After the last, big, “mega-launch,” and a barrage of me-too marketing emails from the usual suspects, I’ve decided enough is enough. And it’s about time.

I’ve done something I should have done a long time ago.

And I feel liberated.

I recommend you do the same. And that is, I unsubscribed from 90% of the newsletters I was receiving. I purged ruthlessly, without blinking or looking back.

If you think it’s not a lot, let me give you a backstory. When I was the editor of The Internet Marketing Chronicles newsletter over a decade ago (which has since been acquired by the late Corey Rudl), I subscribed to a lot of email newsletters.

Yes, lots. Like over-a-thousand lots.

I’m a speed-reader, so getting that many emails was never a big challenge. And before you conclude I was an email junkie, let me give you a few reasons in my defense.

For one, I wanted to be up on things. I wanted to stay abreast of new changes, new marketing strategies, new software tools, and so on. (I still do.)

Second, it gave me a lot of fodder while writing editorials for the then popular newsletter. I’m proud to have been instrumental in helping them grow their list from 45,000 to 160,000 subscribers, and remember that 160,000 back in ‘98 was quite a feat!

And third, these emails served me well as they were also used for research purposes. As an up-and-coming copywriter writing a lot for the Internet marketing crowd at the time, I wanted to see what others were saying, promoting, doing, emailing, and writing.

But this weekend, after last week’s ubiquitous mega-launch promotional emails started cluttering up my inbox, it became the proverbial straw that broke this camel’s back.

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As a marketer, you should take every opportunity to eliminate barriers and challenges to the delivery of your message to your target audience.

While RSS feeds, blogs, and social media are all the rage right now, nothing beats that long-reigning monarch of the message-to-market medium online. Good ol’ email.

As one Twitter user, Michael Kern, once remarked while commenting on one of my articles, “Email is still king.”

For instance, on this blog I have close to 35,000 subscribers. Just 10% of that number are subscribed to my RSS feed, while the remainder are email subscribers.

My numbers are far from being unique. They are the same with a large percentage of bloggers and social media marketers, let alone Internet marketers with blogs.

With the variety of ways available to deliver an opt-in email newsletter, you might wonder which is best for your business. Choices include plain text and embedded HTML.

Which one is the best?

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As with static websites, the success of a blog depends on attracting a steady stream of new and return traffic. It is just that the tools for blog promotion are slightly different, a bit more diverse and on the whole much more effective.

Blogs are designed with interactivity and social networking ability built in. They are ideal both for developing relationships and marketing your brand.

However, this doesn’t mean you should neglect standard promotion techniques in favor of blog only techniques. In fact, traditional marketing activities can become even more potent with a blog due to its nature.

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A member on my copywriters forum (now my blog) started a thread on what makes my forum so popular. Everyone chimed in with some great answers, and I appreciate the feedback.

(The cool thing about it is, that very thread also reached an important milestone. It was the 10,000th one! Talk about a coincidence, eh?)

But then someone asked:

“Michel, can I ask how you initially got the word out about your forum?”

My answer revealed a bit more than what the member anticipated. Instead of talking about how my forum became so popular, I went on a tangent and explained the step-by-step process I used to book copywriting projects.

The answer was so well received that I decided to reprint it here.

Now, you may be wondering what promoting a forum (or a blog, for that matter) has to do with promoting my copywriting services. Keep reading because you’ll soon understand why…

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Recently, a coaching client asked me about dealing with prospective clients over the phone.

This copywriter understood the importance of communicating with prospects and answering their pre-sale questions. However, like me, he preferred to avoid the telephone and asked me if his strategy was sound.

Free consultations are often a necessary step in securing clients in your early days as a copywriter before you’ve established your expertise and developed a reputation.

It’s natural that potential clients want to get a feel for your style and standards with a “getting to know you session.” Quite often, they will want to do this via a phone consultation with you.

I’m a big believer in opening the lines of communication, and I also like to pick up the phone to speak with a client when writing copy.

But before a client hires me, I prefer to remain off the phone. Why? Because the telephone can be counterproductive and even hurt your business.

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Just a quick little note that we added a “prelaunch” blog, where we will be adding previews, news, samples, and posts about the official launch of Success Chef.

While you’re there, subscribe to the RSS feed or join the email list, and view the special 70-minute prelaunch video tutorial. But if you want a sample, here’s the first 15 minutes or so of that hour-long video tutorial…

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Just an update on things.

I’m typing this from my hotel room in Anaheim, California, where my wife and I are speaking at a seminar. My Internet connection is shoddy and intermittent, so I can’t do much right now. Even typing this blog post feels like pulling teeth.

To my coaching students, I will be answering your emails once I return to my office, or this weekend if I have a chance and the connection improves.

I will be back early next week, posting an explosive new article on how to double or even triple your profits using an amazing twist on something we already do as copywriters and business owners.

In the meantime, glide on over to my new site, Copywriters Library, where I have over 6 hours of audio interviews with master copywriters Gary Halbert and John Carlton, and 2 of my complete books reprinted free for you.