By: John Heineman, Managing Partner at http://www.LeadGenGroup.com, a marketing company in Mill Valley, CA specializing in maximizing "high-return marketing" results.

The explosion of unsolicited commercial e-mail (a.k.a. SPAM) in the last few years—and the river—I mean flood--of complaints about it, has prompted the federal government and some states to propose new laws that restrict the distribution of unsolicited e-mail. In addition, some Internet providers (Including Yahoo!, AOL and MSB) blacklist what they consider unsolicited e-mail. Once that happens, your E-Newletter could disappear into the proverbial black e-hole.

While the federal government has tried to pass anti-spam legislation for the last 3 years, they have not been able to get a federal law passed. However, there are a few pending with this 108th Congress, which you can view at http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/list108.html There have been 33 states that enacted anti-spam rules and if you are a loan officer soliciting mortgages from several states, each one has their own set of rules. You can view them at http://www.spamlaws.com/state/index.html

These rules and regulations however, create some "requirements" for loan officers sending BOTH "solicited" and "unsolicited" e-mail communications, including e-newsletters.

A solicited e-mail communication is generally recognized as one that you send to:

• People, with whom you have a business relationship, and who, through these existing relations, implicitly give you permission to send them your e-mails.
• People who have requested a e-newsletter from you

An unsolicited email is one that you send to people you have never done business with and who have not requested it.

If your list is limited to people who have opted in, don’t become complacent. Most compliance failures are not the result of intentional flouting of the law, but by errors that result from ignorance of the law. Although the laws still fall into that "gray area", here are 5 guidelines that will keep you out of hot water.

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