Almost any recognized Internet Marketing guru making you an offer today will mention somewhere in his sales pitch that a mailing list is really important.

I believe mention best describes the amount of attention the guru is giving to mailing lists at that moment because his primary objective is to convince you that the absolute most important thing in your Internet Marketing business development is to buy whatever it is he is selling.

Nothing could be more important than what he is offering. I know this as I read through his copy because he is telling me, over and over and over, how effective his sales item is, how easy it is to use, how it does not matter that I have no experience in business or marketing or anything else, that his secrets are being revealed for the first time, that he cares about me and he wants to help me, that his offer is discounted, but I must act this instant or his price may go up, or his offer may be taken away.

I am sure they place this much importance on their offers because this is clearly a life and death matter, especially to them. You cannot, mind you, overestimate the ego and self-importance of a genuine, Internet-certified guru. Well, you can, but is not considered good form.

Without actually saying so, his underlying message is "success is automatic," but only with his system, his materials, his training, and his mentorship. The message is Internet Marketing is not complicated at all, and I do not know why anyone would make it so.

After all, in almost every such offer as this, there is no prospecting, no calling, no selling, no contact with people, no quotas, no huge investments (a few are even touted as free), and no need to create a website (their business-in-a-box leads you to believe that it does it all for you by providing you with a complete website, ready to make money while you watch the money roll in).

Many times the ads that lead you to these sales pages with offers have bright, happy colors, music, streaming headlines, dancing dollar bills, audio messages by guru hired help, gorgeous homes, fancy yachts, and even expensive sports cars zooming away (apparently success is a fast ride).

I have not noticed any sites like this that say you also need no brains, no critical thinking skills, no personality, and no people skills, but perhaps that is in the future of the industry as it develops alongside technology.

So what about these mailing lists? Well, competition is stiff in acquiring names. There is currently such a plethora of high-tech, clever approaches to getting names on the Internet that apparently some Internet Marketers with less resources have been reduced to settling for a more moderate approach.

Witness this e-mail I received yesterday: "Finally (huge letters) A Work at home Opportunity That Anyone Can Do! (Did I mention how easy this Internet Marketing thing is, even idiots need not apply, they are welcomed on the Net)"

The ad continues with "We have No Selling, No Autoship, No Referring Required, No Investment Required, that's Right Join Now Free! No Out of Pocket Expenses Required Ever" (I am not making this up; I am quoting this word for word, letter for letter.)

It concludes with "More Information (large letters) and immediate access to our website:"; and then asks for your First Name, Last Name, E-mail, Confirm E-mail and Phone (all required information).

You will forgive me if I could not figure out 1) who I am dealing with, 2) what is the company name, 3) what product or service are we talking about, and 4) why would someone need my phone number if there is no selling involved?

I have not a clue what I am signing up for. Did I mention earlier that if I am to err, then I would like to err on the side of caution?

Another e-mail, received two days later, shows a picture of a $100,000 bill on the top with no information whatsoever about a real person, a real company, a real product or service, and what I might be receiving when I subscribe to their mailing list. I believe this is what we call blind trust.

Before you jump off of the roof in a fit of excitement while indiscriminately giving your name and e-mail address away, you might want to calculate the drop distance, and exactly how long it will be before you land, hopefully on your own two feet.