One of the biggest and some would say best features of the internet is e-mail. In a lot of ways it can be compared to normal mail or post (otherwise known as 'snail mail') but much better.

Just like normal mail, e-mail involves everyone having an e-mail address, both senders and those who will receive. If either party does not have an e-mail address, it won't work.

Let's look at e-mail address. An e-mail address usually has two halves separated by the magic '@' symbol. For example:-

fredbloggs@ourcompany.co.uk

The first part is easy fredbloggs is the individuals name, but this could just as easily be sales or md or blondbombshell

The next bit the @ is the important bit. It has to have this symbol to work properly.

Lastly is the ourcompany.co.uk bit. This is the domain and describes where the mail goes.

 

If you have your own domain you can have anyname@ourcompany.co.uk This really helps with the 'corporate image' and it looks very professional when your customers receive e-mail from you in this way.

You may already know people with e-mail addresses like  mike52@webhost.net . These are the sort of addresses that people get when they sign up with an ISP (Internet Service Provider).

Also worthy of note are some of the FREE mail services available. Sites like Hotmail(tm) give free web addresses to people who do / or do not already have e-mail addresses like myname@hotmail.com. These can usually be accessed from a web page rather than / as well as e-mail software. This can be useful if you travel. You can drop into a web cafe and pick up your e-mail.

"So what's so good then ?"

E-mail has more tricks up it's sleeve, but the main advantages are speed and cost. With e-mail, messages you send usually reach there destination within seconds, anywhere in the world. You can send an e-mail to your next door neighbour or to the other side of the world for the same price. Usually for a much smaller cost than a stamp.

You can also attach things to e-mails, like pictures, music or even video clips. When the recipient gets their mail the file that you attached will be with it. This is very handy for sending photo's of your products or documents such as product literature. You can also include a link to your web site on your e-mail.

Lastly there are some great tricks with e-mail. If you have access to the right software you can automatically reply to a mail. So if I send a message to sales@ourcompany.co.uk asking for information on widgets and your host has the right software, I will get a mail straight back automatically saying something like: "Thanks for asking for information about widgets. We will get back to you as soon as possible". Try sending a mail to respond@web-design-works.co.uk and then check your incoming mail a few minutes later.

Redirecting your mail is another clever trick. You can have lots of e-mail addresses at  ourcompany.co.uk and have them all sent to your home or office e-mail address. This means that no matter how many e-mail address's you have you can collect all the e-mail at once.

Also worthy of note are mailing lists. Mail lists are a useful tool if used correctly. A mailing list works as follows:-

The visitor to your web site chooses to add their name to your mailing list. To do this they type their e-mail address into a box and click a button. Their details are then added to a file that contains all the e-mail addresses that other people have entered. When the owner of the site / company has new and interesting information for the clients they simply compose one message and the software will send it to ALL the people on the list at once. This can be done as often as required.

Two VERY important points about mailing lists. Firstly the e-mail addresses of persons who want your news letter should be treated with the utmost respect. They should not be passed on to other companies. Secondly, should a person who has received an automated mail from you decide that they do not want another, it should be made very easy for them to remove their name from your list. This is usually done by placing a link on all the e-mails you send out to the web page that people can go to to remove their name from your list. The other method is to have the person who receives the mail respond with 'unsubscribe' in their response.

Continuously sending unwanted mail is a very annoying thing to do and in many cases is illegal. This is what is known as 'spamming' and most reputable firms will not tolerate it.