- NONE of addresses on these spam lists have asked to be there. Actually, NONE of email addresses on those lists even realize they are on them and they have NOT opted in to receive email solicitations.

- By "targeted" addresses these list hawkers really mean they entered keywords into an email address harvesting program and program loaded thousands of addresses from sites with that keyword somewhere in their pages. (Is that targeted?)

- A HUGE percentage of people on those lists will complain to every ISP, host and agency they can, which will shut your site down in a heartbeat.

- The USER of a bulk email list is one liable for damages that result. And there is now legislation against sending unsolicited email.

It really is simple to stay out of trouble -- just don't ever email anyone without their permission. And never trust a company that sells email addresses. If you think there is a chance that addresses are truly opt-in (and it would be a rare instance) then ask for a list of satisfied advertisers BEFORE you buy list. Contact each and every one of them and ask about their results using list.

And definitely ask company selling targeted addresses exactly HOW they built list. If they say that list members opted-in to list then ask them if they realized that list was going to be sold. You'd be hard-pressed to get 100 email addresses to opt-in to a list that was going to be sold over and over, let alone 30,000 or a million. After all, would YOU offer your email address to a company that told you up front they were going to sell address over and over?

The fact is, when it comes to marketing with email your very best bet is to build YOUR OWN email lists. You can do this by offering free reports, email newsletters, email courses, downloadable ebooks, shareware, or anything else that contains valuable information related to your area of expertise. In exchange for free service you offer, you simply ask for users name and email address.

It takes as little as ten minutes to set up an interface at your site to collect names and email addresses and deliver your free product automatically. And once you set it up your own opt-in lists will grow continually. You'll never have to even consider using spam! This strategy is 100 times as effective.

Visit Jim at http://www.bizweb2000.com where he shares exactly how he makes his living from the Internet. And get Jim's free weekly email newsletter, BizWeb eGazette by sending mailto:optin@bizweb2000.com

The first component you MUST have at your site in order for those (or any) efforts to pay of is...

Item number 4 from above. An opt-in email list building strategy!

If no. 4 was one of your guesses, you are right on! Growing your potential client base should always be a priority in ANY business. The best way to do this on web is to grow your own opt-in email list(s). Ask for your website visitors name and email address and give them something of value in return. It is as simple as that. Then treat growing list like gold.

So that leaves us with other correct answer. Number five, sharing your web content with others. The most effective way I've found to do this, is to write about your area of expertise and pre-license content to other editors and webmasters in your type of business. This strategy is sometimes called "submitting articles", but it doesn't even have to be articles that you share. You can write tips, lessons, hints, secrets, or anything that would help a particular group of people.

Then, not only should you pre-license material as I've done at www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm - but you should also submit content regularly. That is as simple as emailing your fresh work to webmasters and ezine editors who publish related material. After four years online, this is still my cheapest promotion method (100% free) and by far my longest lasting.

I can say without reserve that two strategies above are THE premium ways to GO LONG with your Internet marketing. How can I make such a bold statement?

Simple. Here's proof of each:

Last week I was contacted by a subscriber that had been on my subscriber list for, get this... four years! She had finally decided to start her own business and wanted help from someone with a track record of getting results. As one of my original subscribers I naturally offered her a deep discount on my services.

Example two: When I started using my article writing and pre-licensing strategy back in early 1997, I used an address called sub@jdd-publishing.com for new subscribers to receive my gazette. I used that address for only a short time until my website was complete. Now, over three years later, I still get new subscribe requests to that old address every week. My content from three years ago is still being read. How's that for going long with web marketing!

So in closing, I'd like you to consider Internet marketing strategies you are using right now. How many of them could be considered "going long". After all, if you plan to retire or even work less some day, you'll have to invest in future of your website now. And believe me, it's nice to see website traffic continue to come in on a regular basis, even when you don't!