What is your business email address?  Is it your_name@your_company_name.com or your_nickname_random_numbers@gmail.com?

A professional email address tells prospective clients that you are a true professional and that your business is not a fly-by-night operation.  Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes…would you want to do business with johndoe@extremewidgets.com or widgetmaster789@gmail.com?

If John Doe wants to change to a more professional email address, it’s fairly easy to do without having to give up his current email application and losing his email history.  Most hosting plans offer free email accounts that can be configured to automatically forward all email to another email address.  For example, John Doe can:

• log into his HostMonster account (this is just an example…it’s not an endorsement of HostMonster…I do not have an account with them)
• go to the control panel for the extremewidgets.com domain he owns
• create the email account johndoe
• configure forwarding of johndoe@extremewidgets.com to widgetmaster789@gmail.com

Now all email sent to johndoe@extremewidgets.com would also appear in John Doe’s widgetmaster789 Gmail Inbox.

But the setup is not yet complete because when John responds to an email in Gmail, it will look like it’s coming from The Widget Master.  To correct this, he’ll need to configure Gmail to make it look like he is sending email from his Host Monster account.  In Gmail (most other email services have similar functionality), John would need to:

• go to Mail Settings
• choose the Accounts and Import tab
• click the Send Mail form Another Address button
• in the pop-up window, John will need to enter:
  • John Doe
  • johndoe@extremewidgets.com and click the Next Step button
  • choose Send through Gmail click the Next Step button
  • click the Send Verification button (an email with a verification pin will be sent to johndoe@extremewidgets.com which then will get forwarded to widgetmaster789@gmail.com)
  • go to his Inbox by right-clicking on Inbox and choosing Open Link in New Window
  • open the email from the Gmail Team and copy the pin
  • enter the pin in the GMail pop-up window and click Verify…the pop-up window then disappears and John is taken back to the Accounts and Import tab of the Gmail settings page
• check the “Reply from the same address the message was sent to” option

That’s it! John Doe is now more professional (or at least appear to be) 

There are 2 types of FB Likes that can be added to your website.  One will allow visitors to Like your FB page and the other to Like your website. The code that needs to be embedded on your website can be found here:

• Like Box (allows visitors to Like your Facebook page)
• Like Button (allows visitor to post that they Like your website on their Facebook Wall)

Each of these has a set of parameters that can be configured including whether to display the faces of the people who Like your business.  According to our friends at tcb marketing, showing faces attracts more Likes.

How do your Blog readers know when you make a new post?  Do you have tell them somehow – via email, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn?  Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you and them if they could automatically be alerted by email of a new post?

This can be achieved using Google’s FeedBurner service.  After setting up an account, you will need to do the following to create a new feed:

• Supply your blog or feed address (works with Joomla and other platforms too) – For example, http://zygrinsites.com/news
• Choose which source if multiple exist. – zygrinsites.com/news/feed/ or zygrinsites.com/news/comments/feed/
• Supply a Title – ZYGR INsites
• Enter a URL – http://feeds.feedburner.com/ZYGRINsites
• Decide which optional traffic stats you would like to capture in addition to Circulation, Readership and Uncommon Uses – Clickthroughs, Item enclosure downloads, Individual item views and resyndication and/or Reach

Your feed is now setup.  To add a signup form to your Blog, you will need to do the following:

• While still in FeedBurner, click the Publicize tab
• Choose Email Subscriptions
• Click Activate
• Copy the html code in the Subscription Form Code section
• Log into your Blog and create a new Text widget and paste the html code
• You can then edit the html to change the verbiage to your liking

That’s It!  Visitors of your blog will now be able to sign up to be alerted when a new post is made.  When they submit their email address, they will be taken to FeedBurner to complete their request. and a verification message with instructions will be sent to them.

HyperAlerts is a must-have for anyone who does not want to miss important information posted on Facebook and does not have the time to weed through all the posts on their News Feed.  It monitors pages of your choice and sends you an email when there is new activity.

I have been using it for less than a day and have already been alerted twice of useful information that I would have otherwise missed.  Ironically, I found out about HyperAlerts through a post by Catalyst Marketers on Facebook I happened to see.

HyperAlerts is FREE and it’s easy to setup…all you need to do is:

• go to http://alerts.hyperinteraktiv.no/
• provide an email address
• enter the URL of the page you want monitored
• choose how often you want the page checked – hourly, daily weekly or monthly
• choose what content you want monitored – Posts, Comments and or Own Content

I recently tested iContact and Constant Contact – the two of the better known DIY Email Marketing services. This post is not a full in-depth review of these two services; rather it is an explanation of why ZYGR INsites recommends iContact. Continue reading →