Building an email list takes time and effort that most small companies just don’t have. You can buy list of email addresses but you run the risk of being turned in for SPAMMING when you use those lists.

EMAIL LIST IS OKAY

• People who give permission to be included in to your email list on your website or offline
• People who you have a "prior business relationship"

EMAIL LIST IS NOT OKAY

• Email lists that you purchased from a 3rd party (even if it's "opt-in")
• Emails that you "scraped" (either manually or automatically) from other websites
• Members of a group / organization who never asked for your emails (even if you're a member of the group)
• Unsolicited press releases to reporters
• Lists of customers who dropped their business cards in a fishbowl, and had no idea they were going to receive emails.

Let me save you the headache of dealing with sending mass emails, the “Remove Me”s, and all of the other problems that go along with email campaigns.