I was going to sit down and write a long blog post about why I dumped Aweber and several thousand subscribers but I decided against it.

Blog posts are better when they are short and to the point.

So, if you were interested, here’s why I closed my account on the 2nd January 2009…

(1) I haven’t sent an email since September 2008 and sent perhaps 10 in total in 2008

(2) I’ve lost all interest in email marketing and copywriting (incidentally I never had any interest in product development). It was a major hassle for me to compose, load and send an email broadcast. That may have been reflected in the tone of my emails. Sorry if you detected that!

(3) In the last couple of years it has become evident that the marketplace has changed. The barriers are lower and now, in my opinion, the whole ’email newsletter’ thing has been harmed because anyone can send out emails just by getting an autoresponder account. In other words, there are lots of people sending out complete junk and marketing jibberish which harms the rest of us.

In addition, I just wanted to take this opportunity to answer some questions I received when I told my list I would not be emailing them again.

Q: “Ben have you lost your marbles? Your getting rid of your aweber account? WHY? Is your list not making any money?”

A: The list always made money – some promotions were far better than others. Seminars rarely ever sold which was always disappointing because I find seminars to be the most valuable ‘product’ you can buy. I’ve not lost my marbles but thanks for checking! I figure that I can always start again in the future if I want. I built one list and could do it afresh whenever I like. Next time I probably won’t use Aweber though – far too complicated for what I need (great service though).

Q: “Sorry to hear you’re putting the newsletter to bed. I thought I should suggest an alternative that you could offer your other subscribers. Using FeedBurner to syndicate your blog’s RSS feed, you can also offer updates via e-mail. I see your blog uses WordPress so it should be as easy as adding the FeedBurner plugin to your WordPress installation and then pointing subscribers in the direction of the e-mail signup page.”

A: Thanks Philip! Great advice. (Check out Philip’s blog at: http://philipjohn.co.uk/)

Q: “hi ben… it was always an interesting read… not of late they were few and far between… hope all is well, might bump in to you at one of them seminars at the late night bar… wonder if you had any info on this: (webprosperity.com)”

A: Hope to see you at a seminar too! As for ‘Web Prosperity’ – not 100% sure. I see it as a gimmick where a lot of people are pushing it expecting to be at the top of a huge matrix, earning lots of money. In my opinion, if you see the word ‘matrix’ on a website and it isn’t advertising a Keanu Reeves film, run the other way.

Q: “Would it be possible to make an offer for your mailing list?”

A: Sorry but no. When I collected the names I specifically promised that subscribers’ names would never be sold or shared. The list dies with the Aweber account I’m afraid!

Q: “This is sad, it your your site that I first joined since I started my search as an Internet Marketer. It would be nice to know if you have been successful with your list (selling backends etc).”

A: Thanks for the email Mo. The list was definitely successful. It was built mostly via PPC advertising. I spent about £2,500 on PPC over the years and then sold tens of thousands of pounds of resale rights and affiliate products. I made multiple times my expenditure in profits. Of course, this was when I was still motivated to earn from an email list. Sadly that motivation has now gone. Don’t let that put you off though, email marketing can be very lucrative.

Q: “Sorry you are pulling out. Hope the reason is that you have made your millions?”

A: Not quite Andy but I am happy with how that particular venture turned out. Thanks for the email.

So thanks for the emails everybody.

I only got one nasty remark:

“Thank god at least one piece of useless spam will not darken my inbox again”

So thank you, Howard, for making me laugh. I assume you are serious which saddens me a little.

Happy New Year everybody.