You have this great new product to sell, and you've got yourself a
new Web site to sell it. All you need to do is sit back and wait for the orders to start
pouring in. Sound familure?
To your great shock, the only people to browse your site are
you, your family, and a couple of your "good" friends. So, you decide to lauch
a bulk email campaign to market your site and let the world know all about it.
Good Idea or Bad?
Spam is illegal in several American states, including Washington and
Virginia. In fact, you can be sued in small claims court by residents of
these states who have received unsolicited mail from you.
Others will complain to your ISP and Web host, who will delete your Web site,
disconnect your dial-up line, and delete any mailbox you might have mentioned
in the Spam. They might even fine you anywhere from $20 to $2,000 for Spamming.
To learn more, just visit your ISP's Web site and look for a page that says
"Terms of Service" or "Acceptable Use Policy."
- Never buy or use email mining software.
- Never blast emails at a fast speed.
- Never purchase a CD with 250 million email addresses.
- Never whitewash a purchased list by sending emails to a sign-up page.
- Never use a built in SMTP server that comes with bulk email sending software.