Opinions on mass email

[rossored]

I'm after opinions on what the general feeling is regarding mass email : I dont mean spam, I mean people who have gone on genuine opt-in lists.

I see these various companies on the net offering $100 etc to be able to mail 80m names, all opt-in blah blah blah.

Is this is cheap way of getting even a few good hits? What is the general opinion, and, if its a good one, could you recommend anyone or help me steer clear of anyone?

Thanks.

[mlseim]

I don't think people can "opt-out".

Those lists are fixed on cd's, etc. The names won't come off even if
someone wants them to.

I would only email people that visit MY site and sign-up for a newsletter,
or product update, etc. And, as a promise (and I would keep it) ... never
distribute or sell my email list to anyone.

This spam thing is simply getting out-of-hand. It's going to force ISP's to
charge customers for sending emails ... just wait and see. :D

Once it's no longer "free" or profitable to send spam emails, the emails
will magically stop.

[rossored]

Well no, I mean these people apparently send the mail themselves via their own servers, rather than me using my own ISP.


One other thing : are keywords regarded as useless these days? People have told me that some engines no longer really use them.

Is there a maximum number of keywords you should have on your site, or does it make no difference?