One of the services I offer my clients is helping them to configure their e-mail programs so they can use their dot com address instead of the e-mail address provided by their ISP. Very important from a perception and marketing POV.

However, increasingly ISPs are not favoring those who use their own dot com e-mail address in the From: field. For example, e-mail problems may develop if you are trying to send through an ATT server without an ATT e-mail address in the From: field. In theory, this makes sense if you think about it. Why should ATT allow just anyone to send through their servers? Your ATT e-mail address is your username and proof you are a customer authorized to send through their network.

Notice I said in theory. I’ve heard of ISPs charging customers more to use their dot com address — to which I respond, time to get a real Web site server that comes with an SMTP (outgoing) mail server.

Over the past decade, I have probably helped with hundreds if not thousands of e-mail settings; in particular Outlook settings which have the propensity to be slightly different depending on which version of Outlook someone may have installed. More so recently as provider’s SMTP servers (that’s your outgoing mail server) began choking on non-system addresses in the From: field. Why has this become an issue/problem? Spam! As well as cost and security concerns.

This situation will continue to increase so it’s best we all understand the basic settings in our e-mail program that allow us to send and receive e-mail.

Your incoming mail server is usually your “POP3″ server. In that field of your e-mail program will be the server from which you are downloading your e-mail. For example if you are one of the servers I recommend, that would be: mail.yourdomain.com. Most times port 110 works just fine. (Web hosts will tell you what their specific settings are on their Help pages — read those!)

The other set of e-mail settings is your outgoing server — called SMTP. This setting is provided by your Web Host or ISP and usually looks like this: smtp.ispsname.net — just an example — check those Help pages. If you are on my servers, it would be smtp.yourdomain.com.

For outgoing servers there are generally two port setting 465 using SSL or and 587 using TLS. SSL and TLS are encryption settings that are dependent on several factors. Your ISP, your hosting company and even which version of Outlook you are on.

When e-mail settings are correctly entered in the appropriate fields — they work. So when you are experiencing e-mail issues here’s a check list for Outlook users:

• Check that you have your e-mail address (username) and password correctly typed. Passwords are case sensitive so type them as they were provided and for both your UN and PW make sure there are no trailing spaces after each that could make them incorrect.
• In the Outgoing Server Tab make sure the box next to “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” is checked. Also select the radio button next to “Use same settings as my incoming mail server.”
• In the Advanced tab. Make sure your SMTP server is typed exactly as provided by the ISP or hosting company whose SMTP server you will be using — again double-check that there are no trailing spaces.You have two options available for the Outgoing Server (SMTP) settings:1. Set the Outgoing server (SMTP) port to 465 and select SSL from the “Use the following type of encrypted connection” drop-down menu.2. Set the Outgoing server (SMTP) port to 587 and select TLS from the “Use the following type of encrypted connection” drop-down menu.

Whenever you get e-mail errors, whomever you are going to contact for support will need to know the exact, specific word-for-word error message you are receiving in order to help you. Generalities or a summary will not suffice. You need that entire error message as that will indicate what settings you may have wrong.

Here is a resource from Microsoft about Outlook errors:

How to troubleshoot error messages that you receive when trying to send and receive e-mail in Outlook and in Outlook Express

And here is a page that explains some of the SMTP errors you may receive:

Understanding SMTP error codes

In my experience, when e-mail settings are correct everything works just fine. The culprit is usually a typo, trailing space (a space after an username or password) or one of the settings mentioned above not being correct. One should not assume the server, ISP or anything else is a problem or “not working” until you have verified the above as the majority of errors are due to users incorrectly inputting settings.

After verifying everything is correct, before you call for support, write down the exact error message you are receiving. Having that error message and a general understanding of the issues discussed here will make the trouble-shooting process go much smoother and will be appreciated by those whose job it is to help you get your e-mail flowing.

When you contribute your comments to other’s Blogs, it is an opportunity to show your personality, expertise and gain exposure for your Web site.

What many seem to not understand is that Blogs are about opinions and conversations not about one-sided desires for self-promotion. In the almost rabid quest to attain incoming one-way links to their Web sites, Blogs are being hit with generic dribble from marketers that serve no purpose other than reflecting the commenter’s desire to gain a coveted inbound link.< I have a handful of Blogs and each and everyone is moderated. By being moderated this means that any comments submitted need to be approved by me before being added to my Blogs for public viewing. My Blogs — my call — and I am very persnickety about what gets added to my Blogs by those I don’t know. It’s called quality control.

A site visitor’s comments do not see the light of day on my Blogs unless they meet the following criteria:

1. Their comment must include their name; at the very least their first name — typed properly.
2. Their comment must be specific to the post they are commenting on — and I mean specific. General blah-blah-blah doesn’t cut it — comments must include detailed verbiage clearly about the post in question or it gets marked as spam. Comments like “I see your point of view but don’t agree” without telling me why you disagree tells me you are just link baiting.
3. Compliments are futile. Yes, we all love hear how great our site is and having our egos stroked by site visitors. But my ego does not fall prey to those who try to compliment their way into gaining a link to their site from my Blogs. Only those compliments combined with thoughtful specific commentary will have a chance of being approved for viewing by my site visitors. It’s all about the conversation!

Between all my Blogs, minimally 200 “comments” each day are marked as spam because they do not meet the basic criteria above. Some of these comments are submitted by bots; while others are from naive marketers thinking that their incoherent typo filled grammatically incorrect ramblings will actually be approved for display thereby giving them that highly desired one-way link to their site that search engines look for.

News Flash to Blog owners — moderate your Blog and integrate the above standards as well. Doing so will help to increase the value and integrity of your Blog in the process. Otherwise you risk your Blog’s overall worth being affected negatively by “comments” that are of no value to anyone.

Commenting on Blogs is certainly a great way to gain exposure. But only when done properly and for all the right reasons integrating courtesy and common sense when doing so. If you don’t have anything of definitive value to contribute and don’t want to make the efforts mentioned above — then don’t waste your time or that of Blog owners.