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There's a marketing estimate that it takes something like seven contacts with a potential client before they purchase. Email is a wonderful way to handle these contacts for a variety of reasons:

1. you can send one message to a large number of people

2. compared to traditional hard copy marketing it can be a lot less expensive

3. if you use a list management system you can get instant results like how many people opened the email and how many "click throughs" there were to the links in the email

The most important part of an email campaign is having a list of qualified email addresses to send your marketing piece.

So just how are you supposed to get those email addresses? The best method is to have a sign up form on your website to capture the visitor's information. Here are some DOs and DON'Ts for creating a list for your online business.

DO:

• Offer an incentive for them to give their email address. People usually won't give away their personal information unless they get something in return. Ideas for incentives include: a free report or guide, entry into a contest, product demo or samples, a complimentary consultation, etc.

• Provide valuable content in your communications. Offer tips and advice for the customer along side your marketing message to keep it from being too "sales-y."

• Ask for valuable marketing data on the sign-up form. Pick only one or two things to keep the registration process short and easy. What data could really help you with your marketing? Knowing their gender, age, location, interests?

DON'T:

• Sell or give away your list.

• Fill up their inbox with messages. Keep to a monthly or weekly schedule at most.

• Bog your message down with lots of advertising. It will quickly be deleted.

It can take time and effort to build your internet marketing list, but the results will be well worth it.