Ten Rules of Email Netiquette

As our society becomes more and more fascinated with social networking, I have begun to see even more abuses of Netiquette. Just as in our everyday lives we try to life by proper etiquette, we must also learn proper etiquette for the computer world. This type of etiquette is known by computer savvy people at “Netiquette”. There have been entire books written on this subject and most individuals who use computers for fun and business aren’t going to take the time to read a book on this subject. Hence, my reason for developing a list of Netiquette Principles that I feel most people using the internet should be aware of. If we can follow these basic principles of netiquette we can avoid offending someone without even realizing we have done so.

Principle One:

Do not type in all CAPS. This conveys the idea of shouting. If you want to emphasize a point put your words in between *asterisks*.

Good example: *Do not type in all caps when sending a message via any electronic means.*

Bad example: DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPS WHEN SENDING A MESSAGE VIA ANY ELECTRONIC MEANS.

Principle Two:

Do not type in Red letters. This also conveys the idea of shouting.

Principle Three:

Always include a subject line and make sure it is appropriate to your message.

Good example: Meeting Tonight on Proper Email Netiquette

Bad example: Important message from Donna

Principle Four:

Always include your name. Not including it is like making a phone call and never identifying who you.

Principle Five:

Check your spelling before you send your message. Bad spelling and grammar causes your message to be lost by the reader.

Principle Six:

Acknowledge you have received an email even if you cannot answer it right away. A simple “I will get back to you on your question before the end of the day” will work wonders for someone waiting on an answer to a question they have emailed you.

Principle Seven:

Don’t wander off the subject or *over talk* your message. Messages should be short and to the point. If you want to write a story, then write one and post it on a blog, not in an email or networking group.

Principle Eight:

Remember the difference between Reply to Sender and Reply to All. The only thing more annoying then spam is to have someone reply to the sender of a message and everyone in the group gets it.

If you want to reply to the group select “Reply to All”.

If you just want to reply to the sender select “Reply to Sender”.

Principle Nine:

Once you click the send button you cannot take your message back. Don’t send emotional messages until you have had time to think about the subject.

Principle Ten:

Don’t forward chain letters and hoaxes. This is a good way to get your email banned by the receiver. People today, especially in the business world don’t want to have their time wasted by these types of messages.

I hope this helps everyone understand proper netiquette a little better. The next time you post a message on a board, social group, or send an email I hope you will keep these principles in mind.

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Donna is an online instructor for two colleges and she received both her B.S. and M.B.A. via online classes. Donna also owns her own business as a Tupperware Director.

Getting Traffic To Your Site

Have you had a site up for months maybe even years? Are you getting discouraged because you get so little traffic or the traffic you get doesn't purchase? There is no miracle remedy to this situation. However, here are a few suggestions I can think of to help you get more traffic. I hope some of these suggestions help.

1. Try running a contest and give something away. You can make a list of different things to do to get entries into the contest. One of those entries could be for a critique of your website. Would you buy. what would prevent you from buying. those could be some of your questions. Have as many sites as possible run an ad on your contest. This should not cost you. The best way I have found to run a contest is using a blog. I have one running right now if you want to check it and see how I have done it. Also, on one of my websites I list contests for free. That would be a way to start but you will need to find as many people to list your contest as possible.

2. Offer a free gift with purchase. It can be something small that doesn't count too much money for you. Incentives to buy are always nice.

3. Try starting a newsletter. Create one that consists of information you are good at. Then start building a mailing list. There are some free services you can use to help with this. Of course, the free ones aren't usually as good as the ones you pay for.

4. Check the meta tags on your website. Make sure they are relevant to what you are selling. Google has a free Keyword Tool you can use that helps at this. You put in what you consider a key word and then it will show you the number of searches relevant to that word and other similar phrases. Pick keywords from that list that have a high search rate and are relevant to your store.

5. Make sure your site is easy to navigate. If someone is frustrated trying to find what they want, they will leave your site and are not likely to return.

6. The number one reason why people cancel their order before completing it: The cost of shipping. While we may not have control over the shipping costs, I have found there are several things I can do to minimize this problem.

a. If I know how much it will cost to ship something, I will add that to the cost of the item and then list it as free shipping or Shipping included. This works because people want to know that when they are ready to check out there wouldn't be any surprises.

b. If you don't know what cost of shipping will be, are you willing to offer free shipping for a certain amount of order, say $50 or $75. If someone is about to order and their total is $45 and they learn they will get free shipping for a $50 order, they are likely to add another item to get the free shipping. To help offset the cost to you, add $1 or $2 to the cost of your item.

It can be challenging to get that much wanted traffic but the rewards are well worth it once it gets going.

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Donna is an online instructor for two colleges and she received both her B.S. and M.B.A. via online classes. Donna also owns her own business as a Tupperware Director.