But I know that isn’t true for all of them, because some of the biggest names in marketing have caused me to develop a hair-trigger “delete finger.”

Here are some of my pet peeves – I hope you’ll share some of yours as well.

#1: Messages that are disguised as ezines (informational) and have subject lines such as: “7 Ways to …(something)” Then when you read the message it tells you why it is vital to your future to know those 7 ways, and you can get them by sending only $29 to…

#2: Sales letters without prices. LONG sales letters without prices. The only way to know what they’re charging is to click the buy button. No thanks, guys!

#3: “The Wait a Minute Tactic.” This one really makes me disgusted. When you do click the buy button to see the price and then try to leave without buying, a pop-up appears. It says “Wait! I know $297 might be a little steep for you right now, so I’ll make it easy. For you, and only right now, I’ll let you have my fantastic product for only $197.” And then, if that wasn’t bad enough, when you say no, another box pops up and now it’s only $97.

My only thought is that if I had decided to buy at $297 I’d have sure been a fool.

#4: Hiding a subscription inside a “free” offering. I saw one like this just recently. They were offering a free CD. I forget the subject matter, but that isn’t important. When you click to say yes, then you find out that you have to pay shipping. Well, that isn’t too bad – $6.95. But then… on reading a bit more, you find out that by taking that “free” CD, you’re agreeing to pay something like $49 per month for ongoing information.

I don’t even know why I saw that – it was in the “small print.”

After I chose not to opt-in I got about a dozen e-mails telling me why my future was in peril… that I needed to come back and join.

#5: Sales letters from about 17 different marketers all using the same letter and claiming to be best friends with someone who is doing a launch. And all saying that they’ve talked this guy into giving a special price to their lists.

Come on… how stupid do they think we are?

#6: Marketing experts who used to be homeless. I know – it’s possible, but not very probable that nearly every one of those guys who now claims to be a millionaire was once destitute.

The stories aren’t all exactly alike, of course. Some lived on a sister’s couch, some had their wives and children in mom’s basement for two years, one had to live on his mom’s boat, some lived in their cars.

But all of them were dead broke and heavily in debt before they discovered the miracle that they’re willing to share with you for only $495. (Or maybe $4,950)

OK – that’s enough of my ranting for tonight.

I told you mine – now you tell me yours!

Here it is:

“Dear:Writer

Are you interested in boosting your online business? Because your web site is strong but your web site
visibility could be greatly improved.  We would love to give you a free site review and show you how
you could get more targeted web traffic to your site.  Email us today at (email address) and we will
give you a free analysis.  Be sure to include your URL(s) and where you would like us to reach you with
results.

Sincerely,
Traffic Hounds”

It made me sad to see,  because obviously 4 different individuals, all trying to find a way to put some extra cash in their pockets, have paid good money to be a part of this program, and have probably paid more good money to buy a list.

I’m assuming that because my email address is plastered all over my web sites, ezine articles, etc. it wasn’t hard for my email address to be mined.

Be ever so careful about buying lists – and if something looks too easy, shy away. Shoot, whoever is behind this one isn’t even a good writer. That letter would never entice me to click the link. How about you?

In the coming weeks I’m going to be talking about search engine optimization in my ezines – so if you haven’t signed up yet, go to my copywriting website and sign up. You can choose from 3 – or you can choose all three!

Think prosperity!

Marte