Here is my answer:

If you want to promote your products through e-mail, you basically have 3 options:

1. Build your own mailing list (HIGHLY recommended). The easiest way to do this is:
a. Create a free report that highlights your expertise and promotes your product. Give the reader valuable, actionable information in the report.
b. Set up an account with one of the smart autoresponder services like getresponse or aweber.
c. Set up an opt-in page for people to sign up and a thank you page where people can download your report.
d. Promote your free report all over the place — use pay-per-click advertising to get fastest results, but also use articles, social networking, put a link to your opt-in page in your forum signatures, set up videos on youtube to get traffic to your opt-in page, participate in JV Giveaways, etc.

2. Make a deal with a mailing list owner to send a message to their list. You can do this 3 ways that I know about:
a. Paid endorsement - this is where you pay the mailing list owner to mail an endorsement of your product to their subscribers. This assumes that your product is top-notch and highly valuable to the prospective customer.
b. Joint venture exchange - this is where you offer something of value to a mailing list owner in exchange for them mailing to their list for you. Keep in mind this needs to be something of very high value, and again, your product needs to be top-notch and highly valuable to the mailing list owner’s clients and subscribers.
c. Rent a list - this is where you work with a list broker to rent a list of names and e-mail addresses for people who are in your target market. The difference here is you’re not getting an endorsement from the mailing list owner, the offer is coming from you, so the prospects’ level of trust isn’t going to be as high.

3. Mail to a safelist
A safelist is a mailing list where all of the members can send messages to each other. It’s called a safelist because when you sign up, you agree to receive promotional e-mails from the other members, so the people sending the messages are "safe" from SPAM accusations. It can be an effective way to get your message in front of people if you target correctly - that is, send the right message to the people on the list.

E-mail marketing can be very effective if you use it properly, but make sure you’re targeting the right audience with your message and focus on delivering a lot of value. In my business, I’ve gotten the best results when I mail to my own list and when one of my JV partners mails an endorsement for me.

The most important thing you can do, no matter what vehicle you’re using to get your marketing message out, is to make sure you’ve really tapped into the marketplace and selected/developed a product that they want.

Many business owners who market on-line send promotions for others in a joint venture or affiliate relationship.  Since this is rarely an exclusive relationship, there are many times when more than one company is promoting the same product.

Even beyond that, you also have to compete with other companies for your subscribers’ attention on a daily basis.  Consumers are bombarded with advertising and marketing messages almost constantly.  Your solid relationship with the people on your mailing list gives you a competitive edge.
The most effective way to build relationships with your clients and subscribers is to strengthen the rapport between you and them.  Here are a few things you can do to achieve that:

•    Keep in touch with your mailing list often.

You need to keep in touch with your clients and prospects or you will seriously damage the relationship you worked so hard to establish.  Don’t mail them only when you need to promote a product.  People sign up for your list because they want something of value from you.  They will unsubscribe in a heartbeat if all you ever do is sell, sell, sell.

•    Ask about their needs and concerns.

Send out messages periodically to ask them about their needs.  Use survey software to make this easy to manage.  Ask them to get involved and communicate their wants and needs to you.  If they have issues, help them resolve them.  Find out exactly what their expectation are of you.

•    Send them gifts sometimes.

Use your e-mail campaigns to occasionally send your subscribers something for free.  This could be an e-book, a recording of an audio session, some videos, even a free teleseminar.  Be sure it’s something valuable that will genuinely help them, and don’t make them do anything to get it other than go to a web page to access it.

•    Be personal.

Let your subscribers see your human side.  Share some of your personal life with them in your e-mail messages.  Going on an exotic vacation?  Tell them that.  Had a funny experience at the grocery store?  Share it.  Show your clients and prospects that you’re a real person just like they are.

•    Be educational.

As an Information Marketer, you are the expert the members of your mailing list look to for guidance.  When you consistently provide valuable information to your subscribers, they will see you as a teacher and pay attention to what you say.  This will help when you want them to listen to you when you promote a product.

•    Relate to your subscribers.

Often, potential joint venture partners will approach you and ask you to promote their product or service to your list.  This is a fantastic way to meet your clients’ and prospects’ needs when you don’t have the product to solve a particular problem.  However, that does not mean you should promote every new product that launches.  If there is an opportunity that has absolutely nothing to do with your mailing list, don’t e-mail them about it unless you have a very good reason and can demonstrate that reason to your readers.

•    Take care with your e-mails.

Take the time to ensure the e-mail messages you send out to your list don’t have errors.  You are a business owner and you need to present a professional image even in the personalized nature of your e-mail marketing campaigns.  Double-check things like spelling and format, and be sure all of your links work properly.  Then test your message.  Make sure any autoresponder fields are replaced correctly and your message looks like you want your subscribers to see it.

One of the most effective ways to strengthen that relationship is to use e-mail marketing.  E-mail marketing is nothing more than delivering your marketing messages to your target audience by e-mail.

Let’s take a look at why this method of reaching out to your list is so powerful.

•    E-mail marketing is automated.

When someone joins your mailing list, you can set up messages to automatically go out to them at intervals you determine.  This allows you to constantly strengthen your relationship with the people on your list.

•    E-mail marketing is scalable.

In traditional off-line customer relationship management, the more clients you have, the busier you are.  If you’re using e-mail marketing to follow-up with your clients, it doesn’t matter how if you have one person on your list or 100,000; all you need to do is click a button to reach everyone in moments.

•    E-mail marketing is targeted.

With e-mail marketing, you are able to deliver your marketing messages directly to your clients and prospects in their personal inbox.  This actually helps to put them in the right mindset to be open for an offer because you’ve grabbed their attention and are sending a message specifically to them.

•    E-mail marketing is personal.

With the use of autoresponder software, you’re able to customize your e-mail messages so that you can connect with each person on your list individually.  This software automatically inserts the subscriber’s name for you so that you can write as though you’re contacting them personally.  And personal e-mails get better results every time.

•    E-mail marketing is flexible.

What you put in your messages is entirely up to you.  You can use e-mail to educate, entertain, inform, and let your subscribers get to know you.  Another very effective use of e-mail is pre-selling.  It’s not a great idea to put an entire sales letter into an e-mail message, but you can certainly tell an intriguing story and lead the reader to your blog, article, or sales letter to find out the rest of the story.

Use e-mail marketing to develop stronger bonds with your clients and prospects.  It’s a highly-effective tool that gives you a lot of options.  You’re only limited by your imagination.

Free courses are one of the easiest ways to get people to opt-in to your mailing list. Make sure your course is related to the theme of your web site. If you're selling business related products, you would want to giveaway a free course about business. If you're doing spiritual coaching, you might try giving away a free course on understanding the concepts of spiritual coaching.

You generally have three choices for your delivery method:  html, autoresponder, and ebook.

HTML- Your course could be right on your web site. On one web page, create a title page and table of contents.
Use clickable chapter links so they can go to the sections easily were they need the most help.

You could increase your traffic by allowing people to give away the course to their web site visitors. Just have them link to your web site.

eBOOK-Your course could be in a downloadable ebook format. Include your business ad and affiliate links in the ebook. A good tool to use is the OpenOffice.org Writer. You can download it for free at http://www.OpenOffice.org .

You could allow other people to give away the ebook. They could just upload it to their own server. Every time someone downloads it, they will see your business information.

AUTORESPONDER-Your course could be published on an autoresponder. Include a lesson of your course on each follow-up message sent.

You could increase traffic by allowing advertisers to include their ad in the course. Ask them, in return, to advertise the free course at their web site. Just have them link to your web site.

There are several formats you can use to create your free course; downloadable text, pdf, print format, fax-on-demand, audio, video, etc. You can use all the methods above with all the formats to increase your traffic. I would recommend trying different formats together to create your content. Variety will make you stand out from your competition.