Why I Have Subscribers

I got a great email the other day from a new subscriber and I want to share it with you. Hopefully his email, and my response, will reveal a few things. He was replying to the "SCREENSHOT" email. Subscribers will know what I am talking about.

The new subscriber’s email included this:

“Thanks but don't SPAM me Please”

I felt obligated to reply. This is what I wrote:

LOL Yeah Ken you don't have to worry about that :)

That promotion for "Trader Interviews" is the ONLY thing in my autoresponder email queue right now besides the "Am I following you on Twitter?" Out of every 100 trading related things that I could promote to my subscribers (and there are a LOT) 99 of them are GARBAGE and I won't put my name behind junk.

Anyway here is the screenshot:
LINK TO SCREENSHOT HERE

CHEERS!

TraderSmarts

We have since exchanged a few emails, we've discovered we both prefer the YM to the ES, and I think he realizes that I am not trying to spam him with junk :)

So what is the point of having a subscriber list for my blog if I am not trying to sell or promote things? The number one reason is because with a blog, aside from the comments section, it is a one-way conversation. I have no idea who my specific readers are (other than the vague information provided by analytics). Having subscribers, on the other hand, enables me to engage my readers and speak to them one on one. And they can contact me as well if they wish. It is like Twitter. It enables me to meet and ultimately connect with my readers.

Now let me be clear. I am not blatantly against selling or promoting things. Things are bought and sold every day. This is a society that is based on the idea of buying and selling. You pay for goods and services that you want and need. Nothing wrong with that—just the way it is.

So if I find something worth letting subscribers know about, then I will. Fact is, though, I’ve had the subscriber list now since July 2009 and I am writing this in December 2009 (so for 5 months) and as mentioned above, I only have 1 thing in my email queue as a promotion. And I can assure you that is NOT due to a lack of things to promote. It is because in the trading profession, there is a LOT of garbage and useless information being hawked and I will NOT put my name behind junk. Literally out of every 100 things that come across my desk, 99 of them are GARBAGE.

Just FYI, the one promotion that I have done so far was for Trader Interviews because I think it is a cool site. I love the “Market Wizards” books, and the concept for Trader Interviews is the same. This is something I can stand behind. If you have not already and want to check it out, feel free to use this affiliate link: http://www.traderinterviews.com/amember/go.php?r=251&i=l5 It will take you to 5 free interviews (you have to opt in – but Tim doesn’t spam you either) and if you eventually subscribe to Tim’s site, I will get a small one-time payment for the referral.

Anyway the point of this post is not to promote the one promotion I have done but rather to point out why I have a subscriber list (detailed above) and what you will get being my subscriber:

1. TraderSmarts Numbers for the YM, ES and GC delivered to your email every day before the market opens

2. Notified when a new post on the blog other than the TraderSmarts Numbers is posted (like this one) or the daily charts I sometimes post and analyze, etc.

3. An occasional offer for something that I think is worthwhile—so far, one thing in five months.

What you will not get is spammed by me to buy, try, test, subscribe, etc., to every worthless trading-related thing that I could promote.

Hopefully this has clarified why I have a subscriber list and what you will and will not get by being a subscriber. Oh yeah, and if you know of something WORTHWHILE (that 1 in 100 thing) to offer to my subscribers, please feel free to email me about it.

All the best,

TraderSmarts