There are those who turn apoplectic at the receipt of unsolicited commercial email, commonly dubbed spam. These are the same people who receive hundreds of bulk letters addressed to Occupant without batting an eye.
Getting rid of unwanted mail means sorting through the stack to pull out the important pieces and then dumping the remainder in the trash bin. The garbage piles up in landfills and ocean dumping grounds while the trees continue to fall to produce more and more paper.
Electronic mail can be quickly scanned and then deleted, disappearing forever into cyberspace, causing no pollution or build-up, and requiring no consumption of non-renewable resources.
My inbox is my conduit to the world, scanned daily with eager eyes for those unexpected morsels that appear out of nowhere. I have found delightful offers, developed new areas of interest, and have followed seductive links to websites that have become perennial favorites - all because of unsolicited messages.
My response is that, barring blatantly pornographic material, I like spam, and I hope it keeps coming. Unfortunately, those who feel the purity of the Internet has somehow been violated, have led to a cyber world where everything requires confirmation, double or triple opt-in lists, bouncing of incoming messages by non-intelligent filters, and evokes multiple complaints to ISPs who are forced to investigate and respond.
The Internet is so wonderful because it is highly resistant to the urge for co-option by the government, large corporations, and the rich and powerful. It is the great leveler where even the most humble can connect to the world.
Lets fight to keep it that way, even if it means 30 minutes of our precious daily time is spent deleting unwanted messages.
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of two interactive workbooks: The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual and Diet With An Attitude: A Weight Loss Workbook, she also issues a monthly ezine, The Workers Edge, and various mini-courses on weight control, she can be reached at her Social Psych Blog as well as at her weight control information site
Emails are replacing regular mails from the post office. Not only because it is cheaper, since you do not need to buy a stamp, its also definitely faster. Emails can be sent in as fast as five seconds, depending on the server, anywhere in the world.
No doubt emails are being used to distribute news letters, promotional mails, and other stuff. How then would you be able to round up email addresses to send those marketing mails you have Here is where an opt-in list comes in.
An opt-in list is a directory of email address you can send to those mails to. Though it seems to be easy to find email addresses, if you are talking thousands in numbers, it is going to be hard. Besides, you have to determine the recipient of the email. You wouldnt want your readers mostly male if you are selling lipsticks, right
A good opt-in list should include the profile of the email address owner. Here are tips on how to create a comprehensive opt-in list for target market.
Create your website.
Creating a website is made simple nowadays. A lot of programs are milling about assisting regular computer users in making and maintaining websites in a real simple way. Some website creator just needs you to cut and paste, like that of a regular paint program. Several web hosting sites are available too. Some are even free. If you have a site of your own, you can ask visitors to register with you or sign your guest book as they leave.
Set up a promotion or a freebie.
Not all the best things in life are free, as they say. But you can definitely try to give something out for sure. You can see this done all over the web. Free screensavers, free games, free download of programs. And what do they need from you They just ask for an email address, your name and a little something more about you. Then you can place a check box on the registration form for sending of email. For sure, you can think of something to give out as well.
Write and write some more.
There are some web magazines where in readers can submit their writings for a particular topic. If you had a chance to do so, add a link to your article providing information about what you are trying to promote. Some readers of your article may enjoy your work so much theyd like to contact you, so dont forget to leave your email address too.
Pose an easy opt-out option.
People who like to join your opt-in list would, along the way may want to opt out of it somehow. People who are wary of joining may not join at all if they see that it would be near impossible to remove their email address from the listing. Show them that it is as easy to opt-out as it is opting in.
Check others strategy too.
It would be better if you can find a partner in generating an opt-in list. This way, you can split the expenses and both of you can share the list generated. It will be best to partner with a company that has a business similar to your own line. Both of you can profit more should that be the case.
Use offline ways too.
You can put up a small raffle preferably in a supermarket for a certain item they buy. You can place an email address opt-in part in the raffle entry to add to your list. This way, youd also know the buying preferences of the participants if you mark the entries systemically.
Creating an opt-in list entails a lot of work and funds. You should outline how much you will spend in creating an opt-in list. People appearing at opt-in lists are sales prospects. They are those interested in a certain product that you may be selling. Obtaining an optimal opt-in list would boost your sales up so these tools are undoubtedly essential.
Acquire an opt-in list now or generate one. Either way, you are reaching to people that can be your one of your treasured customers for a long period time.
Jeremiah Patton has been currently building his opt in list for his home based business opportunities website at for the last year to build up his client base and keep visitors informed on new work at home ideas.