Effective Internet Business

The Missing Email of the 300

Tetsou — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:52:34 +0000

If the Greeks and Persians had Email!


From: King Xerxes		From: Themosticles
To: All Greek States		To: King Xerxes
Cc:		Cc:
bcc		Bcc: King Leonidas
Subject Earth and Water		Subject: Earth and Water
Dear All, Time to get with the program and submit before your living God. You don’t want to end up like the Egyptians – the big mummies? I’ll be sending my messenger for a bit of a chat.		Xerxes, It’s the holidays here in Greece (Carneia) and we’re having a bit of a bash. You know the sort of thing: naked, dancing nymphomaniacs doing their thing. You might try Leonidas of Sparta who’s not much of a party animal.
Xerxes of Persia Your Living God Let’s Rock!		Themosticles of the Greeks We know all the angles!
Disclaimer: if you received this email in error – then your turn will come!		Disclaimer: if you received this email in error – it couldn’t have come from us!


From: King Xerxes		From: King Leonidas
To: King Leonidas		To: King Xerxes
Cc:		Cc:
bcc		Bcc:
Subject: Missing Messenger		Subject: Missing Messenger
King Leonidas, It’s been some time since we sent our messenger to see you for a chat and we have had no word. A Persian ultimatum is not something you can sweep under the carpet.		Xerxes, What messenger?
Xerxes of Persia our Living God. Elephants are us!		Leonidas of Sparta Hitting you where it hurts!
Disclaimer: if you received this email in error – then your turn will come!		Disclaimer: We just don’t care!


From: King Leonidas		From: Themosticles
To: Themosticles		To: Leonidas
Cc:		Cc:
bcc		Bcc:
Subject The Persians are Coming		Subject: The Persians are coming
Themosticles, I’ve upset the Persians. Best send some help. Meet you at Thermopylae. Ps: only taking 299 1/2 Spartans – one turned up short!		Leonidas, No can do Thermopylae. Busy with the Olympics. Ps: suggest you round up to 300 – sounds better!
Leonidas of Sparta We’re recruiting!		Themosticles of the Greeks We know all the angles!
Disclaimer: We still don’t care!		Disclaimer: if you received this email in error – it couldn’t have come from us!

How to Create A Business Email Address

Tetsou — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:39:56 +0000

I was working with a young entrepreneur from Toronto, called Robert, on developing his web presence and we started to exchange a few emails on the ‘how and why’ of setting up a website. Robert had the good sense to register a domain name in preparation for developing his site. But when I received his first few emails I noticed he was still using his ISP email address instead of an address based on his business domain name. The email address looked something like this: rob1234@some-isp.ca.

This is a very common mistake.

Look through the ads in the Yellow Pages and you’ll find many examples of people doing just this despite having an existing domain name and website: jim3456@hotmail.com is a typical example. When I queried Robert on this his reply was that he assumed he needed a website and an email account with a hosting provider before he could use his domain name.

This is a common misconception. If you are preparing to develop a web presence (not just a website) it’s cheap and easy to register a domain name with an Internet Name Registrar and start using that name for your business email.

Most domain name registrars provide you with a control panel to manage your names. One facility that most provide is the ability to setup email forwarding associated with a particular name to any active email account that you may already have, such as your Yahoo or ISP account.

So in Robert’s case we simply thought up a few email addresses that he could use straight away:

robert@robs-biz.com
info@robs-biz.com
sales@robs-biz.com

We then forwarded these addresses to his existing ISP email account:

robert@robs-biz.com → rob123@some-isp.ca
info@robs-biz.com → rob123@some-isp.ca
sales@robs-biz.com → rob123@some-isp.ca

Now, even though none of these new email addresses are associated with an email mailbox, any email sent to them will be forward to rob123@some-isp.ca.

In my next article I’ll show you how to manage multiple email accounts and multiple addresses using just one Yahoo account to handle all of your business needs.

Tetsou
Helping you work the web.

The Digg Effect - When Too Much Traffic Can Be A Problem

Tetsou — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 18:59:52 +0000

When the collective mind of the digg community turns to gaze at your site, you had better be prepared for a torrent of traffic. When that mind gives you its full attention, it’s time to batten down the hatches and warn your hosting provider that a tsunami of hits is about to pound its portals. It’s the digg effect.

7 Deadly Sins of Email

Tetsou — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 19:07:20 +0000

Most of us are probably using email in our day to day business lives; but are we using email as well as we could? All of us, at one time or another, have probably been guilty of committing one or more deadly email ’sin’. They are deadly sins because for our customers or clients they are annoying and a barrier to good communication.

What’s In A Name?

Tetsou — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:38:12 +0000

What’s in a name? Quite a bit if it’s the name of your website. And, even if you don’t have a website, a domain name is an important part of doing effective Internet business. A domain name lends credibility to your online business, makes your online presence portable, promotes your brand, and increases your chances of being found on the net.

Work Local, Think Global

I was discussing this topic with my driver, Joe, enroute to the airport just before the holidays. Joe, like many drivers, runs his own business and is pretty savvy on most things entrepreneurial; but, when it comes to the Internet, Joe admits that he doesn’t have much of a clue.

I’ve been trying to persuade Joe to get himself a domain name for some time now. The roots of our discussion go back several trips when I was asked to extend my stay in Mexico City. I travel extensively and my schedule frequently changes. Ideally, I’d like to email Joe when my plans change. That way, I avoid all the trouble with timezone differences and having to read out detailed itineraries over long-distance phone lines.

One Pink Lady

Now Joe doesn’t have his own website and has yet to register a domain name, so ends up giving out his daughters email address to his clients. I have a few problems with this. Firstly, it’s hit and miss whether Joe receives my emails - they’re just not that important to his daughter; secondly, I’m uncomfortable sending email to ‘pinklady@joesISP.com’ (Internet Service Provider name withheld to protect the innocent).

Now, even if I’m happy to use ‘pinklady@joesISP.com’ and Joe does pick up his email, that type of email account doesn’t do Joe any favours when it comes to lending credibility to his business and helping to promote his brand. It’s just not professional.

Even if Joe decided to use a more sensible name, like ‘joe@joesISP.com’, he is still tying his email account to that ISP and just helping to promote their brand, not his. If Joe decides to move to another ISP, he loses that account and any marketing dollars spent on giving out that email address.

The Potential Of A Domain Name

I still see this mistake with many of my small business clients. They purchase a domain name and start to promote it, only to place on their website and business correspondence a contact email address in the form ‘joe.joesbizname@joesISP.com’?

It is far better to promote your own domain name and have email addresses in the form ‘joe@joesdomain.com’ or ‘bookings@joesdomain.com’. When eventually Joe gets around to purchasing a website, it’s an intuitive step in people’s minds to add the ‘www’ in front of the existing domain resulting in his website address: ‘www.joesdomain.com’. In other words, Joe’s business will be easier to find online.

So, while I’ll miss my email correspondence with ‘pinklady’, it’s best that Joe register a domain name. It will give him more credibility online and enable him to move his name should he change his ISP or hosting provider. Joe’s marketing dollars will also travel with his name.