One of the very first online methods of marketing to draw any attention was e-mail marketing. In fact, even before the Internet saw its full birth there were people engaging in e-mail marketing. They were sending out marketing messages by e-mail to great effect - making sales and making money.

E-mail marketing is a great tool because it is a low-cost activity with a potentially high return. You can reach thousands or even millions of people with one single message and even a modest return can earn you a nice size paycheck at the end of the month. But it all starts with capturing a well-targeted list. As they say, “The money is in the list.” But how do you do it?
Start with a landing page. Let’s say you sell pink widgets. Your target market is 18-25 year-old women planning a career while attending college. Write your web copy toward that target market and promise them the moon. Be sure that when you promise someone the moon that you actually deliver the moon. If you can’t, then make a smaller promise and deliver on that. Bottom line: You’ve got to deliver on all of your promises.

You’ve got widgets. They’re pink. Sell them like crazy. Start a newsletter, or just promise to stay in touch by e-mail through your Pink Widget Gazette. Have a sign up form on your website. Drive your sales copy around that sign up form. You want everyone who visits your page to sign up for the Pink Widget Gazette. This is your e-mail capture landing page. After you’ve got a good list, that’s when you start marketing like the dickens. You know your audience is interested in pink widgets because that’s what they came to your site for. Now you just need to market your widgets and that’s what your e-mail marketing strategy is designed to do. One step at a time.