Emailing In Bulk - Better Make Sure You Have Permission From The Recipient!

There are two types of direct email marketing, unsolicited bulk email, and opt-in direct email. Unsolicited bulk email is the practice of transmitting mass quantities of email to large lists of unqualified email addresses. This practice in itself is a very controversial subject. You must be very careful when considering using bulk email to market your wares on the Internet. The reason is that your reputation is at stake. It is not illegal to send unsolicited bulk email; however, many Internet citizens frown upon it. You may have heard that the practice of sending unsolicited bulk email has been referred to as spamming. Although, in the Internet Marketing world, spamming means sending unsolicited email directly to a list of unsuspecting email addresses or newsgroups.

If using unsolicited bulk emails a risk, why is it so popular? The reason is that it is less expensive than traditional bulk postage mail. The costs associated with traditional bulk mailing can cut deeply into potential profits immediately. Postage costs alone can break the bank. Bulk email is very cheap. Many users of the Internet consider unsolicited bulk email. If you send unsolicited bulk email to addresses that do not want commercial email, you can get into more trouble than you would expect. Many Internet users that do not approve of unsolicited bulk email and they will complain to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Internet Service Provider's will discontinue your account when they get complaints from angry recipients of your unsolicited bulk email. Does unsolicited bulk email really work and can you really get any genuinely interested leads? Unsolicited bulk email probably is not as effective as some people would like you to believe, although there are others who think highly of it and say that it does work great. It is your decision to use this method for your Internet Marketing campaign, although, if you are not comfortable using unsolicited bulk email you may want to consider direct email marketing.

Opt-in direct email is the practice sending commercial email to recipients that have given their approval of commercial email. If you really want to try bulk email marketing but are not up to speed on how bulk email marketing works you can consider hiring a company that specializes in direct email. If you choose this option, you want to do your research carefully and be sure that you are hiring a company that is generating your email campaign legally and that you are receiving a decent return on your financial efforts. If they break any regulations or laws, you are still held liable for their actions. In addition to targeted ezines such as the BizWeb Gazette, there are now many companies on the Internet offering "Opt-In" Direct Email advertising. Interest in opt-in direct email has been rising sharply since the late 1990s. The reason this method of email marketing is becoming so popular is that these opt-in lists are targeted email lists, which offer marketers a politically correct way to reach their target audience on the Internet. Not only will your offer be sent to a targeted list, you will not have to worry about spamming and ISP cancellation. Although this targeted direct email marketing is more costly than unsolicited bulk email, it is proving to be far more effective. It is quickly becoming one of the most powerful Internet marketing methods available. Here are some excellent resources for targeted Opt-In lists:

"¢ Bonusmail

"¢ Direct response e-mail communication from Intellipost Corporation

"¢ Bulletmail

"¢ The Direct Email List Source

"¢ Emailannounce

You may want to consider advertising on any or all of the 30 weekly Email Announcements:

"¢ Htmail - Direct e-mail advertising - without spamming

"¢ NotifyMe.com - Internet Advertising for Highly Qualified Leads by Ersys, Inc.

"¢ PostMaster Direct - Choose from 3 million email addresses in 3,000+ categories.

"¢ Targ-it - They claim is "100% opt-in e-mail lists"�

When you are deciding which email campaign will be the best option for your Internet business remember that if you send any form of email campaign to individuals you have not requested your products and/or services you will be entering an ethical quagmire called spamming. Spamming is taken very seriously on the Internet. Research the methods you are considering carefully.