Customer Relations  Everybody who has been involved with Internet marketing for any amount of time will have come across the phrase, "the money is in the list". Another key term which Internet marketers often hear is "automation". The two phrases often go together. For example, it is often said that you need to grow and automate your mailing list by using a professional auto responder to gather e-mail addresses and automatically send out a regular series of e-mail newsletters. But is this really true? Is it really true that an automated newsletter that has not been updated for the last 6 to 12 months will be more responsive than up-to-the-minute topical mailings that you write and broadcast to your list on a daily or weekly basis? I don't think so. Of course, an automated newsletter series comes with a lot of benefits. For example, whenever somebody signs up to your newsletter via a squeeze page, they will be automatically plugged in to your message. They may like what they read and purchase your products or services. You will have converted a lead into customer without having done any work. But don't imagine that that customer will stick around if you do not build on the relationship. And you can't build a strong relationship with your customers by relying completely on automation. At some stage you will need to intervene on a personal level, or lose the customer. Also, be aware that automated newsletter is soon begin to go stale. An automated newsletter cannot be too topical, because it will soon sound dated. So, once you have set up an automated newsletter series, it is important to review it every once in awhile, update the content and cut out anything that is no longer relevant. In addition, to build a more personal relationship with your list, send out a series of broadcasts in addition to the automated mailings, or even base your whole campaign on up-to-the-minute broadcasts. What you write and post today will be very topical. You can include authentic personal details about what you have been doing and thinking about in relation to the theme of your newsletter. Your broadcasts will be fresh and unique, and people will appreciate the fact that you are making a personal effort to keep them updated about developments in your market niche. You see, in the end, it is not the automation of the newsletter but the cultivation of the relationship between you and your list that really matters if you want to build your business. Also, what is more important? The size of the list or the quality of the lead? Here again, although it is true that Internet marketing is "a numbers game" it does not necessarily mean that the highest number yields the best results. If you can recruit one good lead into your business day, and cultivate a relationship with that lead based on fresh up-to-the-minute e-mail broadcasts, you will probably get much better results than you would if you concentrated on pulling in a few thousand low quality leads to a list that works 100% on autopilot with the newsletter series thatis never updated. Sure, the money is in the list, but you will only get your money out of the list, if you build a high-quality list, and then build a solid business relationship with each person on that list.