Dont be afraid of writing
Writing anything is a chore of which many people are afraid.
If this is you, let me give you a hint that may make it easier. Do you have trouble speaking to a friend Do you worry about grammar, spelling mistakes, the proper way to say things No, you just come out and say whats on your mind. You are you, natural.
When you sit down to write an e-mail or any other type of message, simply imagine you are talking with a friend. Imagine that friend in your minds eyeand say whatever it is that you want to say. You wouldnt have any trouble with that, would you Rattle off the words as quickly as you can. This is what I do.
Imagine this were an e-mail to. See, Im not writing an e-mail now, I am talking to youand only to you. The fact that I use a keyboard and not my mouth is simply because you are not here with me. The fact that other people are reading this piece doesnt matter. As you read it, I am talking to you alone. I am trying to involve you, to make you think about you. Why should you care about other people who are reading this same message
Use spell checker
Grammar, or spelling Thats why spell checkers were invented. Use yours after you have put what you want to say on the screen. It doesnt matter how many mistakes there were; once you correct them, no one else will ever know. Think I dont make mistakes Huh! But I dont just rely on a spell checker; I read carefully what I have written. Its surprising how often I can spell a word correctly, but use the wrong word. Spell checkers dont catch that.
Short sentences and paragraphs
Try to remember to use short sentences and paragraphs, too. It helps people to understand you better. Lets face it, isnt that what you do when you are talking with a friend The only difference between talking and writing is the way in which we communicate. We use the same words, although some people seem to think they should use longer words when they write. Wrong!
Change the subject and you should start a new paragraph.
It doesnt have to be long. In some ways, the shorter the better. Long paragraphs make gray pages and are more difficult for some people to read. White space on a page, as between paragraphs, helps that page to be more visually appealing.
Write as you speak
You dont even have to use complete sentences. Many may be complete is not a complete sentence, but isnt that most likely what you would say in a conversation
Enough of that; lets look at something even more important, now that we may have got you past the mental block of writing.
Its this: put your readers wants and needs first. To some extent, we are all selfish. When we read something, we want to know whats in it for us: information, benefit, interest, pleasure, satisfaction, entertainment. Provide your e-mail recipients with a benefit of some kind a benefit for them, not you.
If you are trying to sell something (not a good idea on a first contact, before you have established trust), let the person see why what you are offering is a benefit to them, how it solves a problem, saves time, adds to the quality of their life, provides amusement. But dont just tell them my purple widget will amuse you. Let your reader see that he or she will be amused.
My purple widgets get people talking with each other and are great party icebreakers. Your guests will be absorbed in the games that can be played with them by two, four or 12 people. Warn your neighbors not to worry if they hear hysterical laughter coming from.
Get the idea Paint word pictures. You can do this in all your e-mails, personal and business, and your readers will appreciate hearing from you.
Speak of benefits, not features
But for business e-mails, make sure there is a definite benefit to your reader. When they finish your e-mail, you want them to be happy they opened it instead of clicking the kill button.
Sometimes, and you will often see this in advertising, you have to let your reader know that he or she needs your benefit. Does your child play on the rug Does she suck her thumb Most toddlers do both, but have you seen a microscopic view of what lives in your rugs, no matter how well you vacuum them Let me tell you about our patented virus and bacteria blaster that eliminates.
Matthew Eigbe has over 25 years experience in consumer marketingand now focuses on network marketing using the internet.He is webmaster at , a site that explains how you can gain Financial Freedom by inviting people to havetheir own domain name.
Email hosting may not seem like a big deal to you, consideringall of things to think about when launching a new internetbusiness, but trust me when I tell you that problems with emailis one of the most frustrating things youll ever deal with in aninternet-based business.
In an internet-based business, the majority (if not all) of yourcommunications with customers are conducted via email.
Sure, some internet-based businesses have phone service and offertheir phone numbers to customers and potential customers for thepurpose of asking questions, calling in orders or obtainingsupport.
But, the online customer is more apt to contact an internet-basedbusiness via email or through the use of contact forms providedon the businesss website.
Notification of communications submitted through online contactforms or order forms are also generally presented to the businessin the form of email.
As you can see, the very nature of an internet-based businessmakes it highly dependent on email, not only as a medium forcommunications, but also for operations.
Email difficulties or downtime can literally shut an internet-based business down causing lost sales and poor customer service.Lost revenues and customer dissatisfaction are the results, notto mention the aggravation and resulting frustration.
Looking at things from that realistic angle, you can see thatemail hosting is a business function that not only deserves, butdemands your attention.
So, youre probably asking, What are the aspects of emailhosting that need my attention
In most cases, you wont choose an email host independent of yourweb host because most businesses do (and should) use emailaddresses that contain their domain name.
You can have an email host that is separate from your web host,but there is really no reason for it since the hosting of emailis generally a feature of web hosting packages.
I definitely do not recommend using free email services for yourbusiness communications. YourCompanyName@hotmail.com - seriously,how professional is that
When you use the email options that are part of your web hostingplan, your domain name will be part of your email address whichwill present a much more professional image.
Other advantages of using professional versus free email hostingservices are enhanced options and fewer limitations.
When choosing a web host, you should be concerned with thehosting companys secure server capabilities, the speed of theirservers, the space you are allowed on the server, and the accessalternatives they provide.
Access to server logs and reports is important as is theavailability of certain scripts and software. You also want tomake sure that your web host has been in business for awhile, iswell established and is reliable.
A good web host or email host should be able to guaranty at least99% uptime since downtime can be a serious hindrance to yourinternet-based business.
The web hosts backup procedures are also of importance as istheir technical support services.
In regard to email features that accompany your website hostingpackage, full email services should be provided.
Email services should include unlimited email aliases, theability to set up auto-responders, and web-based access andadministration features.
If you exchange files via email, it is important that there areno restrictions on the size or type of files that you canexchange. And of course, reliability is crucial as is immediateaccess to technical support when you need it.
Email hosting that uses IMAP technology is a fairly new andhighly desirable solution for your businesss email needs.
Historically, POP (Post Office Protocol) has been common forreceiving email with SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) beingused for sending email.
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a nice alternative toPOP for receiving email.
With POP mailboxes, when you retrieve your email from your serverthrough an email program such as Outlook or Outlook Express, themessages are generally removed from the server when they aretransferred to your personal computer.
This can be a problem if you use more than one computer, adesktop and a laptop for instance. With IMAP mail receivingcapabilities, your message are archived on the IMAP server andyou can access and view your messages using a client programwithout removing the messages from the server.
Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope,fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketingadvice youre getting Whether you are new to internet marketing,or a website owner who wants to make more money from yourwebsite, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket yourinternet business at .