If you thought the discussion of training program scams only pervades the internet marketing space, think again. Over the past week, I’ve been following similar talking points taking place within the online poker community. After reading through some of the conjecture, doesn’t it sound familiar?

“Thirty dollars a month for something you can essentially find for free at plenty of other places elsewhere…”
“You’re stupid to pay for 95% filler just to get to the 5% that may help you…”
“If these people were so good, why would they teach instead of just doing it…”

As always with these lines of thought, they focus too much on those that are pitching these services instead of the inherent value someone would receive from it.

And to them, it’s virtually nothing. But there’s a reason for that. They’re not the intended target audience for these programs. If you have 16,000+ posts on a forum dedicated to the matter at hand, it’s obvious that you’d take basic knowledge for granted and simply assume that others would find no worth in it whatsoever.

The ironic part, though, is that I would probably bet that many of these naysayers actually over-estimate their abilities and unbeknownst to their inflated egos, they might very well be implementing some of the core skills completely incorrectly.

Over the course of my 4+ year period of playing poker for a living, I purchased nearly 70 books on the subject. Most people I hung out with at the time always wondered why I did so even when pulling a good profit off the game. They’d be more flabbergasted when they’d see me re-reading some of the same books up to 5+ times. My response was always quite simple:

“If I learn just one new thing, reinforce one old idea, or tweak a profitable tactic for a higher return – and it earns/saves me just one extra bet over the course of my playing career – then the $25 price tag for the book just paid for itself and then some.”

Assuming that’s the case, should it really even matter who wrote the book? Should it matter than this information, in some form, could be found elsewhere for free? The answer always relies solely on one thing and one thing alone – results. Did that product, service, etc. produce a higher return on investment than you originally put in for it? If the answer is yes, then nothing else matters.

What gets in the way of this straight-forward logic is your own ego. Being afraid in admitting to yourself that you might need help, even with some of the basic things – and being “embarrassed” having your peers, friends and business acquaintances see you study a subject in which you’re supposedly already skilled at. That’s it.

Fuck ‘em. Let the results speak for themselves.

So the next time you question purchasing an information product, enrolling in a training program or paying for a consulting session – or poking fun at those who do – think more about how much the cost of these endeavors will pay off in spades.

That is, if you aren’t a tire-kicker and you actually *do* the work – which will affect your results infinitely more than the qualifications of the instructor and the quality of the training material. Stop bitching and start working.

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All the internet marketing gurus will tell you to build a mailing list as quickly as possible because e-mail converts. They’ll say to dangle a carrot in front of a visitor’s eyes by way of an eBook in exchange for contact permission – it’s that important. Of course, once you build up this massive database then you have the ability to easily print money! That’s what they’ll tell you, right?

Having an mailing list of any size, promoting the most valuable affiliate products and producing the best exclusive content really doesn’t matter unless the subscribers actually open their e-mail. So, what can you do to increase this rate?

The subject line of your e-mail is the most important, if not the only factor in whether the messages are opened frequently or not. Should it be short or long? Should it be conversational or informational? Who cares? All that matters is that dumb people open it and take action. (and we all know dumb people click on links)

To help you out, I’ve compiled my list of the top 10 most effective subject lines for any campaign. Feel free to cut and paste them for your own use – get results from your next e-mail list blast!

10. Please don’t open this e-mail.

9. Your bank account has been credited $100.

8. Fwd: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (first name)

7. Don’t blame me – You opted in for this shit.

6. Your GayDate.com invite has been sent to your Facebook friends.

5. Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam.

4. You mean a lot to us, subscriber #38741.

3. New private message from Darren Rowse.

2. I use Aweber, so I know you got this.

1. (first name), you’re the father.

Do you have any more “effective” subject lines to increase the open rate?

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The importance of e-mail list subscribers. Do you really need them?

Of course you need them! You should have known that answer already. Every internet marketer known to man has proclaimed that e-mail converts and they’re absolutely right. But no one knows why except for the talking gerbil that lives inside of John Chow’s sock drawer. Fortunately, I have been given an exclusive interview with the remarkably rich rodent and am bringing you the inside scoop!

Q: I only have 12 minutes left to write this post, so let’s cut to the chase. Why does e-mail convert?

A: It’s all because of dumb people, Jordan. All because of them. Do you realize it’s the largest demographic of people in the world?

Q: What do you mean, Harold? (that’s his name, by the way)

A: You and me, we’re smart and savvy. We know technology. We know what RSS is. We don’t use Internet Explorer. We’re regularly on Twitter and more importantly, we know when people are full of shit. Dumb people don’t, so that’s why we market to them.

Q: Yeah, I read that in the $497 two-page eReport I bought from your website.

A: You’ve done your research then… oh also, dumb people like e-mail! Can you believe that? They like it because it’s the only thing about the internet they know how to use. So why not send them a message posing as their best friend from high school? It’s even more effective when you send them vague anchor text like “click here”. Dumb people click on links.

Q: Great point, but shouldn’t targeted search engine traffic with Adwords do more for you anyways?

A: Of course, that’s a big part of our scam. But there’s only so much focus you can draw out of dumb people’s short attention span. Don’t you notice sales pages only give you the option to “buy now” and nothing else to click?

Q: Yeah, that’s definitely something I see. Is that because of dumb people?

A. Yup. Too many links.

Q: Harold, thanks for taking the time out to share your secrets of internet marketing success.

A: No problem, man. Now can you help me get this Asian guy out of my damn house?

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Chris Brogan has talked a lot on his blog about what it takes to be an overnight success. While I appreciate his candor, I think he’s only speaking to a very small demographic that has the chops to make it happen. What about the rest of us who, despite our pathetic attempts at becoming a super awesome social media uber-guru, will never reach those heights… or even 20 unique visitors to our blog? (fingers crossed!) Has Chris forgotten about the little people who exalt him as their savior while they do the complete opposite of what he says?

Well, I’ll speak for you then! For the tens of thousands of wanna-be blogging ninjas and internet rockstars. For the hundreds upon hundreds of fake experts who regurgitate fast-food content and auto-follow their way up on Twitter to boost their worthless self-esteem.

For you, the affiliate marketer who couldn’t sell a blind man a new pair of eyes. For you, the membership site wizard who sells membership site subscriptions to discuss membership sites with people looking to sell membership sites on membership sites. For you, the teenage “living the life” entrepreneurs who still rely on mom and dad’s allowance to pay hosting costs. For you, Blogspot users.

For everyone out there who still has $98.64 to go before receiving their first Adsense check. For everyone out there who networks so poorly, even Tom on MySpace isn’t your friend. For everyone out there who wants to be an overnight success, but knows deep down in their heart that they’re a failure!

Let’s show all the six-figure entrepreneurs making money online that our job takes a lot of hard work too! It’s difficult putting in 45 minutes a day in between watching every episode of Lost (again!) and working as the Clucky’s Chicken advertising mascot! It’s difficult to write about what you know when your “passion” is dropping roofies at high school house parties! It’s difficult to be an overnight success when you don’t even know that “overnight” is only one word!

I will speak for you, my children. What does it take to be an overnight failure?

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