Emoticons

One of the biggest problems with communicating over the Internet is the inability to show emotion. Emoticons have filled that gap by providing ways to use text to describe feelings. The name “emoticon” comes from a combination “emotion” and “icon.”
Simply put, they are symbols that are used in chat rooms, message boards, e-mail messages and IM messages to display emotions.

Emoticons are normally used at the end of a sentence in order to convey the feeling associated with that sentence. For example, when a person makes a statement in jest, the “winking” emoticon can be used afterward to imply sarcasm.

Originally, emoticons only made sense if you turned your head to the side. Today many IM programs, chat rooms and message boards employ animated “smilies” to imply emotion. These smilies are normally unique to the platform they are being used on.
Here are several of the most common emoticons:

: ) — Smile
: O – Surprise
: ( - Frown
: P – Tongue stuck out
; ) – Winking
> : ( - Mad

Examples of graphical smilies can be seen at http://www.world-of-smilies.com/.

FAQ

A list of questions and answers that are related to a Web site, newsgroup, software or any kind of product or service. Most users can find answers to their questions on the FAQ list, so before contacting customer service or tech support you should check this list.

Everything A Product Seller Needs To Know About Owning A Domain Name

Welcome to Episode #8!

Buying, transferring and renewing a domain name sounds like an easy set of processes in the whole scheme of setting up an ecommerce website.

However, there are a few regulations and tips you need to know about to protect yourself from wasting time or money.

The regulations discussed in this podcast are created by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

–Michelle Waters, The Physical Product Seller’s Coach
-Register your domain name through Watersweb Hosting.

Email Marketing Campaigns

This is a form of direct marketing that uses electronic mail to communicate commercial and fundraising messages. These focus on gathering email addresses of web visitors. These addresses are added to a potential customer mailing list, and the list receives updates on the site, free ecourses, and special offers. Autoresponders are an essential part of email marketing campaigns.

I recommend Aweber as the autoresponder of choice for physical product sellers.

Email

Email is mail that is electronically sent to your computer. Email (sometimes spelled e-mail) is delivered instantly. This feature is one of the main reasons people seek to gain Internet access. Email is completely free to use, and allows you to communicate worldwide.

To use email, you need a computer, an online connection, an email account and an email program. The email account can be obtained through your ISP, or from one of several free email services online. These free email services include:

• G-mail (www.gmail.com) - provided by Google
• Yahoo Mail (www.yahoomail.com) - provided by Yahoo
• Hotmail (www.hotmail.com) - a service of MSN
• Fast Mail (www.fastmail.fm)
• AIM (www.aim.com) - an AOL e-mail service, independent of the AOL ISP
• Inbox (www.inbox.com)

Since an email address is the main form of communication online, it is recommended that you choose a memorable email name. Too many numbers and misspellings will make it difficult for others to contact you. Many people use more than one email address to separate their business and personal emails.

Ebook

This is a book that can be downloaded and read on a computer. Most e-books are saved in Adobe Acrobat and require Adobe Acrobat reader (a free program) to be accessed. E-books (sometimes spelled ebooks) are quickly becoming the newest way to receive information online. There are many free e-books available on the web, and there are also e-books available for purchase. When you purchase an e-book, you can download it directly to your computer.

E-business

An e-business is defined as any business that is drawing a majority of its income from selling their products or service in an online format.

There are many advantages to running an e-business, as opposed to a traditional business. The start up costs for doing business online are relatively low compared to opening up a store. All you need is an internet connection and a website. There can also be added costs for advertising and setting up a merchant account so you can accept payments.

However, overall, the costs are much lower than opening a store in a building. You can do business directly from your home, and with certain suppliers, you don’t even have to have inventory. Another advantage to doing business online, as opposed to locally, is that you can sell to the entire world instead of just your local community.

E-business can also be used to refer to any business practices that are handled electronically (such as supply chain management, order tracking and processing, and payroll).

Double Opt-in

A technique used in opt-in or permission based marketing. It ensures that a potential customer actually wants to receive the marketing materials and is a way to prevent unwanted spam. The basic process is as follows:

• A potential customer requests information from a website and is asked to confirm that they want the information to come to their e-mail address.
• The potential customer then receives a confirmation e-mail in their inbox. This e-mail requires them to click on a verification link to receive further information.
• Once the potential customer receives verification, they will receive the future messages from the mailing list, e-course or autoresponder series.

Services such as Aweber provide double opt-in mailing list capabilities.

Watch Out For Minimum Wholesale Order Requirements

A popular baby sling manufacturer appears to be dropping small work at home mom (WAHM) distributors who aren’t selling more than their 10 baby carrier per month minimums.

“I was so disappointed to get this news — especially when they phrased it this way in their letter: ‘In evaluating your sales performance in the last twelve months, your interest in promoting our product line was not apparent,’” said MamaKalena at TheBabyWearer.com forums.

Apparently, sometimes large companies get to the top through the hard work of small-time WAHMs. And then when their product gets popular, they start cutting off those who built them. Why? Selling directly to the public, instead of to wholesalers, nets them the extra money for each sale that they’d otherwise have to share with the wholesaler.

My advice: Check out manufacturers when you’re considering who to partner with. Ask other people who sell the product what their experience is with the company. And find out directly from the company what their minimums are.

Download

The act of transferring file or files from one computer to another using the Internet. There are a few basic methods of downloading from the Internet. You can download directly from a website or an ftp site. You can also download from e-mail attachments (although it is highly recommended that you do not download e-mail attachments from unknown sources).

Downloading is one of the most highly used functions of the Internet. Many programs, files and documents are available for downloading from the Internet.

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