First, a little background information. Your web site address (www.yourcompany.com) is registered through a company like Network Solutions, GoDaddy, or Dotster. There are tons of other companies out there that do the same thing, but these are probably the top 3. You then need a hosting server to make the web address functional. Once you have the Web site up and running, use some or all of these tactics to maximize productivity, improve communications, and reduce stress:
- Domain Forwarders
You can redirect yourcompany.com to yourothercompany.com, which means that if you've got a direct mail piece that you want to track, register another domain name and monitor how many people arrive at your site using the new address. This is also helpful if you're changing the name of your company, purchasing & consolidating other companies, or the like.
Also consider purchasing domain names for strategic purposes - your competitors might register a domain name like yourcompanysucks.com, so if you might want to register it ahead of time, before they do. - Email Forwarders
You can also redirect This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - this is helpful if you want to create additional mail boxes (info@, sales@, support@, accounting@, etc...) without checking each one separately. You can even point a single email address to multiple people, so This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. could be sent to everyone in your sales department, for example. - Using Gmail as an Archive
Gmail is a free web-based email service from Google. Unlike other free email providers (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc), you can use it with Outlook via POP or IMAP free of charge. I use an email forwarder to duplicate all mail sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (both email addresses go the same place, see above section on "Domain Forwarders") to a Gmail account. This way, if I'm away from my computer, I can check my email all from all accounts all in one place. Also, if I delete a message on my computer, no worry... it's also stored in my Gmail account. Gmail gives you almost 7gb of storage at this point; I've got every email I've ever received since 2006 in my Gmail account and I'm using less than 20% of my allotted storage space. - What about Email my PDA or Smart Phone?
No problem. If you're using an email program like Outlook, Thunderbird, or Eudora, you will see a setting in your account properties that says something to the effect of, "Leave a copy of messages on the server for XX days." By default, these programs will delete the message from the server once your computer downloads it. By changing the setting, you can check your email from your computer and your PDA / Smart Phone without tripping over your own feet.
Also, there is often another setting that says something like, "Delete messages from server once I empty my deleted items folder." This way, if you get 10 spam emails in one day, you don't have to delete each one twice.
