There are few that will dispute the power of email's influence. Whether you've noticed the spam in your junk folder or the newsletter from your favorite website; email has the ability to make us act - and quickly. Wouldn't it be great if you could harness the power of email for our business website? The good news is that you can with a good mailing list. But how do you create one? Here are five steps.

Talk to Your Friends and Family

When you have a group of people that you know, it only makes sense that you might send out your business information to them first, right? Send a short paragraph about what your new business is going to do, what it's going to sell and any other pertinent information they might need. Include a link to your website and to your mailing list to help them decide whether or not to continue to receive the emails. Chances are good that your friends and family will send this email onto any friends they have that might be interested too, creating a longer email list with little work from you.

Put a Sign Up Form on Your Website

With the proper website design, you will be able to collect the information from website visitors needed to send them regular emails. Put this mailing list option at the bottom or to the side of your main email page and then make sure that it's easily navigated to. This will allow your website visitors to decide whether or not this is something they want to sign up for.

But Also Have an Opt Out Function

If you're creating the opportunity for someone to be on your mailing list, you also need to create the opportunity for them to easily opt out of it if it's not something they are enjoying. There should be a link at the bottom of each email you send to them that allows them to opt out when it seems like a good idea for them. This makes signing up something that's risk-free, which will attract more to your list. In addition, be sure to include a statement that you will not share their information with anyone - that helps people feel like they're safe from spammers.

Include a Mailing List Sign Up Option Everywhere

On every page you can, try to include methods for your site visitors to sign up for your mailing list. This will encourage people to sign up whenever the mood hits them, plus it will give them multiple reminders that you do have a mailing list that can be easily accessed. Include this reminder on the bottom of each website page as well as in various locations during the ordering process.

Make it Worthwhile to Your Site Visitors

When you want to add more people to your mailing list, it's a good idea to make it worth their while. Create a contest for those who sign up within a certain period of time or give out free reports and eBooks for those that sign up to receive mailings. You want to also make sure that each email you send out is worth their time. If you're just sending links to your site or you are only emailing about sales, you might start turning off a customer who doesn't necessary want to buy something all the time, but who may just want to learn more about the market you are working in.

The goal is to create a large mailing list that will get notified whenever something big and important happens in your business - and that this notification will drive them into action.