- If your email begins with "Thank you for sending information on your money making opportunity, now look at mine…" - TRASH! If I'm a responsible emailer, I KNOW who I sent information to. If I can't remember, I must be a spammer.

- If anywhere in your email, you have a statement that begins with "This email is not spam…" - TRASH! If you have to say it, then it's spam! - If anywhere in your email, you have statement that's similar to "Under Bill s.1618 TITLE III passed by 105th U.S. Congress this letter cannot be considered spam…" - TRASH! Again, if you have to say it, then it's spam! Do your research. The bill never passed. Also, last time I checked, U.S. laws don't apply to other countries.

- If anywhere in your email, you promise that I can lots of money with little or no work - TRASH! Don't insult my intelligence.

There you have it. Eight effective techniques to NOT get your email advertisement read. Use them wisely and best of luck!

Different individuals define spam differently. Some consider all forms of UCE or unsolicited commercial postings spam. This means that if you send advertisements without prior permission from individuals you will get complaints. In all likelihood you will be reported as a spammer. Because service providers generally have user agreements that are stricter than current U.S. state and federal laws, you are likely to be reprimanded, have your site shut down, and/or be put on a blacklist if you send out UCE.

* Spam/UCE Law

As of this writing there are no U.S. federal laws governing UCE. Some states, however, have laws that regulate UCE. These states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Depending on state, allowable claims range from $10 per message up to unlimited damages. Most state laws allow opt-out procedures. In other words, companies can *legally* add a recipient's email to a list without his/her knowledge as long as a means of removal is provided. For details by state, go to http://law.spamcon.org/us-laws/index.shtml.

International laws are stricter. Seven countries - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Norway - have opt- in laws. In order to legally send UCE, you must first have recipient's permission. Other countries have opt- out directives or pending legislation. EuroCAUCE provide details at http://www.euro.cauce.org/en/countries/index.html.

Worldwide, there is much discussion about UCE and laws are changing quickly. There are several sites you can monitor for details about UCE. These include SpamCon Foundation (law.spamcon.org), Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE, www.cauce.org), and spam section of The Open Directory Project (dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Abuse/Spam).

* More Email Marketing Resources

SpamCon Help for Email Marketers: http://www.spamcon.org/marketers/index.shtml

SpamCon Links to Blacklists: http://www.spamcon.org/directories/shared-blacklists.shtml

WebSiteMarketingPlan.com Links to Email Advertising Resources http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/sr10.htm

Wilson Internet Links to Email Advertising Articles http://www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=me_Email- Gen

Bobette Kyle is author of "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Web Site Marketing." She used techniques detailed in the book to bring her own site, WebSiteMarketingPlan.com, from a ranking of 17 million to 59 thousand+ in less than four months. http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/sr.htm