Alan Bechtold has released the latest issue of ‘E-Wealth Report’ Newsletter. The featured article is titled “Online Business Is In Peril”. [Newsletter]


Alan Bechtold has released the latest issue of ‘E-Wealth Report’ Newsletter.

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The Road To Wealth

I had other topics I’d planned to discuss in this issue. They can wait. This is so important, it must be addressed today.

The entire online industry needs your help and it needs it now. I’m willing to pull things together to make your help count — but you MUST repond and assist me or it will have no effect.

Online business is in peril. The ability to build an opt-in (or double opt-in or triple opt-in) E-mail list, then reliably reach that list is coming to an end. The ability to publish an online newsletter and reach your readers is coming to a close. And it’s happening faster than anyone imagined.

Rumors I hear indicate that, by 2008, getting ANY E-mail to go ANYwhere without paying for the privilege of having it delivered will come to a screeching halt. And it’s no longer sounding like the fees will be cheap. In fact, the kinds of fees I’m hearing bantered about will literally knock virtually ANY newcomer to online marketing out of the water before getting his or her boat off the
trailer.

Sadly, the future of online commerce lies firmly in the hands of E-mail service providers who appear to only making their own lives easier as a top priority.

Because they are getting slammed with spam, because “protecting” their customers from receiving spam is much harder than they’d hoped, ISPs and E-mail service providers have basically decided, as a group, to punish all of online commerce by blocking virtually anything and everything, willy-nilly, if it even remotely matches the arbitrary criteria they’ve determined indicates an E-mail that MIGHT be spam.

Notice the emphasis on MIGHT. It doesn’t really matter to these people who they’re hurting, apparently. The industry or their customers. They’re out to make their lives easier at any cost.

I’ve reported here, before, that Yahoo, one of the worst offenders in the history of the Internet (if you ask me), has a nasty habit of not even allowing someone they’ve deemed to be a POTENTIAL spammer to RESPOND to PERSONAL messages sent by their own customers, from their E-mail service!

This is a completely unjustified abuse of Yahoo’s customers’ expectations that their E-mail will not only be SENT, but that they can then receive a REPLY to their e-mails.

Yahoo, apparently, doesn’t care. It makes their lives easier to toss out every possible E-mail they can so, in my opinion, they’ve decided to simply block any and all mail coming in from even SUSPECTED senders, even though their own users may have written to them directly anticipating a response.

It’s fraud. Period.

They CLAIM they will deliver your E-mail FROM you and TO you AND block spam in the process when, in reality, they block anything and everything they think MIGHT be spam — and there is no reason for ANY E-mail service provider to think that a response to an E-mail from their own client is anything BUT something that the recipient wanted to receive.

They can’t explain this as a move to “block spam” when that response is definitely NOT a bulk email and it is being sent to their server in a direct response to an email FROM their server.

This cancer is spreading quickly all across the Web. Marketers I talk with are reporting that the response to their E-mails is dropping daily. My own reponse is about 1/4th what it was just six months ago. And dropping.

And my list is made up ONLY of people who SUBSCRIBED to one of my newsletters or services and expects and WANTS to receive my E-mails.

Even whitelisting doesn’t help. Most of the ISPs and E-mail service providers these days ignore that, tossing SUSPECTED E-mails BEFORE they ever hit your IN-BOX, so your whitelisting has NO effect whatsoever.

MORE fraud.

Sadly, most consumers don’t realize what’s happened. They know that E-mail isn’t getting through like it used to — even their personal E-mails. But they have no understanding why, because the E-mail service providers say they’re doing all this to “protect” them.

I don’t believe them any more. It’s no longer evident to me that they are protecting us from ANYTHING. Spam still pours into E-mail boxes. What they’re doing IS NOT WORKING, but they keep doing it. And they continue to tighten the screws, doing what already doesn’t work even more.

Kind of like the recent “surge” in Iraq.

It’s gotten so bad that many people report they don’t receive E-mailed receipts from companies when they’ve made an online purchase.

Consider this: it would benefit the oil industry tremendously if all the players could sit down in the same room, map out the coming year, plan production around pre-arranged price points they’d like to achieve, then work together to make it all happen to their best benefit.

But — they would all GO TO JAIL if they did because this would be unlawful under FTC rules and regulations.

Apparently, ISPs and E-mail service providers don’t believe they fall under these rules. I think the FTC would disagree. If ISPs get together ANYWHERE (at conferences, conventions, trade shows, etc.) and plan out systems and software and “central clearing houses” to use to block spam in the way they are now — they are, in my opinion, violating Federal Trade Commission law.

When their plans snare THOUSANDS of legitimate businesses TRYING to serve their customers, harming their businesses, it is an ACTIONABLE violation of FTC law.

Believe me — they ARE sitting down together. They DO attend conventions and trade shows, hold roundtables and work together to block spam.

I want to put together a class-action suite. I have attorneys at the ready. We’re ready to move. My question — this kind of thing won’t be cheap. It also won’t happen without me taking some bruises (can you say — BLOCK ALL E-MAIL from the “troublemaker?”).

Actually, I’m HOPING some of them will block my E-mail because I’m making trouble for them. That will only ADD to the suit.

So — I need to know if I have your backing. I’m talking about signing petitions joining a class action. I’m talking about more petitions to go to Congress and to the Senate. I’m asking if you’re willing to take up this cause and carry it to YOUR congressmen and senators.

I’m asking you — RIGHT NOW — to visit http://www.FTC.gov and file a formal complaint against YOUR E-mail service provider (if you’re even reading this, since it’s delivered basically by E-mail), if they aren’t delivering ALL the mail you were promised.

And I’m asking if all this matters enough to you to put your money where your mouth (and your livihood) reside and DONATE to this if I can get it off the ground.

I realize E-mail is not the best possible way to get this action rolling and this newsletter is delivered primarily by E-mail. I will repeat this notice in my PRINTED newsletter, I will talk about it on talk radio and podcasts … you name it. But I don’t believe I should be asked to put my back up against the brick wall and face the sharpshooters if I don’t have the backing of my
industry.

Do I have it?

Let me know (I almost hate to say it) via E-mail. Let’s see how well it’s still working!

I realize, if you’re reading this newsletter by E-mail, then you might not have an ISP or E-mail service provider who is one of the “bad guys.” YET. That means you MIGHT be able to reach me by E-mail, too. That also means it might not be too late to reach YOUR list by E-mail and encourage them to join this cause.

If I see the support I require, I’ll put up a Website and registration form for people to sign our petition and drive people there from all over — in print, by direct mail, teleconferences, etc.

But I do need to hear from you.

Write to me at: marketquest AT sysop DOT com

Meanwhile, if you want to keep reaching your prospects and customers, you’d better start a blog. TODAY. On your blog, include information, step-by-step, for setting up RSS to receive your blog posts automatically.

The next time you set up a Website selling ANYTHING, test E-mailing your ENTIRE list against a simple, compelling postcard inviting 1,000 members of your list to visit the site. You’ll spend about $500 for the postcards with postage. I’ll bet the results will convince you to hit your ENTIRE list with your next new product launch.

We’re clearly in for a battle. And I doubt it will be a short one. Pressure from the public, and from the businesses most affected, will help shorten the time before we start to see some real relief.

Or — we can just keep plodding along, watching our entire industry erroded and destroyed, all so that ISPs and E-mail service providers can lead easier lives.

I’ve thrown down the gauntlet. I think now it’s up to you to let me know if you’re behind me or happy with the status quo. It’ll be too late to get the consumer involved after the E-mail service providers have had their way. You won’t be able to reach them to tell them to GET involved.

TIP: What you put in your blog can be easily used to build a book! And a book is the ideal way to become an expert. Become an expert and people will look up to you and trust you. When people look up to you and trust you, they’ll BUY from you.

Toward that end, my gift to you this week is surprisingly valuable. Truly a no-cost offer.

I just got off the phone talking to publishing friend Warren Whitlock about promotion for my new book, Will Work For Fun, due out from Wiley Books this spring.

You probably have seen his “BEST SELLER” campaigns. Warren has helped hundreds of authors promote their books online. Now Warren is letting me share an exclusive zero-cost offer for a limited time…

http://m127.infusionsoft.com/go/bms/alan/

When you want to get a book out, let the world know about it, create tons of new leads and be famous, call my friend Warren.

And tell him Alan sent you.

As an author, you will discover that you’ll get the attention you deserve when you take action.

Start now to get famous fast

http://m127.infusionsoft.com/go/bms/alan/

Finally, David Perdew’s birthday extravaganza continues. Remember — this is a 31-day Private Label Rights blast. Each day features a complete collection of DOZENS of software programs, E-books, complete courses — you name it. All for $10 each day and themed, so they’re true “collections.”

And — everything comes with full MASTER resale rights.

You can pick up literally hundreds of goodies for a few bucks — then turn around and start selling them for BIG bucks. Simple. Easy. Inexpensive. Profitable.

Check out Day Seven — and all of the first six days here:

http://www.MyResellRightsGoldmine.com/aff/alan.htm

I believe David said he would update the above page every couple of days, not necessarily daily. Do check it throughout the next couple of weeks and you’ll find even MORE spectacular $10 resale packages available.

HIGHLY recommended.

See you next week.

Alan R. Bechtold

President/CEO

BBS Press Service, Inc.

‘E-Wealth Report’ Newsletter

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Alan Bechtold for granting permission to reprint the latest article.

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