You've made your opt-in form on your web site or pages and the names are beginning to accumulate. Now the question is how do you make the most from your opt-in list?

Using your opt-in list is also known as permission marketing. Your web site visitors voluntarily sign-up to receive your email messages. They are "opting-in" to your mail list. Because they have actually requested information from you, your messages are not considered to be junk mail, spam, or unsolicited email.

It is extremely important when you collect your web site visitor's personal information, you include a means of verifying they are opting in. This will insure you that your visitor understands that you may email them in the future and it is not considered spam. Thus, they have given you their permission for you to keep in contact with them.

Emailing messages and information to people who have given you permission to contact them is a great way to build the kind of relationships that your online business will need to keep expanding and be an influence in the future. Emailing your visitors and customers will encourage a steady flow of traffic to your website... and greatly increase your online sales!

The purpose of your emails will depend upon what kind of business you are in and the reason your visitor opted into your list in the first place. These emails are an opportunity to gain the trust of your customer. You don't want to abuse this. You want to build upon it. In doing so, you will have created a loyalty that will insure you sales in the future.

Your opt-in list provides you with the opportunity to develop the image of your business. Don’t send out a message that does not live up to the image that you are trying to create and maintain. One bad email can destroy a lot of the good work you have been doing and start a massive opt-out from your list.

One of the biggest mistakes that beginning marketers make is to become over zealous with their opt-in lists. They email weekly, or worse yet, daily to their list with way to many ads in comparison to the information that they are including. They appear to be hungry for those backend sales and not providing the information that their list members requested.

The frequency of emailing to your opt-in list should be determined by what will not overload your visitors and appear as spam. This is also determined by the amount of time you have available to do the job well. When starting out, I would concentrate on quality of your email content rather than quantity. As you develop the trust and loyalty of your list member, you can increase the frequency if it is necessary.

Each email needs to contain basic information such as links back to your site, how to unsubscribe, and a recommendation that the subscriber forward the issue to their friends and colleagues who will find the information useful. You can also include guest articles provided that they contain useful information to your subscribers. Information about new products or services with links to buy them are appropriate once you have gained your list members' trust.

You must keep the subjects of your emails relevant to why the visitor opted into the list in the first place. If you stray from the purpose of the list, you will loose customers' trust and they will begin to opt-out or unsubscribe. Keep in mind why they wanted to hear from you in the first place.

Visitors to your web site will opt into your lists for a number of reasons. These can be placed into a few broad categories. They either requested product or service information, want to be notified of new content on your web site, bought a product from you and want notification of similar products when you put them on the market, or are subscribing to your ezine or newsletter.

You've probably seen web sites that offer to notify you whenever they have new information, products, or content. To tell you the truth, this is probably the least effective kind of opt-in list, simply because most people won't sign-up. This use of using an opt-in list to notify people can be effective if you're offering them a chance to make some money through a contest that constantly changes. But other than that, I can't see this as being much use.

Another kind of opt-in list delivers a free report, series of reports, or a free ebook. I'll warn you though, be careful with this! By offering a free report, you are restricting the number of times you can mail to your list. It's not a good idea to capture the names and then slam them with a continual stream of sales material when they were only expecting one or two reports or an ebook. This could be considered spamming!

If you offer a free report or ebook, it should contain "real" information and a reasons for them to visit your website again. I would only email this list if I came across new information that was pertinent to the information they requested. You could occasionally email them about products that would aid them in their endeavors that they signed up for. But don't over do it.

You could offer to update opt-in list on various issues or resources. For example, if you are in the real estate business you could send people a list of current mortgage rates for the top 10 or 20 financial institutions. You could send this out once a week, once a month, or whenever there are significant changes in the rates. Or you could email interested travelers about the newest bargains in air fare and accomodations.

I think the best way to build an opt-in list is by offering a free subscription to a newsletter or ezine. Newsletters are a really good way of regularly reminding your opt-in list about your website and products. By writing a newsletter that contains copy which is informative, pertinent, and compelling, you draw opt-in subscribers back to your website again and again! Having an ezine/Newsletter is one of the best ways to build credibility, trust, and rapport with your readers and customers. This is an easy way to gain a "Lifetime Customer". Once you understand the value of a "Lifetime Customer", then you know exactly how powerful an ezine or newsletter can be!

When you determine the kind of opt-in list you are going to have, you need to automate it. One of the secrets to running a successful online business is to automate as much of the routine work of your lists as you can!

As people sign-up, you should immediately send them a confirmation email using an autoresponder. In this email, you should ask them to verify their sign-up. Remind them that they have signed up and have asked opt-in to your list. Let them know how to unsubscribe (this information should also be in every email you send them).

Then, restate the benefits they will experience by participating in your opt-in list. Let them know how often you will be emailing them - will it be once a day, once a month, or only when there is something new to report? You should also confirm your privacy policy and that you will not sell or let anyone else use their name or email address.

Once you have your list set-up and automated, you can concentrate on WHAT you are sending your opt-in list subscribers. They have opted in for a reason. You made them promises, now it is your time to follow through Your message, your report, or your eZine/Newsletter should be content rich and well worth it for them to have opted in for. Ads and pitches for your backend products, affiliate programs, or whatever should be secondary to the information they requested.

The information you provide your lists must be timely and relevant. And, it should draw your visitors back to your website!!!! By building an opt-in list, you are building the future of your online business. People have opted in for you to send them information. Your email messages are a constant reminder for your visitors and customers to come back to your website and visit again and again.

When the members of your lists come back to your web site, you have another opportunity to build rapport and trust with your visitors. You also have another opportunity to sell to them your main line of products or backend products! This is when you will begin to understand the concept of a lifetime customer. You build there trust and they will buy from you again and again.

Add an opt-in list to your website and you will be well on your way to building a very valuable asset and piece of internet real estate - a verified, opt-in customer list that you can sell to again and again, year after year!

Jim Bruce has been making his own web sites and marketing online since 2000. He brings the expertise of experience to his web site design and online business writings. You can find out more about starting your own web site and online business at http://www.ristvinmarketing.com