Email marketing is a vital link between organizations and their audiences. With email marketing, it’s all about building a relationship with your customer–and maybe even making some quick sales.

Constant Contact is a leading email marketing services company, and Zoyo is a Constant Contact Solutions provider. Yesterday, with Dana Pethia, Constant Contact’s Pacific Northwest Regional Development Director, invited me to give a talk to small businesses and nonprofitss to teach them the basics of social media marketing.

So what should you do or not do in email marketing? Here’s a quick list of do’s and don’ts.

DO
Make sure your list is accurate, so you don’t send email to those who have opted out.

DO
Keep your mailing limited to one single point. Your readers don’t want to spend time figuring out what it’s about. If you have more than one thing to say, say them each in a different email message.

DO
Make it interactive. Put links in the email for people to respond to. Then you can track the people who clicked as “interested” prospects.

DON’T
Send emails too often. Usually once a month is about the most people can handle before they feel they’re being harassed.

DON’T
Send an email unless it’s relevant to your audience. They don’t care if your company just signed a new deal with a big client. So don’t announce that. Find out what about that deal is relevant to them… are you trying out a new technology or method? Are you rolling back your prices ? Responding to a new trend?

DON’T
Don’t be sloppy. Make it look good–Quality graphics and neatness reflect your professionalism and quality.