hannamyluv - 1:55 pm on Jan 9, 2004 (gmt 0)

I've been using it as a marketing tool for three years now. As a matter of fact, according to the 2 dozen legitimate opt-in emails I get in my inbox a day (scoping out the compitition), it is a big part of people's online marketing.

It's advertising, it's outreach to users, it's a part of online marketing as much as PPC, SEO and usability.

I mean, lots of people here use email marketing for different reasons. Some just do a nice, non-sales newsletter that reminds people about their site once a week. Some do a hard sell email that lets customers know about special products or special deals on their site. Some do a hybrid, newsletter with advertising.

I bet at least a 1/4 of the internet people on here have some sort of interest in email marketing. Many already do it, and some would do it if they knew how.

Half of those who want to do email are terrified of being accused of spam. The other half just don't know how to set up a good list and how to manage their list and emails.

Of the people that do email marketing, some of them are probably unwittingly sending spam.

And I am sure that their are spammers on the site to, but I know for a fact that their are lots of SEO spammers who frequent here too. ;-)

An email marketing forum would be a benifit.

Just look in the last week or so how many threads are out there about aspects of email marketing (and these are only in the forums I visit).

[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

I bet there would be a lot more if people knew where to post questions. You could make it more inclusive. Maybe problems with email, preventing spam, how to use various email programs (I saw a few of those too, but didn't put them on the list as they are not about email marketing)