Microsoft Office Live Small Business Community

I hope this question is in the correct section, since I don't seem to be able to find anything about it.  I began my website through Office Live a few months ago.  I recently decided to set up a newsletter, which several of my guests have signed up for.  However, I'd like to expand my contacts list.  I see things online about "buying" email addresses, but I don't know what is legal or not (I certainly don't want to spam people).  Also, if there are legitimate ways to purchase email addresses to make people aware of my website, is there a way for me to narrow down which email addresses I want? 

I'd appreciate any help at all from anyone who knows anything about this process.

 Also, of course, I'd love for you to check out my website and let me know what you think.   I'm still pretty new to all this, and would be thrilled to have "unbiased" opinions of what is good or bad about the way I have it set up.  The link is http://creationsbylynnette.net.

Thank you very much to anyone who takes the time to respond to this!

 Lynnette

Hello Lynnette:

I think that buying e-mail addresses is a waste of money, you are much better off getting organic (natural) sign ups for your newsletter. It would be the same as paying for traffic to your website, what good is the extra traffic if there is not a increase in sales. I rely highly on search engines to send me targeted customers so it is important to have your website optimized and search engine friendly. Search engines are a source of customers that are allready looking for your products. It is also a good idea to not have all your eggs in one basket so that if business is slow in one area you still have other sources of revenue to fall back on.

Gary
New Mountain Tavern		Silver Moon Furniture

Lynnette,

Gary is right. You need to know that those lists are the same ones used by spammers Do you really want to be considered "spammy"? I don't know if you have heard of the term "permission marketing", where you get the consent of the person you want to market to . They may still not buy from you, but at least they are willing to listen to your marketing message. IMHO, that is a much more effective way to do marketing - it's much harder, but definitely well worth it in the long run.  

Royster 

Get a free .biz domain for your website. Visit SoftPrizm.com

Blog: The SoftPrizm Channel

OLSecure Beta: Secured Web Area Solution for Office Live

Thanks so much for the responses.  I'm not really sure I was clear in my question.  My site is on search engines, and for a while that was my biggest referral source.  I have another business selling books on Amazon, and every book that goes out has a flier to the website in it as well.  I do NOT in any way want to be a spammer, that stuff drives me nuts! 

Can you tell me more about that "permission marketing?"  I don't want to waste my time (or anyone else's for that matter) sending promotional information to people who don't want it. 

Someone suggested that I target a certain market...grandparents, weddings, things like that...which sounds like a great idea, but how do I find those people specifically?

Please forgive my ignorance.  I'm trying really hard to learn all kinds of new things here.  I believe that I have a concept that could do really well.  I just need to learn how to make that happen.

Thanks again to all!  By the way, if you haven't looked at the "What's Happening" page, you might want to know that for the month of August anyone who signs up for my newsletter becomes eligible for a 25% discount on any one creation which can be used anytime until January 1, 2009. 

Lynnette

http://creationsbylynnette.net

 Hi Lynnette,

Permission marketing is a concept coined by Seth Godin, a well-established international marketing guru in 1999 (around the time near the end of the dotcom bubble). The basic concept is for marketers to ask permission before they send advertisements to prospective customers. That's basically what you are doing now when you ask visitors to subscribe to your newsletters. There are more techniques and ways of doing this more efficiently - you can read the first 4 chapters of Godin's book here: http://www.permission.com. Some other resources:

http://www.davechaffey.com/E-marketing-Insights/E-mail-marketing/E-permission-marketing

http://www.score.org/60_second_permission_marketing.html

http://email.about.com/cs/marketingtips/a/et061002.htm

Royster 

Get a free .biz domain for your website. Visit SoftPrizm.com

Blog: The SoftPrizm Channel

OLSecure Beta: Secured Web Area Solution for Office Live