You may run into a situation where you want to collect prospect email addresses and then send a set series of marketing emails to them.

I just came across a service called AWeber that includes a concept of a “campaign” which is just that—a set series of emails.

I chatted online with their helpful customer service and confirmed that a campaign can have an unlimited number of emails in the series, and their pricing starts at $20/mo.

The only field required on your site is your prospect’s email address, although you can collect more if you’d like.

This pointer came from John Jantsch’s new small business marketing forum

For our clients who want to add an email newsletter to their site, we recommend Campaign Monitor.

It’s extremely easy to use, and it’s very affordable. There’s no monthly fee—you only pay when you send out emails, and then it’s only a penny per recipient.

Of course, just because you have a hammer doesn’t mean you can build a house.

The most important piece of email newsletters—the content—isn’t provided by Campaign Monitor.

Don’t let that stop you though. Just a simple, personal note is enough to keep you in front of your current customers and prospects.

If you have updates or promotions to send via email, Campaign Monitor is a great choice.

Here are three easy things you can do to get people to your website this week:

1. Start doing Pay-Per-Click advertising.
   Budget $20-$50/mo to start
   Pay-per-click ads are the sponsored text ads that you see on the major search engines. You can choose which search terms your ad will show up on, and you can limit it by the geography of the search. This doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. My strong recommendation is to choose one of the big two (Yahoo Search Marketing or Google Adwords)—frankly, it doesn’t much which one you choose. Select ten – fifteen search terms (use the keyword selector if you need some guidance). Then setup a campaign on those terms that’s “geo-targted”—limited to your specific geographic area.
   
   
2. Purchase a Directory Listing.
   Budget $200 – $500/yr.
   For many highly desirable search terms, there are one or more reputable directories that have visibilty on the first page of search results. For example, if you do a google search for home inspector , the fourth result (after the three main associations) is a directory, Home Inspections USA that home inspectors can get listed in for approximately $200/year. This is an indirect way to get leads from google that works because a prospect searching for a generic phrase (like “home inspectors”) is very likely to dig into local listings using a directory.
   
   
3. Join an email list in your neighborhood.
   Free! (But well worth 15 minutes a day)
   In Washington, DC, where I live, the Washington Post reports that there are more than 10 active neighborhood email lists. The list I belong to has over 3,000 members asking advice of one another, posting opinions and gathering at the metaphorical back fence. The majority of these groups are hosted at Yahoo Groups. These are a great place for both immediate benefit and long-term building of your reputation with a new group of prospects. On a list like this, you’ll find leads occassionally drop in your lap, and there are many opportunities for you to offer advice or opinion and build your reputation that will make you top-of-mind when folks are searching for the services you provide. Search Yahoo Groups for one for your area, and spend 15 minutes a day participating in the conversation. It will be well worth your while.

None of these are a silver bullet, but with a little bit of time and a little bit of money, they’ll all generate impressive returns for you and your business.