Thunderbird’s New Mail Account Setup Wizard

Before this version, I had to spend many hours and tufts of hair trying to figure out all of the settings that had to be input in order to set up my various email accounts and have them work properly. Now I don’t need to know anything at all about IMAP, SMTP or anything else I prefer not to be bothered with. Just input my name, the email address I want to add, the password associated with it – and T-Bird’s wizard will set it all up for me.

Thunderbird’s One-click Address Book

Most of us like “quick and easy”, and it really doesn’t get much faster or easier than just clicking on a “star” icon in any email message I receive. This will instantly add the sender to my Address Book. One more click and I can add personal details like pictures, dates to remember, etc.

Thunderbird’s Tabbed Email

I’m one of those people who really appreciates the tabbed browsing feature in the Firefox browser –because it allows me to get a lot of work done in my typical multitasking fashion with a minimum of fuss. Thunderbird 3.1 has “tabbed email” which lets me load emails into separate tabs. It’s nearly effortless for me to jump between 3 or 4 emails (or more) at a time, which means I can answer a lot more emails in a much shorter time frame.

(Add-On) SendLater 3

This is actually an “Add-On” for Thunderbird, but really – I can’t imagine working without it.

This is one of those features that once you have it, is very challenging to live without.

It’s like this: you want to send an email, but you don’t want to send it NOW. So instead of being forced to send it NOW, you can schedule it for a future time, simply by setting up the date and time you want the email sent. It’s like having an expensive auto responder working for you – but it’s free!

Note: SendLater 3 does not come built-in to Thunderbird, but you can download the latest version here. (Don’t worry, it’s free).

Thunderbird’s Attachment Reminder

No, it’s never happened to me – because I ALWAYS remember to send any attachment I tell someone I am going to attach. Nope, I never forget the attachment – not ever!

But for anyone who has felt like a complete idiot after claiming to be sending an attachment and then forgetting to attach the file to the email – take heart. Thunderbird’s new reminder for email attachments will actually look for the word “attachment” in your email and remind you to attach the file before you click “send”.

So now what are you waiting for? Like all Mozilla products – Thunderbird 3.1 is free, and you can download it here.

What is an Email Signature?

An email signature is a block of text appended to the end of an email message often containing the sender’s name, address, phone number, disclaimer or other contact information.—Wikipedia

With most email clients, it is a piece of cake to automatically include your Email Signature at the end of each Email you send.

The trick is to make your “Siggy” informative and concise – instead of useless and lengthy!

Check out these 5 tips that can help you create a Professional Email Signature for your Small Business Email communications:

1. KISS.  Keep it simple.

Email works best when you stay away from HTML, colors, and special fonts. Believe it or not, plain old text is best.

2. Drop the multiple phone numbers and gazillion email addresses in your signature. Try one phone number, one fax number, and one email address. Simple!

3. It’s an email signature, so there is no need to write a novel to recipients of your emails.

The following three or four line Email Signature Format  is considered standard:

• First Line: Your Name | Your Title | Your Company Name
• Second Line: Your Phone Number | Your Fax Number
• Third Line: Your Website URL | Your Blog URL
• Fourth Line: Your Email Address | Twitter and/or Facebook Info (only if appropriate)

4. Make one Email Signature for initial emails and one for email replies.

In other words, make a short version, and a shorter version.

5. Instead of using hyperlinks to your Website, Blog, and Email, type out the full URLs.

Why? Sometimes links don’t go through as expected! (Ask me how I know!)

Email Marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses email messages sent to a specific list of people, to enhance sales and/or customer loyalty.

Getting started with email marketing is as easy as putting an “opt-in” form on your website or Blog. Yet many people overlook this one crucial step. – Studio Logic

There are 3 core steps to successful email marketing for Small Business Owners.

1. Get Explicit Permission To Email Someone

As most of us already know, SPAM is an email marketing message sent without permission.

Penalties can be imposed for any business caught defying anti-spam rules; you can even be blacklisted by ISPs.

SPAM is garbage that clogs your prospects inbox.

If you make a mistake and become a “spammer” in the eyes of your recipients, you will not be successful with email marketing.

So getting permission to email someone is the important first step in setting up a successful email marketing program.

And the good news is: getting permission to email is not that difficult.

Why not offer something of value (free sample/demo, ebook, special discount) in exchange for someone’s email address?

Get permission to email by using a website or Blog sign-up form, hard copy/paper form in your shop, store, or printed Newsletter – or by traditional direct mail methods.

2. Recognize That Size Does Not Really Matter

Some folks have a hard time believing that they should NOT obsess about the size of their Email List.

An integral part of successful email marketing is to focus on the quality of your List – not the size of it.

It’s much more important to have a list of 50 people who are interested in what you are selling and will welcome your emails, than 1000 people who couldn’t care less.

Of course this means that in all likelihood, it will take time to build your Email List.

But taking time to build a great Email List, will be well worth the time spent building it.

3. Remember That Persistence Pays

Email Marketing is really about building solid customer relationships over time.

Successful email campaigns begin with getting permission to send future communications – followed by more emails which set up expectations of future benefits.

Then it’s up to you to deliver the benefits.

How about coupons/discounts?

How about important news items related to your prospect’s business, service, or industry?

Be persistent in offering benefits to those on your Email List.

This persistence will help your prospect remember you and your Business – and hopefully – welcome and value your continuous email communications.

Over time, you will begin to reap the rewards of your email program.

But it all begins with permission.

Really Go Green.

E-mail, e-Zines, blogs, and websites do a great deal to cut down on paper consumption and waste. You can easily implement methods like printing double-sided, using PDFs instead of paper documents, and using DVD or CD Business Cards.

And by purchasing energy-efficient office machines like inexpensive printers, scanners, and netbooks, you can help conserve energy too.

Review Your Web Hosting Plan.

If your website has been around for longer than 5 years or so – it’s time to look at your Web Hosting Plan again.

Web Hosting is cheap these days, and if you are paying more than around $8 a month for a shared hosting plan – you can stop now.

Dump Your Expensive Merchant Account

It is easy to wait too long to make this move. (I know!)

When you need to cut some costs, start shopping around for lower Merchant Account rates. You may also want to consider using low cost alternative online payment services like 2CheckOut or PayPal.

Consider VOiP

VOiP is Voice Over Internet Protocol. It’s basically phone service via the Internet – with substantial cost benefits over traditional telephone networks.

Check out Skype or Vonage to compare features and prices. (If you are considering MagicJack, look very closely at their privacy issues).

Eliminate Non Essential Land Lines

Do you really need a fax line, business line, and home phone line?

If you are a very small business – you probably don’t. You just think you do.

But if you think a bit harder and really look at it, you’ll probably see that you can get along quite nicely with just 1 or 2 phone lines/numbers.

If you feel you must have more than 1 line, and you need fax services as well – you can always sign up for an inexpensive Virtual PBX Service.

See? You can always cut back just a little bit more if you have to.