Create an opt-in form. In order for you to be able to send email to people on a regular basis, you need to ask them if you can. On your website, you'll want to place a form where visitors can type in their email address and send it to you. You need to state clearly for what your visitors are signing up. For example, if you intend to send one email newsletter a week, say so: "Sign up here for our weekly email newsletter!"

Confirm your subscribers. Once someone has sent you their email address, you need to confirm that that's what they wanted to do. The simplest way to do this is to sign up with an email distribution service like Vertical Response or Constant Contact. They will automatically send a confirmation email for you. If you are sending email yourself using Microsoft Office or another email program, then you need to ask your new subscriber to reply to your email confirming their interest.

Create your email. Your email could be as simple as a coupon offer or more complicated like an HTML newsletter with multiple articles and offers. Again, a bulk email distribution company can help you create these with assorted templates, or you can do it yourself in your email client. Be aware, though, that when you send bulk email out of your own email client, your Internet service provider may have limits as to how many people you can send an email to at one time.

Continue to offer good service. Even though your email newsletter is a free service, your subscribers don't want to be inundated with numerous offers every day. Stick to your schedule. Don't sell your list to anyone and be sure to let your readers know that you won't. Always give your readers a way to unsubscribe--even if you wish they wouldn't. If they do, ask them why. This will help you give great customer service in the future.