gone too far. The high percentages paid for downloadable material has ruined it for those of us who have physical products. I know everyone wants to make money but where does it stop. Besides I think people promote these products to their list NOT because they think its a good product but because THEY earn 75%. Thats the wrong reason to sell a product, but a great way to kill your reputation.

   I’ve been so disgusted at the poor quality or lack of “help” out there that we have started our own site. A true educational site where you don’t download anything so it rots on your hard drive. Its not live yet so thats all I am saying about it but I am hoping it will help all those like me who are looking for guidance and NOT just another pdf to buy.
   Thats where I think the real marketers are going - joining with others for better education and guidance.

3. jim ellis said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 5:57 pm

   Thanks for the truth Henry. Best wishes in all you do, sincerely Jim

4. Dusty Seiberling said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 5:58 pm

   Hi Henry, My name is Dusty Seiberling. I won an IPOD From you a while back from being a marketer off line. Now, thanks to you, and your knowledge of the real internet marketing. I now have 4 websights. My favorite one I just started is www.gonzoforkids.com I donate 50% of the sales to ST.JUDES CHILDRENS HOSPITAL. The other 50% goes for maintaining my sight and buy’s gifts for children during the holiday’s. So yes this is my gift back to marketers like you that I feel are not full of themself, and not full of crap. I like your honesty, and I look forward to doing JV’S with you in the future. Sincerely Dusty Seiberling www.downloadsbydusty-free-software.com P.S. These sights are new, please give me till after thanksgiving to have them opperational.

5. Carol said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 6:32 pm

   Boy, everything is right on point! I am SOO sick of yet another “JV” that floods my inbox with all the same product being pushed. “Product pushers” is what they are! I joined many lists, hoping to get a clue. But it is all so incestful (if that’s a word). Go to the “sales pitch” letter and all the same usual suspects are endorsing each other! There are 2 especially, when I see those 2 involved, I’m gone. All the “JV partners” try to be “the” one that lures the money out of your wallet by offering more “bonuses”. Seems like more and more it’s not the value of the product but all the bonuses piled on. I’m sick of it. Am seriously starting to delete myself off of lists. Will keep a couple that have given me good value, good products that are not always that magical ‘price point’ of $47! If I bought everything everyone pushes at me, I’d be living under a bridge and have no internet!

   For the last several months, when I see an OTO, I groan. And don’t buy. When I see “resale rights” I wonder, how many others are pushing the same junk? I tried some one time a year or so ago on ebay. Nothing. Except listing fees. Even took one and repackaged it, new graphics, letter, etc., taking a couple of days of my time to do. STILL nothing!

   Resell right? Forget it! Products are just rehashing. And it gets SOOO confusing for the rest of us, trying to find the real meat, the REAL way to make money. I do NOT want to be involved in “internet marketing” because that field is so overcrowded with everyone selling junk to each other. Like I said, incestual.

   Thanks for reading this long ramble. If you want to find a REAL way to make money with REAL estate, check out my site at www.ipropertyfinders.com. An antidote for the product pushers and the real estate “course” pushers too!

6. Carol said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 6:36 pm

   P.S. Another thing I am absolutely SICK of is all the “squeeze pages” that just fills your inbox with more spam!!! Those pages tell you NOTHING about the product or the business, and if you have already looked at that “opp” then you don’t want to get MORE email for something you don’t want. (Worst one was “Vemmabuilders” — yuck!! Took MONTHS to get off their lists!)

   Everyone seems to be hiding the truth these days. That is awful. Lowers credibility for ALL businesses.

   Don’t “BENEFIT” me to death — tell me what your business IS! Don’t show me mansions, fast cars, beach vacations. Show me the TRUTH of what you have to offer!!!!!!

7. Dave said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 7:24 pm

   I just want to throw my comment in as well Henry. I admire people who say it like it is and like Debbie above, I too am on a lot of lists for much the same reasons.
   I delete most of these “repeat” emails too because not only do these so called “marketers” have a complete lack of skills in marketing, they insult my intelligence by thinking all they need to do is send me a pre-written email from the product owner they are an affiliate for and I will whip out my credit card.

   I particularly dislike the latest trend for sending me to a squeeze page with just about every link in an email, and I end up with the same email 3 or 4 times over from the same marketer because they are so unprofessional, they can’t even clean their lists.

   As for the particular marketer Debbie mentions, I unsubscribed from her list a long time ago when I started to get emails offering NOTHING but a plea to send money to help her sister. Within weeks I was getting emails from her froma different email address with NO unsubscribe link.

   Eventually, to keep her out of my inbox I started to hit the spam button - harsh maybe, but enough is enough. (This is the first and only time I have ever done this)
   Like Debbie above, I think the sooner the “sheep” get out of the business, the sooner some integrity and professionalism will creep back in.

   Dave

8. Graydon Agar said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 8:28 pm

   Hi Henry,
   How true your observations! I have been looking in on internet marketing for the past couple of years and about a year ago I decided to start subscribing to the lists of the big name marketers. I was sure I would be given guidance on how to make a living online, (Not directed at anyone).
   What a learning experience it has been. I am convinced that a few of the big name marketers are big name marketers because their name is on every other email with an offer that one of the other big name marketers has just developed and for sure it is recommended by God himself. I have stopped reading most of them and am unsubscribing from many. I am tired of wasting my time reading emails and being sent to sales letters that are in many cases duplicates of what I have already seen. I have also become extremely agitated by OTO’s.
   Forgive me…That was a lot of writing to say I agree with your assessment.

   If that url I submitted is displayed, it is my beginnings of a blog that I am fumbling through. I hope to use it, at least partially, to promote my as yet unfinished book.
   1 IN 116-The Autistic Child

   Graydon Agar

9. Cher said,

   November 19, 2006 @ 8:39 pm

   Henry,
   I must tell you that I completly agree with you on the email marketing. As a complete newbie I started signing up to this newsletter and that newsletter and being very gullible buying into way too much BS. I am so ashamed of the amount of money I have spent. I cannot say I was looking for a get rich scheme, I wanted real education. I know that to make a business succeed you need to work at it. The problem with me is that the more I bought or signed up for the more confused and overwhelmed I got. This magic program or that one peice of software was going to solve my problems…when all I really, really want(ed) was to LEARN how to set up a website, how to really get traffic, how to make my products appealing and encourage visitors to purchase. Honestly, I got so far away from my original small home based business and into what all the gurus were touting that the only way to succeed on the internet was to sell info products. It seemed everyone was telling me that I could not/would not make any money selling real touchable, usable, wearable, actual items!

   I am and have been to the point that most of the emails I receive for the “great product launches” and the newest and best, never before seen, secrets, black books, and so on and so on…I just delete. Unfortunately, once in awhile I still dream and click on one of the links and get the urge, sometimes unstoppable, to still throw away money that I really need.

   In Feb. 2006 I had to leave my “job” due to health issues. My spouse and I are facing retirement and after consultation with our financial analyst it would be great if I could provide some additional income to supplement our retirement. At best at this point we will be able to live on our budget but vacations and spending on large Christmas gifts or birthdays and such will be out of the question. If I had the money back that I had wasted on the programs in the last 9 months I would put it all in my investments and am sure that I would make a greater return on my money.

   Sorry that this is so long but I am actually so glad to see someone speak the truth for once that I just had to write this from my heart.

   The person that was helping me on my website just up and disappeared one day and left me with a site that is not completed and one that I hesitate to advertise as I know it is so bad. Now I will spend my time and what little extra money I have in trying to learn how to get my website fully functional and promoting my real life products.

   Let me just ask, how many others have spent significant dollars on Adsense sites, Adsense templates and affiliate sites and have not yet made a dime? Do others feel as I do that it is just a continous drain of your finances instead of at least a small stream of income?

   Thanks for reading. I am sure I will be blasted as a loser and complainer but that is not what I am. I just want to learn the real basics and do the work I need to do without all the promises and hype and BS that has been fed to me.

   Cher
   http://www.chersspecialtygifts.com

10. Debbie said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 9:14 pm

    This is for Cher.
    I truely hate to hear of people who get ripped off on their e-commerce sites. I visited your site. Contact me and I will get you pointed in the right direction with your cart - this is just one person helping another.
    As for the AdSense templates. I bought Joel’s package and I don’t have a bad thing to say about it. He packaged a great set of videos along with the templates and they look very good. It was expensive but worth it.
    I’ve been using them. But its just like everything else - you need to drive traffic to it to make money. You need to think of them as a supplement to your income not be the primary.
    I’ve been building sites for 3 years now and not the one and two page sites. I’m talking e-commerce sites with 5,000 products in them like what Cher is trying to build. It’s all a process.
    Thats why I get mad at the “get rich quick” marketers who suck you in for the newest and latest product. These things don’t happen overnight. Don’t feel bad Cher, I’ve spent way to much money on useless products as well.
    Write down your goal and stick with it - don’t let the scammers push you off your path. Take your physical products and market them through other avenues like the auction sites as well as your own site. When you get customers, spoil them with super service. It takes time - and don’t spend any more of your hard earned money on “stuff”. Ask yourself this question first “will it make me money NOW or help me with my goal?” - yes or no — no means don’t buy.
    See, I’m just like a lot of you - looking for people who are willing to share their success and losses so we can all learn. This is the biggest reason for building our new site - for all the Cher’s out there.
    Thanks for letting me vent again — Henry pushed my button with his email!

11. David Dutton said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 9:14 pm

    Henry,

    I can’t believe this blog post.

    You did an absolutely amazing
    job! I am going to post this to
    David Freys forum.People need
    to see this.

    Thanks,

    Dave

12. Peter said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 10:43 pm

    Hi Henry,
    I like your observations. I’ve been in business of varying sorts for nearly 35 years so I’ve seen a thing or 2.
    The one thing I haven’t seen mentioned by all the doomsayers is the marketing cycle. It’s my opinion that IM to IM has hit or rapidly nearing the bottom of it’s cycle.

    If you read Eugene Schwartz book ‘breakthrough Advertising’ he explains the entire cycle of any product including the lead up to it’s demise. The last step before it crashes is the pushing of hype beyond the range of believability.
    People grow tired of the promises and become glutted by advertising.

    What is really neat is he then explains how the smart marketers keep going while the rest die out. Competitors drop from the market en masse.

    I talked about this on the warrior forum on a thread about www.thedeathofcrap.com. Guess what? the thought police deleted the thread twice.

    Oh well. Some people truly want to bury their heads in the sand. It’s only the smart who will survive into the next cycle.

    Peter

13. Ravi Jayagopal said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 10:51 pm

    Henry,

    What a harsh nerve you seem to have touched there . It’s amazing that all these folks, including yours truly, are going through the same “revolting” phase at the same time!

    It has become truly incestuous. I recently unsubscribed from at least 30 different lists. It is utterly disgusting to see the kind of crap these guys are pushing - and all these “guru’s” give them copy-paste emails, and they don’t even have the friggin sense to change even the subject or text, and suddenly you see 10 different emails with the same subject - each of them offering a “bonus” for buying the new product.

    Shame on these guys. It is because of these folks that the term “Internet Marketing” has become bastardized, and I feel ashamed to even say I am part of this profession.

    The “IM” world as we all know it is crashing. And we are all witnesses.

    It can only get better from here, because there’s only one way to go from here.

    - Ravi Jayagopal
    http://www.LinkOverLoad.com

14. PapaJoe said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 10:54 pm

    Hi Henry,

    Boy, do I agree with you. I’m on just about every guru and wannabe’s list and I’m definitely feeling abused. Especiall these last few months. There’s no longer just one major launch each week - and they all seem to be getting more and more expensive.

    I must admit, I’ve purchased many of them in search of the “silver bullet” for becoming successful. I’m not saying they’re worthless by any means, but I get so tired of wading through all of the “ego” to get at the meat of what they have to offer.

    Thanks for your honesty.
    PapaJoe

15. BradIsaac said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 11:46 pm

    Hi,

    I found this blog via Copyblogger. Really good info here.

    To Cher and others looking for direction, here’s my 2 cents. I certainly don’t know it all, but do pretty well on the Net.

    Here’s the first myth that needs busting: It is not easy. Nope, it is work, sometimes a lot of work.

    There is a lot of writing. Just look at Henry’s post above. Thats several hundred words of content. Today, a Sunday, I wasn’t watching TV or going to movies, I was writing copy. 4-hours worth. (experts can feel free to tear it apart here: http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/achieveit.htm) I write articles for my blog 3-5 times per week. sometimes hitting 1500 words in order to make Adsense pay around the 800 mark.

    It’s my opinion you have 2 or 3 choices of direction you need to take to start (I said start) making money on the net. 1. Develop your own product. OR 2. Write important or entertaining stuff (content). And write a lot of it.

    Like any other career, you have to love it and be skilled in what you choose. So I’ll end with a question. What do you do best that could lead to your own quality product or info-blog? And do you have the dedication to stick with it and sweat until you do make it?

16. Adam Khoo said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 11:49 pm

    Hi Henry,

    This is great stuff and a lot of common sense. Each one of those email addresses on our list is a REAL human being. So we’ve got to treat them as such!

    I’m kinda reluctant to introduce any product to my list until I know without a shadow of a doubt is choked full of value. Because that’s what our subscribers want from us - great value.

    Thanks Henry for this great post that captures the essence of how we should go about treating our biggest asset (our list) like gold.

17. Edward said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 12:06 am

    Since this has turned into a bit of a marketing tactics rant, there is one more thing I’d include that has come, and maybe is finally fading a bit: The most irritating tactic within the last year was the offering of ‘bonuses’ which are nothing more than JV links for some worthless ebook at the expense of signing up for one more mailing list! We’ve all seen them, huh? One BIG marketer boasted almost 50 amazing bonuses if you bought ‘that’ product from him …EVERY one of the bonuses required you to sign up for yet another obscure marketer’s mailing list! After several emails complaining to him, I finally received an answer from an ‘assistant’ saying that I could just get a free email address and use it to get the ‘free’ bonuses. What sincerity there is in this business at times!

18. Gareth C Thomas said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 2:36 am

    To all of you (including Henry of course!),

    Brilliant. This piece mentions all the problems with internet marketing right now and I admit that I too have bought some pretty useless products and services in the past thinking they would help me in my quest to have an online business. How stupid was that? The worst idea was buying the desktop mailing solution instead of going for a web-hosted autoresponder straight off the bat. I feared so much being labelled a spammer and losing my potential startup business that I haven’t bothered using it. However I don’t see that this fear holds back many of the top guys. (By the way, if a guy offers a bonus of 25,000 names and email addresses for buying through his aff link, names that he says he had collected for him or requested they be collected, and I used them, would this be spamming?).

    That’s all I wanted to say. Great post.

    All the best.

    Gareth

19. Mary said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 3:20 am

    You know what? You are absolutely right! Over this weekend, I removed my email address from 24 so called email marketers lists. And do you want to know why?

    Because every one of them have been pushing the same “stuff” like they had all met up in some back alley, signed up for each others launch, then, bang, hit their lists as though we were stock market buyers and sellers.

    “Buy from me and I’ll give you this!” Or buy from me and I’ll not only give you “ABC”, but I’ll throw in “DEF” too!”

    That is not internet marketing, it’s spam. Yep, Cory Rudi would roll over in his grave if he could see you guys lately. it’s a discrace. So, over this weekend, I removed myself from all but 4 people’s lists!

    And the winners are:
    Henry Gold
    David Vallieres
    Steuart from Net Activated
    Terry Tellford

    Yep, I have been told that some internet marketers spend thousands of man hours building lists only to SPAM the heck out of them to cross build them so that they can SPAM the heck out of them some more. AND, he brags about it on DVD! He find someone with a Niche in something that he knows nothing about, calls them up, ofers to do a teleseminar on the subject he knows nothing or little about with the niche guys list just to get ahold of the niche guys subscribers,

    Smooth, er, a, slimmy. Yep, I want to be on his list for sure. I have unsubscribed from his lists about 15 times, but somehow I always sem to end up on something with his name on it only to unsubscribe again.

    I don’t need some ADHD, ignorant, uneducated, unethical guy who has mastered list building techniques SPAMMING me day in after day out knowing he doesn’t have any respect for his subscribers as seen on one of this years worst launches of a worthless DVD. OOPS….cats out of the bag. Yes sireee, nothing like “preselling” the rights to a worthless product. Good one, I am sure we will all remember that one. Masters of Internet Rape and Pillage!

    Yep, I suspect there will be alot more broke internet marketers this year.

    But stay tuned, I’ll be launching the ebook for only $197.00 with resell rights. Value zilch!

20. Oskars said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 5:30 am

    Good post. Many marketers send emails with no real value, but only with offers to buy products. Some of them are so obtrusive that they send emails every day.

21. John Le Bretton said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 7:17 am

    Hi Henry yes I can see what you are saying, I have been taken in by them all I have got hundreds of digital items all with resel rights and every other rights, but no one has ever showed me what to do with them after I have purchased them. Yes they tell me to sell them on and keep 100%, but where do I sell them I do not have my own web site and Im going broke big time. If you could be so kind as to point me in the write direction I would be very grateful. John

22. Tony Henderson said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 7:25 am

    Hi Henry,
    Yes I’m in agreement with all you say as you know I have puchased your copywriting package, sounds good will let you have all the results of my endevers through an online newsletter, have been marketing online since 2003 but have never made more than $1000 per month gross,but I can see the value of the Internet as I also run an offline business, and the Internet has give me in the region of $8000 extra from people visiting the site then coming along to my business and using the facilities I offer. So I’m ramblng a bit now, back to your letter, I’ve decided to put the big boys to the test I’ve purchased the last three big ticket follow me and I’ll build you a fortune packages and will be plotting my escapades through a weekly news letter, With your copy writing package I hope to get things moving.
    As a last thought for you I think I have read every email you have sent me while I’ve beed online Henry keep up the good work of telling it as it is not as we would like it to be once again thanks
    Tony Henderson

23. Frederick Roth said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 7:35 am

    Yesterday,before I read this email and article, Iadded a new heading to my product page. “It’s Easy To Make Money On The Internet. Making A Profit Is Another Story.”

    Quite a cooincidence.

    I, too subscribe to many mailing lists and am bombarded with crap.

    Long ago, people discovered that helping people sells, for example, in a local hardware store. Another example would be an auto parts store. Having competent help brings in customers, plus guides them to the correct purchases that fill their needs or solve their problems.

    The marketers you write about are more like walking through a midway at a fair with everyone yelling “Buy This!”.

    I have a mailing list. I know it’s a little stupid, but Ijust can’t bring myself to send out mail unless I’ve got something interesting to say. I much prefer one-on-one correspondence. It’s easier for me because I know what the person wants, or needs. They ask me a question, then I answer it. Sometimes I learn something in the process. I make friends.

    I know having this attitude will probably never make me rich. But I like this work. If I could, I’d do it for free.

    If you want to see what one of people I correspond with has to say, visit http://cc.reports.4cny.com It’s an extreme example of my attitude about this.

    I do make a comfortable living. And I have not noticed any major changes in my ability to market on the net. Maybe it’s because I’m not trying to scam people.

    As I go through my emails, hitting the “unsubscribe” button. I’m going to leave yours alone. I think you provide valuable insights.

    I can’t say that about most of the marketers out there.

24. John said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 8:54 am

    I just wanted to tell you “Good Job” on being an honest marketer.
    I am flooded with emails from famous marketers, who i thought were being honest in the beginning.
    Only to realize all they want to do is sell me this or sell me that.
    I delete dozens of emails just by reading the headling, knowing that they are again wanting to sell me something.
    I open your emails everytime i receive one, and have yet to be disappointed.
    My website is just starting to get off the ground, have alot to construct yet.
    But if you check it out all i am doing is being honest with anyone that reads it.
    I am looking forward to your next email.
    Keep up the good work.

25. Michael said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 1:30 pm

    It’s about time someone told the truth and what I have read here
    has done more to inspire me than all of the bogus “heartfelt”
    emails that I receive every day. I never believed that internet
    marketing would be easy despite some big name marketers
    telling me that it was.

    Why should it be? IM requires some very definite personality traits
    such as patience, persistence, dealing with rejection and the
    intuitiveness to distinguish the hypster from the honest
    marketer.

    Internet marketing is a job. I know that a job is what many of us
    want to escape but I spend more time working at this job than many
    jobs I had in the offline world. It is simply my job of choice.

    Yes, I want my own business and I want the freedom of being my own
    boss but the truth is that a lot of bosses, including this one, work much
    harder than any employee.

    Like Mary, I have been canceling subscriptions lately. Why?
    Because I have had enough of seeing the same group of marketers
    involved in the same joint ventures like some good old boys club.

    It is nauseating to see subject lines like:

    “Don’t buy product x” from this or that marketer.”
    “Sorry, I goofed.”
    “I apologize, I mailed out the wrong link.”

    Do they really think we’re that stupid? That there isn’t a second, no third
    rate marketing ploy behind every such subject line?

    I really hope this is the beginning of the reform of Internet Marketing.

    Thank you Henry for leading the way.

26. Terry Dean said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 3:52 pm

    Definitely a great post Henry!

    It’s funny that I took a break from even looking at anything from Internet marketers for more than a year. I came back and tried to subscribe to quite a few of the new big-name marketers…and I simply couldn’t stand being on their lists.

    Every email they send is about the hot new business opportunity or lesson someone must pay $997 to learn. And here’s their $13,583 bonus package that really isn’t worth much of anything at all.

    Here’s a principle I’ve talked about for a long time. It really doesn’t matter how much you “gross.” It only matters how much you get to keep. Sure, you may tell everyone how you earned $500,000, but when it cost you $600,000 to do it, that’s not too impressive. It’s also not too impressive when you earn a high income from a series of mailings and your list won’t respond anymore.

    So before I get started on a rant, I want to simply say this is a great post Henry…and I hope as many people as possible read it.

27. Henry Gold said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 4:34 pm

    Terry, thanks for stopping by.
    I just wanted to get his off my chest.
    I’m really tired of seeing marketers abusing their lists.

    Henry,

28. Deborah Reid said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 10:23 pm

    There’s so much information presented to us regarding Internet marketing. When I send out messages to the people that are on my lists and post to free advertising sites, I’m going to try this friendly method that you suggest.

    Sincerely,
    Deborah Reid

29. Kathy Shipley said,

    November 20, 2006 @ 11:13 pm

    Wow! ThankYou Henry. I was just thinking last week that I have purchase so many ebooks and products I had to get another hard drive to store them yet nothing much has taught me what I need to know about having my own site.

    I was thinking today that maybe I should just go threw all the ebooks and software and how-to-do’s I own and just set up a web site that will give them away or sell them for $5.00 each just to cover up my web expenses. No, just give them away. Period.

    I would love anyone interested in emailing me more of their experiences and possible between all of us we can put out an ebook with a title something like; “This is what not to buy to become successful in internet ecommerance” Because thousands of dollars later; I still believe it is possible for all of us to make money and produce respectable websites that the average person will want to come too. This world wide business and there is room for anyone willing to work hard and run an open and honest business and give back by helping to keep the internet a respectable place to be.

    Someone mentioned about all the bonuses and stuff they’ve purchased and don’t have a clue what to do with the stuff…I open folders and think what the —- did I buy this for? I can’t even figure out how to extract some of the files let alone use them or expect someone else to buy them.

    I also have unsribed and have only kept 4 respectable sites I WANT to remain in good member standing with because the quality is great and I trust them.
    Thanks Kathy

30. Leanne Boyd said,

    November 21, 2006 @ 1:08 pm

    Henry, I am sitting with jaw agape - both with the sincerity of your posting and the truths you’ve spoken, as well as the gut churning responses. Yes, it hit in the gut! What empathy I’ve got for everyone! I thought I was alone in what I’ve experienced. Somebody said they unsubscribed from 30 lists. I do think I doubled or tripled that (and still in high gear).

    One good thing about what has gone on is that - at least for me - it has provided a FILTER, finally! And we begin to see the true heroes rise up. The real mentors. The ones that are the real armed guard, and not the clowns in the foxholes.

    Edward (above) - brilliant! You said: “One BIG marketer boasted almost 50 amazing bonuses if you bought ‘that’ product from him …EVERY one of the bonuses required you to sign up for yet another obscure marketer’s mailing list! After several emails complaining to him, I finally received an answer from an ‘assistant’ saying that I could just get a free email address and use it to get the ‘free’ bonuses. What sincerity there is in this business at times!”

    I picked up on this somewhere after the Christmas giveaways last year. And created a new email address: Tumuch.Stuff [AT] 1gurl.com - which, LOL, has brought a huge laugh from some of those I am subscribed to, and quite frankly, probably got others real P.O.’d and I do not care. I then filter those mails into an Outlook Express folder, and keep THEM on my “maybe list.” After a few mails there are tons I send to my ‘cancelled’ folder, and some go into my ever (now) dwindling folders of those I read, and some I truly take to heart.

    I’ve been on the Net since 1994. Helped BUILD this thing. Through Korporate (Sprint PCS Wireless webmaster, to Lucent Technologies, to State of CO), and then 10 years of education, and into the first brigade of online educators, for that brief flash of light where it was pure, and purely dedicated to lifelong and distance learning. Then the schools figured out the rape effect of the DOE and the student loan programs. Poor DOE will, like most governmental slugs, figure it out in about 20 years. And the use and abuse of highly skilled technical instructors began almost immediately in that first year online. Adjunct is NO way to go.

    It amazes me that just recently we’ve heard the mantra of Content is King! All of my sites since 1995 when I began with that crashy AOL WWW Gateway, have been high content. This is not news. People are not up here to see 10 pages of Google with nothing but ADS. They are here for real information.

    The Google Slap (don’t get me wrong, I have Adsense sites and it was consistent if not huge, income - when I too, albeit with all legit content sites, got hit by the Slap)…. the Slap was a GOOD thing, ya’ll. In fact, that is, I believe, what is behind all of this recent rah rah raw and hoopla and hype. LOL, gotta make those big bucks some way! (Although Henry succinctly pointed out the reality of those Big Buck$$)

    Sorry to ramble, Henry … you indeed, pushed some real buttons, as we all see here today.

    I applaud you. And oh… no way will I ever unsubscribe! Truth be told: Let the truth be told!

    Thank you for this eye opening page, today. I laughed but I cried with the others. Cher…. feel free to contact me, flashdiva (at) gmail.com, as I also with others above, would like to help.

    Leanne
    a.k.a. Tumuch Stuff

31. Leanne Boyd said,

    November 21, 2006 @ 1:16 pm

    Oh crap (oops!) … I didn’t realize this site software would make my Tumuch Stuff addie ‘real’ and clickable!!! LOL and dang! I wll have to disarm Tumuch as I can see the Spam bots chopping away at that, already!

    Again Henry, thank you!

    Leanne

32. Khairil Redzham said,

    November 21, 2006 @ 2:46 pm

    I ABSOLUTELY agree with all the above mentioned by you Henry…for those who has been monitor the trend of internet marketing scene will be know whether what are they claiming is true or not…infact i keep seeing the same paypal statement for every new product they produced! From well-known marketer..ohhh:(

    NOT BAD to try their luck to attract new individual interested in making money online/ internet marketing….

    For me email marketing is no longer become effective way to make your sales ratio increase….most people now simply ignore and straight away DELETE the msg…eventhough they were opt-list! No more interested to look what is the msg all about bcoz ‘IN THEIR MIND…THIS MUST BE SOMETHING RELATED TO PROMOTING A PRODUCT’…

    This is the scenario now in email marketing…

    Myself also a subscriber to many of well-known marketer…and to let you know the TRUTH…most of them keep sending the email/newsletter daily promoting whatever they want…AND EVEN SOME OF THEM SENDING TWICE or MORE MSG DAILY! My inbox always flooded with hundreds of emails daily promoting a new product!

    Eventhough i still new on this..started about a year ago…but i believe internet marketing becoming a game for some people who just want to take advantage of other people (what i mean globally)…99% of the internet marketer’s mind was fully set just to make money daily without concerning the community and its trend…”WHO CARES!!the markets are HUGE and its GLOBALLY..we dont event know who is our customer”….

    Just my opinion…

33. Stephen Metcalfe said,

    November 21, 2006 @ 10:33 pm

    So now what?

    It seems like everyone has jumped onto the bandwagon and are trying something or another. I can certainly agree with Debbie with respect to looking on the internet for information and then becoming lured into the internet-marketing-type of info product thrashing saga.

    But with Henry’s help we can reasses what our initial intentions were, and then focus on our goals. Build a vision for our online business and then make steps towards that objective.

    As an example. If we pay attention to all the types of businesses down at the local shopping mall, all of them make money. So why would we open up a shop that will represent every one of those same shops when all we need to do is focus on just one that we’re good at.

    Likewise, the internet should be treated with the same respect. Instead of getting abused by all of us.

    I think in 2007 we need to be very frugle with our online businesses and protect our lists like we’d value our loyal customers at the local shopping mall.

    I think we need more heores like Henry who will speak up and put their reputation on line in an attempt to set the record straight.

    Let’s hope it’s not too late.

34. jitu said,

    February 21, 2007 @ 7:14 pm

    now instead of any advanced techniques
    someone should teach the basics of internet business.

    I would love to vote henry gold as a teacher.

    Well,John Reese is not abusing me as his list member inspite of being a very rich marketer

    Hats off to both of you

35. Tycoon9 said,

    March 27, 2007 @ 11:30 am

    Henry,

    Thanks again for all the great information. The comments on this post are also tremendous and very helpful.

    You’ve convinced me to look into WordPress. I thought the February 2007 upgrade to Blogger.com had incorporated most (if not all) of the advantages WordPress formerly had over Blogger.

    However it may be that wordPress is still a tad better than the new improved Blogger.com.

    Many, many thanks and keep posting!

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment