E-marketing is fast becoming one of the most effective, low-cost marketing vehicles of choice.  But how do you find e-mail addresses to expand your efforts? 

The answer is tricky.  More and more list vendors are working to add e-mail to their service offerings.  Vendors like infoUSA.com, edithroman.com and termedia.com sell such lists.

But before you start e-mailing, you need to fully understand the legal aspect of the CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act of 2003.

The act specifically states to whom you can send e-mail.   For instance, you can only send commercial e-mails to individuals with whom your company has a relationship or is currently engaged in a transaction.  It also prohibits sending to harvested e-mails lists, meaning you can't cherry pick addresses from various Web sites and add them to your list.

But there is a gray area.  The law does not specify regulations related to purchasing an e-mail list.  When you buy a list, you don't technically know the individuals on the other side nor do you know how the list was harvested in the first place.

Bottom line, the best way to expand your e-mail marketing is to simply build your list one address at a time.  Collect everything you can from customers and prospects.  And make sure to allow everyone the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of your e-communications.

There are few other issues you need to watch out for related to the CAN-SPAM Act.

Unsubscribe:

• Include a visible unsubscribe mechanism in all e-mails and make sure it works
• Process consumer opt-out requests within 10 days
• Use opt-out lists, also known as suppression lists, for compliance purposes

 Content Standards:

• Design accurate "from" lines describing the sender that doesn't mimic others, including "friendly froms"
• Create relevant subject lines that accurately describe the body of the e-mail
• Provide a legitimate physical address
• Label adult content and advertisements appropriately

E-mail marketing is powerful, but without these standards in place, you may be walking a fine line--fines can soar into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  So definitely utilize e-mail communications, but fully understand the legal and technical complexities.