Over the past year, I’ve experienced even my plain text, no graphics or attachment e-mails getting blocked by the other side because I inadvertently did something spammy.

In my case, it was usually the original e-mail I was responding to was spammy (way formatted, had an embedded graphic, etc.) contained within that took my reply right with it — blocked!

The fact remains that e-mail is not a brochure nor was it ever meant to be a fancily fonted graphically enhanced message. Although the temptation is there because the tools to do so are available in your e-mail program, if you are serious about your e-mail getting through, you need to be a “plain Jane” so to speak.

Why would formatting, embedding and such tools exist if they are now causing so many legitimate e-mails from getting through the network? Well, the answer is simple. Back in the day who would have thought that commercialism would so corrupt this communication tool is such a way as to necessitate the need to start blocking spammers. Heck, the word spam used to mean luncheon meat!

When it comes to business, it is best you type your e-mail properly from head to toe while being concise and clear about your message without having to rely on any formatting, caps or embedded graphics. I’ve typed about this topic before here on my Blog, but many ignore my advice because they still want their photo, their logo or that fancy colored font to be seen in their business e-mails. Fine… then know you risk your e-mail getting blocked. You simply can’t have it both ways.

If you do get an e-mail returned due to “policy reasons” you know the system on the other side picked up on something spammy within your e-mail. You can check to see what that may be by using this free tool online that checks the content of your e-mail called ContentChecker.

And for those who didn’t catch my article on the topic yet, give it a read now and ensure your e-mails get through to their intended parties: How To Avoid Looking Spammy.

At your service,
Judith

As with anything to do with starting a new business or keeping an established business healthy, how you approach important issues is critical.

With Web sites, all too often I see site owners approach the cost of having a Web site as an expense when they should be viewing these expenditures as an investment.

When advice is given a healthy portion cut corners or disregard experienced and proven recommendations to save $50 here or a couple hundred there. This tells me they have the wrong point of view and that most likely their site will not reach any tangible goals.

If a couple hundred dollars that when spent can have long term gain is declined, we simply are not making our decisions for all the right reasons. If only a couple hundred bucks is something you cannot afford, you may want to consider shutting down.

Online business as with any off-line enterprise has costs that are upfront and ongoing. If one doesn’t want to spend that kind of money and prefers to do it on a budget, success can still be attained, but then you darned well better be prepared to work harder at the things that have no cost other than your time. Ah…. there’s the rub!

Those who don’t want to incur a monthly fee that ensures ongoing success are typically also those who don’t want to spend their time doing all the things that couple hundred could automate or that are necessary to gaining exposure online.

It’s crystal clear folks. Spend the money and spend the time and you have a chance. To disregard the billions of Web pages currently online and the hundreds of thousands going online daily is naive. There are a healthy group of those sites willing to invest both time and money — because they want to be found, they want to be taken seriously — they want to succeed!

At your service,
Judith