You don’t need me to tell you how bad it will be if you’re mistaken for spam. “Oh no,” you’re thinking, “I’m using opt-in e-mail. I won’t get in trouble.” Guess again—it can happen. Even when using opt-in lists, you are may not be completely safe from a spam complaint.

Just to make sure, here are some guidelines:
1. Stay away from those “millions of e-mail addresses plus a bulk e-mailer program” things.

2. Do not buy other people’s opt-in lists. The people who choose to add their e-mail to that list did so to receive mail from someone else, not you!

3. When you harvest e-mails from your own site, have a double opt-in process. That’s when someone signs up for a mailing list and you have a system that sends an e-mail which they must confirm to them to make sure that they actually want to be on your list. You can also choose an option that makes them either reply or click a link within the e-mail to make sure that they want in.

4. Don’t sell your list to others. Remember, your double opt-in members want to get mail from you, not someone else.

5. Promptly honor any remove requests. Make it very easy to follow links to opt-out in every e-mail you send.

6. Don’t even think of using fake headers in your e-mail messages. That’s disguising your identity. Have a working return address that is your own.

7. Refrain from advertising your site or services on someone else’s mailing list newsletter that didn’t do double-opt-in.

Also, try to think in terms of cross-marketing. How can you do cross-marketing with your fellow affiliate marketers? Suppose somebody e-mails you with a really great site that would be a great resource for your people, and wants to buy your mailing list?

Here’s what you should do: give them the chance to buy an advertisement in your newsletter. Or better yet, write them a nice testimonial recommending their site to your members.

By doing it like that, two things happen: 1) Your members get an e-mail from a truly trusted source instead of a stranger, and 2) they get a personal recommendation from someone they trust, and they are much more likely to visit the site you suggest, more so than if they sent their own note out to your group