Hi Stephanie,

Great post. Thanks for starting it.

All of the reasons outlined above make a great case for buying legitimate lists from legitimate companies that can verify that each name on the list is there because he/she asked to be. The question then becomes, "how do you know if it's legit or not?" You can't really. But, that doesn't stop people from doing it.

The best way to compile a list, in my humble opinion, is to do it the old-fashioned way. Work for it. Build a list through your website with an email newsletter or something like that. I don't agree with mass e-mailings and I don't think I ever will. They seem like a waste of time and money to me not to mention the risk to your reputation and your business etc.

The internet holds a different way of marketing. You can't try and reach everyone and you shouldn't. There's too many people who don't want what we have to offer. That's why internet marketing must be targeted in order to be successful. But, that's just my opinion and not everyone will agree with me.

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Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)