Confessions Of An Info Junkie

I love the Internet! Information about any topic thatpiques my curiosity is just a few clicks away. Ezines onalmost any topic are available to all.

Yes, I have to admit it -- I Am An Info Junkie. It hasbecome an addiction. I subscribe to dozens of ezines and mybrowser's bookmark list is huge.

Today, I fired thirteen ezine publishers.

It was hard. I didn't want to let go of those threads toinformation sources, but they all made the same mistake.

Maybe you were one of the thirteen.

Maybe it wasn't just a mistake. It is more like a cardinalsin on just plain ignorance.

Your ezine/newsletter didn't contain any news.

There was not a sentence of content in it. You and theother twelve publishers have not provided a lick of contentfor weeks or even months. I have been hoping that "maybethe next issue will be the one?"

That next issue that contained the content I was hungryfor never came. Yes, your ezine was always there right ontime. Yes, I even received your bonus editions.

You flooded my RSS reader and my email box with ads.

I realize that we are all in the business of trying tomake a buck or two and I can accept a couple of ads if Iget my info fix. Ads support your ability to providecontent and we info junkies of the world can tolerate that.

Your cardinal sin was to send ads to me without content.

That, my friend, is spam. That is why I clicked on the"unsubscribe me" link and fired you.

Anyone who has been in the Internet Marketing business formore than five minutes has memorized this mantra:

THE MONEY IS IN THE LIST

(I could go off on a tangent about ebook authors who hiredcopywriters to provide wonderful sales copy for horribleebooks that I have bought, but that is a rant for adifferent day.)

Back to this rant.

If you want the privilege of feeding ads to my RSS readeror dropping them in my email box, please have the decencyto feed my addiction ? I get real cranky if you make me gointo withdrawal.

Wrap your ad in some decent content!

Consider this ? if you have no list, you'll have no money.

Do you wonder why your ezine has such a low response?

Is it even being read?

Here's another info junkie confession ?

A lot of us are lazy! (I know ? that is an earth-shattering fact you never thought of ? LOL)

It is much easier to click on "delete" than it is tosearch the fine print for the unsubscribe instructions.Lots of us have those cool email clients like Thunderbirdthat let us click a "Junk" icon and never be bothered byyour spammy ads again.

It is sad.

A world full of info junkies that like to buy good stufffrom the 'net and a world full of Internet marketers thatwant to sell stuff ? it looks like a match made in heaven.

You blew it. You and twelve of your colleagues.

You lost your focus. You forgot that the info junkies ofthe world provide your Internet income. We are yourcustomers. Without us, where would you be?

Just give us our fix. Put some content in your ezines andwe'll stay on your list buying more than we can rationallyafford forever.

@2005, John Gilger

John Gilger is a professional copywriter and technicalwriter that has been paid to indulge his writing habit formore years than he cares to admit. More info is availableat John Gilger, FreelanceWordsmith