1.  Use the word “You” in the title and body of your articles.  Talk directly to and with your reader and ask open ended questions, being sure to suggest how they can respond (a link to your Facebook wall?  A reply-to email address?)

2.  Include a clear call to action.  And include it more than once!  What are you trying to accomplish through your email blast?  Do you want readers to visit your blog to comment on a particular post?  Do you want them to check out your new video spokesperson on your website (check out ours!).  Do you want them to visit your Yelp profile or your Merchant Circle profile and to leave a review? Then ask!

3.  This one is a no-brainer these days, but still worth mentioning.  Be sure to include links to all of your social media assets and encourage people to visit them, to follow you and to contribute to the dialogue.  At a minimum, include a link to your Facebook Page, your Twitter profile and your blog.

Give those three suggestions a try.  Stop back to this post and leave us a comment with your success stories or your challenges in using these tactics to transform your email communications!

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We are all routine inundated with email scams, and it is very likely that you are someone who is savvy enough to simply roll your eyes and delete it.  Take a moment, however, to think about what would happen if you were not.  Many people who are using email these days are not aware of the scams that can come into their email this way, and they are getting taken for a great deal of money, time and heartbreak.  As silly as these scams might appear, they can be incredibly damaging if the right person believes them, and if you run across one, you’ll find that the best thing that you can do for yourself and for the internet community at large is to report it.

When you are looking at a scam email, you’ll find that there are a number of actions that you should take.  Make sure that you do not respond to it, and remember that a certain amount skepticism can keep you safe.  Remember that you should always be wary about an email that is trying to get you to donate to a charity and keep in mind that any signs of correspondence from foreign dignitaries and officials should be regarded with care.

Before you report something as a scam, you might want to do a little bit of verification yourself.  You should not click on any links in the email; instead, use a search engine and find the organization or individual’s name.  Chances are, you’ll be able to find other people who have had experiences with the people who are involved.  If the scams seem to involve major companies, you might want to forward the email to them.

When it comes to getting more serious about reporting email scams, keep in mind the fact that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, also known as the FTC will be interested in hearing about the spam and sorting it out.  What you can do is forward the scam to “spam@uce.gov.”  This will enter the email into a database for organization and investigation, and this will give them good evidence when it comes to tracking down and prosecuting scam artists who work in this way.

Take the time to make sure that you report the scam organizations out there; remember that these people will steal hundreds or even thousands of dollars from perfectly innocent people and that the sooner they are reported, the faster prosecution will be!  This is relatively quick and simple action that anyone who is online can do, and you’ll find that this is action that can actually get results.  Make sure that you are part of the solution when it comes to this epidemic, so take some time and do your part!

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Whether you are doing work online or you are creating a work profile that you need to make sure is kept safe, you’ll find that there are plenty of reasons why you need to make sure that the passwords that you choose are difficult to guess and safe.  Even the facts that you might think are secure are often not nearly as safe as you think, so make sure that you think about what you can do to ensure that the first line of defense for your data is a good one.

Remember that a good password can deter the casual snooper quite easily, and generally, that will be all that you need to worry about.  When you think about the fact that an astonishing 80% of security breaches are caused by bad passwords, you can easily see why it is so important to make sure that you have thought about what this means to you.  Many people select simple passwords because they don’t believe that they can remember a longer, more complicated one, but the truth is, it is easy.

When putting together a safe password, there are several things that you should make sure that you avoid.  First, don’t make the password the same as the username and don’t a simple name or  simple word.  Avoid using common abbreviations and don’t use anything like a job title, a phone number or your initials.  These things can be quite easy to find and many people will try them if they are trying to get into your system.  Another common password that is easily cracked is an in-order sequence of keyboard keys, like QWERTY.

To make a good password, think about using a combination of numbers and letters, but make sure that it is adequately mixed and that you use both capital and lower case letters.  You’ll find that while adding “1” to the end of a password might not provide much protection, adding something “249” might work out quite well.  You might want to replace letters with numbers that match them, like 1 for L or I, or 0 for the letter O.  To come up with the body of an email, try making an acronym out of a famous quote or poem.  For instance, the line “Tell them in Sparta, You who pass by,” could be abbreviated to “TtiSYwpb,” which is quite complicated and tends to ensure that your security is of a significantly higher level than if you were to only use “Sparta1.”

Remember that, at the end of the day, you should also rotate your passwords.  Take the time to change your passwords regularly, and make sure that you are in a good place to secure your data and your own security, whether it is for your email, your online bank account or your work!

More information on how to pick a safe password:

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Yet I am still amazed at how little the general public knows about selecting a good password. So if you have an online email account (Google, Hotmail) or a social networking page (Facebook, MySpace) then please take a moment to look at …

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The world today is so much easier than pre-computer times. Back then, we had to actually write letters or pick up the telephone. However, in today’s world, you can have a conversation in real-time, using your computer thanks to instant messaging. Almost everyone who uses a computer today also uses some form of instant messaging. Which one should you be using? Well, the good news is that you have a wide variety to choose from.

Each messenger has its own unique functions that make it different from the rest in one way or another. For instance, one of the more popular instant messengers is Yahoo Instant Messenger.

Yahoo Instant Messenger

The Yahoo application gives you several different features such as online and offline messaging, text messaging to your friends cell phones, even calling another computer or telephone right from your own computer. Of course, this isn’t all. Yahoo instant messenger also gives you alerts when you get a new email in your Yahoo inbox or other alerts as you want them. Yahoo gives you the ability to customize your chatting experience with Smiley’s, IMvironments, Photo Sharing, and many privacy features.

Another popular instant messenger is AIM, also known as AOL Instant Messenger. With AIM, you can talk with your friends, meet new friends, and have fun all at the same time. Let your friends know just how you are feeling or what you are thinking with the new status bar. You can also keep in touch with friends while on the go with IM texting. Now with AIM, you can even play games; really customize your experience with buddy icons, sounds, wallpapers, and alerts. You can even share your pictures or chat with a buddy on video.

Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger is the latest MSN messenger from Microsoft. It allows every person using your computer to use the Instant Messenger and keeps your family safe, giving you parental controls at the same time. Another great thing about Windows Live Messenger is that you can even add friends from Yahoo messenger to keep in contact. Other features include computer to computer calling, Video IM, folder sharing, text messaging, and various types of alerts.

Other Instant Messengers

There are a variety of other instant messengers that you can use as well. These other messengers include:

• Trillian – Keep in touch with all of your friends from a variety of messengers such as Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, and AIM
• ICQ – An instant messenger and friends program that gives you a great deal of fabulous features.
• MySpace Instant Messenger – Keep in touch with all of your MySpace friends through their unique instant messenger

Instant messaging gives you the ability to keep in touch with your friends and family all across the world, just as if they were sitting next to you. So hurry up and choose your favorite Instant Messenger today if you haven’t already!

More about choosing your instant messenger:
 

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Building a successful email client database is important for anyone that plans on using emails to communicate and/or advertise with potential clients and customers. A clear call-to-register (or "Subscribe to our Email List" button or form) should be on your web site and make sure that it is visible and make your registration form stand out, but also not annoyingly visible, to your sites’ visitors.

A good spot is towards the top of your page. This gives your visitors, who came to your site on their own out of interest and/or need, to voluntarily add their email to your email list. Instead of going out and finding a large list of useless email address and hoping to target a few people in your email audience, you are compiling an effective list, which is even more important!

If you plan to personalize your email messages that you will be sending out, which most email marketers should do, then here are a few tips:

* You will want to obtain as much information from each email client as possible but keep in mind that there is a delicate balance between gathering information and frustrating users to the point of not wanting to fill out your email subscription form.

* At the very minimum, you will want to obtain the email clients’ email addresses and first name.

* For more details, you can ask your email clients for their age, martial status, hobbies and interests. These basic, yet informative for you, details will give you everything you need and without making your clients feeling uneasy about giving out more personal information which could make them feel suspicious.

So why should you have an email database to being with? Because your database is the key to survival in bad times (such as when work is slow). You can send out virtual flyers, coupons, or advertise a sale all with the click of a button. An email database is something you will want as a back up for slow times, but also to keep in contact with your clients through the good times.

Your goal for your email database is to maximize customer value through conversion, retention and eventually repeat sales. It’s a part of marketing and a great way to keep your income flowing in at all times. Keep in mind that a database is not just a collection of names. It’s a collection your clients’ contact information, what they ordered, when they ordered it, and how much the order was.

So not only will you have a large database of clients, you will have all their information which become an invaluable tool later on down the road when they place another order for your services or products, among all of their contact information as well.

EX0-101 is the new generation of tests that have come after 640-863. Unfortunately the prep material is not easily available and students have to study from 70-536. At present, only testking is known to have the adequate preparation material.

More on email databases:

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Building a profitable opt-in list don\’t just happen overnight. There are many preparations and effort to do. One of this is Opt-in email marketing, also known as permission marketing. Opt-in marketing requires the permission of a …

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The question that we have all asked at one point or another in our time of being on the internet and a question that we all want to know; Why do I get some much spam mail? Firstly, we will see exactly where spam comes from, how its generated, and then how it ultimately ends up in your email.

Let’s start by discussing where spam comes from; spammers.

Every day, millions of people receive dozens of unsolicited commercial e-mails, also known to us as “spam.”  So where does it come from?

You might be shocked to know that it comes from..well..you!  When you post your email address on websites and/or on blogs or forums, that is when you will start to see spam flooding your email account.  Spammers often use software (usually robots or spiders) to help them gather up and collect email addresses.  A great example would be if you were to have your own website, and you place your email address at the bottom of your site.  The harvesting software that spammers use can easily pick up addresses and before you know it, you’ll have more junk in your inbox than you could ever want (and you thought the soliciting mail in your mailbox every day was annoying!)

Now that you know one of the many ways that you get spam, let’s now discuss ways of preventing it!

While there is no foolproof way to prevent spam all together, there are certain steps and precautions that you can take to help reduce the amount that you get so it’s not that big of an annoyance.

* When filling out online forms requesting your e-mail address, make sure you pay attention to any options discussing how your email address will be used.

* Using multiple e-mail addresses, even disposable e-mail addresses for the purpose of just junk mail, will work wonders for keeping spammers at bay.  You can always keep your “real” email address for close friends and family, and use a secondary “fake” email address to use for when you are filling out forms and joining free websites on the internet.  This is a great way to filter out the spam email and have it flood a non-important account, leaving your personal account to be less full of spam email.

Though you should always be cautious of entering your email address online, there are certain websites that you can feel comfortable giving it out to, such as domain registrars.  The best defense against spam is to read every form (including website registration forms) and see exactly why they need your email address and what can/will they do with it.  You can find all the important details usually in a “Privacy Policy” section of any website.

Simply, if you do your homework before posting your email address all over the internet, then you will have an email account that doesn’t attract annoying spammers everyday.

From a website design perspective you will want to consider placing your contact email on a .gif or .jpg image which will make it much more difficult for spammers robot/spiders to harvest your data.  Also consider using scripts that will mask your mailto: link.

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