Although they may seem a little old-fashioned, email lists can be a great mechanism for increasing interest in your web sites over time. The rise of spam email, and the creation of increasingly stringent spam filters, has made the use of email lists more problematic and something you may want to approach with caution. Although email remains the most widely used Internet application of all, publishing syndication feeds may actually be a better mechanism for broadcasting information when you don't personally know the recipients.
"First and foremost, you should take care that any email you send out doesn't walk like spam, look like spam, or quack like spam. If it has even a hint of spam about it, at least some recipients will regard your email as spamand be offended."Start by adding only people who have expressed an interest in you or your site to the email list. Make it easy to opt out and unsubscribe.
"Don't rent or buy email lists. These are worthless and have already been run into the ground with spam."Your email list will only build valuable traffic for your site to the extent that you build it up yourself.
"Weblogging software such as MovableType will provide basic email list functionality such as self-service sign-up for notifications when you add a blog entry and the ability to automatically send out email notifications."
Each email you broadcast to your list should provide value. If you send out vacuous pieces of sales puffery in your email, at best your recipients will hit the delete button or add you to their spam filter. (They may also send you nasty emails back, and in any case they won't be inspired to visit your site, the point of the operation.)
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