If you have a small business, are doing online marketing, or simply have a specialized interest or hobby and would like to interact with others who share your passion, you need to have an email list. That’s because email remains the single most effective way to connect with other people online.

Unlike instant messaging or video chatting, email doesn’t require you to be constantly online or monitoring your smart phone or portable device. Unlike social media, email doesn’t need daily updating in order to remain relevant. Unlike direct mail or traditional marketing, email doesn’t cost a fortune nor does it require you to devote a lot of time and labor to make it be effective.

Instead, building your list of email contacts and using that list to promote your products, services or ideas is still the easiest, most cost-effective and most user-friendly ways to connect with a large group of prospective customers, clients or fans.

Despite critics who claim that email is being replaced with other, faster methods of online interaction – such as instant messaging, Twitter, or even SnapChat – the fact remains that most Internet users have at least one email account that they monitor regularly.

Building a large email list is the starting point to whatever Internet marketing program you have in mind. When you have a list of hundreds or even thousands of contacts, you can expect a certain percentage of people to respond to any single email you send out promoting a product, service, or even a link to a blog or other relevant content.

So building your list by attracting people who are interested in the types of products or services you promote, or share your passion for a particular interest, is essential to the success of your online marketing strategy. Once you have a list of loyal customers, contacts or followers, you can promote an endless supply of niche-related products, services or links in order to drive a response.

Need proof that email remains relevant? Answer this question: Have you checked your email anytime in the past 48 hours? If so, then you already know how important email remains to the average Internet user. So, join me and together let’s figure this out.