Using Shorthand and Emoticons: Unlike face to face communication, email does not have the benefits of facial expressions or voice tones.   To add interest and emotion to email, people tend to use emoticons and shorthand.  The problem is that they give your email a less professional look, and the person you are sending the email to may not be familiar with them.  Emoticons and shorthand are best used between friends and family or when chatting in chat rooms or newsgroups. 

Partial list of emoticons and shorthand:

Automated Mail Responders: Auto responders automatically send an e-mail back to the person who just emailed you, acknowledging that you received their email.  If you are going to be out of the office for an extended period of time you may want your auto responder to let people know when you will be back in the office, and who they can contact in the mean time.  Or if you get the same questions on a regular basis your auto responder could answer those questions. 

Brochure and Personal Note: Have an electronic brochure available that you can easily access and send via email.  Personalize the email you send with the brochure.  

Create and save email requests: Chances are that more then one person will ask the same questions.  Rather then make extra work for yourself, save the responses you send and name them based on the questions they answer.  That way when someone else asks the same question you can just copy and paste.  If you find the same questions being asked over and over again you may want to add the answer to your website.  

Create more then one email account: Using different email accounts helps you to organize your in coming email.  If your company is very small you may be the only person receiving emails.  Some emails are more important then others and need have your attention right away, while others can wait.  By having several email accounts your email is automatically separated.

Replay within 8 hours: The Internet provides information instantly.  People expect answers instantly.  You should be replying to emails the same day you receive them or at least within 8 hours.  Even if your reply says something like: "I will have to look into that and will get back to you by the end of the week".  At least you acknowledged them.  If you don't they will assume you don't think their business is worth your time and they will go somewhere else.  

HTML or Text Messages: When you send an email message with some programs you have the choice to send it as HTML or ASCII text.  HTML is getting more popular as more email programs support it.  The reason is you can make your emails look more like color brochures and flyers, complete with graphics.  When a HTML message is received by an email program that does not support HTML it is converted to ASCII, losing the formatting.  If you have any seen a HTML file converted to ASCII you know that the look is very unappealing.  This may encourage the recipient to delete your message.  Whenever you mention a Web address an email you should include the complete Web address.  If the email program does not support HTML the link may not be clickable.  So by typing in the complete address (http://www.virtualtech.com) the recipient can type in the address and see the Web site.   If you want to use HTML in your emails create two email lists, one of those who can support HTML and those who can't.  That way you can send out two emails, one with HTML and without.  

Email Netiquette: While writing emails, keep these points in mind:  

• Remember your pleases and thank yous
• Reply within 8 hours
• Get to the point quickly
• Use proper characters.  Using all caps indicates SHOUTING, while using all lowercase is unprofessional
• Use emoticons only when appropriate
• Use your spell checker
• When replying, do not include the entire original message.  Include only what is relevant to your reply and make sure you do not send their file attachments!
• Use attachments only when necessary

Before you register a domain name take a few minutes to read through the list below.  Registering your domain name properly will save you  time and energy later on. 

The single most important thing to keep in mind when registering your domain name is to make sure that your contact information will remain current. Once you have registered your name, all changes to your domain name (such as changing to a new website hosting company) must be approved by the Administrative Contact on file with the registrar. Typically, this is done through e-mail. Therefore, it is important that you provide a valid e-mail address.  If your e-mail address is going to change (most often because of changing to a new ISP) it is IMPERATIVE that you take the steps to change your contact e-mail address BEFORE your old address becomes invalid. It is a difficult and lengthy process at best to change contact information once your e-mail address changes. 

Also, keep in mind that if you list a person as a contact and the person leaves your company, you place yourself in the position of having no one who can approve changes. Instead use a position (such as "Director of Marketing") instead of an actual person. The reason for this is that if the person listed as the administrative contact were to leave the company, the authority for approving changes for the domain name would go with that person, whereas another person can be appointed to that position and given this authority.

A quick review of the information required to register a domain name:

Organization Name – The "organization" will be considered the "owner" of the domain name.  If the domain name is being registered in your business’s name, then use the company as the organization. If the company does not exist yet, or is not a registered DBA, partnership, or corporation, you may want to use your name instead.

Administrative Contact – This is the person who has final say over changes to the domain name. If you are registering a name in your name, simply use your name and contact information.

Technical Contact – This is the person who handles the "technical" end of domain name responsibilities. You can (1) list yourself (following the same guidelines specified under "Administrative Contact") or, more commonly, (2) list an agent of the company hosting your website. The second is preferable since it gives another person the authority to make changes to your name. The Administrative Contact retains ultimate authority, however, and can "overrule" changes made by the Technical Contact.

Billing Contact – This is the person responsible for making sure that the domain name fees are paid to the registrar. Usually the same person as the Administrative Contact, although it doesn’t have to be.