The Central Intelligence Newsletter

Once upon a time, like back in 2001, e-newsletters were cool, useful, and somewhat forward-looking. Truly helpful, well-written and entertaining newsletters were still somewhat rare. Then companies and organizations "got it" -- that is, they realized that good newsletters did more than promote their firm, product or service as the greatest thing since coffee makers with built-in brew timers -- and their audiences were happy.

Today, company and industry newsletters are ubiquitous. Asking site visitors to sign up for your newsletter is now as exotic and clever as mashed potatoes. Sign-up rates are, understandably, down, as is deliverability. Many spam filters mistake (I use the term loosely) valid opt-in e-newsletters for spam. Even when newsletters do get through, they are highly susceptible to the easy use of the "delete" key by busy business people and consumers unless they provide truly exceptional value.

So, I've decided not to run with the lemmings. Instead, I offer the following "build your own Central Intelligence newsletter" capability. You are always welcome to let me know what you think.

What would the WebMarketCentral newsletter include if there were one? First, it would include my latest blog postings. You can visit my blog here or grab the RSS feed below. (If you're not familiar with RSS, you can find links to free RSS readers as well as a useful and not overly-technical explanation of RSS here.)

Second, it would include the latest Web marketing and e-commerce news from leading sources like ClickZ, eMarketer, Practical Ecommerce, and InternetRetailer.com. Turns out you can always get the latest news in online marketing here and the latest e-commerce headlines here, and view or grab the RSS feeds from all of your favorite marketing publications in the comprehensive directory here.

Third, it would include advertising (everybody has to eat). You can find my list of hand-picked Web marketing vendors who are the best at what they do here.

Fourth, it would include interactivity in the form of a weekly Quick Poll. I may add one of these to this site at some point, but really, these aren't as unique and clever as they once were anymore either. Does the world really need another Quick Poll? I'm not sure. Maybe I should do a Quick Poll on that question.

Finally, each issue would include something like links that are off-topic, humorous, and/or entertaining in a business-appropriate way. Again, several of the best industry newsletters now do this. One that does it very well is the Marketing Ladder newsletter, which you can sign up for here. Even if you're not looking for a job, each issue usually contains a couple of well-written and broadly applicable business articles, and if you scroll to the bottom you'll find a few time-wasting but enjoyable links.