Designed by Krista
Web Design

In the late 1900’s, the Internet Mail Consortium came out with an electronic business card format called “vCard.” Because this format is widely supported by email software, such as Microsoft Outlook, you can use the vCard file (ending in “.vcf”) to save all of your contact information and pass it along to your customers and clients. Once you create your vCard (instructions below), you can either attach it to an email message to your client or post it on your website (or both). When your client opens the file, it will automatically be added to their contact folder or address book.

How Do I Make a vCard for a Website?

1. In a Contact folder, create and save a contact with your name, title, company name, etc. You may also want to add further information about your business in the “Notes” field, such as the services you offer and benefits of doing business with you.
2. Click to select the contact you just saved.
3. On the File menu, click Save As.
4. Optional: In the File name box, remove all the spaces in the file name: this will make it easier to link to this file later on.
5. In the Save file as type box, click to select VCARD Files (*.vcf).
6. In the Save In box, select the folder where you want to save the vCard file, and then click Save.

You can send the vCard file as a file attachment in any email message – just insert it like a regular attachment, and when your client opens it, your contact information will be added to their address book or contact folder.

How to Present a vCard in a Website

If you have a web server, or web-hosting, you can also upload that file to your website. You can use any FTP client to do this, or (if you use BlueHost) you can do this via your cPanel File Manager – just use the Upload button on the File Manager toolbar. You would put it somewhere within the public_html folder. Then, you can add a link to the file to your email signature block and even to your Contact Us web page.

Example: <a href=”http://yourdomain.com/vCards/YourName.vcf”>Add my contact information to your address book</a>.
Looks Like: Add my contact information to your address book

If your file just opens up in plain text, you may need to do a few extra steps.

1. Create a folder for your vCard file on your webserver
2. Move the vCard file to that folder
3. Create a blank, text-only file called .htaccess and add the line  AddType text/x-vcard .vcf
4. Save the .htaccess file to the vCard folder you created

NOTE: This file is not secure, therefore anyone who discovers it on your website will be able to have your contact information. Thus, I would not put anything in your vCard contact unless you are also willing to put that information on your public webpage.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Every business today seems to have a newsletter, so you may wonder: should I have one for my business? Good newsletters are a great way to market your business because you can provide free and valuable information to your customers, and thus foster good will and prove that you are knowledgeable in your field. However, you must keep in mind that your customers are getting bombarded with newsletters from every other company, too.

I recommend that you have a newsletter for your organization if you have something valuable to say. You can adjust the frequency of the newsletter so that every issue is relevant to your customers or clients. For example, if you feel like you have something newsworthy for your subscribers once a week, then have a weekly newsletter. If you have something of value every other month, then have a bi-monthly newsletter. Resist the temptation to just send something out in order to have your company name pop-up in people’s email inbox – that’s a fast way to lose your subscribers.

So, how do you make a good newsletter? Here are some thoughts:

1. Minimize images: Do not put a lot of images in your newsletter, since many email systems show images as a red “x” in the preview window. Instead, use images only for your company logo or when the image will help explain the article.
2. Write succinctly: Even if someone loves your newsletter, they don’t have a lot of time to read it. Use bold headings so that they can skim directly to the part that is most interesting to them, and don’t get overly wordy.
3. Add reader-friendly content: Remember that you are trying to write things your customers want to know about – newsletters which are purely self-promotional marketing pieces just drive people to hit the “delete” key.
   GOOD: ways they can save time or money, sales and coupons for your business, tips and tricks, or links to interesting posts from your forum or blog.
   BAD: announcing new employees at  your company or increased sales at your company.
4. Make your call to action: If you are attempting to market your product or solicit donations, make sure that you make a clear “call to action” – usually at the top and the bottom of the newsletter. You can also create a sense of urgency by adding a deadline.
   EXAMPLE: “Use coupon code ENDOFSUMMER by 8/31/09 to save 10% on your order.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Email is your main contact point for your business, so it makes sense to put a little thought into setting up your business email address. Believe it or not, your email address can communicate things about you and your organization. Here are 5 tips to setting up your email accounts to show your business to the best advantage.

1. Use your domain name. It’s very common for small businesses to use a Gmail or Yahoo! account for their email address, because it’s free and simple. However, it definitely gives a less professional impression and can even cause your email to be caught in your customer’s spam filter. All major hosting companies offer free email accounts with your hosting costs, so you should always set up email with them so that your email reads “yourname@yourdomain.com”.
2. Use a “naming convention” for your email boxes. This means all email addresses for your company will follow the same strategy for naming, which gives a level of professionalism. On a technical level, all email boxes for your website must be unique, and a good naming convention can prevent duplication. (i.e. if you have two people named “Joe” at your company, one can be jsmith and one can be jbrown.) Below are several examples of good naming conventions. Note that using your first name can appear less professional, and might be a good choice if you are a non-profit organization or a business which has a family appeal.
   first initial + last name (ex: jsmith@yourdomain.com)
   full name (ex: joesmith@yourdomain.com or joe.smith@yourdomain.com)
   first name (ex: joe@yourdomain.com)
   firsname + last initial (ex: joes@yourdomain.com)
3. Create generic addresses for business areas. In small businesses, each person often wears many hats: sales, customer service, orders, receptionist, etc. As your business grows, however, you may be able to hire individual people to staff these areas. Rather than try to re-train your customers on the ‘right’ person to contact, why not set up email aliases such as “billing” and “information”. For now, you can forward these all to yourself, but you can switch them to the correct people as your business grows, without having to change your marketing materials.
4. Reply to customer email promptly. It seems like this would go without saying, but customer service is often the main or only differentiating factor between you and your competitors. Speedy reply to a customer email is a major part of good customer service, as the popularity of email over phone is increasing. One client I have had an unopened customer email sitting in their email box for over 5 months – egad! We can safely assume that customer went somewhere else! If you are not the type of person to check your email frequently, consider forwarding all emails to your mobile phone. As a last resort, if you know you can’t keep up with email, do not list an email address on your website of business cards. Rather, post a phone number, preferably a mobile phone, where you can usually be reached.
5. Manage your spam. Take steps to reduce your potential for receiving SPAM or unwanted email. If you get too much spam, valuable customer emails could get lost in the mess. Further, you will be tempted to change your email address, and this could make it difficult for past customers or contacts to find you. To prevent spam, do not post your email directly on any webpage – spammers can automatically get your email from the HTML code of the page. Rather, use a “Contact Us” form. If you need to post your email, such as in a message board or blog comment, just post a link to your contact us form on your website. As your business grows, you will naturally become a target for spammers, so you can add CAPTCHA technology to your form (i.e. users have to type a funny-looking word to prove they are a human). You can also use any number of good spam filters on the market to stem the tide of spam, though there is always a small risk that your customer’s email will be caught in the spam filter by accident, so make sure to check that area, too.

Popularity: 23% [?]