While it is certainly true that many people do make very nice incomes sending out marketing emails that advertise products, it just is not as simple as the ads telling you that you can send emails and make money make it sound. You can become an email marketer but you must build your own list of people to market to.
What these advertisements are selling is a list of names and email addresses. Understand that anytime you see an advertisement telling you that you can make boat loads of money, there will ALWAYS be a product that is being sold. Selling this product is the way that the people who placed these ads plan on making THEIR boat load of money…not YOURS.
Back in 2003 the United States Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act. It became the law of the land in January 2004. CAN-SPAM is an acronym for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing.
The CAN-SPAM Act states that sending unsolicited bulk email is a crime. The Act is enforced be the Federal Trade Commission and they really are not kidding. There are fines and penalties for violations of the Act that go up to $11,000 per incident that are handed down be the Department of Justice.
Legitimate internet marketers, those who sell their own products and services, as well as, those who sell products and services of others (Affiliate Marketers), all have what are known as ‘opt-in’ lists. These are lists of people who have agreed to allow these legitimate merchants to send them email. The CAN-SPAM Act is not being violated if you have permission to send bulk email.
When you buy a list of names and email addresses, you do not have permission to send bulk email to the names on that list. I know….I know….the sellers of these lists will tell you that they have the right to give you permission to send email. They DO NOT have that right. The one and only person who can give you permission to send bulk email to their inboxes is the person who owns that email address…the recipient. Third parties cannot give you that permission.
There are many legitimate list building techniques. None of these techniques are easy and they are certainly not fast. You can write and market ebooks and articles, you can post to blogs and forums, you can do a lot of legal things to build your own opt-in list but you cannot BUY a legal opt-in list no matter what those ads tell you.
If this bear get you, it can end up costing you millions of dollars. There really aren’t any shortcuts to having a successful online business.
Fact: Sending unsolicited bulk email is a crime according to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The penalties are stiff.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
