Email Problems Could Cost You Business!

About the last week of March the mud sure seems to have hit the fan. Hotmail.com has been tightening down on it's 'free' users. If you use Hotmail.com it is probably no surprise to you that Microsoft bought Hotmail in 1998 and that recently they have been making some changes. The bottom line is that you only get 2 meg of email space. That includes copies you have in your sent mail, trash, inbox and any special folders you may have made. With all the spam that is sent to Hotmail users there is often no room for your business email in your mailbox. You can pay them an annual fee and they will give you more room but that still may not be enough. The spammers know there are millions of Hotmail users and they use all their tricks to send stuff to every one of them. Yahoo.com is starting to follow Hotmails lead.

What should you do about this if you use any of the free email servers? Well for one thing don't use them for your business! How do you get onto the internet? You are paying someone. Why aren't you using that email address? Most ISP (internet service provider) companies give you 5 to 10 email boxes that you could use for family. Each box usually gets it's own space on their server. Make up an address to give to friends, another to give out for business and another that you give when just surfing the internet. The last one is the one that is most likely to be found by spammers. If too many find it then delete that account and make a new one. After all you gave your friends and business contacts a different address.

Better than using the extra accounts that your ISP gives you for your business would be to use the free email address that the Bay County Association of REALTORS® gives you just for asking. Every member of BCAR can sign up for an email address by logging into the MLS and going to the bottom of the Announcements. You will see the link to sign up for a free email account. My email address is donc@bay.flrealtor.net. Your username can be anything you want it to be as long as someone else hasn't already taken it. You can check the mail that is sent to this address three different ways. You can login to Postal Porter from the main page on our bay.flrealtor.net web site. You can check that address with your email program. You can forward it to any other address that you choose and check it there. The important thing is to use it for your business and use something else for play. And remember to check your email address once in a while.

EVERYONE DO THIS TEST!!! Go to the Public MLS site (http://panamacityMLS.com). Click on REALTORS® in the menu on the left. Search for yourself. Review the information there. Click on your email address and send yourself email. In a couple of minutes you need to check your mail to see if you received it. That is the email address that the Public is trying to reach you with. It is also the address that the Association sends the mass emails out to all members. If you do not have an email address at all you should get the free one from the Association and have it forwarded to someone who will tell you when you have mail. Maybe the office assistant, your personal assistant or your kids. You need to be reachable through email. Make sure you are.