The title is a strong statement, I know. But it needs to be addressed.

Some email marketers the self-proclaimed email marketers will tell you that the easiest and best way to build your list is to simply purchase one. Sure, its real easy to acquire a list for your email marketing by just buying one. They're not too expensive, and they provide you with a long list of names and email addresses. Ok, Ill buy thatit may be the easiest, but its certainly not the best. In fact, its the worst way to build your list.

It may be easy, and you may quickly gather a large list of email addresses but all of those email addresses are nothing more but addresses. You dont know the people on the receiving end of those addresses. Essentially, the people on the receiving end are uninterested people who will deem any information you send to them as SPAM.

If there is one major concept that I've learned from all of my mistakes (yes, Ive made my fair share of mistakesbut learned from all of them) as an email and Internet marketer, is that the easiest road is never the one that brings you the best results. The problem with buying an email list is that none of the people on that list know who you are. More than likely, since they didnt directly sign-up for your free newsletter or eCourse, they will see your message in their inbox, look to see who sent it to them, realize that they have no idea who you are, and will hit the delete button before even reading what you have to say.

Thats exactly why it is so beneficial to build your own opt-in email list. Yes, creating a list from scratch is the more difficult and time-consuming solution, but at least it is a solution. Purchased email lists rarely (if ever) bring the desired results, so the money you spend on them might as well be flushed down the toilet.

The most important thing to do when trying to build your list is to make sure that your subscriber really is interested and willing to read your messages to them. Because if theyre not eager to read your first message, then they certainly wont read your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 10th message.

Email marketing isn't about blasting a bunch of strangers with sales pitches and information they don't want and didn't ask for. If you really want to achieve results with your email list, you need to build your own.

Here is a list of questions you need to ask yourself when building your email list:

Who is your target audience and what do you have to offer them?

What kind of relationship do you want with the recipients of your mailings?

After deciding on your target audience, this is probably the most important question to ask yourself. Your emails should not be a salesletter. Let me repeat that, Your email messages should NOT be a salesletter.

Your website is where you sell them on your offer. This is where you put into effect all of the "Salesletter Strategies". NOT IN YOUR EMAIL LETTER. Even if you're not blatently throwing advertisements at your subscriber, but you're intentions are to "sell to them" in your letter, they will know. They always do, and this is what leads to your email (and future emails) being sent almost immediately to the Deleted Items folder.

Your newsletter and emails are a way to build TRUST and a lasting RELATIONSHIP with your potential customers. Email marketing isn't a "wham, bam, thank you mamm" sort of approach. It takes a little time to really gain the trust of your future "marketing partners" (as Jimmy Brown calls them).

Respect your subscribers and they will return the favor guaranteed.

Just simply share your research and knowledge with your list and only recommend top-notch goods and services that you've personally checked out and that you honestly believe will help your prospect.

What method or methods will you use to collect email addresses?

If you havent looked back at Lesson 3 of 7 Days To Building a Booming Email List in a while, please do so now. Lesson 3 practically answers this question for you. And if you havent received this 7-Day eCourse yet, you should sign up at the bottom of this page.

Will your emails come in the form of ads, newsletters, deals and specials, company announcements and press releases, or discussion lists?

I think the best way to present material in the BODY of the email is to make it short and sweet. You want to lead the reader somewhere else other than the email.

Don't boggle it down with tons and tons of info. Simply right something catchy that will show your reader where to click "Check out Lesson #1" of the eCourse they just signed up for. Then, in each email following, you can do the same. They will get used to your email style and won't delete them.

The link that you give them to click on should send them to a page containing the eCourse lesson, free eBook download, newsletter in HTML format, or any other sort of offer they opted-in for.

The BODY of your email SHOULD NOT contain gobs and gobs of text. Think about it - do you ever read all of that crap when you receive an email from someone other than your friends or trusted individuals? I know I don't.

Think about thisif you tried to send a message to a random list that you just bought, what would you say? The message cant be personal. You cant talk to them like you know their interests. Its impossible. And if you try to talk to your purchased list like youre their friend, they will see right through you. Theyll know youre trying to sell to them every time!

I cant think of one person who wants to be sold to. So why waste your money on buying email lists when they dont work? Once you build your own list of loyal subscribers, youll start to realize that each one of them trusts you, the information youre giving them, and the recommendations you suggest. Youll be able to talk to them like a friend or partner, instead of like a random person you bought.

Like I said in our last strategy, Respect the people on your list and they will respect you guaranteed. A trusting relationship goes a long way, even with email marketing!