ขImprove Your Email’s Deliverabilityข

ขImprove Your Email’s Deliverabilityข

by: Karen Fegarty

With SPAM accounting for over 50% of the email that is delivered to our inboxes many corporations and ISPs have implemented solutions to deal with this growing problem. SPAM filters, IP blocking, domain blocking, and legislation are in place, but often messages that are, in fact, wanted by the recipients, are filtered and not delivered. What do legitimate marketers need to do to ensure that their clients receive their messages? We have collected a number of rules that, if you employ, can greatly increase the number of emails that are delivered and opened by your customers or prospective customers.

1. When delivering to AOL email addresses you need to make sure your SMTP serviceกs domain can be verified using a reverse DNS lookup. Check with your Webmaster or Host Provider. For more information on this topic check out:

http://www.dnsstuff.com/info/revdns.htm and

http://ezinetips.com/articles/resources/20010817.shtml

2. America Online (AOL) has recently released the newest version of its product, AOL 9.0. To protect itกs users from receiving SPAM, AOL has put some measures in place that will affect how your message is received by your AOL subscribers. All graphics will be blocked from being displayed in HTML emails; as well links will be deactivated for any new message sent to an AOL 9.0 inbox. When an email is received in AOL 9.0, users will have to click a link at the top of each message (Show Images & Enable Links) to view any graphics within your email. If this action is not taken, images and links will not be displayed or enabled.

This is the default setting for AOL 9.0; however, the email recipient does have the ability to add the senderกs From Address into their address book, which AOL classifies as People I Know. Once this has been done, all emails received from this address in the future will automatically have images and links showing correctly.

Your recipients must add you to their address book as a sender they recognize and approve. You should add a line to the top of your email, which states something like this… กAttention AOL 9.0 users please add [email protected] to your address book so that you can see our entire messageก. For more information on this issue visit: http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?CID=2455 MS 2003 will also filter the images. For more information visit: http://ktdcommunications.com/communications/katydid_023.htm

3. Be aware of the current and proposed SPAM laws. Check out http://www.spamlaws.com for current legislation.

4. Ensure that each message contains an unsubscribe statement that links to a valid URL or a valid Mailto: link. However do not use the words ‘to unsubscribeก as these are now getting filtered. Use something like ‘to leaveก.

5. Do not include .exe or attachments in your message.

6. Do not purchase lists.

7. Do not rent lists that are not doubleoptin.

8. Don’t sell or rent out your own lists.

9. Always remove any unsubscribes immediately

10. Always remove any undeliverables immediately.

11. Remind people of their relationship with you. Tell them in the message the email address that they used when they subscribed.

12. Communicate with your recipients on a regular basis, but don’t communicate with recipients too often. An email that is welcomed on a monthly basis may become unwelcome when sent more frequently.

13. Include a correct reply email address and telephone contact information in each email.

14. Avoid sending long text articles.

15. Do not send HTML messages without Text alternatives.

16. Avoid sending messages with a large number of hotlinks.

17. Do not use BCC distribution methods with over 10 names per email. Use a product like Broadc@st, which creates an individual message for each email.

18. If you are sending a newsletter place the word กnewsletterก and a date including month in the subject line. This reduces your SPAM score.

19. Watch your email lists, heavy B2C distribution to @aol.com, @hotmail.com. @msn.com etc may be flagged.

20. Avoid using words or phases that trigger spam filters. For more information on this visit: http://www.doctorebiz.com/06/021106b.htm and http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_phrases.htm

21. Check out the common tests that filters like Outlook and SpamAssassin use to filter your emails and try to avoid the common issues. For information on these tests visit http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/preview.aspx?AssetID=HA010450051033&CTT=98 and http://eu.spamassassin.org/tests.html

22. Routinely check http://www.spamcop.net to see if you have been blacklisted unfairly. Send an email to have this rectified. To check their list enter: http://spamcop.net/bl.shtml?111.111.111.11 (where 111.111.111.11 is the IP address of your sending SMTP.)

23. Use services such as Assuranceกs Message Checker to precheck your messages for common filtering flags and Assuranceกs Blacklist Alert to keep on top of where you may be blacklisted.

24. Sending your delivery in small batches of 500 or less might avoid filtration.

25. For additional information and a practical guide on avoiding SPAM filters check out Marketing Sherpa’s ขHowto Kit: Get Your Permission Email Past Filtersข http://www.sherpastore.com/store/page.cfm/p.cfm/2094?1044.

About The Author

Karen Fegarty is a professional marketer working with both MailWorkZ and ezTrackZ. Check out the ezTrackZ ad tracker product at http://www.eztrackz.com. and MailWorkZ’s flagship email marketing tool., Broadc@st at http://www.mailworkz.com

This article was posted on January 28, 2004

by Karen Fegarty

Information The Art Of Selling

Information The Art Of Selling

by: Dave Collins

Money may well make the world go round, but facts, details and data oil the machine that beats at the heart of it. We supposedly live in the age of information, yet many of us seem unable to use it to its full, and allow ourselves to drift along on a sea of missed opportunities.

If we can take it for granted that you have a good product, it should be a safe assumption that the single most powerful marketing tool at your disposal is information the simple truth. You’re not selling a duff product, trying to convince punters that underneath the rusty exterior lies a power beast… nor are you trying to sell ice to the Eskimos. You’re trying to sell your software to people who either need it, or could use it to the point where they’re actually prepared to buy it. So how do we get them? With information tools.

Information Tools

An information tool is any kind of device that you can use to show yourself and/or your product. Like any other tool, its primary purpose is to make life easier and more efficient. In our line of work, the most commonly used is a signature file. Your signature file should be around four to six lines of simple text, to be used at the end of every single email, letter, report or newsgroup posting. No exceptions; in your business correspondence, to your friends, family, everything and everyone.

The text should contain all your critical contact data at the very least your full name, your company or product, URL of your website, email address, and some sort of slogan or catchphrase. If you have a work phone number, then make sure you include it. Ensure that you also include the email address in the signature having it hidden away in the ReplyTo part of the email client does little good if someone prints out your letter, or even cuts and pastes the content into a new document or file. Have it there for all to see. Have you ever clicked on a link in a signature, just out of interest? You’re not alone.

The next tool is the stock text. Chances are that you find yourself writing the same text time and time again the same phrases, features and pricing information. Write them out in full, so that you have them there for use as needed. As well as saving you time in the future, having them available will also ensure that you’re sending out a wellwritten version of the information, that includes all relevant details, without forgetting a thing. Never rely on your memory alone. When you try and describe your software at the end of a long, problem filled day, you won’t do it justice.

The actual content of the descriptions is critical here. Make sure you write the text in the first person either I or we. Thereกs nothing wrong with referring to yourself as either of the two but make sure you’re consistent. Make sure you also use positive phrasing, and keep it simple. Be as concise and precise as possible; an exact number looks far better than vagueisms such as loads, lots, many or heaps. If your writing skills aren’t so good, get someone to help. Chances are you’re going to use these texts many times, so itกs worth getting the content just right.

A newsletter is another useful information tool, and can be a great way of keeping in touch with your customers or anyone else who may interested in your product. They are fairly easy to setup and administer, but pay attention to a few dos and don’ts. Make sure that you include details of your own product but don’t let it be the main content of the newsletter. If all you’re sending is a longwinded advert, people will unsubscribe quicker than you can whisper กlost saleก.

Again, content is king. If you can provide some sort of tips or information that people either need or will find useful, theyกll want to receive your newsletter, but be careful not to drive them away. If you send out a mailing every week, some are bound to get fed up and unsubscribe. While you’re at it, make sure itกs easy for someone to subscribe and unsubscribe; itกs very bad form to make it difficult to do so. Some sort of stock text explaining how to do this is a very good idea.

Another golden rule is to stick to pure, clean ASCII text. You may like HTML in your mailings, but if the recipientกs email client doesn’t they’re gone. In brief, useful is good; short and sweet is even better. And before you announce your new mailing list, make sure that you have the time for it. You can end up looking awfully silly when you close before issue one even comes out.

Press releases are probably the most wellknown information tool of all. Iกm not going to go into the whatกs and howกs here take a look through past ASPects issues, and check out Al Harbergกs tutorial at www.dpdirectory.com. Once you have your press release, use it. Make it easily available onsite, and keep it updated when you have new versions or changes. Long after your press release has been sent, you can still be putting it to good use.

Take Advantage Of Your FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions are another golden information opportunity; chances are that youกve already read over a fair number of these yourself, and it may even be one of the first things you look for on a site. I know I do. Practically speaking, you can’t throw every bit of information you have on the front or main page of your website. It doesn’t look good, and will simply overwhelm most visitors. But when a person goes to read your FAQ, they already know the basics, and want to know more. Feed them.

Use your FAQ wisely. Don’t use it as a data dump, but do include the questions you get asked the most. If you can, also make it downloadable, as a PDF or HTML file. Make sure you also put your contact details at the end of the document, something along the lines of กWhat do I do if I have more questions?ก . Theyกve asked for the information, so don’t be shy to give it them. I list my email address, website URL, phone and fax numbers, mailing address and ICQ number as standard. All have been used on numerous occasions.

Many email clients also allow some sort of auto responder to be setup that can send out a stock text when a certain address or specific subject is received. Better still, many webhosts have this sort of feature.

We supposedly live in an age of information overload, where quality loses the battle to quantity on an ongoing basis. Don’t let your product become another casualty. Keep it short, keep it sharp, and use it wherever and whenever you can. Think of every opportunity to write an email or note as an opportunity to reach a customer; don’t waste it. Be seen, be sold.

Copyright 2004 Dave Collins

About The Author

Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UKbased company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com.

This article was posted on December 09, 2004

by Dave Collins

Does Your Website Host Fight Spam?

Does Your Website Host Fight Spam?

by: Eric Lester

Virtually anyone with an email address knows what Spam is, and has, perhaps, considered giving up the speed, convenience, and simplicity of email because of it. Those who have their own websites are more vulnerable than the average person with a single work or home email address from their company or Internet Service Provider. Email addresses visible on a website can quickly become Spam magnets, as automated programs, similar in form to search engine spiders, roam the web, looking for addresses to which new broadsides of Spam may be fired. Website hosting companies generally provide their clients email accounts for use with their domain, but are you with a host that provides those email accounts with Spam and virus protection?

Local Blacklist Filters

Webmasters shouldn’t need to seek out local filters for their siteกs contact email addresses. There are a variety of server level solutions a hosting company can offer to protect their users from unwanted emails. A most basic step is provision of a very rudimentary กblacklistก functionality to their users, allowing them to prevent future Spam emails from arriving from the same address. This type of filter is virtually worthless in todayกs Spam environment, though, as it is quite rare to see unsophisticated email arriving from the same address multiple times. Spammers have grown far more sophisticated than that. Blacklisting functionality is only really useful in avoiding email from other real people you don’t particularly wish to hear from anymore.

Keywords and Regular Expressions

More advanced server level Spam filters are available. A small advance is accomplished using keyword filters. Keyword filters merely check for instances of a certain string of characters and deny the message if that string if found. The core problem with keywordonly filters is they can กover filterก. Someone who puts กsexก on their keyword filter will find receiving local news and event announcements difficult if they live in a town named กEssexก. Some filters attempt to address this deficiency by using ‘regular expressionsก in order to build a sophisticated rule set to prevent Spam from reaching your inbox. Briefly, regular expressions are syntax rules used to identify certain strings of text or numbers. These rules can be set up to identify text patterns that are commonly used in Spam. They can become quite complex, but, as with most any filtering method, are not 100% bullet proof. Some filters that use regular expressions come with a basic set that can be appended by the user. Obviously this kind of feature is of little use to someone not familiar with regular expressions.

Bayesian Filters

Currently the most sophisticated filtering methods use Bayesian inferences. Bayesian filters take a large data set and determine the probability a message is Spam based on its similarity to previous Spam messages. The more emails that are processed and flagged theoretically make the filter more accurate. Services that provide filtering on an ISP or host level, like Postiniกs กSpamAwayก, filter billions of emails and provide the highest level of success and fewest กfalse positivesก. SpamAway is already highly intelligent about identifying Spam and doesn’t require any กlearningก commands or examples be provided. The online, browser based interface keeps flagged messages in an easily accessible กquarantineก and allows the user to check for any false positives. White list functionality is provided to aide in the prevention of future false positives. A hosting company offering such an advanced service takes Spam and virus filtering for their customers seriously.

About The Author

Eric Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com, http://www.apollohosting.com, and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.

This article was posted on August 16

by Eric Lester

10 Elements Every Direct Mail Piece Should Have

10 Elements Every Direct Mail Piece Should Have

by: Joe Niewierski

Don’t want your direct mail to end up in the trash with the rest of the unread mail? Studies show an effective direct mail campaign should draw a .5 to 1 percent response. These 10 tips will help you get the results you want:

1. A clear, bold headline. On the envelope or front of the mailer there should be one central message. The best way to achieve that is with a bold, clear headline that’s not cluttered up with other text. A good guideline is to have the headline fill up at least 15% of the front of the mailer.

2. A graphic that supports the message. The graphic should be easy to understand and add to the message the headline is trying to convey. For instance, if you are trying to get people to list their home you would want to show a home with SOLD sign clearly visible out front. That graphic reinforces the message more than a simple picture of a home.

3. Color that pops. Make the headline and other text stand out by using a color that stands out from the background color. When you look at the card, ask yourself, กWhat do I see first?ก If your answer isn’t the headline, you might want to tweak the colors.

4. Subheads that lead into text. If you have a couple of paragraphs of text with no lead in, there’s nothing to entice people to actually read the copy. A subhead will give people a place to start reading. If you have only a 100 words or so you may be able to get away with it, but if the text gets any longer than that the average reader will want to have some guideposts along the way.

5. Benefits, benefits, benefits. One of the biggest errors people make in advertising is stating features, rather than benefits. For example, never assume recipients know what benefit can be derived from a lower interest rate on their mortgage. Let them know how their monthly payments will go down.

6. The offer. An offer is always a good idea and should represent a specific reason to call now, such as ขLimited supplyข or ขInterest rates are climbing.ข

7. Your company name and logo. Although this needs to be on the mailer, it shouldn’t overshadow the offer. Customers care most about what you can do for them.

8. Call to action. Tell prospects exactly what you want them to do. ขCall today for more informationข or ขSee us onlineข are two of the most common desired actions.

9. Contact information. Provide your name, phone number, and Web address directly following the call to action. Whatever you ask prospects to do, give them the means to do it easily.

10. Return address. A return address ensures you’ll get returned mail from the post office and sends a message that you’re an established professional. People feel better knowing the company they’re dealing with has an actual location.

About The Author

Joe Niewierski, the VP of Marketing & Promotion at PostcardMania, became a published writer after graduating with a BA in Advertising from the University of South Florida. Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com.

This article was posted on February 21

by Joe Niewierski

Identity Abuse

Identity Abuse

by: Albert Scherbinsky

Recently the threat of identity theft has been often reported in the media. Identity abuse, given less attention, deserves a closer look. An identity thief steals someoneกs identity and assumes that identity, usually for material gain. On the other hand, an identity abuser does not necessarily assume the identity, but nonetheless causes harm to the owner of the identity.

Online we are identified primarily by email address and homepage. We assign a significant personal value to these identities. Our friends and contacts have our email address in their address books and our homepage bookmarked in their favourites. Anyone who has changed email addresses knows the pain of notifying all your contacts and then still missing emails because people send them to the old address. If youกve changed home page URLs you know the pain of waiting for the search engines to index your new location. If other sites have linked to your pages, you know the pain of getting them to link to your new site.

Itกs one thing to choose to change your online identity and quite another to have that change imposed on you. Rogers Communications, a high speed cable internet service provider in Canada, is a repeat identity abuser. Since launching their internet offering, Rogers has abused its usersก identities 4 times. Most recently, it has joined up with Yahoo, requiring all users with websites to change their URLs. To add injury to injury, any new web sites have annoying geocities popup ads on them. Given Rogersก failed partnership with @Home you have to wonder how long Rogersก cosiness with Yahoo will last. Will Rogers users be left once again wandering in the Internet Identity Wilderness?

One method to protect yourself from identity abuse is to take full control of your online identity. Doing so requires some work, but the longterm benefits may be worth it. Here are the steps to taking control of your online identity:

Register your own domain.

Set up your own web site and email; OR,

Use a forwarding service to redirect to your existing email and web site.

Assume your new identity and let everyone know.

Copyright SoftwarePress 2005

About The Author

Albert Scherbinsky has been leading successful software development teams and projects for over 6 years and has over 12 years experience in the high tech industry. He is Editor of http://SoftwarePress.com

This article was posted on February 22

by Albert Scherbinsky

Keep Spam Mail Away From You !

Keep Spam Mail Away From You !

by: Deniz Akay

In the last couple of years, spam mail has become perhaps the most terrible headache of email users on the internet. Depending on how popular your mail service provider is and how old your email account is, you may be receiving every day ten to several hundred unwanted emails about advertisements, propaganda, news and a bunch of other topics that you did not and most probably will never ask for in the future. Mail service providers have developed some protection systems to reduce this discomfort their customers are experiencing, such as filters, but sometimes spam attacks can even get past these barriers. Even if these barriers are effective, all those spam mails produce annoying heaps in the junk mail folders just to take up your mail accountกs precious storage space.

As mail services offering large storage spaces are becoming widespread this year, people are moving to these new accounts and creating their new addresses. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a couple of months since the most famous of these email services, Gmail, has started giving out accounts by invitations and the word has already gotten around that spam attacks have discovered these new fresh targets as well. Although the number of these attacks is low at the moment, it will surely increase and may reach a threatposing amount in a short period of time.

No matter how well the spam filters are, us email users cannot be fully protected from spam today, but we can still take some precautions to evade these attacks, while registering for new accounts and after. Some crucial tips to avoid spam may be listed as follows:

1. While you’re creating an account, do not choose a short username. You will receive spam mail due to dictionary attacks. For example, think of the username กangelก. Each address starting with the word กangelก will receive a spam mail:

angel@

angels@

angelic@

angelica@

angelina@

2. Since usernames that are to be attacked are generated from the first few letters, itกs better to start the username with letter or number series without a meaning:

Example: ytgkj.username@ or 72149.username@

3. Itกs always better to use special characters in the user name if they are allowed.

Example: username@, user_name@ or user.name@

4. If you are sure that itกs a spam mail, do NOT click the links like กClick to unsubscribe, remove your address from the listก and do NOT reply them with emails having subjects like ‘removeก, กUnsubscribeก etc. These will verify your email address and will only make your address receive more of them.

5. Some sites may want email addresses for registration. These are potential spam dangers. If you have to use an email address for registration, always use a temporary address. Sites like กMailinator.comก create temporary mail addresses for a short period of time and you are done with these addresses once you are finished with registration.

If you also have to receive email after you have registered, in other words, when you are filling out forms on the internet, do not use the mail account that you give your friends and relations. Instead, get yourself a free webmail (hotmail, yahoo, etc.) and use that always.

6. Never write your email on the web. Some robots are scanning the web for email adresses. If you need to give your address, write it like :

myaccount กATก myprovider กDotก com

instead of ก[email protected]ก .

7. When you are sending emails to multiple recipients, always use BCC. Why? If you type the addresses in the CC or To line, all the recipient addresses appear in the mail content when those emails are forwarded. If the forwarded mails reach the spam senders in some way, all these addresses are added to their spam lists.

8. If your webmail provides a junk/bulk mail filter service, make sure that this service is activated. However, all the mail coming into this folder might not be spam. Because the mass emails sent by some sites you register or mail groups that you are a member of are sent by scriptbased ways, they may be considered as spam and they make their way into these folders. Itกs good to check this folder once in a while.

9. Finally, make sure that you view the Message Headers fully. How do you do this? For example in Gmail, click กMore options > Show originalก besides the address received from and in Hotmail, click กOptions > Message display settings > Message header > Fullก. This will allow you to see useful information about the sender of the spam mail you received.

If you are sure that itกs a spam mail, copy the header information as it is and report it to spamcop.com. From the same web address, you can send the mail service provider the information about the spam mail.

Please do not forget that these are only precautions that you can take against spam individually and will not stop spam completely, but at least it will help in keeping spam away from you.

About The Author

Deniz Akay

Webmaster of Extreme Gmail Forums http://www.emailx.net

This article was posted on February 08

by Deniz Akay

Boost Your Sales Copy With One Simple Tweak

Boost Your Sales Copy With One Simple Tweak

by: Palyn Peterson

Do you want an amazingly simple trick to move far ahead of your competition and increase sales? With this free, no software little tweak, you will be able to put customized information into a web page that is different for everyone you invite to visit. It is incredibly simple; seriously, I promise! All that you need is a very basic understanding of HTML, like how to make hyperlinks, and I will teach you everything else. Sound fair?

What can you do with this, you may be wondering? Well, if you have a newsletter, you can create a link to your web site and the page displayed could have your subscribers first name where ever you want it. It doesn’t have to be their first name either; it could quite literally be any custom variable that your newsletter managing service/script/program has saved for each of your subscribers their last name, email address, snail mail address, gender, age, favorite color, etc.

But we don’t have to stop there, not at all. You can go on and use as many variables as you want, not just one. Weกll thoroughly cover this.

Why is this HTML tweak useful, you may now be asking? Just imagine this, you email your list of subscribers about a new product you have recently released. In your email, you write a few paragraphs about the product to generate interest and conveniently provide a link for them to click on to go back to your website and read your full sales copy. Since you have such a trusting reputation with your subscribers, they give your product the benefit of the doubt and click on the link to read more. When they get to your sales copy, lo and behold their name is used throughout the page!

We all learned in Marketing 101 that your sales copy needs to be personal; that when you write it, you need to speak to one person and in everyday language. With this cool HTML tweak, you will be able to reach new levels of personalization. Yes, the subscriber will be impressed that their name is used in the middle of your sales copy, and yes, they will have more personal interest in what you are saying. It is a whole new experience at that point, because you are talking to them individually. Heck, you just used their name! It won’t just be, กYou will get big results!ก but, กFred, you will get big results!ก

Now, letกs get on to the code! For this example, we are going to be using an HTML file named กchoppers.htmก.

Open up กchoppers.htmก in your favorite editor. Now, where ever you want the subscribers first name to appear, put this code: กก (minus the quotes), and wherever you want their last name to appear, put: กก (again, minus the quotes).

Do you see the ก$aก in the first bit of code and the ก$bก in the second? For every custom variable you want to appear on your web page, just put that little bit of code with a different letter.

To explain it a little more, for every place the subscribers first name should appear, put กก. For every place the subscribers last name should appear, put กก. For every place the subscribers email address should appear, put กก. And so on and so forth. Yes, you can use each bit of code as often as you want. No, it doesn’t really matter that the first name is using the code with ก$aก it could be ก$hก, ก$pก or even ก$zก, just as long as each custom variable uses a different letter.

Now you will need to rename กchoppers.htmก to กchoppers.phpก. Some HTML editors do not open up .php files, so I suggest only doing a กsave asก to a .php file. That way, you will still have กchoppers.htmก to edit whenever you need to, then just do another กsave asก. Upload the .php file to your web host.

Now we need to create the link the subscribers will click on to get to the newly created กchoppers.phpก file. For this part, you need to know what codes your newsletter managing service/script/program uses to customize your emails. Just for this example, letกs say two of them are ;FirstName; and ;LastName;.

When you write your email, the address of your sales page in the link you will create to go to it, will look like this: กyourdomain.com/choppers.php?a=;FirstName;&b=;LastName;ก. But when you send out your email to your subscribers, your newsletter managing service/script/program will fill in those codes with the subscribers first and last name. So when the subscriber clicks on the link, the address to your sales page will actually look like this: กyourdomain.com/choppers.php?a=Fred&b=Jonesก.

If you only cared to use the subscribers first name, you would only need to use กก in กchoppers.phpก, and the address to that page in the link in your email would look like: กyourdomain.com/choppers.php?a=;FirstName;ก, and for your subscriber Fred, his link address would end up looking like: กyourdomain.com/choppers.php?a=Fredก.

You have just now taken many steps in front of your competition. You are now able to market much more personally than most people think is even possible.

Copyright © by Palyn Peterson

mailto:[email protected]

About The Author

Palyn Peterson publishes the acclaimed Advanced Internet Marketing News. A professional newsletter with a refreshing perspective and a strong focus on nocost techniques. http://FutureInternetMarketing.com. FREE Tips, Tricks, Tools, Resources, eBooks, and More!

This article is free to publish with resource box. If using this article, please send a brief message to mailto:[email protected]

This article was posted on December 18, 2003

by Palyn Peterson

Domain name secrets revealed

Domain name secrets revealed

by: Sourav CHOUDHURY

If internet is about interactivity between websites, domain name is the door for that interactivity. It is your online identity, very much like the name of your best friend, what is his very own personal identity.

From a user’s point of view, a domain name is what he types in the address bar of his web browser to get a certain web site. For example, domain name of our website is www.kigoobe.com and one can get access to this site using the domain name www.kigoobe.com.

However, the scene behind the screen is not exactly the same. Though we see that computers use domain names to communicate over the internet, the basic things that they use to communicate is something called Internet Protocol Address (also called IP address). It is something numerical and a simple IP address can be like 10100011.00011011.00010101.10010011

This kind of combination of zeros and ones is called binary number system. To make things easier for people IP addresses are translated from binary to decimal numbers and the result becomes something like: 189.01.23.255 This looks simpler, but when thousands and millions of websites are in question, this kind of number system, though better than the first one, was still posing problem and then at last in 1983, the University of Wisconsin came forward with a solution to it, and that was to replace these numeric values with suitable text formats.

So here starts the story of www.kigoobe.com or www.yahoo.com or www.microsoft.com. Of course you will agree, that this is much easier to remember than all these 1 2 3 4 etc.

Another term important in this context and what you may come across quite often is URL. An URL (Uniform Resource Locator) can be said as the exact address that holds your domain name. For example, URL of the domain name www.kigoobe.com will be http://www.kigoobe.com. To see that in action, open another window and type in www.kigoobe.com in its address bar. If you press the enter key after that, you will see that kigoobe.com has been changed to http://www.kigoobe.com as the page loads. Thatกs the URL. The browser changes it itself.

If we break this in different parts, we will find http, www, kigoobe, and com.

http: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Protocol stands for a set of rules for these kinds of communications. Transfer we all know. Hyper text stands for texts that contain links to other texts, and which is not constrained to be linear only. It can thus hold text, graphics, images, sound, video, and other multimedia files, etc.

Now if we take all together, http or hyper text transfer protocol stands as a set of rules that come into being during transfer of those kinds of hyper text files over the internet.

www: World Wide Web. It refers to all the publicly accessible websites of the world. Besides it also includes ftp (file transfer protocol) files, usenet newsgroups, etc.

kigoobe: It can be anything, something that you choose yourself. We have chosen Kigoobe, somebody else chose one day yahoo, you can choose yourname, or yourbusiness, whatever.

com: The most commonly used first level domain name. Other first level domain names include .org, .net, .edu, .gov, .us, .fr, etc.

Got more questions? Why don’t you simply write to us and we will try to reply to your question! You will get our contact details at www.kigoobe.com.

Happy surfing.

Cheers.

About The Author

The author, Sourav Choudhury is a Master of Science in Biological Anthropology and by profession, a web designer and owner of kigoobe.com, a Paris based web designing firm.

Everybody is welcome to add this article to their site, we just request you to let us know about that and put a link towards our website www.kigoobe.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 12

by Sourav CHOUDHURY

Know How DNS Works

Know How DNS Works

by: Pawan Bangar

Domain name Servers (DNS) are an important but invisible part of the internet, and form one of the largest databases on it. Each machine on an internet is assigned a unique address, called an IP address, which is 32 bit number and is expressed as 4 octets. The method user to represent these IP addresses is known as dotted decimal Notationก. A typical address looks like this: 199.249.150.4

It is very difficult to keep in mind the IP addresses of all the websites we visit daily, because itกs not easy to remember strings of numbers. However, we do remember words. This is where domain names come into the picture. If you want to connect to a particular site, you need to know its IP address but do need to know its URL. The DNS gets the mappings of the IP addresses and the corresponding names.

Names and numbers

DNS converts the machine names (such as www.xyz.com) to IP addresses (such as 199.249.150.9). Basically, it translates from a name to an address and from an address to a name.

The mapping from the IP address to the machine name is called reverse mapping .when you type http://www.xyz.com into your browser, the browser first needs to get the IP address of www.xyz.com. The machine uses a directory service to look up IP addresses and this service is called DNS. When you type www.xyz.com your machines firsts contacts a DNS server, asking it to find the IP address for www.xyz.com. This DNS server might then contact other DNS servers on the internet. DNS is therefore is considered as the global network of servers. The great advantage of DNS is that no organization is responsible for updating it. It is what is known as distributed database.

The three letter codes

A DNS server is just a computer thatกs running the DNS software. The most popular DNS software is BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) DNS is hierarchical, treestructured system. The top is donated byก.ก. And is known as the root of the system. Below the root there are seven immediate sub domain nodes and these are กcomก, กorgก, กgovก, กmilก, กnetก, กeduก, กIntก, etc.

DNS consists of two components

Nameserver

Resolver

Nameserver:

This performs the task of looking up the names. Usually, there is one nameserver for a cluster of machines. If the nameserver does not contain the requested information, it will contact another nameserver. But it is not required for every server to know how to contact every other server. Every nameserver will know how to contact the root nameserver, and this in turn will know the location of every authoritative nameserver for all the second level domains.

Resolver:

This runs on a client machine to initiate DNS lookups. It contains a list of nameservers to use. As we have read, the function of each of these nameservers is to resolve name queries. There are three types of nameserversprimary nameserver, secondary nameserver, and caching nameserver. The secondary nameservers are configured for backup purposes. Caching nameservers only resolve name queries but do not maintain any DNS database files. It is important to note here that any change to primary nameservers needs to be propagated to secondary nameservers. This is because primary nameservers own the database records. The changes are propagated via a กzone transferก.

HOW กCACHINGกWORKS

DNS uses principle of กcachingก for its operation. When a nameservers receives Information about a mapping, it caches this information .further queries for the same mapping will use this cached result, thereby reducing the search cost. The nameservers don’t cache forever. The caching has a component called time to live (TTL) and the TTL determines how long a server will cache a piece of information. So when the nameservers caches receive an IP address, it receives the TTL with it. The nameserver caches the IP address for the period of time then discards it.

When a process needs to determine an IP address given a DNS address, it calls upon the local host to resolve the address. This can be done in variety of ways:

Table look up. On UNIX hosts, the table is /etc/hosts.

The process communicates with a local nameservers. This is named on a UNIX system.

By sending a massage to the remote system that is identified from the information in the file/etc/resolve.conf.

When a nameserver receives a query for a domain that is does not serve, it may send back a referral to the client by specifying better nameservers. Typically operate in the recursive manner wherein any DNS server passes requests it cannot handle to higher level server and so on, until either the request can be handled or until the root of the DNS name space is reached.

The nameservers contain pointers to other nameserver with the help of which it is possible to traverse the entire domain naming hierarchy. A host with the initial nameserver addresses has to be configured. After this, it is able to use DNS protocols to locate the nameserver responsible for any part or the DNS naming hierarchy.

Thus when a nameserver receives a request, it can do one of the following:

It can answer the request with an IP address. This method is called iterative. In this, the client simply asks the server to resolve a domain name. The server accesses its database, finds its IP address and sends that back. If the server does not find the address, it sends back an error ;DNS not foundก). Contact another nameserver and try to find the IP address for the requested name. Send back a referral to the client specifying the IP address of better nameservers.

A popular user interface, called กnslookupกis available on the UNIX system. With this, you can perform any DNS function. This program also displays the result to the user. Using is nslookup, you can obtain a listing of all the hosts in a zone. In order to do this, you first need to identify the nameserver for the zone.

The threats that are associated with the DNS are due to the lack of integrity and authenticity checking of the data held within the DNS. Also, other protocols can use host names as an access control mechanism. The internet engineering task force (IETF) has come up with DNS security (DNSSEC) extensions to DNS protocol. The main objective to DNSSEC is to provide authentication and integrity to the DNS. These are provided through the use of cryptographicก

About The Author

Pawan Bangar,

Technical Director,

Birbals, Ebirbals, SeoBirbals, Hbirbals

India.

Visit us at:

www.birbals.com

www.ebirbals.com

www.hbirbals.com

www.seobirbals.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 22, 2003

by Pawan Bangar

Top 10 Business Email Basics

Top 10 Business Email Basics

by: Judith Kallos

When it comes to your business email communications, you need to make an impression that can lend to the determination that you are someone that will be a pleasure to do business with.

For your consideration below are the ‘top 10 email issues targeted at business men and women. These are the issues business owners and their employees minimally need to be aware of in their daytoday online communications.

1. SUBJECT: Field: The SUBJECT: field is the window into your email and can many times determine even if your email will be opened. If this is your first contact with a customer based on their request through your site or otherwise, be sure to have a short SUBJECT: that indicates clearly what the topic of the email is. Never be misleading in this regard! Typos, all caps or all small case can give the impression you are a spammer.

2. Level of Formality: Never assume a position of informality in your business email. Only time and relationship building efforts can guide when you can informalize your business relationships. And, in some cases that time may never arise. Do not assume that email is impersonal or informal when it comes to your business communications. It is very personal a window into the type of person you are and how you run your business. Remember, people do business with people not companies. One should communicate as if your email is on your company letterhead at all times. This is your businessกs image you are branding!

3. Addressing: How do you address your new contacts? I would suggest initially that you assume the highest level of courtesy: Hello, Mr. Anderson, Dear Ms. Jones, Dr. Osborne, etc. Until your new contact states, กcall me Andyก or กyou can call me Diane. Keep it formal until it is clear the relationship dictates otherwise. You will also be able to get clues by how your contacts approach you and their tone. Most business people do not mind being called by their first name, however, in a global economy that can be perceived as taking premature liberties in the relationship if used too soon.

4. TO:, From:, Bcc, Cc fields can make or break you:

..In the TO: field make sure you have your contactกs name formally typed. John B. Doe not john b doe or JOHN B DOE.

..In the FROM: field make sure your have your full name formally typed. Example: Jane A. Jones. Not: jane a jones or JANE A JONES. The later two give the perception of lack of education or limited experience with technology. Always use your full name. By only including your first name or email address you are giving the perception you have something to hide or do not know the basics of configuring your email program.

..Bcc: use this field when emailing a group of contacts who do not personally know each other. By listing an arms length list of email addresses in the CC or TO fields of contacts who do not know each other or who have never met is conducive to publishing their email address to strangers. No matter how great the list of people may be to you, never make this decision for others! This is a privacy issue! With those you are forging partnerships with, visibly listing their email address in with a group of strangers will make one wonder what other privacy issues you may not respect or understand. Not good.

..Cc: Use this field when there are a handful of associates involved in a discussion that requires all be on the same page. These business people know each other or have been introduced and have no problem having their email address exposed to the parties involved. If you are not sure if a business associate would mind their address being made public, ask!

5. Formatting: Refrain from using it in your business communications. Unless you would type something in bold crimson letters on business letterhead, don’t do it when emailing for commercial gain. Even something as simple as using a different font makes your emailกs display contingent upon the recipient having that specific font on their system or it defaults to their designated default font. The recipient may not have their email program configured in such a way as to display your formatting the way it appears on your system if at all.

6. Attachments: Do you think your relationship with a potential new customer is enhanced when you send them that 5M Power Point presentation they didn’t request and you fill up their inbox causing subsequent business correspondence to bounce as undeliverable? Nope. And, if they don’t have Power Point they couldn’t open the file anyway! Never assume your potential customers have the software you do to open any file you may arbitrarily send.

If you need to send a file over 200,000 in size, business courtesy dictates you ask the recipient first if it is O.K. to send a large file. Next, confirm they have the same software and version you do and what is the best time of day to sent it to them to ensure they are available to download the large file and keep their email flowing. Do not send large attachments without warning, on weekends or after business hours when the recipient may not be there to clear out their inbox and keep their email flowing.

7. Using Previous Email for New Correspondence: If you want to give the perception of lazy, find a previous email from the party you want to communicate with, hit reply and start typing about something completely irrelevant to the old emailกs subject. Always start a new email and add your contacts to your address book so you can add them to a new email with one click.

8. Down Edit Your Replies: Don’t just hit reply and start typing. Editing is a skill those you communicate with will appreciate as it lends to reflecting a respect for their time and clarity in your communications. Removing parts of the previous email that do not apply to your response including email headers and signature files removes the clutter. In addition, by making the effort to reply point by point keeps the conversation on track with fewer misunderstandings.

9. Common Courtesy: Hello, Hi, Good Day, Thank You, Sincerely, Best Regards. All those intros and sign offs that are a staple of professional business communications should also be used in your business email communications. Always have a salutation and sign off with every email. Here again think business letterhead.

10. Signature files: Keep your signature files to no more than 56 lines as this can be viewed as a bit egocentric. Limit your signature to your Web site link, company name, and slogan/offer or phone number. Include a link to your site where the recipient can get all your contact information from AZ that is what your site is for.

Don’t forget to include the กhttp://ก when including your Web site address within emails and your signature file to ensure it is recognized as a clickable URL regardless of the userกs software or platform.

The above Top 10 items will certainly allow your business communications to rise above the majority who do not take the time to understand and master these issues. When forging new business relationships and solidifying established partnerships, the level of professionalism and courtesy you relay in your business email communications will always gain clients over the competition that may be anemic, uninformed or just plain lazy in this area. Went it comes to business, regardless of mode of communication used, professionalism and courtesy never go out of style.

Publishing Guidelines: You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, at no charge, as long as the byline is included. A courtesy email letting me know where and when you will use my materials, including a copy if possible, would be nice. Thank you! 😉

About The Author

Judith Kallos is an authoritative and goodhumored Technology Muse whose experience and personalized methodology have opened doors to a legion of online entrepreneurs. She just put the wraps on her new book กBecause Netiquette Matters! Your comprehensive guide to email etiquette and proper technology use.ก due out 3/Q. For information check out: http://www.OnlineNetiquette.com.

This article was posted on August 05, 2004

by Judith Kallos

Email Management

Email Management

by: Sharon Housley

If you utilize a computer at home or work it is likely that you use email. Email is an electronic message that is sent from one computer to another following a specific protocol (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP). As emailกs popularity has grown so too have the inherent problems with email.
In order to send email you must have the exact spelling of the email address. If there are any typographical errors in the recipientกs email address then an unintended recipient could receive the email message. When creating an email address avoid characters that cause confusion, like the number 1 (one) and the letter l (el), computer fonts often cause those two characters to have similar appearances. Try to create an email address that cannot easily be misspelled.
As email has become a popular communication medium the email address should not be too long or complicated, but easily said in a phone message. Choose an email address that is easy for others to remember, as a pen is not always handy.
Unfortunately spam, unsolicited email has become common place, though many countries are taking action to make spamming illegal, these measures will unlikely have any short term effect on your email inbox. Many email clients that are used to read and respond to email messages, include basic filtering options that will sort your email messages into folders, based on rules that you define. Email messages can typically be stored and filtered by sender, subject and contents. There are also a number of 3rd party tools available for limiting the amount of spam received. Spam filters typically use different filtering technologies. When evaluating whether a spam solution fits your needs consider sorting filtered email into a specific mailbox for review prior to deletion. This will prevent any important messages from being unintentionally deleted.
As with almost anything, the best defense is a good offense. It is best not to post your email address in public forums, where spammers can harvest it. If you have a website consider typing out the email address: กname at domain.comก, without using the ก@ก symbol, as this will prevent the address from being abused by email harvesting bots. Another alternative is to provide a contact form rather than an email address.
Resources: Email Clients http://www.messagingsoftware.net/emailclientsoftware.htm
Spam Filters http://www.emailsoftware.org/spamfiltersoftware.htm

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com, and http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net

This article was posted on May 26, 2004

by Sharon Housley