Some people I know are wary of internet marketers, considering them to be snake oil salesmen who are always looking to scam them out of some money by selling them products they don’t need.

Not all are equally suspicious: apparently their long sales letters with bold promises still do work to pull in sales and subscribers.

These gurus usually offer their own informational products, along with in opt-in mailing list, which allows them to prime an audience to support their future ventures, products or affiliate sales. They are also skilled in branding themselves as an expert through the recommendations of others.

Are these internet marketers trustworthy? Their aggressive sales letters may look like scams but you’ll have to understand that that’s somewhat of a standard for most marketers. The sales pages may be antiquated but apparently they must work for a large number of people, ergo their longevity and persistence.

Why You Should Give Internet Marketers a Chance

Everytime I come across a free newsletter or report, I’ll often sign up for it just to get a closer look at how the internet marketer operates. There are several reasons why opting into these email lists will help you to make money yourself.

1. Learn How They Sell. After you sign up, observe how the internet marketer presells you by offering bite-sized chunks of information which build your interest and desire to learn more. Examine how they gradually push their own or other people’s product and look at how they brand themselves or evoke trust from the readers.
2. Newsletter Management. If you’ve always wanted to run your own opt-in newsletter, sign up for several lists and learn how the ‘gurus‘ or experts do it. See how they format their newsletters or emails and you can even write them personally for feedback about the tools they are using. I’m sure they would welcome the direct contact.
3. Beneficial Information. Not all email lists are junk and some actually do send you information that can be applied for your own websites and online businesses. The guideline here is simple: Look through all the fluff and extract the essence from the ideas offered. See how it can be applied for your website and test it out to see the results. Don’t believe their words blindly.

If you’re still not comfortable with giving your email address to an internet marketer, create a free throwaway email and use it exclusively for these lists. Log into this email account every alternate day or weekly to go through the mailings you get.

Manage the list every few weeks and opt-out of those who do not offer useful information. You may gradually find yourself trusting some marketers a lot more than others. Those are the ones you will have to study in detail. How did they earn that trust from you? How can you apply the same methods to build your own audience?

While they may get your approval, I would suggest doing some research before you make any expensive purchases based on their recommendations; do a search online or run a few checks with a few trusted friends who might know more about the product or the marketer’s history.

Develop an inquisitive and analytical mindset and you’ll make the full use of the time spent following and reading these newsletters and emails.