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Image by thespotter via Flickr Niche blogs can be monetized using any of the multiple options: AdSense, Affiliate Marketing, Selling ad Space… place your own favorite method here… But the reality is – selling your own info product is most profitable option you can implement to get the most out of Niche. Not only do you get to keep all the money of the sales generated by you but also take advantage of the ready to go Army Of Affiliates just itching to promote your product if you use ClickBank or Paydotcom.com. People who just want to earn through affiliate sales! Sounds familiar? That is because majority of the people simply not willing to create an info product and wiling to work for an affiliate commissions. Reality is – creating info product can be hard, unless… You decide to take the shortcut! And I don’t mean outsourcing here – I mean a Niche Product with Private Lable Rights ! Developing a niche targeted info product requires many things to be done right – research, writing, copyrighting, graphics, coding, etc. I have no intentions to recite it all here, you know the drill if you ever attempted to create one! PLR, when properly used simply offers a shortcut! And by properly used I don’t mean to be passed around as a giveaway item or repackaged and sold to yet another person who will not take the action it was designed for: Market And Sell It In Targeted Niche! A simple concept that fr some reason most ignore – sell it where its needed. PLR does have a few minuses, quality of the content is sometimes one of the factors and accuracy of the information within is another one. But if you are already an expert in the Niche or willing to learn enough to be able to share valuable information – It Is Only To Your Advantage! All you need to do is edit the eBook with Private Label Rights, correct any information that requires correction, add your own “Expert Insight” and package it for sale! You are already provided with a sales materials and quite often some additional promotional items. I generally don’t dive too much into PLR territory but my partner and I do run a PLR Membership site, Expert Content and as such we have ability to offer PLR Products to our own customers. It comes with many benefits for the price we ask and you can see them on sales page if interested. But as with ANY Membership site – some people are just not interested to commit to monthly payments or just can’t afford it while still want to have the access to quality products.I have received enough emails about it to figure out that we need a different solution… Option to purchase PLR You Need Without The Monthly Commitment! Niche PLR Super Bundle is a solution created as response to emails. It doesn’t provide everything that our membership site does to ensure that value of the “Expert Content” remains high and desirable but it does give you access to Info Products with PLR at great price! Just take a look at the bundles I have created and pick which one fits your needs or purchase more if you need more. Once again – you have the freedom of choice here! Access Niche PLR Super Bundles Here! Turn Yoyur Opinion Into Ca$h! Get Paid For Your HONEST Opinion…While Letting Other People Do The Selling For You.If You Can Talk, You Can Earn! Get Review Blog System Now! Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Related posts Secrets To REALLY Profiting From Your Blog (3) Niche Profits Classroom – Free Videos You Must See (9) Niche Profit Classroom Webinar Invitation (6) Mastering PLR Teleseminar Results (4) Mastering PLR Simulcast With Doug Champigny Part 2 (3) Help Me To Get You The Answers You Need (15)

Image by fraunix via Flickr Traffic is a lifeblood of any website or blog and we all do what we can to get as many of visitors as we can. Today I want to expand on idea of optimizing your online business by re-evaluating it and talk about… How To Get More Traffic To Your Blog By Getting Rid Of Bloat! Page load speed is extremely important for your blog not only because it allows your blog to be indexed faster by search engines but also because it helps you retain visitors. People arrive to your blog pages from multiple sources and often searching for the solutions to their problems. Needless to say that if your page takes its sweet time to load – you might loose the person whose attention span is about as long as a toddler. Present Your Content as fast as possible – reduce bounce rate and turn visitors into readers! And here are few tips that should help you…. I have previously wrote about blog optimization strategies I use and you can read about them in my posts: WordPress Guide: Howto Force Your Blog Load Fast 2 Things I Hate About WordPress And How To Turn Them Into Your Advantage …I do now use WP-Super-Cache plugin on all my blogs, which is a change to what I describe in the first guide provided. Mainly because plugin has become a lot more compatible with others and also much improved. I recommend you do same. Install WP-Super-Cache To Speed Page Load As I mentioned above  plugin now performs like a champ and as you traffic continue to grow – it can become a life saver for you, especially if you are on shared hosting. If you don’t have the plugin yet – simply go to your Blog Admin interface and navigate to Plugins -> Add New. Do a search for Term: WP Super Cache and once you find it – click to install. Activate and configure plugin. Default settings should work for most of the blogs but please visit the plugin settings page and double check everything. Get Rid Of Deactivated Plugins As we use our blogs, we continue to add new plugins looking to add functionality and gain an edge over competition. Often those plugins simply become deactivated and left on your blog as unneeded. But did you know that WordPress takes a look an evaluates EACH plugin, active or not, when pages are loaded? As long as plugin files are present within wp-content/plugins directory it will be evaluated by the blog core to see if its functions need to be processed. This Adds Time to Each Page Load! It might be just a few microseconds but when you have a whole pile of plugins that are no longer used and yet present – this can drastically impact page load speed! You see that option I highlighted above? Use it for ALL plugins that have no use on your blog! You might be amazed on how responsive your blog becomes if you have a few of them! Evaluate Functionality Provided By Plugins – Get Rid Of Duplicates This one is unfortunately very common problem and I have seen it time and time again. Few factors contribute to it: Our desire to add extra functionality or enhance existing Developers creating plugins that become multi-functional Lack of knowledge… And what I’m talking about here is when a blog has two or sometimes even more plugins doing exactly same thing! Since I never tested it and have no plans to do so – I can’t say if having All-In-One-SEO and HeadSpace 2 plugins at same has any impact on your Search Engine position or not but having two plugins performing essentially same function on your blog is definitely impacting your performance. But it becomes even worse when I see even more plugins added to ADD to whatever the 2 above are already doing. And the problem I mention above is not limited to SEO functionality only, as I have seen it time and time again on great many blogs. While sometimes you simply can’t overcome the problem because plugin you MUST have adds some functionality you didn’t ask for, due to developer trying to create a “swiss army knife” style plugin that does it all, you can carefully evaluate what you have. What I’m about to describe will take a bit of time but in return you might be rewarded with leaner, faster loading blog! Login into your blog admin and navigate to Plugins section Write down each plugin you have installed and functionality it provides. You might have to visit developer site to get full details. Cross reference all the functionality you have as result from above and try to identify ANY plugins that can be removed. If more than one plugin provides same functionality – carefully research if one you are planning to keep does a job that will be sufficient for your needs. Deactivate and Delete all plugins you have identified as unneeded. Enjoy faster blog. Steps above might not apply to you if you are not one of the people who constantly tests new functionality but still something worth doing. Please be sure to also optimise your database as described in my guide 2 Things I Hate About WordPress And How To Turn Them Into Your Advantage. Start 2010 with a Faster Blog! Related blog traffic articles Bouncing Higher than 80%? Heres 7 Ways To Reduce Your Blog’s Bounce Rate (bradblogging.com) Should Google Rank Sites Based on Speed? (mashable.com) What Is The Best Traffic Source For My Blog? (wealthyways4you.com) How To Get More Traffic To Your Blog (howtospoter.com) A great big free traffic secret revealed… (fridaytrafficreport.com) FREE DVD! Ultimate Video Guide to a Complete WordPress Security as my gift to you! Secure Your WordPress Blog Now! Absolutely FREE!. Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Related posts Tweet Your Blog Report Release (17) How To Make WordPress Files Writable (12) How To Get More Traffic To Your Blog (20) How To Control Comments.php In WordPress 2.7 (7) WordPress Static Front Page Options to Consider (11) WordPress Guide: Howto Force Your Blog Load Fast (24)

Image via Wikipedia With 2009 coming to a close I wanted to share information I think is extremely important and call it: Marketing Fitness Plan Has a nice ring to it, huh? I like it! But what is even more important then my like or dislike of the title is an actual information. As we strive to succeed and do more and more business online we become entangled into buy/sell relationships whether we like it or not. Sometimes it is based on immediate need, other time it could be an idea that struck a chord with you and lastly – because a sales copy was just too damn good! You know its true! I get caught up in buying frenzy too! In this post I want to share my own personal plan to “trim the marketing excess” and move into 2010 lean and mean marketing machine! Trim Your Email Marketing Fat If you are doing email marketing, and I hope you do, as other wise your online business is nothing but an overblown hobby, this one can be impacting you directly. Impacting Financially! Email marketing MUST be part of your overall strategy and properly implemented it will do wonders for your growth but it is also an cost you have to keep track of! I personally use aweber for my mailing list management but as you will see below what I’m about to share applies to both most popular autoresponder services: aweber and getresponse . You see pricing strategies used by both services allow you to get started with minimal investment and as you grow – you pay more. And actually quite a bit more… See images below with pricing tables from both services: GetResponce: Aweber: I’m personally partial to aweber as it is more blogger friendly, or it used to be but either way – you have to pay attention to number of subscribers on your lists as this is what you are charged based on! Tip: Trim Your Expense! But did you know that you are also getting charged for the leads that have chosen to leave your mailing list and have unsubscribed? As you can see in images below – it can quickly start costing you money! Periodically Go through your email lists, search for unsubscribed leads and delete them from your autoresponder. This is especially important if it moves you from one pricing category into another! Trim Your Monthly Commitments Membership models have become a goal for many marketers as it creates a form of stability for the owner of the product / service and allows him concentrate on delivering value customers need. It also creates a financial stability among a few other nice things, but… As membership model became popular – so did the concept successfully used by direct marketers for years – Forced Continuity ! One that was superseded earlier this year in Internet Marketing world by “Optional Continuity”. We are enticed to subscribe just because the value presented makes it a no brainer to try. Combine with low monthly cost (in many cases) it keeps that expense under our radar and can go unnoticed for months on your PayPal or credit card account! Sounds Famililar? Then please, do read on! Small amounts can actually add-up in total to a rather sizable chunk! And what I’m here advising you to do is one thing: Evaluate Each Subscription! Take a look at what you are paying for, evaluate it against your current needs and you goals for 2010, track and create a summary of past performance! You need to take a carefully look at each and every monthly subscription, service and decide if it is right for you or not. If it is directly tied to your core business, such as autoresponder, or if you can go without it. You might be surprised what you will discover! While there are many other ways to trim your unnecessary expenses – 2 I mentioned above can have a big impact on monthly bases and getting rid of what you don’t need or cutting it down in size can have a positive impact on your BETTER START OF 2010! Related marketing articles from blogosphere: How To Set Up The Most Effective Email Follow Up System – Part 5 (johnchow.com) Tips on How to maximize your Opt-in list (web-workathome.com) Internet Marketers Must Listen Before They Speak (mikemoran.com) Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Secure, Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Related posts Tweet Your Blog Report Release (17) Online Marketing and Blogging Tips for Fast and Easy Money Online (5) Motivation To Success – Do It (5) How to Start an Appointment Reminder Service From Home (1) How To Make WordPress Files Writable (12) How To Get More Traffic To Your Blog (20)

Image via Wikipedia It seems like we see one or two giveaway almost every day over the last couple years and sadly, not all contain the quality I chose to recommend to my readers and customers. But today I’m happy to introduce something different, something filled with a value to help you succeed in 2010 and beyond by giving you information that works and information you need: Santa’s Christmas Giveaway Organized by Shelby Carr it features contributors that I work with on daily bases as partners and know they are there to give you the value! As with any event of this type – you have to pick and choose what gifts you wil decide to get or download them all but please be advised that you will be required to subscribe to email list for each participating partner. But carefully chosen gifts can tremendously boost your chances to succeed. In fact when I first started i have used quite a bit of information I have collected from these events.  Key here is to be selective and know exactly what you need or anticipate what you might need in near future! Go ahead and check out the Christmas Giveaway and grab some gifts for yourself! Need even more gifts? I thought you might and just want to remind you that “ Lock Your Blog ” DVD is still FREE! All the WordPress security you will ever need or want available in DVD format as well as digital streaming version! Complete Guide To WordPress Security 2 Hours DVD, Absolutely FREE! “Free” Click Here “Free” http://LockYourBlog.com Related articles “Email Ethics” Or Why My Autoresponders Will Be Changed To Noreply (howtospoter.com) Worry FREE Niche Content Each and Every Month! For Less Than A Price Of Pizza, You Get Over 300 Brand-New, Top Shelf Blog Posts Each Month… Without Having To Write A Single Word … Get PLR Content Super Cheap here! Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Readers who read this page, also read: “Email Ethics” Or Why My Autoresponders Will Be Changed To Noreply When Giveaway Doesn’t Suck? Related posts When Giveaway Doesn’t Suck? (9) Giveaways Redefined By Granddaddy of the Idea (3) Giveaway With A Twist (0) Gift Giving Weekend (1) 75 Freebies Still Up For Grabs (4) 2 Places To Get Your Freebies (3)

Pinging or doing notification to Syndication Services is important part of promoting blogs and spreading the word about new content. It is also a source of traffic to some extent and one of the most controversial issues in blogosphere! I have seen hundreds of posts including from very known bloggers and marketers that share their opinion on Blog Ping and size of the list of RPC services your blog should have. Interesting thing – these opinions are generally radically different, in fact I have seen one very known blogger/marketer sharing a ping list that required quite a bit of scrolling just to see it! There Is a HUGE Problem With It! In my previous, older post I have shared a tip on how to “ Optimize Your WordPress Posting Experience ” by implementing couple plugins and reducing a size of the Ping List. Here is the problem as I have defined it in that post: Problem. Based on my research I found that when you Publish your post, system is designed to go through your ping list and notify each service one by one until all notified. As you add more services to your ping list, delay continues to increase to the point that you start seeing time outs on your page. I have experienced it on several occasions and my list is not too big. And just because WordPress have gone through several version doesn’t mean that problem is gone! In fact, it is still very much present and if you are seeing a delay when you hit that “Publish” button – more than likely it could be your issue! Unfortunately, unless you are using a third-party plugin, such Ultimate Plugins Smart Update Pinger – you will not be able to know about it, as by default WordPress doesn’t provide you with a log where you can see any errors with your ping list! My current Ping List is fairly short, since I rely on FeedBurner and third-party pinging services such as Pingomatic (via RPC) to send notifications: http://rpc.pingomatic.com http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://rpc.odiogo.com/ping/ …and still I noticed issues and slowdown during publishing! When I checked the log, this is what I have seen: Pay attention to red entries highlighted. Those have failed to be properly notified and while last one is due to some feed issues I’m investigation and one due to a duplicate entries of the same failed Ping URL – 2 errors are an actual problem ! Event with my short list, which is quite efficient – I had problems and the longer your ping list becomes, more chances of slow performance you stand to experience and unfortunately the only way to verify your list is by visiting each site. In my case I have discovered that both services simply no longer accept pings – see images below: I wouldn’t have known about it unless errors were present in my log! I trimmed my list and as result will gain performance – how about you? I have to admit I’m still quite upset that FeedBurner have removed the option for us to actually choose with services they will notify for us. In my mind it was one of the more useful functionality of the FeedBurner we could control and now you just have to guess to avoid double pinging some services or keep default Ping List recommended by WordPress, use one I provided above as tested or choose one created by someone else. Just be absolutely sure to check your log after creating new list and trim all services that failed! Related articles by Zemanta Got a blog? Do this simple thing to boost your readership. (dougbelshaw.com) Turn Yoyur Opinion Into Ca$h! Get Paid For Your HONEST Opinion…While Letting Other People Do The Selling For You.If You Can Talk, You Can Earn! Get Review Blog System Now! Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Related posts Write Better With After The Deadline (10) WordPress Stats That Actually Matter (4) WordPress Plugins You Need To See (16) WordPress Plugins That Add Value (16) WordPress Most Innovative Plugins List (22) WordPress Innovators Highlights (0)

Image via Wikipedia Today’s post is very simple and caries only one reason – wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving in US is a great holiday where we all get together and give our thanks for what was provided to us and what we have accomplished among other things. Today I want to give my thanks to you – My Reader! It is your ongoing support that makes my blog successful even though sometimes I fall behind on delivering information you expect! It is your ongoing participation and comments that provide me with inspiration and ideas on what to create. And it is your support through purchases on my recommendations is what permits me enjoy the income stream from sharing my experiences and my knowledge! Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving ! Enjoy the Holidays and your turkey feast, if you are living in USA! FREE DVD! Ultimate Video Guide to a Complete WordPress Security as my gift to you! Secure Your WordPress Blog Now! Absolutely FREE!. Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Related posts Remembering the “Why” Behind Ultimate Sacrifice (6) Jail Time For Trick-or-Treating (6) Happy Thanksgiving (4) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide (118) What You Should Know About How to be Your Own Investor (0) What Impact “Grandma Factor” Has On Your Business? (0)

Image via Wikipedia Today’s post is very simple and caries only one reason – wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving in US is a great holiday where we all get together and give our thanks for what was provided to us and what we have accomplished among other things. Today I want to give my thanks to you – My Reader! It is your ongoing support that makes my blog successful even though sometimes I fall behind on delivering information you expect! It is your ongoing participation and comments that provide me with inspiration and ideas on what to create. And it is your support through purchases on my recommendations is what permits me enjoy the income stream from sharing my experiences and my knowledge! Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving ! Enjoy the Holidays and your turkey feast, if you are living in USA! FREE DVD! Ultimate Video Guide to a Complete WordPress Security as my gift to you! Secure Your WordPress Blog Now! Absolutely FREE!. Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Related posts Remembering the “Why” Behind Ultimate Sacrifice (6) Jail Time For Trick-or-Treating (6) Happy Thanksgiving (4) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide (118) What You Should Know About How to be Your Own Investor (0) What Impact “Grandma Factor” Has On Your Business? (0)

Guest post by a pro-blogger and WordPress plugin author Nicola Jankovic : I’ve used a lot of different affiliate marketing methods and find one of them to be the most effective. Article marketing is cool, except the article directory gets to keep all the ad revenue and they are getting more particular about what articles they accept. Review sites are OK, but does anyone really trust the reviews they read on those sites anymore? Most people know by now that review sites are just disguised sales pitches and aren’t honest reviews. Social media is fun, but it has its limits. It’s more about socializing, less about doing business. Sure, you can make connections there but at the end of the day the lion’s share of your profits likely isn’t coming from social media. Social media sites are not the most important place on the web. So what is? Your own blog. In my opinion, there’s nothing like having your own blog, especially if you use WordPress. WordPress makes blogging much easier and more effective. Your blog is your castle. YOU get to decide which content to put on it and don’t have to wait a week for someone else to approve it. YOU get to keep your ad revenue. If you use Google Adsense, however, chances are it’s more like Google Adcents. And don’t get me started on Google slaps. That’s why it’s more effective to promote affiliate products on your blog rather than rely on Adsense. Affiliate commissions have a much higher payout than ad clicks. One option is to have a “blog sponsor” section in your sidebar. Place ads here (preferably with eye-catching graphics rather than just text) that link to select affiliate products and also your own products if you have any. Another option is to occasionally write a blog post that promotes an affiliate product. The posts should contain solid content in addition to the sales pitch. Write the post as if you were talking to a friend so that it doesn’t come across as too sales-y. Don’t forget to have an opt-in form on your blog so that you can collect the email addresses of your blog readers. You can occasionally promote affiliate products through email to your list. You should also send out emails that contain helpful, engaging content. You can use your blog posts as content but you should also use original content in your emails too. Mix it up. There’s one type of text ad that I highly recommend and that’s WordPress Affiliate plugin that automatically inserts professional-looking ads for Clickbank products on your blog. Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Secure, Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts Write Better With After The Deadline (10) WordPress SEO Plugin and Affiliate Marketing (16) 8 New Plug-ins Every New Blog Should Have (22) Your Blog As A Core Content For Email Marketing (17) Write Blog Headlines To Explode Article Views And Create Stampede Of Targeted Traffic (11) WordPress Wish List (8)

Guest post by a pro-blogger and WordPress plugin author Nicola Jankovic : I’ve used a lot of different affiliate marketing methods and find one of them to be the most effective. Article marketing is cool, except the article directory gets to keep all the ad revenue and they are getting more particular about what articles they accept. Review sites are OK, but does anyone really trust the reviews they read on those sites anymore? Most people know by now that review sites are just disguised sales pitches and aren’t honest reviews. Social media is fun, but it has its limits. It’s more about socializing, less about doing business. Sure, you can make connections there but at the end of the day the lion’s share of your profits likely isn’t coming from social media. Social media sites are not the most important place on the web. So what is? Your own blog. In my opinion, there’s nothing like having your own blog, especially if you use WordPress. WordPress makes blogging much easier and more effective. Your blog is your castle. YOU get to decide which content to put on it and don’t have to wait a week for someone else to approve it. YOU get to keep your ad revenue. If you use Google Adsense, however, chances are it’s more like Google Adcents. And don’t get me started on Google slaps. That’s why it’s more effective to promote affiliate products on your blog rather than rely on Adsense. Affiliate commissions have a much higher payout than ad clicks. One option is to have a “blog sponsor” section in your sidebar. Place ads here (preferably with eye-catching graphics rather than just text) that link to select affiliate products and also your own products if you have any. Another option is to occasionally write a blog post that promotes an affiliate product. The posts should contain solid content in addition to the sales pitch. Write the post as if you were talking to a friend so that it doesn’t come across as too sales-y. Don’t forget to have an opt-in form on your blog so that you can collect the email addresses of your blog readers. You can occasionally promote affiliate products through email to your list. You should also send out emails that contain helpful, engaging content. You can use your blog posts as content but you should also use original content in your emails too. Mix it up. There’s one type of text ad that I highly recommend and that’s WordPress Affiliate plugin that automatically inserts professional-looking ads for Clickbank products on your blog. Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Secure, Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Guides Blog . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report violation Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts Write Better With After The Deadline (10) WordPress SEO Plugin and Affiliate Marketing (16) 8 New Plug-ins Every New Blog Should Have (22) Your Blog As A Core Content For Email Marketing (17) Write Blog Headlines To Explode Article Views And Create Stampede Of Targeted Traffic (11) WordPress Wish List (8)

I’m a strong supporter of email marketing and integration of the process with your bogging. In my mind the two go hand in hand better than any other form of Site/Autorespoder integration and helps you turn your hobby into profitable venture a LOT FASTER than without it! But I’m also a believer into ‘Double Opt-in” process for subscribers to be absolutely sure that a person who subscribed to receive my emails actually had to take second step: Verify Request For Receiving Information from me! I hate spam just as much as anyone else and what pisses me off is when I get OVERLOADED with spam as result of me trying to be accessible to my customers, subscribers, blog readers… Earlier this week I shared my gratitude to the people who helped me learn the ropes, be it by design or by example and without them even knowing about it, but non less – I learned what I believe to be the Bases of Ethical Email Marketing! Rule Number One in Ethical Email Marketing: You have to have a permission to send Bulk Email to a person! Above is my own loose definition of the Double Opt-in process I use and recommend and even though many marketers lately are switching back to single option, I stick to my guns and agree with what aweber describes in their blog post “ Confirmed Opt-in Myths Exposed ” – I prefer quality over quantity! I have made it a point to be also accessible to my subscribers and both my partner and I are trying to always respond to emails we get, if one requires respond. Granted sometimes our answers are not too detailed but as the numbers of current subscribers continue to grow – email begins to take up a lot of our time. But even that wouldn’t be issue if not the Email Spam We Get as result of being accessible! Why I’ll Change “Reply-To” email address to “No Reply” This is the classic case where one or two people make it bad for everybody, unfortunately what might seem as one or two is increasingly becoming very large number. And although I can’t confirm it – ever-increasing number of the people who do what I’m about to describe tells me that there is SOMEONE out there who teaches this crap! I believe that as more people join the attempt to earn money online – they access this “teaching” and implement it exactly as advised. I even believe that most of these people are not even aware that what they do is nothing but SPAM! And here is scenario I’m talking about: My email list is configured with a “reply to” email that actually leads to me, as I want to be accessible to my subscribers I present a Subscribe form, in one form or another somewhere on the web. I have many different variations I follow the guidelines and REQUIRE that person confirms their subscription and request to get information from me! Are we good so far? I think process is pretty simple and from my side I took all the precautions to make sure that NOBODY can subscribe by accident! Next steps is what the problem clear… I begin to deliver on my promise and send information in 3 forms: One of the gifts promised as download for subscription Autoresponder follow-up sequence Broadcast emails Each time I email – I get hundreds and ever-growing number of automated replies! And here I’m not talking about “out of office” or “vacation” replies. Those are bit annoying but a normal part of email correspondence and I can live with that. What I’m talking about here are ever-growing number of emails that contain nothing but promotion ! Somebody have taught those people to setup autoresponder associated with email account and include some promotional message in there and then go out, subscribe to any email list they can get their hands on and anytime email comes to their inbox – they reply with SPAM message. And Yes! It Is SPAM! If you were taught this strategy as valid “email marketing” – stop now! There are several major problems with this approach: You NEVER received a request from me to send me emails You NEVER got permission from me to send me emails You ARE NOT COMPLIANT with CAN-SPAM and can become a subject to legal action! Just because you subscribed to my email list doesn’t mean you have received permissions to send me emails! But what is even much worse – what you are doing is Illegal and Unethical! CAN-SPAM legislation is designed to protect people from email abuse and requires that if you are running promotions – you have to provide receiver with simple means to be removed from it! I have yet to see a single person who uses this method to do that! But let’s just assume you are doing this on purpose and actually acting with full understanding of the implications – you can’t possibly get enough response to justify your name being associate with SPAM and destroying something for everyone else in process! I pride myself on doing my best to be accessible to people to the extend permitted by time but when I waste over an hour a day clearing my inbox from these unsolicited promotions disguised as email reply and separating them from actual customers requests, feedback, etc – I just can’t afford it anymore… I will have to as result of ever-increasing SPAM switch to email address I will not be monitoring but simply explaining people how they can still get access to me and ask for the help they need. I don’t know about your opinion but to me it sucks when a few bad apples spoil it for everyone! Let me know what you think? Comment below! Related articles by Zemanta Email Marketing and Online Marketing – Video Book Reviews (chrisbrogan.com) Researchers Take Down a Spam Botnet (tech.slashdot.org) Related posts Your Blog As A Core Content For Email Marketing (17) Email Marketing, Setting Up The Subscription Process (23) Email Marketing For Bloggers, The Basics (16) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide Looking For Guest Bloggers (10) WordPress Security Guide (4) Why “More” Is Better? (37)