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Internet marketing has skyrocketed in the last 10 years. As more merchants put their businesses on the web, the demand to cultivate new business and marketing skills and knowledge based on the online medium has also grown exponentially. More and more, advertising and marketing approaches are being created, enhanced, and modified to deal with the changes in the world of commerce.

The appetite for internet marketing advice and methods has dramatically grown and has spawned an entirely new form of business, devoted to online marketing strategies. Of course, there are companies that are happy to help your site/business build a customer list for a fee that varies from small to thousands of dollars. However, there are also many tricks that you can use to publicize your sites for free. One of these is Opt-in email marketing, also known as permission marketing.

As the name implies, Opt-in marketing requires the consent of an agreeable prospect to subscribe to your sales letters, newsletters, catalogs, and promotional mailings via e-mail. The more mail the prospect receives, the greater the chance of the prospect buying and buying more often. To make this work, build an email list of all prospects who want to subscribe to your opt-in marketing list.

You will get targeted customers from your list. This is a good list-building technique, since the prospects have already expressed and interest in what you have to market and offer. These people liked what they saw on your site, and have decided that they want to see more, and hopefully buy what your company has to offer.

It’s not true that that building a good list takes hard work and a lot of time. It takes patience and some unique angles, but in doing this list, you open your site and your business to an entire universe of targeted prospects! Make the effort to take your business to the next level. If an increase in site traffic and high profits are what you want, an opt-in list will work magic for your enterprise.

Here are some basic strategies to help build your list:

• Put a good web form in your site that immediately follows the end of your content. Perhaps place it two or three times on the “splash” page, giving the prospect multiple chances to opt-in. Remember that at a glance, your homepage should provide a quick good impression. If somehow a prospect finds something that they don’t like, they will probably not sign up. It’s not difficult to make a good web form for subscribing to an opt-in list - simply write a short statement about whether the visitor would like to see more and get updates about the site. Then, there should be a place where the visitors enter their names and e-mail address, and, perhaps, feedback about what they would like to see added to the site. This web form should automatically save and send you the data. As more people sign in, your list will grow.

• Make your “splash page” (the home page) dramatic and arresting. You must have well written articles and descriptions of your site. Depending on the subject of your site, capture your prospect’s attention. Make your site functional and user-friendly. Most people who see your site are not tech savvy. Invest in good programming, and make your graphics beautiful, but don’t overuse “eye candy” etc, which will increase bandwidth and page loading time. Don’t waste your time making the homepage too overly large megabyte wise. Not all people have DSL or other high-speed connections, and many web surfers will not wait, but will go on to another site. The faster your site gets loaded, the better. You want a look of sophistication, with simple, clean lines.

• Provide good service and products. This is a no-brainer for any business, whether online or “brick and mortar”. Repeat customers are more likely to bring in more business. A satisfied customer will advertise a business to their friends. An unsatisfied customer will do the same. Word of mouth can bring in more new customers than an expensive ad. With more members on your customer list, more people will find out about what you have to offer.

• Keep a clean and private list. Never sell your list, for by doing so, you will lose the trust your customers have given you. If you provide your customer’s e-mails to others and they get spammed, many will probably unsubscribe from your list. Resist the temptation to market your “book of business”. Remember, honor and trustworthiness will channel more traffic and subscribers to you, as well as reinforce the allegiance of your customers.

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