You have gotten to the point where you are ready to accept subscribers to your Ezine. But now comes the decision. Do you want your subscription service to be single of double opt-in? Well, to answer that question, we first have to explain the difference between the two methods. Then we can list the pros and cons of each.

Single opt-in works as follows. The potential subscriber sees your ad for your Ezine and the sign up link and simply puts his email in the form, clicks send and he is now a subscriber. He doesn't have to do anything else. You'll have his information delivered to your system and he will be added to your subscriber base. When your first Ezine goes out, he will be getting a copy of it.

Double opt-in works as follows. The potential subscriber also sees your ad for your Ezine, just like in the example about, except there is one difference. After he submits his email address and clicks send, a message will come up telling him that he will be receiving an email that he will have to reply to in some form, usually by clicking a link in the email. After he does this, THEN he is added to your subscriber base.

Okay, so what's the difference? Why make somebody go through the extra step? Isn't single opt-in good enough? This is where we get to the pros and cons of each method. You can decide on your own which is best for you.

With single opt-in, after the subscriber submits his info, he is in. This makes it easier for him to become a subscriber. The extra step may be too much of a bother for him and he will never click on your link, thus he will never become a subscriber. Thus somebody who would have been, is not. You have lost a potential subscriber. Another positive of single opt-in is that there is less programming involved for the system as there are fewer steps involved. That's the positive side of using single opt-in over double opt-in. Naturally, single opt-ins positive side is double opt-ins negative side.

But there is a downside to using single opt-in. With single opt-in, a subscriber could enter any email address and it won't matter. Why? Because he doesn't have to confirm it. So if your Ezine requires that it be emailed to him, he will never get it. While this may seem silly, some people will do this just to be able to download the freebies before getting their first email. This way they get the freebie and don't have to be bothered with your emails. By having double opt-in it forces them to give a valid address or they don't get any of the benefits. While this may decrease the number of subscribers you get, it will increase the number of serious subscribers that you get. And 100 serious subscribers are much better than 10,000 not so serious subscribers.

There are those who will argue in favor of each and that's fine. There really is no right or wrong answer here. It all comes down to what you feel it right for YOU.