|
The new anti-spam law and linking
campaigns
As you know, a new anti-spam federal law has been adopted
by the United States. The CAN-SPAM ACT of 2003 has taken effect
on January 1. The CAN-SPAM ACT provides definitions and appropriate
penalties for misleading commercial email communications.
Some webmasters fear that it might not be legal anymore to
contact potential link partners by email. Of course, that's
not the case. Contacting webmasters to ask for a reciprocal
link is perfectly legal with the new law.
The new legislation makes it illegal for spammers to send
misleading emails. It also makes it easier for legitimate
email marketers to comply with a single set of laws.
Here are the most important points of the new law:
- All commercial email must not present misleading information
in the From field or header information.
- All commercial email must include a link for (and, of
course, honor) unsubscribe requests.
- All commercial email must conspicuously state that all
commercial, promotional mail is an advertisement, unless
all recipients have opted in.
- You must not use deceptive subject headings.
As you can see, it's perfectly legal to send link exchange
messages. You only might have to consider a few points.
When sending link exchange email messages to potential link
partners, don't sell any product in your email message but
ask the webmasters for a reciprocal link. Of course, you must
use your real email address when asking for reciprocal links.
A significant change to you is that this new legislation
requires that you include a valid, physical mailing address
in all email campaigns.
This means that you should add your mailing address to your
link exchange email messages, for example in your signature.
If you read the tips and tricks we gave in this newsletter
in the past, you already know that complete contact information
in your email messages improves the response rate to your
link request messages.
To be on the safe side, do the following in your link exchange
messages:
- Add your full mailing address to your link exchange messages.
- Add a "Remove" part to your link exchange message.
You can do all this in your email signature, for example
John Doe
Your Company, 123 Your Street, New York, NY 10013.
www.YourWebSite.com, Phone (123) 456 7890, Fax (123) 789
4567
If you do not wish to receive e-mails from me, just drop
me a line.
The new CAN-SPAM ACT can make life easier for all of us.
If you want to learn more about the new law, visit
this page. Further information on how to write an effective
link request email message can be found in our free
ebook.
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute
legal advice. Contact a lawyer for legal advice. You might
have different laws in your country or state.
|
