Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of promoting and selling products and systems online. A lot of people have the assumption that email marketing is nothing more than "spamming", but when done intelligently email marketing can allow business people to generate new sales as well as ongoing income.

The first thing to be aware of is that true email marketing comes from getting the names and email addresses of qualified leads. This is not as simple as buying lists of names and email addresses; although many beginning marketers do try this approach. The best form of email marketing is "opt-in" email marketing, where visitors to the marketer’s website fill in a form with their name and email address (and sometimes other information) and then give the marketer permission to send them more information.

Most marketers now use a double opt-in strategy where the lead fills in a form, and is then sent a link in an email address asking them to confirm that they requested further information. In this way the marketer can be confident that everyone in their mailing list does want to receive such information, and they also can not be accused of spamming. If an interested party no longer wants to receive information from the marketer they can choose to opt out and unsubscribe from the marketer’s list.

The best email marketers create informative newsletters which are designed to provide useful information to the reader. In this way the marketer builds up a relationship with his or her readers through regular email newsletters, and the reader develops trust in the marketer. When the marketer does wish to promote or sell a product, their readers are already interested in the type of product they are promoting, and the response will be a great deal more satisfactory than trying to send out a sales letter before building trust, or trying to promote products to people who have not specifically requested information and who may not be interested in what the marketer is offering.

In order to profit successfully from email marketing, you need to have a means by which people can opt in to your list. This is generally a form on your website, which can be created in house, but more commonly email marketers will choose autoresponders or mailing list software companies to deal with their subscribers. There are many such companies online who will do the job for a reasonable price, making it simple for the marketer to get new subscriptions and send out informative and marketing emails to all subscribers.

The marketer can either send out pre-arranged emails to each new subscriber or can simply choose to send a daily or weekly newsletter, or can use both methods. Quite often, marketers interest people by offering free information. They might prepare a series of lessons or informative emails which are sent out regularly to each new subscriber from the time the subscriber first puts their name and email address down and requests information. Some marketers use a combination of these two techniques.

The best email marketers know that building a relationship with their subscribers is the key to successful marketing. If they can provide informative newsletters with interesting and valuable information, subscribers will develop a solid level of trust in the marketer. That way, when the marketer promotes a product or service, they will be more inclined to purchase, based on the trust already established. It can take time and effort to build up a solid subscriber list, but it is well worth it for any online entrepreneur or businessperson who is looking for long term results.