When you press the SEND button on your email client it appears simple and straightforward. In actuality, a series of events occurs which causes the message to be transferred from your client (Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape or whatever) to the destination.

Most email on the internet is sent using a protocol (the rules for communicating) called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP for short). This is defined in a document called RFC 821; it specifies how to communicate with an SMTP mail server. What happens when you press send is described below. Text sent by the email client is underlined.

1. Your email client connects to the SMTP server (which is defined by you when you set it up). It usually uses port 25.
2. The email client will print a header to confirm it is, indeed, an email server running SMTP

220 rglapache SMTP NAVIEG 2.1 bld 63; Thu, 17 Oct 2002 09:18:30 -0700

1. Your email client will now get the attention of the SMTP server. It can do so with a “HELO” or an “EHLO” command. HELO is standard SMTP, and EHLO is extended and more or less asks the SMTP server to identify which advanced functions it supports.

HELO localhost

1. The SMTP server responds to let the client know it is alive, well and waiting for commands.

250 rglapache Hello

1. The client identifies who the email is from using the “MAIL FROM:” command.

MAIL FROM: [email protected]

1. The SMTP server responds with a confirmation that it’s okay to continue.

250 <[email protected]>… Sender ok

1. Now the client informs the SMTP server who the email is to be sent to using the “RCPT TO:” command. More than one of these commands may be used to send to more than one recipient.

RCPT TO: richlowe@internet–tips.net

1. The SMTP server responds that this is okay:250 <[email protected]>… Recipient ok
2. The client sends the command “DATA” to tell the SMTP server it will now send the message. After that, text is sent, line by line, until the entire message has been transmitted. The message is ended with a “.” on a line all by itself.DATA 354 Enter mail, end with “.” on a line by itself Message-Id: <[email protected]> From: [email protected] To: richlowe@internet–tips.net Subject: This is a test of SMTPThis example shows how SMTP works. Pretty nifty, isn’t it? . You should note from the above that the “Message-id”, “To:” and “Subject:” (as well as others such as “Cc:”, “Bcc:” and so on) are sent to the email server as part of the message data. These are what displays as the “Subject” and “To” when you open the email. Note that the actual recipient and who the email is from is sent BEFORE the data. The implication is that since these are part of the message they can be forged. In fact, that is exactly what spammers and some of the newer viruses do. Klez, for example, chooses a random email address for the “From:” and “To:” fields, making it appear that someone else has sent the message.
3. The SMTP server replies that this is fine and will be delivered.250 M2002101709193007556 Message accepted for delivery
4. The client can either start another message or quit using the “QUIT” command.

And example of a full session to send an email is shown below. 220 rglapache SMTP NAVIEG 2.1 bld 63; Thu, 17 Oct 2002 09:18:30 -0700 HELO localhost 250 rglapache Hello MAIL FROM: [email protected] 250 <[email protected]>… Sender ok RCPT TO: richlowe@internet–tips.net 250 <richlowe@internet–tips.net>… Recipient ok DATA 354 Enter mail, end with “.” on a line by itself Message-Id: <[email protected]> From: [email protected] To: richlowe@internet–tips.net Subject: This is a test of SMTP   This example shows how SMTP works. Pretty nifty, isn’t it? . 250 M2002101709193007556 Message accepted for delivery QUIT This is all very easy to see, as you can do it all from a standard TELNET client. Just connect to an email server on port 25 and type the commands by hand. How do you get to TELNET? Simply invoke it from the CMD prompt or RUN as shown to the left. You can then enter the commands to the SMTP server to send an email.

Successful Internet marketing requires a great deal of effort on your part. Remember that you must focus your hard work towards meaningful ends if you want a successful online business. It makes sense to put your effort in the right direction. Check out these tips and get on the track to internet marketing success.

You must utilize every tool that you can get in hands to be successful in Internet marketing. If your customers use more advanced software than you do, you can expect that you will fall behind. If you stay on the front lines of technology and always have the next best thing available to your customers, then they will be more likely to be drawn to your business or website.

Create FAQ Page On Your Website

Create a page of FAQs about your product. Offer answers to your them and provide solutions that will help. Although it’s a good idea to avoid the impression of advertising too directly, you can couch the questions in terms that make it reasonable to talk about your products when you write the answers.

A frequently asked questions page (FAQs) is an essential tool for keeping your site’s visitors satisfied and well-informed. By providing instant gratifications to the customers, their problems can be easily fixed, and they will stay as happy clients. The more evident it is to your customer that purchasing services or goods from you is to his or her benefit, the more likely the person is to complete a transaction at checkout.

Reach Out To Influencers

Your internet marketing strategy doesn’t have to be limited to the internet itself. Reach out to people who have blogs on a regular basis. It can help establish a sense of a relationship between influencers and everyone else in the same niche as yours. If bloggers feel right about your business, they are going to become more active in writing about your brand.

Keep A Simple Website

It is essential that websites are kept somewhat user-friendly, and webmasters often overlook this. It is tempting to use a variety of fancy multimedia tools, such as Adobe Flash or Silverlight, and web designers usually use them because of visual effects.

Smart website owners will not include fancy technology, as they know it will drive away visitors that do not want to be bothered by multimedia tools. A website should work well and serve its purpose, without resorting to lots of fancy tricks.

Stay Up-To-Date

Internet marketing has some characteristics common to most other markets but also has significant differences. For example, search engines may decide not to focus on title tags in the future. If the search engines implement a significant change on their algorithm, you need to be ready to alter your campaigns to include techniques to encourage search engine bots to crawl your site.

Content Is King

Always try to keep your content fresh and current on your website. Visitors who arrive at a site and find that the latest information available was posted months or even years ago are going to draw the wrong conclusions about your business’s current state of affairs. A well-received and current site is one which will attract more people.

Create A Blog

An efficient way to draw more traffic to your site is by creating a blog. Note that it is recommended to regularly add fresh content to make your blog more effective. If you provide new, up-to-date content, people will visit your site more often.

Open Social Channels

Open accounts on social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, and send out information about your business. Be careful from sending spam that people don’t want since this can pose a problem later on.

This article should let you know it is vital to put your best effort into Internet marketing to make more money. Use the advice found here, and you can watch your business shine.