Make no mistake about it though, EMAIL will be the lifeline of your business. Sure, you might think it's kind of boring, but you MUST give attention to this critical element to your success.

Here are some things you should make sure to be doing with your email. I'll start out with the basics and then finish up with the most important email issue of all. MOST of these things are common knowledge among online business veterans that you need to know.

HEADER INFORMATION

1. Setup your account correctly so that you are easily recognizable.

You want the receiver to open your email. Make sure that you properly identify yourself. Your recipient should see "Jason Scott" or "eMediaCube" in the From field of their program rather than "User1". Check the account information in your email program to change this if necessary.

2. Use BCC (blind carbon copy) if sending to several addresses.

When writing an email response to a group, be sure to use the BCC field rather than putting everyone in the To or CC fields. This allows you to send to a group without revealing email addresses. When you are communicating with others they will expect that their email address is held in confidence. Safely guard the email addresses of those who entrusted you with it.

Note: If your email program does not have BCC capability, look into getting an email program that supports it (more on this later).

3. Make your Subject stand out so that your message will be read.

Your email message will be competing with perhaps 100 others to be read. When people are scanning down their email subject headers to see what is worth reading your message would command more attention if it was titled "Joe, Here is the report YOU requested" rather than "Hello". You want to make the receiver feel that it is a message that they should read, but be careful not to use hype to do it.

4. Send your message from the RIGHT account.

When sending a message, be sure to send it from the account your recipient would expect. A lot of home businesses are a one person show managing several email accounts (personal account, support account, info account, etc.)

For example, if someone is corresponding with me personally I should make sure to reply with jay@emediacube.com, not support@emediacube.com or any of 10 other accounts I may have. Even worse, I see situations where it is obvious that an email program is shared with a spouse. There are times that instead of receiving a reply from info@company.com as expected I get it from diane@earthlink.com or something similar instead.

BODY INFORMATION

1. Setup your account so that it sends in TEXT format.

Sending a message in HTML may look neat in some email programs, but use TEXT format so that you can be sure that all recipients will be able to read your message. In programs that don't support HTML your message will show up garbled (particularly AOL accounts).

2. When replying, include the original message thread.

When you reply to a message don't just send "Yes" or "Any other places I can look for more information on that?". Include the original correspondence. The recipient may not get to it right away and might have no idea what you're talking about.

3. Correctly format your message so that it looks good in the largest possible percentage of ALL email programs.

We all get emails that look like this...

I am sending this email to you because I have a fantastic offer and the best product in the world, but you probably won't read it because of the awful format.

Messages that arrive like this in your Inbox are annoying and difficult to read, and YOUR customers will not appreciate it either.

The reason this happens is because people use all kinds of email programs other than yours that format messages differently. Your message might look great to you when you type it up, but if you send it to a recipient that has a program that doesn't automatically wrap or wraps at a different length then your message will look like the above example.

To fix this problem use no more than 65 characters on each line of your message with a hard break at the end (this means hitting the Return or Enter key at the end of each line). This will ensure that your message appears correctly in most email programs.

4. When using links or email addresses use http:// and mailto:

To be sure that the largest percentage of email programs make the links that you include in your message "clickable", use http:// and mailto: in front of your links with a space on each side such as:

http://www.emediacube.com
mailto:jay@emediacube.com

5. Stay away from the CAPS LOCK key.

Quite simply, sending a message composed off all capital letters is considered rude, is painful to read, and will annoy your recipient (if they even decide to read it).

6. Stay away from the TAB key.

The TAB key can cause problems as well because the variety of email programs will handle it differently. It may be represented as 6 characters in your program, but 10 in your recipients. Always use the spacebar instead of TAB when indenting or making spaces.

7. Use a short, compelling signature file.

Make your marketing efforts more effective by including a few lines of advertising with links to your site at the end of your email messages. Think about your recipient and use a gentle or aggressive signature file depending on the situation.

8. Make sure to use your spell checker.

It goes without saying that you need to make sure that your entire message is spelled correctly and that you use acceptable grammar.

OTHER IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

1. Backup your email accounts and messages.

I don't see this mentioned much anywhere else, people must not think it is that big a deal. IT IS!

As with anything on your computer you could not afford to lose, you NEED to setup a backup system for your email. You know this, but you may be tempted to put it off and not bother with it as many do.

When you are first starting out especially, you will receive a ton of email with important links, account numbers, passwords, etc. that you cannot afford to lose. If you don't have something setup already consider doing it today while it is in your mind. If your hard drive goes down one time, your backup will be worth gold to you.

2. Process your email as it comes in.

Don't read your email every day and just let it pile up in your Inbox. Create separate folders for each of your main business contacts and categories that you need for messages you will want to save.

Every time you read an email make a decision to either respond, trash it, print it, or file it in an appropriate folder for later retrieval. Don't put it aside to deal with later - you won't!

3. Consider upgrading your email program.

If your email program is not very flexible, consider upgrading to a better one. Eudora at http://www.eudora.com is one of the most popular and very good, but there are others as well. Download some of the top rated email programs from http://www.download.com or http://www.zdnet.com/downloads and try them out to see what you feel most comfortable with.

Since you will be receiving numerous emails from different individuals or companies you do business with, being able to separate your email into different mailboxes or folders is necessary at the very least.

Email will be such an important part of your business, so whichever one you choose, take the time to learn it backwards and forwards because you will be using it constantly.

4. Spam (or the more gentle sounding Unsolicited Email) - just say NO!

You probably know a little about this already, but it needs to be mentioned. Don't start off your business life online by sending messages to those who did not ask for it.

You might be thinking "Well, I'll try it once and by sending my ad to 1,000,000 people I'm bound to get some sales." You MAY actually get a sale or two, but there has been much discussion with those who have tried it and they will tell you that it's just not worth it (except for some of those that offer adult material).

Why? Those who tried it report that too much valuable time and energy was spent on setting it up, they received volumes of angry responses, their credibility was tainted, and it just plain didn't work because their message was not sent to a TARGETED audience.

Your email communication should ONLY be with opt-in lists (those who have asked to be on the list).

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT EMAIL ISSUE...

Leave the right impression with ALL of your email responses.

NEVER type up a quick message and just send it out. Review it and make sure that format, spelling, and intended message are correct. Make all your responses as personal as possible, even if it is from your support account, info account, or a standard reply. Don't ever send out form letter like responses. Use their name to begin the message if possible.

Because your recipient can't see your face always remember that there is an easier chance for misunderstanding than face to face contact.

Be very careful with sarcasm. I'm sure you've received messages where you thought to yourself "Hmmm, now how should I take that?" There is nothing wrong with sarcasm in your message if used properly, just make sure that it is clear to the receiver.

It doesn't matter how small your message is. It may be a quick one line reply. You must pay attention to EVERY impression that you leave with your recipient in your communication. It must not be sloppy. Pay attention to small details because your recipient WILL notice it and appreciate it.

The next time you're ready to fire off an email go through the above checklist in your mind before hitting the Send button and it will soon become second nature to you. Every email you send is an opportunity. Remember that you are slowly building your case for the ultimate response that you are looking for - to get your recipient to your web site and buy your great product! Don't overlook that email responses are a big step in getting them there.