A good email list that YOU COLLECTED YOURSELF is worth its weight in gold. My list, that I started with an AOL account and pasting subscriber addresses into Text Pad, now generates six figures in sales every year. I know a consultant who pulls down even more with her home-grown email list. And there's guy who keeps his business humming by sending his thoughts to his list whenever he feels like it, once a month, once every three months, once a week.

None of these people have any special tricks to use a list to generate $17,000 in a weekend (you've probably seen sales pitches that promise that). They simply attract people who are interested in getting their information, put them on their list, and send them good info on a regular basis.

If subscribers don't buy from you now, they will eventually. It's standard to hear from new customers "I've been getting your newsletter for years and figured it was time to buy."

Your email list becomes a continuous source of non-stop sales for you. Want to know how most of successful online businesses stay profitable year after year? They have a good list. Want to know why so many small businesses fold within months of starting? They don't have a list. It's often as simple as that.

How do you get your list? Here are several commonly used ways.

1. The original and most common method to get people to subscribe to your list is to offer information. Offer up a newsletter filled with information of real value to a specific kind of audience. Offer free reports, white papers, or email alerts.

You have two choices: 1. spend a lot of money; or 2. spend a lot of time and effort.

Spend A Lot Of Money

Yes, there are cheap email lists available online. However, chances are those lists are compiled of email addresses collected from websites or directories. It's unlikely that owner of list has recipient's permission to send them anything.

There are also lists out there compiled of people who requested information. Some offer bonuses for receiving, reading or responding to advertisements. That may be a good strategy from list owner's perspective, but you're likely to receive a lot of responses from people who have no interest in your product. That translates into wasted time and energy on your part, as you try to follow up on those bogus leads.

If you want to send email messages to a lot of people, I highly recommend sticking to dependable lists of people who requested information. YesMail and Postmaster Direct are two biggest companies which offer opt-in email lists. They offer many ways to target your market, as well as legitimately obtained addresses.

Spend A Lot Of Time And Effort

If you can't afford to work with big boys, you can compile your own list. See my article, "How to Capture Email Addresses" at http://www.busymarketing.com/email.shtml