While an opt-in mailing list is a terrific sales tool, many people make the mistake of using their emails to sell their service or product. Your email newsletters and other messages should be designed to send people to your website – and that’s where the selling takes place. There are a couple of ways that you can do this.

Newsletters that address a single topic in each issue are great for building a relationship with your customers. Stay on topic and address a need that your target audience has – a piece on pruning roses if you sell garden supplies, for example – and don’t mention your product. Then provide a link to your site with an encouraging come-on like “click here to find more great gardening ideas,” and send them to your website while they’re already in a problem-solving frame of mind.

Another method is to write several newsletters that each focus on different aspects of the same problem. Each newsletter can discuss the issue in depth, and end with a possible solution to the problem. And, of course, a link to send them to your webpage, where they’ll find the perfect product or service to help them out.  Each newsletter should present a problem that your subscribers face, and resolve by you showing them how your product (“click here!”) will provide the answer to their dilemma.

Never, ever send your newsletter to anyone who hasn’t specifically requested it, however. New regulations require all marketers to include an unsubscribe option and a physical address – where your business is located – in email advertising. If you harvest email addresses, buy them from a service, or send mail to your own customers without permission, you could face fines and expulsion from your ISP. You’ll also tarnish your business’s reputation by being branded as a spammer.

The idea is to establish credibility with potential customers, and you won’t do that by spamming them. But if you make your product or service attractive to your target audience, they’ll visit your site, want your product and build your sales. Your subscribers will want to get email from you, and they’ll be genuinely interested in finding out what new products and innovations you have to offer.

By establishing credibility, creating useful content, and providing links to your sales pages, you’ll create a base of happy customers who’ll not only become repeat buyers, but who will recommend you to other people, too.

The advice most commonly tossed at people starting new online businesses is that they need to have an opt-in list. And it’s absolutely true. Unfortunately, a lot of new Internet entrepreneurs wait until they’ve had their business running for some time, and don’t take full advantage of the opt-in list’s benefits.

Building a targeted opt-in list is a simple process, and there are several methods you can use to approach the task. Here are some of the most successful:

1. Offer a free newsletter. This is one of the most common ways of building an opt-in list, and one of the most effective. It’s an excellent way to build a relationship with your target market, by offering useful information on your area of expertise, links to online resources, and other things that will entertain and inform your subscribers. If it’s fun to read and packed with useful content, you’ll be creating a bond with your potential customers.

2. Make it as simple as possible for readers to subscribe. Create an easy-to-use form on one of the side column on your main website page, and on several – or all – of your other pages, making it as simple as possible for visitors to subscribe.

3. Be sure that the content of both your website and your newsletters are high quality. The website content will inspire visitors to subscribe; the newsletters will bring more people to your site.

4. Use the Internet for research. Check out message boards and chat forum where your target audience congregates, and participate in the discussions. Include your URL in the signature line, which will appear at the bottom of each post. Don’t spam the forums with ads for your site or your product – join in the discussions and become a regular, otherwise you’ll get a reputation as a sleazy marketer.

5. Position yourself as an expert. Whatever your area of business, you can contribute articles offering valuable information to various Internet outlets. Include your website address and link to your newsletter subscription page in your byline, and readers will visit your site to find out more.

All of these are excellent ways to build your opt-in list, and promote your product in a profitable, fun way. The more you do, the more subscribers you’ll have.