When I talk about email marketing, what comes to mind to some folks are the problems associated with it. But, like all marketing strategies, there are always some setbacks and potential up-hill battles to fight.

Email marketing is the use of the email to reach a wide range of potential customers or readers when offering useful content, products and services. Simply put, it is marketing via email. Email marketing is also welcomed by readers because it is a free way to gain knowledge from people who are experienced in the subject matter of the email subscription.

These emails often offer products and services that are specifically recommended by the people sending the emails out. Hopefully, these products have been used and found satisfactory, even excellent in what they will do for their reader.

Email marketing, has come a long way since the early days of a complete and absolute negative stigma of email marketing as spam; now people have the right to choose what they find useful and expect suitable content arriving into their in-boxes, this is known as optin email and double optin email.

When done correctly, email marketing is a give and take between author and reader. This develops into a relationship of trust, thus gaining customer loyalty and a long relationship.

It’s important to know the various rights and limitations of email marketing. All commercial email must be permission based marketing. Meaning the recipient has asked for the email by putting their contact information in a form, thus, requesting to be placed on the email list.

All commercial emails must contain an Opt-Out link so the reader can easily opt out of the list at any time.

All commercial email must contain the contact information of the author/sender of the email. Including, but not limited to: full Name, email address, physical address. Sometimes a Phone Number, Skype User Name, etc., are included.

Most commercial auto-responders insist on Double Optin for security reasons. This means that, not only does the recipient give their email address and sometimes name, but then they receive a confirmation email that contains a link that must be clicked to get any further contact from that email sender/provider.

Various states have their own rules and regulations too. Consult your state regulations for more details.

This is just a primer for email laws, it is not intended as a comprehensive treatment of the subject. This is just to let you know that laws are in place concerning commercial emails. You must do your own due diligence.

You always need to be sure that your email list is cleaned each day. This means that any subscriber that has Opted Out gets removed from the list in a timely manor.

Does all this sound a little daunting to you? I hope it does so you will have respect for your list. However, I assure you, these things take very little time to do each day and having an optin list is very rewarding for the small amount of up-keep involved.

Now that we have gotten the above said, it is time to get on with the business of List Building and Email Marketing!

- Use common sense, treat your readers with respect, and you should do just fine.

- Aim for a balance between useful content and marketing excellent products, this is key!

- Let your own personality shine through so your reader can form a bond with you. These are key secrets to internet marketing, list building and list marketing in particular.

Email marketing works because of its low-cost, gets instant feedback and is a communications channel between you and your readers/customers.

I love email marketing because I can interact with my list, provide tips from experience and offer products that help them. list marketing offers me the ability to make a living and have fun doing it at home.