Anyone who is anyone on the Internet looks to email advertising as the greatest marketing and advertising tool created. Yet while targeted email advertising is highly efficient – if done correctly – there is also a list of drawbacks, specifically when you do not follow the rules and regulations! Take for example bulk email advertising which is relatively inexpensive for a business to undertake, yet which may generate a huge backlash of negative publicity and feelings of ill will, if you do not do it right. Perhaps the biggest pitfall in bulk emails rests in the fact that if you purchase your lists from a less than reputable company, you will most likely end up with email addresses that are harvested illegally and without the owners’ consent. You email ads will then end up either in the junk mail file, or worse, you might get reported and find your domain banned by a number of large sites. To avoid this, it is usually advisable to be highly selective of the vendors from whom you purchase your lists, and avoid the fly by night operations with their big promises and low prices.

Nonetheless, free email advertising is nothing to stay away from, and if you provide a good or service, it is wise to give your customers or clients an opportunity to opt into a mailing list. Using this mailing list you will then have the ability to send out articles containing industry specific news and information as well as your own email advertising. In this context, your email advertising will be a welcome addition to the valuable content you are sending out. As a matter of fact, you might find that you will receive new orders – simply because of the email advertising included in your newsletters – since one of these newsletters was forwarded to a third party and as such is making the rounds on the Internet.

Yet even in this form of email advertising there are some pitfalls. Take for example the email advertising software that is lacking the ability to properly work with your opt in email advertising requirements. Being unable to confirm an email address will lead to a loss in potential sales. Oftentimes this harkens back to user error and you will find that you may have incorrectly set up the auto responder. Lastly, beware of the advertising email that is riddled with spelling errors. This is especially prevalent if you are having an inexperienced writer put together your email. Consider using an email advertising company or advertising email service. If you want to avoid the expense and still use an in-house employee to do the job, make sure that a second party proof reads the email before it goes out. This not only minimizes spelling and grammatical errors, but also gives you the opportunity to fix broken links.