Sending Commercial Email
Author: Dawn Gray
With more and more court rulings on commercial email, it is
becoming difficult to send people information via email
without being labelled a spammer. So, how can a small
business owner get their message out (via email) without
losing their ISP and receiving tons of hate mail (often
including malicious programs called "bombs")?

You have two choices: 1. spend a lot of money; or 2. spend
a lot of time and effort.

Spend A Lot Of Money

Yes, there are cheap email lists available online. However,
chances are those lists are compiled of email addresses
collected from websites or directories. It's unlikely that
the owner of the list has the recipient's permission to send
them anything.

There are also lists out there compiled of people who
requested information. Some offer bonuses for receiving,
reading or responding to advertisements. That may be a good
strategy from the list owner's perspective, but you're
likely to receive a lot of responses from people who have no
interest in your product. That translates into wasted time
and energy on your part, as you try to follow up on those
bogus leads.

If you want to send email messages to a lot of people, I
highly recommend sticking to dependable lists of people who
requested information. YesMail and Postmaster Direct are the
two biggest companies which offer opt-in email lists. They
offer many ways to target your market, as well as
legitimately obtained addresses.

Spend A Lot Of Time And Effort

If you can't afford to work with the big boys, you can
compile your own list. See my article, "How to Capture Email
Addresses" at http://www.busymarketing.com/email.shtml

Compiling your own list will involve first promoting your
website by other methods. (I've got a lot of ideas at
http://www.busymarketing.com/marketing.shtml and in my
E-Books - see the newest one, "106 Website Promotion Tips"
at http://www.busymarketing.com/106tips.shtml ) Then you
must convince people to send you their email addresses by
offering an announcement list, newsletter, freebie, or
contest.

Unfortunately, people are becoming wary of giving out their
email addresses. They get too much email as it is. Your
offer must be compelling to convince them to hand over
contact information. Even then, don't expect the email
addresses to pour in unless you already receive a lot of
traffic.

"Isn't There An Easier Way?"

I knew you'd ask that. There is another way to send
information about your website via email, but you might not
be able to get an exclusive ad. You can pay a small amount
of money (some are even free!) for an advertisement in a
newsletter, like this one. More people read newsletters than
stand-alone commercial advertisements, since they generally
have useful information. The list is built for you, and you
can find one for almost any target audience imaginable.

There are numerous directories of ezines, many of which
include information about advertising in email newsletters.
My list is located near the bottom of
http://www.busymarketing.com/addurl.shtml Also, consider
the newsletters you already subscribe to. Chances are, many
are related to your website's topic and are targeted at the
same audience. Just scroll to the bottom for information on
advertising opportunities or contact the editor about it.

(For advertising information for this newsletter, send a
blank email to
ads@busymarketing.com )

There are many types of newsletter advertising, from
stand-alone ads which are sent independently of the
newsletter to one or two line "classifieds" crowded together
at the end. Make sure you know what your options are and
what you're getting by subscribing to the newsletter in
advance. The things to look for are quality content and
little competition (you don't want to be on page 3 of a 5
page advertising section).

About the Author

Dawn Gray can help you drive more traffic to your website. For other great
articles on website promotion and a free email newsletter, visit her website at
http://www.busymarketing.com