Opt-in-buddy is an easy-to-install button for your web pages that allows you to capture email addresses using either single opt-in or double opt-in.

Everybody hates spam. It is good news that at last progress is being made to make it illegal. In the U.S. the CAN-SPAM Act establishes requirements for those who send commercial email and spells out penalties for spammers if they violate the law. Similarly in the European Union a 2003 directive made it illegal to send spam email.

However legislators have yet to agree on a definition of spam. This makes the situation deeply confusing to the legitimate business owner simply wishing to take advantage of email marketing. The worry is how can you you be sure that your email newsletter or promotion does not break the law? Fortunately there IS a simple solution, and opt-in-buddy provides an easy, affordable way to achieve it.

You might think that only pornography, "get rich quick schemes" and other junk count as spam. Surely it must be OK to buy email addresses from list brokers and send out promotional material regularly!

It is true that some of the new legislation coming through supports this view. Providing the content of your emails is not offensive, providing you offer an effective "opt-out" procedure, and providing you do not try to conceal your identity, you may get away with it. However you will be 'sailing very close to the wind'! This is because there is now growing support for the principle of "opt-in" as the only acceptable standard for email marketing.

This is not just an ethical standard but is becoming more and more a legal requirement.

Of course permission based marketing is not just about staying legal - it is about building a good relationship with your customer. With opt-in-buddy you can use your web site to grow your mailing list. And the great benefit is that you do it in a way that builds trust with your customers by demonstrating to them that you care for and respect their privacy.

Take the recommended "double opt-in" mode for example. Here your customer joins your mailing list with a simple sign-up form. Opt-in-buddy then sends the new subscriber an email with a special "one click" link to confirm their subscription (you are able to customize this email). Once the subscription is confirmed you have a record of the date, time, IP address, name and email address of the subscriber. By having a detailed opt-in record such as this you have achieved verifiable opt-in, and so you satisfy the requirements of any current or future legislation.

This procedure does not in any way inconvenience your customer. On the contrary the impression will be one of a personal and extremely efficient service that is working to the highest standards possible! What better way to build customer goodwill? And what better way to ensure that when you do send your promotional emails, your subscriber will remember who you are and will NOT just consign your messages to the trash bin!

As soon as you sign up for your opt-in-buddy account you can be up and running. All you need do is copy and paste the code for the regular opt-in-buddy button (the button shown on the right) into your web pages. There is nothing to install on your server or on your computer.

Once you're started you may prefer to choose a different button design from our extensive library. In fact it's easy to use a button you have made yourself and hook it up to opt-in-buddy's functionality.

Opt-in-buddy can work for you in three ways. There is single opt-in, single opt-in with confirmation, and double opt-in. Many email marketing experts and anti-spam campaigners recommend double opt-in as the most effective method of establishing permission and trust.