2. Ask a Question.

Send a question related to topic area of prospective customer's website. For example: "I find your cooking Web site very useful. I was wondering if you know of any good Chili pepper recipes. Thank you". And of course, your signature block is automatically included at bottom of your message.

Would you consider a message that asks a question related to subject of your web site to be spam? I don't think so. Most web site owners will be so happy to have opportunity to answer your question that thought of reporting your message as spam will be furthest thing from their mind.

3. Send an FYI.

Find some information related to subject area of prospective customer's website and send a "for your information" message. For example: "I read your article about starting a catering service. I just wanted to let you know that there is an article on FTC web site about laws related to starting a food related business. The article is at following URL ... Regards." And of course, your signature block is automatically included at bottom of your message.

Would you consider a message that provides you with information related to subject area of your web site to be spam? I don't think so. In fact, you are almost sure to send a thank you note!

4. Give Freebie Advice.

In your message, provide a free sample of your service. "When I visit your Web site, I find text very difficult to read because of dark background. I think you would get much better response from your Web site visitors if you used a lighter background. Regards." And of course, your signature block, indicating that you provide Web site evaluation service is automatically included at bottom of your message.

Would you consider above message to be spam? I don't think so. In fact, if you were smart, you would realize that you have just received a small sample of senders service for free!

5. Ask Permission to Send Information.

Using this method, you do NOT include your signature block. For example: "May I send you information about my search engine optimization service? Thank you."

Would you consider this message to be spam? The message is just too darn courteous to warrant reporting it as spam. Most people will probably reply with message "no, thank you". But a few people who are interested in purchasing search engine optimization service will reply "yes, thank you."

Improperly sending mass unsolicited email messages will result in big problems for you. But there is a safe way to send a small number of friendly email messages to solicit customers. The scenarios described above provide you with legitimate reasons to send a personal message that just happens to automatically include your signature block. ----------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box: Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to mailto:bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com -----------------------------------------------------------

Even though Internet changes very quickly, webmasters are usually very slow to remove content from their sites. Once you get an article posted on another person's website, you have an excellent chance of that article staying there for weeks, months, even years.

** Increase Links To Your Site **

In a recent search I found just a dozen of my articles posted on over 813 different websites! Not only do those postings bring me traffic, but they also help my search engine positioning because of my increased "Link Popularity."

** Builds Your Affiliate Base **

Fact: Affiliates always take path of least resistance.

If you provide excellent articles they can easily post on their sites or copy and paste into their ezines, your affiliates will promote you more often and more effectively compared to those who don't give them tools.

Plus, as you make more sales and publish articles, other people will see you providing excellent tools and will want to sign up as your affiliate so they can use them too!

** Build a Huge "Opt-In" Email List **

You can use articles to build up a huge list of subscribers by simply compiling several articles into a series and delivering them at preset intervals.

Often called a "mini-course," this technique allows you not only to prove to your subscribers that you deliver great information, but enables you to capture their name and email adress so you can send them articles and special offers in future (with their permission).

** Requires No Special Skills **

People often think they need to be a "writer" in order to publish articles, but that's not true!

FACT: If you have a passion for a subject and can talk and explain things like you would to a friend over a cup of coffee, you can write articles people will love to read.

So if you operate a website selling virtually any type of product or service (whether your own or as an affiliate), publishing and promoting with articles should rank high on your list of traffic generation strategies.

No other method of generating targeted traffic to your website provides quality, quantity and steadiness of traffic in such a simple, straightforward, and cost- effective manner.