Given the growing problem of spam some people are nervous about using the net to market their business. While they know their proposals are legitimate and worthwhile they are afraid they will be labeled as spammers or that their emails won't be read. So how can we get around this problem? The simple answer is permission-based marketing.

Permission-based marketing means that you send your emails to those with whom you have a relationship e.g. clients, customers and that you clearly give people the opportunity to opt out from receiving your email.
Let me use this newsletter as an example. If someone clicks on the link to subscribe they receive an email asking them to confirm before their name is added. If they click on the link to unsubscribe their name is immediately deleted.
If someone sends us the name of a friend - that friend receives an email telling them they have been referred to us and asking if they would like to become a subscriber. Only after they say yes is their name added to our list.

As you may be aware the Australian government has recently brought in legislation to shut down spam emanating from this country. This has proved successful in significantly reducing Australian-based spam. The main criteria of the new legislation are these:
1.You need to have permission to send information to the person on your mailing list.
2.You need to clearly identify who is sending the information.
3.You need to always give recipients the option to unsubscribe.

It is of course imperative that you honour every request to remove people from your mailing list. Failure to do this will legitimately put you into the spam category because you are sending out unsolicited emails.
Make sure that whatever software you use to send out your emails has an unsubscribe feature built into its template. If people continue to receive your information without opting out then you can assume that they are at least happy to keep receiving it. Getting them to read and respond to the information is another matter!