Perhaps the biggest question in email marketing is an obvious one: how do I increase the size of my mailing list? Unfortunately, the answers are simple, but the execution can be tough.

Method 1: Start with People you Know
Use your existing contact list to begin the process of creating a mailing list. Send an email to everyone you know telling them about your list, what it offers, how it works, and finally asking them to join. Make sure to make it as easy as possible for your friends and contacts to join and a good percentage will. Also, because they know you, they are unlikely to unsubscribe very soon.

Method 2: Ask for Referals
The reason that so many email newsletters have a button that says "send to a friend" is that they're effective. Perhaps your current mailer is not helpful for one person, but, in all likelihood, he may have a friend who needs exactly the service that you provide. Plus, by using this service, you can expect a very high open rate on mail sent to friends.

Method 3: Buy a List
There are dozens of companies on the web that specialize in providing mailing lists for people just like you. By simply describing the kind of people you'd like to contact, you'll be surprised how many names and emails you can obtain. Keep in mind that these lists are unlikely to have great conversion rates, but, they are a good way to get started.

Method 4: Use Other Media
The internet might be the cheapest game in town, but it's definitely not the only game. By advertising in newspapers, or on the radio, you can get people to visit your website, and that gives you a great opportunity to ask for an email address.

Method 5: Squeezing
Once you get people to visit your website, you have to at least make an attempt to figure out who they are. You do this with a squeeze page. A squeeze page is a landing page on your website that promises some valuable gift, with the requirement that viewers enters their contact information. For instance, you can give away free consulting hours, or a pamphlet about how to increase business, or, even better, a coupon or rebate. Remember to make the gift actually valuable and useful, or else squeeze pages fail completely. There is an old saying in marketing: "Never give something away that you couldn't sell."

Method 6: Just ask
If you've been in business for a while, the chances are good that you have a nice file of past clients. Using a list of every client you've seen in the past year or so, developing a very strong mailing list can be easy, but time consuming. All you need to do is call each one of them and offer the following short message: "Hello, this is Bob from Bob's company. We're doing a yearly database update, and I'm hoping you can help me out with a few missing items. We've found that email is much more efficient than using the telephone for most business purposes. Is there currently an email address where we can reach you?" Using this method will give you an opportunity to re-introduce yourself, get your name into someone's head, and build your database all at the same time.