Terri draped her bags over her arms and ventured back to her SUV. She used her keyless remote to open the door and entered the driver’s side and buckled up. That’s when she noticed it.

The front window was multi-colored as sales flyer and handbills oozed color onto her windshield. She tried using her windshield wipers to clear off the debris, but it simply smeared the mess over the entire surface of the window making the mess more pronounced than when she started.

“Why would someone do this to me?” she said as she slapped her fist against the steering wheel.

To be fair, the individuals placing the flyers on the windshield probably didn’t know rain was coming and there certainly were more flyers than Terri was used to seeing, but the end result was a potential consumer who would never think of purchasing a product from whoever made a mess of her SUV.

This story is a bit like unwanted email marketing. People who are new to the Internet typically think of their email box as an extension of their mailbox. The hope is that the mail received would be beneficial and personal. The belief is that email is reserved for people you actually know who will send you electronic mail that you are thrilled to receive, yet time after time emails come from people and businesses they don’t know selling products they either don’t want or would never use and the email recipient becomes a very unhappy camper and are often disillusioned about the personal nature they thought was associated with email.

It’s as if the colorful email marketing is smeared across their computer screen and they wonder, “Why would someone do this to me?” In this type of case there is the underlying feeling that their privacy has been compromised. Some may even shake their heads wondering how anyone even found their email address.

This scenario emphasizes the need to provide an opt out methods for email marketing, but it still has the feel of junk mail, telemarketers or colorful flyers stuck on the windshield after a rainstorm ñ an undesirable nuisance.

Many businesses are using site registration as the means of capturing email addresses. When a customer receives email marketing from these businesses they should already know about the business and their products or services.

This type of email marketing is much better received and carries with it both goodwill and a measure of trust. You may start with a smaller list, but the recipients tend to like you better.

Most marketing experts would likely rank Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies as the number one marketing mechanism for online businesses. However, it is email marketing that comes in second. The reason this marketing technique is so highly touted is because it doesn’t wait for business to trickle in. Email marketing takes your message directly to the people providing a sense of immediacy and purpose.

SEO strategies are essential for the long term viability of your marketing strategy, but for the most significant return on investment (ROI) email marketing has consistently held an edge over other marketing strategies such as Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising or banner advertising.

Email lists that are organically grown typically hold the greatest ROI, but some online businesses have found a modicum of success using rented or purchased lists, but there is always a price.

The reason many businesses look for lists that have already been compiled by third parities is because they can begin to market immediately. The problem many encounter with this strategy is that many of those on the email list may not be very happy with their private information being made available to the highest bidder. Recipients may also be hostile to any overtures from unknown companies.

You will discover that the best response you receive will be a direct result of interacting with existing, satisfied customers. They are the ones who already have an affinity for your product and do not tend to view your emails as unwanted material or spam. 

The propagation of spam has made email marketing a bit more of a challenge for online businesses, which has placed a greater emphasis on trust, worthwhile correspondence and value for the existing customer. 

Another reason purchased or rented lists are suspect with recipients is that legitimate email delivery is either personal or opt-in. If recipients have not signed up for the email in question they will not likely be excited to receive it. These unhappy recipients can (and often will) report your email as spam and you could be blocked from being able to send future emails – not just to the recipient who reported you, but also to any others that may be using the email service provider (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, etc.).

The value of email marketing is well noted and it can be tempting to take shortcuts from which to glean potential customers. In the end you may be gambling with your potential to send email to customers in the future if hostile recipients view your company email as spam.

Certainly there are sources where you can develop an online group at little or no cost. By following this approach you may be well served at the startup of your online business, but as it grows you may want to invest in software that aids in the effective delivery of your email marketing messages while providing a greater degree of flexibility in the final presentation.

Arial Software

The software application from Arial provides a laundry list of services that include templates for highly developed email messages with photos, logos and headers. The software can be toggled to account for the expertise of the user. Essentially this means that if you are not very skilled at using the software you can select a beginning setting and more assistance is provided to allow you to successfully access the functions you are seeking to use. The cost for the software can range from just under $1,000 to over $5,000 depending on your needs and subscriber base.

PoliteMail

This service was developed to work exclusively with Outlook Express, and works on a ëper email’ fee. The basic package is free to use and has a maximum distribution capability of 10,000. The caveat is that even the free edition requires a fee for the emails distributed through the system. According to PoliteMail, “”For less than a penny per message, you can send to thousands to customers and prospects.”

The professional version of PoliteMail is $495 and it is also subject to fees for each delivered email. It has a larger capacity for subscription and offered additional premium features.

EmailLabs

EmailLabs represents itself as a high-end email marketing solution and unlike other services takes a different approach to service availability, “EmailLabs does not offer a 30- or 60-day free trial account as do manyÖ providers in the industry.” They do provide a demo for clients to tour and their list of clients is impressive. No pricing structure was available for review.

While these three email marketing software solutions are varied in their approach they are also only a small number of potential providers. This article is not an endorsement of any particular product simply a means of alerting you to a variety of possibilities as you consider email marketing as a means of furthering the objectives of your online company.

1. Submit your site to the Search Engines.

If you want people to find your site then you should start by submitting your site to the biggest 3 search engines, which are Google Yahoo and MSN. They will find your site eventually without submitting to them but why wait. You should also submit your site to all the other lesser-known search engines because some people don’t or can’t use the big 3. Can be time consuming to submit your site to most of them so Search Engine Submission Software is recommended for this.

2. Submit your site to Directories.

People go here to find other websites. Provides good incoming links when your site is listed on directories, which can over time increase your website’s popularity and SE rankings. There are so many directories that this can also be time consuming.

3. Submit your site to Classifieds.

Was once considered to be an excellent way to get traffic to your site but not as effective today, however, it still could be worth your while submitting your site to the classified sites using Search Engine Submission Software because most of those sites are considered high traffic sites.

The above three methods are great ways to promote your site and start getting traffic but they can be very time consuming if you decide to submit your site manually to the above, however, there is a much faster and incredibly simpler way to get your site on over 700,000 Search Engines, Directories, Classifieds, Online Malls and Link pages by using Search Engine Submission Software like this http://www.easy.top5submitters.com

You could also consider other ways of getting visitors to your site like

1. Article Distribution – Writing articles about what can be found on your site and distributing them to article directories with a link to your site included in every article you write.

2. Participate in Forums that are related to your sites content – Post your opinion or expertise on the subject matter, and over time you’ll be allowed add a link to your site with every post you make.

3. Add lots of related links to your site – This is reciprocal linking where someone adds your link to their site while you agree to add their link to your site – make sure the sites you link to are related to your site in some way, this will improve your search engine ranking for more traffic, eg. If you have a weight loss site you should link to other weight loss related sites like health, fitness, diet, exercise.

4. Use Pay Per Click (PPC) – Brings in quality traffic but it can get costly if you don’t know what you’re doing. Every time someone visits your site it will cost you a pre-determined amount usually a few cents. I recommend you learn all about this method before you dive in, however, you can at least set your limit on how much you are willing to spend on this.

5.Traffic Exchanges – This is where you view other people’s sites to gain credits that will allow them to view your site. Most of the people viewing your site will have no interest in your site, they are only clicking on your site to gain credits. Worth a try because it’s free to join.

6. Advertise in Ezines – This can be an excellent way to advertise your website. Only use ezines that are related to your site and have a large circulation. Allow your site ad a few months of advertising to get the best value.

7. Hit Boosters – Instant traffic to your site using software technology. Some can be quite useless but others can bring in truly remarkable results for your site. Here’s a good one http://www.traffic.top5submitters.com

There are many more traffic gaining techniques. The above are 10 good ways that will get traffic to your site and a couple of solutions to your site promotion ventures. My advice is to try the above first and then when you are familiar with them you can look for other methods.