Let me tell you a little secret: I'm on the email list of a pretty well known internet
marketer, but I hate it when his emails arrive. To be honest, I totally loathe it.

I hit the Delete button so hard, I'm worried my laptop will prematurely
go into retirement!

Why, you ask? I'll tell you why. This guy has never, ever given me anything
of value to help me in my marketing efforts. Never a useful tip, never a valuable
insight, nothing... Let's call him Joe Greedy.

Each and every email he sends me, is nothing but a pitch fest.
This product, that product, whatever he can get his hands on,
he will tell me to buy.

It looks like the quality of the product he recommends is of less
importance, as long as he can make a buck. I can tell you right
now that this is a typical "here today - gone tomorrow" type of
marketer.

We've discussed the importance of list building several times, but this is
the perfect example of how building a list in itself is NOT enough.

Let me contrast this "horror story" with the following example:
I've got a "Top 5 List" of newsletters that I really look forward to receiving.
Thanks to useful tips and great advice through the years, I am likely to buy
whatever these marketers recommend.

Their trust factor is sky high, and my resistance towards making a purchase
melts like a snow ball landing on the sun with its 27 million degrees fahrenheit.

Let's call the marketer I'm reffering to for Mike Value. Mike has got integrity, and does
not recommend everything under the sun. But his rewards are great. Just listen to what
happened when he decided to put his seal of approval on a search engine marketing course,
by recommending it to his list.

The publisher contacted Mike Value a few weeks later and told him the following in excited tones:
"The conversion rate of the people you sent to our site was exponentially higher than all the
other internet marketing experts we have ever dealt with. It was in a class by itself."

As it turned out, Mike made more than all their other Joint Venture partners. This is the true value
of having a list. A huge list of let's say 50 thousand people, can be pretty much worthless,
if your readers do not like and trust you.

Let me tell you a little bit more about our friend Mike Value, and you will probably understand why
people trust him like their brother. At the end of each week, Mike takes the latest version of
his customer list to the bank and puts it in his safety deposit box. Reason being that accidents
can happen - power surges, hard drive crashes, fires and so on.

This weekly ritual also serves as a vivid reminder to Mike that his customer list IS his business",
as he puts it.

The weekly depositing serves as a constant reminder that lists require ongoing care and attention.
That's why Mike Value asks himself the following, every Friday, on the way to the bank:
"What have I done to enrich my list members this week?".

Start asking yourself the same question. It's not that hard. Just make sure you value and respect
your readers enough to give them helpful tips along the way. Never recommend a lousy product.

Your readers will begin to trust you, and they will be voting for you with their wallets when you endorse
quality products and services down the road.