One of the most powerful techniques to build your online business is building an opt-in email list. Email is the most convenient way to contact people these days. Also if you are trying to promote a web site, then all of your prospective visitors should have access to email. To build an opt-in email list, you will have to obtain peoples email addresses, which is not the easiest task to accomplish.

People are not too eager to give out their email addresses to just anyone. With spam at an all-time high, many people already receive many emails everyday that they do not want to receive. However if you give a person an incentive to give you their email address, then they will be more inclined to do so. Usually a nice gift, consisting of a product, a magazine subscription, an e-book, etc. is a nice incentive to get a person to give you their email address.

Another good way to build an opt-in email list is to create a series of emails like 7 Ways to Build an Opt-In Email List, and then send one email a day for a week. Then at the end of the week, you can send them an email that lets them know they have received a free subscription to your email list. After that you have two ways to allow them to accept or decline your invitation. You can tell them they are signed up for the newsletter, and give them the chance to opt-out, or you can tell them they have a chance to receive this email, and allow them to opt-in. Most of the time people will not opt-out of an email list, but they also might just send your email to the trash folder without reading it. With an opt-out email you will build a large email list, but the users might not be very responsive to your message. However, if the user has to opt-in to your email list, then you will receive fewer people on your list, but they will be more apt to listen to what you have to say. These users will be more likely to purchase your products as well!