The FTC has approved changes to the CAN SPAM Act which regulates how businesses can and cannot send email. In the past the rules have included:

1) Senders email must be clear on who its from (no email spoofing…using someone else’s email).

2) Email needs to have a clear unsubscribe notice.

3) Advertising must be labled as an ad in the subject.

The new changes are:

“The new rule provisions address four topics:

(1) an e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender;

(2) the definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements;

(3) a “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address”; and

(4) a definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons.”

I’m not a lawer so I’m not sure what a “natural person” is … as compared to just a person. But it will pay to understand the CAN SPAM law as violating it can cost you some money plus loss of your Internet services.

To learn more about the changes in the CAN SPAM Act visit the FTC.

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There are many people who find success in their online ventures right out of the gate. Within months, even weeks, they have a full bank account to show for their effort. However, many more people don’t find success. Instead their bank accounts dwindle lower and lower and they are left wondering, what happened?

There are many reasons why online work at home success has elluded you, but the most common are:

1) Focusing on money instead of skills or passion. Its easy to get sucked into the hype of fast easy money; however successful online entrepreneurs know that the money is only part of the equation. You can make a million bucks selling widgets, but if you don’t know anything about widgets, don’t like widgets, or aren’t passionate about widgets, you won’t succeed. So your first step to success is to identify your skills, interests and passions.

2) Focusing on you instead of your market. You may have the best products around, but if no one wants or need them you don’t have  business. So once you identify your skills and talents and begin to brainstorm business ideas, you need to also determine if there is a market for what you want to sell. Online this can be done using Overture’s keyword selector tool which will tell you how many people searched using keywords of your idea in the last month.

3) Poor or nonexistant marketing. People can’t buy from you if they can’t find you. Once they find you, they need to know what’s in it for them (benefits) if they buy your product and given opportunities to get to know you  before buying. This can be done by offering a free newsletter or report that will show you’re an expert and create confidence in your customers.

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