Would this be classed as spam?

Query about unsolicited e-mails

[ftwb05]

Hello!

I'm currently developing a free national directory of suppliers to suplement my site, and to attract new listings I've been e-mailing webmasters, shops, associations, etc to get suppliers to enter their details.

The idea behind this is that some of the respondents would give a back link to my site, and in the field I'm in Directories normally charge for inclusion, so this would be a real benfit for my site visitors.

However, I've read that these unsolicted e-mails could be classed as spam, and get me into trouble, ie get my site banned from SEs.

Is this the case? Would I be better off waiting for my SERPS to improve so I get organic traffic?

Any advice would be much appeciated,

Thanks, Rob.

[neuron]

Here's a recent thread that discusses the possibility of link request emails being considered spam.
[webmasterworld.com...]

[ftwb05]

Thanks, understood,

Rob