Bulk Email Lists: How NOT to Build Your List

If you have been trying to get into online marketing for more than five minutes, I'm sure you have come across the ads: "1,000,000 e-mail addresses for just $29.99." It sounds tempting - after all, everyone tells us that "the money is in the list", so the more people you have on your list, the better - right? And a million names would sure make a good list - right?

Well, actually, in both cases only partly right.

For a start, those 1,000,000 e-mail addresses have probably been "harvested" by bots - programs that troll illicitly through the internet, grabbing e-mail addresses from wherever they can find them, without ever asking the owner's permission, much less receiving it. Most of the people on those lists don't even know that they are on them - until they start receiving a load of unwanted spam. (I get at least half a dozen e-mails a day offering me discount Viagra - and I'm a woman!!)

Spam is a major problem, and most governments have brought in laws to crack down on it hard (not before time!) Use a bulk e-mail list, and you will almost certainly end up being reported for spam, with dire consequences.

Further, many if not most of the e-mail addresses on such lists may be duplicates, or out of date (possibly abandoned because of the amount of spam they were receiving.)

Even more, most reputable mailing server providers will not allow you to use such lists, and will promptly shut down your account if you try. After all, if you get busted for sending spam, they and all their other account holders will also suffer.

Bottom line: ignore the ad, and keep your thirty bucks. There are far better, more reliable, more effective - and legal! - ways to build your mailing list.