The Seven Cardinal Rules of E-mail

 Rule #1 - Turn off your CAPS LOCK - Some people seem to feel that if they write their E-mail in ALL CAPS it will be more effective. Quite the opposite is the case. CAPS should be used only for emphasis. Many people consider the use of ALL CAPS as shouting and do take offense at it.

-----

Rule #2 - Who should you address a message to when using Blind Carbon Copies? There are a lot of "kooks" in this world who will persecute anyone who they can identify. When using BCC, never send the note to someone on your mailing list. If you have a second ID, send the note to yourself with copies to everyone on your list. That way, if someone decides to "vent" it will come back to you and not someone on your list. It also gives you a permanent record of the E-mails you sent to your mailing list.

If you don't have a second ID#, you can get one easily at Juno, Hotmail, etc.

-----

Rule #3 - Are you sure your E-mail was actually sent to your mailing list? One easy way to be sure it was is to include your E-mail address in your file of names you send it to. If you get a copy, you can be sure everyone else did as well.

-----

Rule #4 - Don't Bore Them to Death - Advertising by E-mail is a cheap and effective way to get your message out to people, and most people don't mind getting an unsolicited E-mail if it is short and to the point. Do not try to sell them your product or services with your first mailing. Try to pique their curiosity instead and have them either reply to your E-mail or visit your Web Site.

-----

Rule #5 - Honor Removes - if someone asks to be removed from your mailing list, do it immediately and send them a courtesy note advising them it has been done. Keeping people on your mailing list that don't want to receive your information is bad form. And NEVER forge headers so they can't respond to you by E-mail. This is the favorite trick of the scamsters who don't want you to respond to their E-mail and give you a form to fill out instead.

-----

Rule #6 - Text is for E-mail and HTML coding is for Web Pages. I can't begin to tell you the number of E-mails I get formatted for HTML. These are basically not readable in a text mode and I simply delete them. While some mail readers will display HTML coding, many will not. If you use E-mail to send information to potential clients, always make sure that you send it in a format they can read. Text can be read by all E-mail readers and that is your best bet. Otherwise, you might be simply wasting your time.

-----

Rule #7 - I still get E-mails with no text and the message they wish me to read is an attachment to the E-mail. If it is not from someone I know, it is immediately deleted.

Some ISP's have a top limit to the amount of text they will display. AOL for example is 2,000 characters and anything larger is automatically converted to an attachment.

Many people will not go through this exercise, so you should ensure that your E-mail message can be read by all the people it is sent to.

-----

Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter
Visit his Web Site at http://adv-marketing.com/business to
subscribe and place a Free Ad for your business.