A well-targeted opt-in list for your ezine or e-mail marketing messages is a great tool for successful networking marketing over the Internet. You don’t have to be a savvy Internet marketing guru to succeed with an opt-in list. You just need organization and patience. If you don’t spend a ton of money on a ready made opt-in email or ezine list that may or may not be any good, you’ll be building your own list over time.



An opt-in list is valuable because email is the most convenient, inexpensive, immediate and fundamental form of communication across the many miles. An opt-in list not only gives you the advantages of the instant contact that email provides, but also sends your messages to those who already know you and your products and services, and have asked for information. With your opt-in list you and your home based business are talking to your very own community. You have a great chance, with this network tool, to entice at least several of your opt-in consumers on the list to generate some revenue for your firm. Extra income is what an opt-in list is all about.

Along with any opt-in list you’ll want an autoresponder. Don’t abuse it – you’ll want some personalization in most of your communications with consumers – but do set up an autoresponder immediately upon the consumer’s first contact with you. At the point at which she or he has said yes, put me on your opt-in list, your autoresponder should send out a thank you, and welcome message. It should include the fact that someone has added that email to the opt-in list, and should this be in error please advise and accept our apologies. You might also consider requiring confirmation before subscribing the consumer. Nothing will get you shut down faster than a charge of spamming.

There are several reasons why the purchase of an opt-in list from a third party is not advisable.

The first is that, no matter how targeted an opt-in list someone or some vendor offers you for your Internet marketing it can’t possibly be as targeted as the list you create from those who visit your site to opt-in. It’s far better to take six months to find 600 people very interested in your home based business products and services than to pay a lot of money to immediately get a list of 6000 people who may or may not be interested – and may or may have accurate names or phones or addresses.

When you buy a list from a third party you have no way of knowing how many others in your industry, or a related industry, have bought the list. Even if the industry is unrelated the last thing you want to hear from a prospective client whose information you bought, “I wish people would stop emailing me. Somebody’s given out my address and I get all this spam.” The fact is that whether people opt-in or not they just plain old forget, and if they opt-in for the list of one firm and then are contacted by another the chances are much better that they won’t know they’re not being spammed, then if they sign up on your Web site and you are the one that contacts them.

To setup your opt-in list function, with autoresponder, on your home based business Web site, there are several key things you’ll want to look for in the program.

The first is the double opt-in option we mentioned before, that requires that the consumer confirm before being added to the list. The next thing you’ll want is to be able to have bounced addresses removed automatically. These are addresses that are not valid. You’ll want opt-in capability, so every time you contact every consumer on the opt-in list she or he is given an easy way to unsubscribe. You’ll want to be able to personalize your emails, by calling the consumer by name. You’ll want to be able to have your choice of format delivery, the ideal being a choice of text and HTML. This is especially helpful if some of your ezine or email list subscribers are still on dial up.

You’ll also want to be able to see the results of each email or ezine campaign to your opt-in list. You’ll want to see how many were sent, how many bounced, how many were opened, and how many click through to any links you offered.

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