The Refresh Orlando Heirs

There comes a point in every relationship when the person you are dating will do or say something that is out of line. How you react to those situations will determine if they will gain respect for you or whether they will start to see you as a doormat and begin to misbehave even more. I call these points, “Moments of Truth”.

Here are some answers that will immediately let the other person know you won’t put up with their nonsense. I suggest you become very familiar with them, so you’ll be ready to respond when the situation calls for it.

1. Now was that called for? – A 21 year old said this on me when I was 27 and I was blown away that such a young guy was being a lot more mature than I was at the time. I realized he was someone that had his act together, and I wouldn’t be able to get away with anything. It made me immediately respect him and I’ve never forgotten him.

2. Don’t start. I once said this to a guy who barely knew me. He was starting to get upset with me because I was 5 minutes late. Some people might have been tempted to appease him, but I felt his reaction was totally out of line. I did apologize for being late but I didn’t think he needed to make such a big deal out of it.

3. Such ugly words from such a handsome man/beautiful girl. This is a great one because at the same time as you are calling someone on something they said, you’re also giving them a compliment. Keep this one handy and use it often.

4. You can think that, if it makes you feel better. I remember saying this to an ex boyfriend who was jealous of a male friend and he said to me, “He just wants to sleep with you”. When I came back with this zinger, he was speechless. This is another good, all around line to be used anytime, anywhere.

5. I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. This should only be used for minor infractions, especially if the person has a history of saying “I was just kidding.” Your next response is, “I wasn’t”. Definitely don’t use this one if the person just told you they slept with someone else!

6. I not going to believe that you (fill in the blank). I know you’re better than that. This line was also used on me and it stopped me dead in my tracks. This is a sneaky one. If you disagree with whatever the person was not going to believe about you– that you would lie, cheat, steal, etc.- then you’re saying that you’re not better than that. No one wants to look bad, especially in front of someone they want to impress, so you’re obligated to show them that indeed, you are better than that.

7. If this is who you are, I don’t think it’s going to work out between us. This should only be used for major infractions. These could be big lies, cheating, accusing you of cheating for no apparent reason, driving drunk, stealing, etc. If , for some reason, you don’t want to break up with the person and are willing to give them one more chance, this is a way of doing it without actually telling them you’re giving them another chance. They’ll either a) step up to the plate, apologize and never do it again b) promise not to do it again, knowing that if they do, you’re out of there or c) know you’re not going to put up with their tawdry behavior and move on to the next victim. Either way, you win!

8. That’s not acceptable. This can and should be used often. It lets the person know you have boundaries and are not going to be walked on. I remember one guy I was dating disappeared for the weekend and didn’t return my calls. When I asked, “Why?” he said, “I don’t know…” This would have been a perfect time to use this line, but instead I said, “Okay. Well, don’t do it again.” Ugh! A few weeks later he broke up with me.

8. How are you going to make it up to me? This is a great line to use if you just started seeing someone and they call at the last minute to cancel a date. You of course want to be understanding but you don’t want them to think they can do this anytime and get away with it.

10. Silence. It’s been said that well-timed silence has more eloquence than speech. If someone tells an off color joke or says something totally ridiculous, a silent glare from you will let them know you’re not amused.

Lucia is a dating and relationship expert, columnist, lecturer and host of the TV Show “The Art of Love”.

With over 20 years experience on the relationship market, Lucia has dated men of all nationalities in six cities, four countries and two continents. Her practical know-how makes her the perfect candidate to dispense relationship advice – after all, in almost every dating dilemma she has been there, done that and lived to tell about it.

For more articles or to ask Lucia a question, go to: http://www.theartoflove.net

To speak to Lucia, go to: Ask Lucia

Tip 1: Understanding antiques

In strict antique-speak, an antique is any collectable item that is seventy to one-hundred years old. Newer items can also be quite valuable; if you know how to pick them. In all instances, a collectible item has value if someone, somewhere, wants to buy it. Just remember: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

You may already know what you want to start collecting, but finding your antique niche means doing the relevant research first. For every item–furniture, clothing, books, or other odd collectibles–there is a general code of understanding as to their value in dollars. In order to be a successful antique collector you need to learn about the era in which you item was made, and what this means about its value.

Tip 2: Understanding the antique market

Whether you are interested in building a collection of Victorian furniture or vintage baby clothing one of the best places to start is the Internet. Use the search engine of your choice to begin researching your antique niche from the comfort of your own home.

Or you may like to log onto eBay: eBay offers a great atmosphere to get a feel for what is valuable, what isn’t and how much things are selling for. In eBay search for something like “antique” and “silver” or “leather” and see what the search brings up. Watch a few of these items for a few days. Note the price, item details, or use the eBay interface to ask questions about the piece you are watching: age, condition, previous owner, etc.

Once you get an idea of what is on offer, how people buy and how much people are willing to pay for an item, you may like to head off to markets, antique stores and shows where you can engage other enthusiasts or shop owners into discussion.

Tip 3: Determining what to collect

Choosing your antique niche is more about what interests you; it also depends on how deep your pockets are. Try to budget a certain amount of your income per month to see how much you can spend. Also, ask yourself how quickly you want to start building your antique collection. If you have lots to spend you may choose to locate items in mint condition. If you have less to spend you may go after items in less than mint condition. It’s always best to research before you buy. In all cases, try to learn as much as you can about the certain type of collectible or antique: where it comes from, the style or era, and even, the maker or artist or designer. Be it silverware or clothing or furniture or paintings, the more you know about the items you choose to collect the better you’ll be able to judge its value. Otherwise you’ll just have to take other people’s word for it.

Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.antiques-shows.net on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

Are you searching for a quick way to make an extra income?

Why not turn that Cooking Interest, Comic Book Collecting, or Your Retro Clothing Collection Into A Home Based Business Venture!

Most people enjoy hobbies they have pursued with great enthusiasm for years. Even though they may find their leisure activities fulfilling and enjoyable they never imagined making money with a fun hobby!

The world is packed with amazingly talented people.

Are you one of these gifted individuals? These talented individuals might have a passion for sewing fabulous original wardrobes, marvelous hand knitted items, furniture making, creative paintings, photographs, jewelry art, greeting card design, doll making, original toys, baby clothing, candle making, quilting, calligraphy, fancy soap making, about anything you can imagine!

Crafting is actually a great way to start a home business on a shoe string. You might want to start on a small scale by offering your creative work to friends and family. Later on, once you have enough products, you might decide to rent a booth at local flea markets or crafts shows to display your work.

As you may know the Arts And Crafts Industry Is Enjoying An Amazingly Phenomenal Popularity. People are eager to purchase hand made clothing, furniture, custom made keepsakes or jewelry. If you have the creative talent this is one business you should consider!

A friend, Joyce, diverted her obsession with candle making into a thriving business. She started by selling her hand made scented candles to friends and neighbors. Word of mouth spread about her candles. Soon she was receiving enough orders to keep her very busy.

Joyce throws house parties to sell her candles and also takes custom orders from ads she runs in local newspapers. Next, she plans to take her candles to the stores and malls in her area.

I recently read about a middle aged fellow who turned his knowledge about collecting rare comic books into a thriving business.

Imagine?

Several hundred of his old comic books are now worth their weight in gold. And his wife is no longer protesting about the space the old editions take up in their home.

Think about it!

What’s your passion?

What’s your leisure time interest?

Could your leisurely pursuits translate into a lucrative business?

About The Author

BB Lee is a professional writer and the editor of SmallBizBits Newsletter. Visit Arts And Crafts Home Business Ideas - http://www.lulu.com/bblee for more ideas; smallbizbits@yahoo.com

Believe it or not, you impart a legacy of health to your
children that goes well beyond the genes you give them. You also
pass along health beliefs and model health-related choices. Here
are 5 tips that will set your kids up on a path towards a
healthy life.

1. Instill a sense of wonder about the body.

Many adults fear and distrust their bodies. They believe that
the body is fragile, and illness is just around the corner. The
myth that you will catch a cold if you go outside without a coat
persists. Your kids are listening when you look in the mirror
and say to no one in particular, “I’m so fat.”

The truth is your body is the most miraculous mechanical system
on the planet. Cuts heal without a single thought or action on
your part. Your immune system is your own personal homeland
security system, protecting you from bacterial and viral
terrorists. Yes, illness is part of the human condition. And we
have powerful treatments that aid your body’s own ability to
heal. However, even with today’s medicine it’s your body’s
ability to battle illnesses, such as the common cold that offers
concrete evidence of your body’s resiliency.

Comment on your child’s amazing body. “Wow, that cut healed in
no time!” or “You have such strong fast legs” or “Look at what
your hands have been able to draw.” Remind your child how great
it is to have eyes and kidneys and hearts that work so well.

2. Become a student of the human body with your child.

Your kids will come to you with questions about how their bodies
work. It can be uncomfortable for both you and your child when
you don’t have the answers. This discomfort can teach children
that they should avoid questions about how their bodies work,
which may, in part, explain why parents themselves are reluctant
to ask doctors embarrassing questions.

Remember, no one has all the answers. That’s why your doctor
participates in continuing medical education. Your child can
remind you of the joy of discovery. Together you can look for
answers. I mentioned to my son that bones make blood and he
asked, “What about creatures with exoskeletons?” I said, “What
an interesting question. Let’s get on the Internet and see what
we can find out.” Have a child-appropriate book about the body
available and learn and use anatomically correct words. Maybe
you can have a family contest to come up with the coolest
medical term.

3. Teach your kids to listen to their bodies.

Often it feels as if adults are rewarded for ignoring or
overcoming the signals from their bodies. The “hero” who comes
to work with the flu or the mom who ignores her need for food or
sleep. Health is maintained when you know the signals that
suggest your body is out of balance and respond in a timely
manner when your body indicates it needs something.

Help your kids identify when they’re cold or hungry or tired.
You can say even to an infant, “You look hot, so I’m taking off
the blanket.” Give your child some experience regulating his
external environment like taking on and off sweaters. Educate
your children that pain is there to keep them safe. Say, “Owies
are no fun, but they’re there to keep you from burning yourself
on the stove or cutting yourself with a knife. That’s how your
body reminds you to be careful.”

4. Model healthy eating habits.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem. Talk with your kids
about good food choices and bad ones. Encourage them to ask
themselves,”What kind of food is my body hungry for right now?”
and “Am I full?” even if there’s still food on the plate. Pay
attention to see if your child is a grazer or a 3-squares-a-day
kid and set an eating schedule that reflects their style. Decide
whether it’s OK to indulge in unhealthy food choices now and
then. When I inquired about the nutritional value of my son’s
snack of donuts, he said, It’s health food for the soul!

5. Reward health rather than illness.

Some of my best childhood memories come from times when I was
sick. In an effort to ease my pain, my mother unwittingly
rewarded illness by lavishing attention on me, delivering
endless bowls of ice cream and playing games with me. Who
wouldn’t want to be sick!

Instead, lavish attention on your kids when they’re well. While
you don’t want to punish your kids for being sick, consider
which privileges of health should be withdrawn during sick days.

When you instill in your children a sense of pride, wonder
and respect for their bodies, you have given them the foundation
of health.

When designing your website, remember to avoid useless and confusing features, however “cool” they may seem to be. Usually, keeping things simple and consistent are the best way to go. Here are five easy ways to improve your website and make it more appealing to your visitors.

Put your logo on every page of your site, and in the same location. Usually, the best place to put it is in the upper left corner of the page. Remember to make your logo clickable, linking to the main page of your site (an exception is the logo of the main page itself, since you are already there). The benefit of doing so is that if your visitors get lost they can always come back to a familiar location.

Don’ t use a splash screen. Splash screens are seen in many websites before they give you access to the main page. They are usually slow-loading Flash animations that only delay and frustrate users. Remember, when your users want animation, they can turn on the TV. When they go to your website, they usually want information, and they want it fast. Some sites that use splash screens now provide a “Skip the Introduction” link, which most users click anyway, further validating the uselessness of flash screens.

Avoid using heavy pictures. They unnecessarily delay the page upload process. It is OK to use graphics, but they have to be optimized for the web. Use only .gif and .jpg formats. If the pictures are too heavy, try using some of the on-line graphic optimizing tools. They can reduce the weight of your pictures by more than 50% with no noticeable decrease in quality. Another thing you can do is to use thumbnails (clickable miniature versions of a picture). If a user is interested in the picture, he can click on the thumbnail and wait until the full size picture is displayed.

Try not to use animated banners or fancy icons. Just because you can is not a good reason to load up your site with neon-colored, flashing-and-popping, Vegas-style graphics. They usually take away from the content of your site and distract users. Plus, it has been demonstrated that less and less users click on banners every day.

Don’t make your pages too long. People don’t like to read from a screen. Instead, try to use the advantages of hyperlinks to present a summary of the topic or article, with a link to the full article in another page (similar to what newspapers do in their main page, with the added benefit for web users that it is easier to click on a link than to turn a page). If what you have to say is too long, break the discussion in several parts, each of them with a link to where your visitor can continue reading.

Remember, the goal is to give your visitors fast access to your information, through an interface (website) that is visually appealing and easy to use.

You can freely reprint this article. Just include the following resource box at the end:

Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest (http://www.theinternetdigest.net) a website and newsletter that gives you useful advice on web design and Internet marketing, one free tip at a time.

Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest ( http://www.theinternetdigest.net ), a website and newsletter that gives you free advice on Internet Marketing, Web Design and Small Business. To subscribe go to: http://www.theinternetdigest.net/newsletter.html

TheInternetDigest@hotmail.com

In 1949 George Orwell painted a bleak view of a tyrannical,
dystopian society with his masterpiece, ‘1984’. Thanks to his
warning against totalitarian authority we have moved away from a
future of all encompassing government surveillance and newspeak.
But maybe we have let ourselves in for something worse …

When ‘1984’ was first published the Soviet Union had just tested
their first atomic bomb. America and indeed the entire world
were gearing up against the red devil; the cold war was begun.
Orwell portrayed the future as it could be if Communism won the
day; a dark world of total scrutiny, every individual’s actions
under the spotlight, every waking moment. A society devoid of
creativity or individualism, and kept that way by the ruthless
thought police. As it was the ‘free world’ won the war, and all
were joyful and rejoiced. Now we have to deal with the
consequences of that victory, and the flip side of the coin that
Orwell did not foresee.

America is the land of the free. Free from persecution, violence
and war. Or not as the spiralling crime figures and the recent
Iraq crisis show. But this is not what I wish to talk about.
Today we live in a democracy, or so we are told. The government
cannot retain any information on you without consent, or at
least has to offer free access its records if you so desire. But
Big Brother is no longer the thing we need fear, rather it is
the little brothers and sisters who walk among us.

It is almost impossible these days to purchase a mobile phone
without a built in camera. Surveillance equipment once the realm
of the most expensive secret service is now freely available on
the open market. Phishing, keyloggers, Trojans, identity theft.
Words once unknown that are now part of common parlance.
Individuals can build ‘bots’ to harvest e-mail addresses from
websites, while the mis-termed ‘hackers’ can break into
databases on web servers to take any information they find.
There are surveillance cameras sprouting everywhere from schools
to companies to government offices. Almost every movement or
action a person makes can be tracked these days, be it by credit
card trails or ‘web cams’.

To protect themselves several major companies have recently had
to implement new rules. Where once only dedicated industrial
espionage could have stolen the plans for a new computer chip or
products from out under the noses of a security division, now
disgruntled employees simply have to take snaps with their
camera phone. So phones have to be banned. Where once it would
have been impossible to check up on a suspect spouse, now wives
and husbands can simply install software onto their marital
partners computers to monitor their e-mail and other online
activities. The age of personal scrutiny is here at last, but
not as Orwell foresaw it.

We are surrounded by modern conveniences that our civilisation
has bought us. Many people could not imagine living without a
mobile phone, Internet access or their PDA. Unfortunately these
leave us open to data theft. A dropped mobile phone can result
in business contacts being freely available to anyone who finds
it. A lost PDA can results in confidential documents being
disseminated, possibly with disastrous consequences. Personal
details can be hijacked by Phishing emails, where by a spammer
sends and apparently official e-mail asking for confirmation of
personal details. These can come from banks, ebay, paypal,
hundreds of various organisations. And in all cases they are
designed with one intention in mind, to steal your log in
details for use in their own nefarious schemes, whether that be
clearing out your bank account or using them as a front.

Espionage equipment is now easily available from online stores
like espionage-store.com. These type of shops offer phone taps,
key loggers and remote microphones to anybody, all at the
typical low, low price we expect from a capitalist society.
Anyone could now purchase and use the ‘computer keystroke
recorder’ for example. This small device simply plugs into the
back of your computer between the keyboard and the P/S2 socket,
and can record any and all keystrokes made. There are similar
software programs that load when the computer starts which can
perform a similar purpose. All conspiracy theorists would like
you to believe that anyone can be monitoring what you do. And
they could be.

Today your actions can be viewed and recorded by anyone.
Encryption can be broken, documents can be stolen. Google and
other online presences can easily track you by your IP, or by
depositing cookies onto your computer. In a sense we are living
in WWII Germany, every neighbour could be a spy. But there are
more impacts that our modern culture can have on our way of
life, many of them just as pervasive as the possibility of being
watched. For a continuation of this discussion please look out
for my next article - ‘Little Brother – Newspeak cometh’. Until
then just think, anyone could be watching, are you taking the
necessary precautions?

Businesses today are highly dependent on distributed applications to support every aspect of operations. If these applications under-perform for remote users or fail, losses of productivity, revenue and opportunity inevitably result. It is thus critical to ensure the consistent performance of applications across the network.

One of the gating factors controlling application performance is bandwidth. As more applications and services are activated on the network, they contend for the finite available bandwidth. Bandwidth can be an especially critical factor for companies with small or overseas locations that may not have high-capacity network connections to the data center.

Typically, IT organizations approach this critical relationship between application performance and bandwidth by managing supply. This supply-side management approach is characterized by adding more bandwidth or implementing technologies that prioritize use of the bandwidth that’s currently available.

But IT organizations can no longer depend on supply-side bandwidth management alone. Demand — driven by more applications, higher volumes of data and increasing intensity of use — is just growing too fast. Funding for technology infrastructure is growing too slowly. And the consequences of service interruptions are too great.

In fact, supply-side management alone fails to address a variety of issues. Some applications aren’t very well designed for deployment on the network, so they won’t perform well, regardless of how much bandwidth you throw at them. Some applications will perform a bit better with more bandwidth, but those incremental performance gains aren’t worth the cost of the additional infrastructure. In some cases, management needs to consider retiring an application altogether. In other cases, steps must be taken to reduce end-user demand.

Simply put, network managers have to do more than just manage bandwidth supply. They have to apply best governance practices to the consumption of bandwidth, so that utilization of network resources is closely aligned with business drivers. Only by exercising this kind of governance can IT use its infrastructure dollars in the most effective possible way.

The Governance Lifecycle

Good bandwidth governance actually begins well before an application is deployed on the network. With the right technologies, developers can start assessing the behavior of their applications over the network early in the design and development stages. That way, they can resolve excessive bandwidth consumption or poor performance issues as soon as they arise, rather than later in the game, when such problems can be very costly to fix.

This kind of testing should continue right up to deployment, so that there are no surprises when the application is rolled out onto the production network. It should also be done every time the application is upgraded or modified, because subtle changes in code often have unexpected impact on the behavior of applications on the network.

IT can apply these bandwidth governance best practices to applications that are already in production, too. For example, before throwing bandwidth at an application performance problem, network managers should first model potential solutions to find out if the additional bandwidth will, in fact, deliver expected improvements. What-if scenarios should also be run to answer key governance questions such as “Will current bandwidth levels support the addition of 20 users in our Atlanta office?” and “How will night shift users be affected if we start backing up remote servers over the network at 2:00 AM?”

Only by answering these kinds of questions in advance can network managers ensure that bandwidth is being used for the best possible business purposes.

Bandwidth Governance Best Practices

To achieve best practices bandwidth governance, IT organizations require technology capable of replicating the production network environment as it exists today and as it might look tomorrow. This “virtual enterprise” should be capable of assimilating all the factors that impact application performance in the real world: live applications, the data center that supports them, the topology and bandwidth constraints of the network, the number of distribution of end users, etc.

By leveraging this virtual environment, everyone involved with bandwidth governance — from application designers and QA staff to network managers and architects — can more effectively control bandwidth utilization and preempt potential consumption and performance problems. They can also verify the effectiveness of any planned supply-side measures, such as QoS and bandwidth grooming, they plan to implement in production.

Unfortunately, most IT organizations rely only on development LANs (which don’t reflect conditions on real-world enterprise networks) or mathematical simulations to assess the behavior of applications. These resources are useful, but don’t provide the precision or flexibility necessary for the kind of true bandwidth governance IT will have to implement if it is going to maximize returns on development and infrastructure investments.

That’s why it’s essential that IT organizations re-evaluate their bandwidth management strategies and their technology portfolios. Those that continue to manage application network performance in one silo and application development in another won’t be able to govern bandwidth effectively across the application lifecycle. Only with an accurate, flexible and proactive approach can IT bridge the gap between development and production, and thereby meet its goals of reliable performance, cost-efficient service delivery, and tight alignment of expenditures with business priorities.

To learn more, visit www.shunra.com. Shunra empowers enterprise organizations and technology vendors to eliminate the risks associated with rolling out complex, distributed, applications and services. The Shunra Virtual Enterprise (Shunra VE) solution provides accurate, highly granular insight into how networked applications will function, perform and scale for remote end-users. It creates an exact replica of the production network environment, allowing users to safely develop, test and experiment with applications and infrastructure in a lab environment before deployment in production.

Amichai Lesser Bio

Amichai Lesser is the director of product marketing at Shunra Software, a company that delivers award-winning solutions that recreate a replica of any production network environment for testing the functionality, robustness, performance and scalability of applications and services - before rollout.

This article is copyrighted by Shunra. It may not be reproduced in whole or in part and may not be posted on other websites without the express written permission of the author who may be contacted via email at Shunra@digitalbrandexpressions.com.

HTML emails have been around for a while. They look more
professional than their text-only counterparts and
actually generate better click-through rates. For
example, there are studies which show that click-through
rate for text emails for some industries is 7.1% while that
for HTML emails is 10%.

That being said, many marketers are still not keen to
publish in html. The reason: there are many problems
associated with HTML emails that can actually hurt,
rather than aid your marketing campaign. So let’s make
a list of how HTML can be hurtful to your marketing efforts.

1.Different email clients work differently

Internet Explorer (IE) is the dominant Web browsers used by
most web surfers, so when it comes to designing websites,
as long as the site presents well in IE, chances are, most
visitors to your site can view it properly.

Unfortunately, the equation becomes more complicated if we
are talking about emails since there are different types
of email clients (eg., Outlook Express, Eudora, web-based
email clients and so on), each with different capabilities,
settings, versions, etc. that make it more difficult to
predict how your email will look like at the recipients’
end. Generally speaking, the capabilities of web-based
email clients such as Hotmail, AOL and Yahoo! Mail are not
as robust as program-based email clients, so certain
effects that appear all right in program-based clients may
not show properly in web-based clients. Another example
is how some web-based clients cause your re-directs on URL
to break or appear as plain text making it such that links
that are crucial to making the sales do not work. The
worst blunder happens when your recipient receives a
marketing message that they can’t read at all. This is
the case with some email clients such as Pine that don’t
have the capability to read HTML or AOL that can’t
display HTML properly. Consider also the problem your
recipients will encounter if they use PDA and
Internet-capable cellular phone. These devices don’t
support HTML email at all.

2.The problem with printing HTML emails

Some of your recipients like to print their emails and read
them offline for a variety of reasons. The danger of this
to your marketing message is that graphical components in
your HTML email may appear as blank boxes with icons
indicating that graphics should be there, but are
unfortunately not there. When such blank boxes appear, you
are kissing goodbye to the hope that your graphical HTML
email will present a professional image to your
recipients. Instead of looking disjointed and untidy with
blank boxes, your message will have a greater impact if it
has no frills (i.e., plain text), but is presented in a
properly formatted way.

3.Connecting your users to the Internet when they
don’t intend that

Sometimes, the action of opening a HTML email will trigger
a connection to the Internet when your user doesn’t have
the intention to be connected. This results in
inconvenience to your users because they then have to
disconnect from the Internet.

4.HTML emails load slower

Internet users are an impatient bunch. At the very least,
HTML email is twice the size of its text-based equivalent.
This means if you send your ezine in HTML, you tie up
more of your readers’ bandwidth during delivery and
receiving. Some of your ezine’s readers use dial-up.
This delay is much more noticeable to them than to your
broadband-user readers.

5.Security problems with HTML emails

You want to send your recipients your marketing message,
not a virus. The unfortunate reality is that HTML emails
transmit viruses easier than text-based emails. This is
because it is possible for attachments to automatically
execute code without the user opening the attachment.

6.HTML emails are harder to forward

Almost every marketer hopes for her campaign to be “viral”
(that is, your marketing message being passed on from one
recipient to another and another). It’s straightforward
to forward a text-based email from one recipient to her
friends and family. But when one tries to forward a HTML
email to another, incompatibility problems arise. The
forwarded email may not be received by its recipients
looking the same way as it looked when it was first
received by the original recipient.

7.More variables to measure makes it more
difficult to gauge your success

The success of a text-based email marketing message is easier
to measure than a HTML one simply because there are more
variables involved in the success of the latter. For
example, your email may have a poor response not because
the message was badly worded, but because the font you had
chosen is tiring for the eyes. Is your font even readable
by every computer? What about the visibility of your
typeface against the coloured background you have chosen?
The point is: there are so many variables in a HTML email
marketing campaign that it’s difficult for you to measure
what went right or what went wrong in a particular campaign.

8.Do you want to maintain three lists?

Due to the uncertainty of how your HTML email will look at
each recipient’s computer, businesses that choose to go
HTML also have to maintain a text and an AOL version of
their ezines. This means, you have to maintain three
lists, rather than one. If you are a large corporation
with a database-driven mailer that have a “sniffer”, you
can rely on your “sniffer” to tell which recipient is able
to receive which type of email and then send only that
version. But if you don’t have that capability,
maintaining three lists can be too challenging for your
home-based business.

In conclusion, if you don’t know for sure whether the
majority of your readers will be able to receive HTML
emails, send them text messages. If you really love the
idea of having a HTML newsletter, there’s always the
alternative of putting your newsletter up on your website
and providing a link at the beginning of your text-based
email which says, “Click here if you wish to view this
message in HTML”.

About the Author

Valerie Tay is the editor of BizBytes Newsletter. Written in an easy-reading style, this ezine is packed with practical and powerful tips on building, growing and marketing your business. New subscribers receive a FREE bonus eCourse. http://adhomebase.com/bizbytes.htm