By Jim Daniels, of BizWeb2000
[August 23rd, 2000]

See Also   Email Marketing Primer   How to Increase Your Online Sales   Take Advantage of Google's AdWords   Using Foreign Search Engines to Boost Your Sales   Getting Sure Profits Through Google, Goto.com and DirectHit   Ten Places You Must Submit Your Site   Clever Profit Growth Software   The Power Of Personalized Email   How To Go Long With Your Web Marketing   How NOT to Promote Your E-business   Winning the Search Engine Wars   Latest Tips on Search Engine Marketing   Are You Wasting Your Money Online?   Should I Hire Another Salesperson or Invest in an Affiliate Program?   The Death of Positioning?   Links: Why You Need Them and How to Get Them   Your #1 Overlooked Business Asset

[This is the second part of a two part article. The first part can be read here].

The fact is, when it comes to marketing with email your very best bet is to build YOUR OWN email lists. You can do this by offering free reports, email newsletters, email courses, downloadable ebooks, shareware, or anything else that contains valuable information related to your area of expertise. In exchange for the free service you offer, you simply ask for the users name and email address.

It takes as little as ten minutes to set up an interface at your site to collect names and email addresses and deliver your free product automatically. And once you set it up your own opt-in lists will grow continually. You'll never have to even consider using spam! This strategy is 100 times as effective.

(See the BizWeb2000 site for an example of my own freebie and the simple interface I now use to collect names and email addresses from prospects who download the book.)

Help for Victims

Now lets move on to help some spam victims. If you're doing business online, there is a good chance that one day you will be accused of spamming, even if you are not a spammer. The anonymity of the Internet promotes the attitude of accuse first and get the facts later. (I know this all too well after my recent experience.)

Anyway, when it happens to you, you'll need some letters to send out to both the spam victims and the company responsible for the spam. Here are the two you should save for future reference...

Letter to spam recipients:

Thank you for contacting us. Here are the details of this unfortunate situation.

The spam you received originated from the domain <insertdomainnamehere>. Rest assured you have NOT been added to any email lists at our site. We do NOT use nor do we condone the use of unsolicited bulk email and we too, are innocent bystanders in this situation.

We are in no way affiliated with the offending website and along with your address, our addresses were on their spam list. Any further actions you wish to take should be directed to them. More details on our policies and this incident are available at the following URL: <YOURURL>

<YOUR NAME AND TITLE>

And here's a letter you can use as a model when you need to contact the party responsible for your grief...

Dear Offending Website Owner Name, CC to:legal@yourdomain.com

I have copied the headers of an email message sent by your user, which confirms email activity on <INSERT DATE>. This email has resulted in numerous complains to our email addresses. Please take the following actions immediately:

a) explain of how this incident took place and why
b) take measures to insure that this NEVER happens again
c) notify each address on your list that our domain was not responsible and was an innocent bystander in this unfortunate situation

Please reply to this email message before the close of business on <DATE INSERTED HERE> or we will be forced to pursue further action. We will also expect a full letter of explanation mailed or faxed to our offices. Thank you for your cooperation. <NAME AND TITLE>

And closing today's column, here are a few additional tips to help you avoid trouble with unsolicited email...

• If you have an opt-in list, keep EVERY opt-in request you ever receive. I keep opt-in requests dating back years. On several occasions I have been able to provide proof of signup to someone who forgot they joined and accused me of sending unsolicited email. These email "receipts" also come in handy with ISPs and web hosts.

• Keep your email addresses from being harvested at your website by using a tool that encodes your email addresses. It's a great way to cut down on spam and avoid situations like the one I ran into! Visit this site for a free encoding service.

• At your site, state your policy on unsolicited email very clearly. It's also a good idea to post reports of any incidents at the same area of your site. See the BizWeb2000 site for an example of how you can set this up.

Well, this closes a rare, not-so-fun chapter in online marketing. Hopefully today's tip will help you avoid trouble or save you a bit of time if and when trouble does arrive.

Article by Jim Daniels, author of "Insider Internet Marketing", a book that cuts through all the hype and lets you discover how to REALLY make money online.

Visit Jim at the BizWeb 2000 site where he shares exactly how he makes his living from the Internet. You'll discover some vital details on setting up a web business, growing website traffic rapidly and making money while you sleep. And get Jim's free weekly email newsletter, BizWeb eGazette by sending an email to optin@bizweb2000.com.