A few months ago, I started using an e-mail stationery. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, an e-mail stationery makes the e-mails you send have a particular look to them - you can choose colors, fonts, add pictures, logos, etc.

The stationery I used was similar in design to my website, and really had a "professional" look to it. Since my current e-mail had that boring "letters on a white background" look that is so 90's, I was really excited at the prospect of sending snazzy, good-looking e-mail (obviously, I am easy to please.) And as a marketing guy, I also recognized the advantage of "branding" myself and always using a logo or whatnot. So I eagerly used this new tool.

However, I soon ran into a serious problem with it.

I started noticing that some of the e-mails I sent did not get a response (when I was expecting one.) This didn't happen every time, mind you, but it happened often enough that I started wondering if there was some kind of problem. I checked with the people I didn't hear back from to confirm that we were still on speaking terms. In most cases we were, so the non-response to my e-mail was puzzling.

After some investigating, I found that my e-mail was sometimes being flagged as spam, and the recipient would never even see it. Since spam almost always uses the same elements that an e-mail stationery does (HTML, pictures, colors, etc), many spam programs either simply deleted the e-mail I sent, or put it in another folder reserved for e-mails that promise to make body parts larger and firmer. Nobody ever looks in this folder.

I decided my e-mail didn't deserve that fate. I ditched the stationery and went back to plain text. I felt bad, because a friend made it for me. But the facts were clear - I was getting flagged as spam.

See, people today are starting to get very militant with spam - the prevailing attitude is that all spam must be stopped at all costs, and all spammers must be messily killed. I'd rather that not happen. I'd also rather my e-mail just reach my recipient without issue. Even if it looks a little boring.

If you are using a stationery, I'd like to caution you - it's almost a certainty that all of your messages are not getting through. Now, maybe this is ok with you, but it wasn't for me. I want 100% of my communication to go through without any hitches.

When I go to a website, I do not want to hear music.

Unless you are a band or a musician, you have no compelling reason to play music on your website. Especially that tinny-sounding MIDI type music that was popular for three weeks in 1997.

Playing music makes me click away. Playing music makes most of your readers click away.

You're losing business. Stop it. Please.

Understand that if you have a business website, it isn't for you. It's for your clients. Your personal site where you upload your poetry and pictures of your dog? THAT'S for you. Play all the music you want there.

I could write a longer article on this, but nothing more really needs to be said. Music on your business website isn't "cool". It's annoying. Very annoying. And it's costing you money.

I'm just a website-makin' maniac the last few days. I realized last night that I didn't have a website for my book, and thought that I kinda should. So I got to work. Here it is:

www.danfurmanonline.com

I have a few other URL's pointing to it as well (including the book title.) It's hard to describe how exciting this is. I just re-read my manuscript last week, and I still like it a lot (a very good sign!) This should be a very good book.

Companies use the internet to market quite a bit. But I wonder if they ever prepared for the unexpected.

To illustrate this, I'll use my wife and I. We're going on vacation later this year, and my wife used the internet to book our hotel. The hotel had an excellent website, etc - all very nice.

So later on, my wife is reading reviews of the hotel written by other travelers. She begins to get a nagging feeling. Not because the hotel got bad reviews - it didn't. But people were mentioning the construction the hotel was doing in adding another building, and how noisy it was. How cranes and loaders and everything else were operating at 7am.

Suffice to say, we cancelled our reservations and booked another place.

I wonder if the hotel factored the internet in thinking about construction?  Now I'm not sure how you can build something quietly, but I'm pretty sure you can build without waking hotel guests at 7am.

Ten years ago, this wasn't a factor. Word of mouth was (largely) actual spoken words. Ten years ago, my wife would have never heard about any else's experience at the hotel. Or, if she did, it would have been from a friend or relative who stayed there last year and loved it (before construction was going on.)

I'll bet the hotel never thought about this. Never thought about the word of mouth aspect of the internet as it relates to things like noisy construction.

Interesting, huh? 

Sorry I haven't written here much as of late - I'm usually good for two to three entries a week, but I've been busy reading my book, and writing a few articles for the promotion of it. I plan to do quite a bit of marketing on my own,  which takes time. Well worth it though - this is a really good book.

At this writing, you can buy it directly from the publisher here:

http://self-counsel.com/us/product_info.php?products_id=122

It will be on Amazon and all of your other favorite online booksellers within a few weeks, and will grace the shelves of your local bookstore as well.

Very exciting, this is.