Do you get spam junk mail and simply delete it before you even open it? I don't blame you! It is so irritating to get spam — and I NEVER open spam. Never. (FYI — spam is unsolicited, unethical mass email from someone you don't know asking you to buy, subscribe, visit …. etc..)

But I do open "junk mail" from marketers to whose lists I have subscribed. And I do that a lot. I get about 20 junk emails per day and none of them have my personal email address. Here's what I did:

First, I obtained a freebie email address from Yahoo. Then I searched the 'Net to find junk mail senders. Yep. I actually wanted them to send me junk email to my "junk email address". I found the top marketers for the subjects I am interested in and signed up for their free newsletters. I soon found out that, for the most part they do NOT send newsletters — just sales letters for something that will "only be available" for X number days; or, announcements of an ebook, software, website that is only going to be sold to 1000 (or less) people before the doors are closed. And, oh they hype! It's like wading through a barn where 50 horses have been locked in for 10 days — I'm sure you get the picture!

Now, what is the purpose of this madness? you might reasonably ask. Why would any sane person ASK for junk mail to be sent to them?

Because they're making money with their websites and I want to know how they do it. I cannot see myself ever using the hard sell, over-hyped email marketing that most of them use. However, there are some marketers whose emails I actually enjoy receiving. When I start heavily marketing via email I will emulate them. It is a good learning tool that has served me well.

And, it is something you can do without spending a dime. If you want to dive into the Internet Marketing field you will need to find out what others are doing. This is one way of finding out.

Have fun!

~Linda