This is only one of many examples. Veterinary practices email people about their animals' vaccinations; dentists about follow-up work; hardware stores about specials and so on.

If you haven't got and maintain an email list, you are missing out on opportunities, including some new ways to make money. Also, if you send letters to clients/prospects now, you can cut out expense of postage, stationery, lodgement, printing and other associated costs.

This is all good stuff, however, your list has to be obtained and managed in accordance with various Spam legislation. That's why you must get people to opt-in and agree to receive email from you before you send it.

Double opt-in occurs when people subscribe to your list from your Internet site and you send them a message seeking assurance that they ... and not someone pretending to be them ... actually completed form. When they reply, deal is done.

This can all be done automatically saving you a tremendous amount of time and money.

So, if you haven't got an email list, what will you do about it today?

First published: 05 May 05 Copyright Robin Henry 2005

Robin Henry is a human resources and development specialist and Internet marketer whose firm, Desert Wave Enterprises, helps individuals and businesses improve their performance by personal development and working Smarter.

An effective information security program also needs specific policies and procedures in place to assist with managing information risks on an ongoing basis. Once these policies and procedures have been defined, technology should provide automated implementation, enablement and enforcement of them.

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• Attachment filtering provides inspection of files sent within email messages to ensure that no confidential data is transmitted without proper safeguards in place.

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