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How to Find Content For Your Blog

Introduction

If you've decided to write a blog but you're not sure where to start, don't worry! There are plenty of ways for you to become inspired. Here are some ideas for coming up with new content for your blog.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Steps

1.) Watch the news or pick up a newspaper. Whether your blog is about your life as a stay-at-home mother or a commentary on politics, there will likely be news items that affect you or that will elicit your opinions.

2.) Comment on any unusual or amusing experiences you've had. It could be from the past few days or from a few years ago.

3.) Write a review of a movie you've seen or a book you've read.

4.) Write about subjects related to your blog's theme. For example, if your blog is about music, you could write about the artists who are nominated for awards or report on recording industry news.

5.) Talk with lots of people. Interacting with others often brings inspiration for writing.

6.) Write about a hobby such as cooking, traveling or sports.

7.) Publish interesting photographs you have taken and comment about the subjects or the circumstances surrounding them.

How to Use AdSense to Make Money With Blogger

Introduction

AdSense is an advertising program. It is offered by Google. They are advertisements that you can place on your blog to promote content relevant material. You generate money when viewers click on them. This is called "pay-per-click".

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Steps

1.) Go to blogger.com.

2.) Log in.

3.) Click on CUSTOMIZE.

4.) Click on POSTING under DASHBOARD.

5.) Click on the ADSENSE tab under the TEMPLATE tab.

6.) Enter in all your information. Blogger wil then register your account.

7.) Go to your adsense account. Copy your HTML codes. Go back to Blogger and enter the HTML codes into the appropriate spaces and click SAVE.

8.) When viewers visit your blog and click on your AdSense ads, you will get paid.

How to Make Money From a Blog

Introduction

Do you want to earn money by blogging? A blog is a web log or an online diary that can be for business or pleasure. Many people now earn part-time or even full-time salaries by blogging for money. Find out a few ways that you can monetize your blog and earn money for your efforts.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Start Your Blog

Steps

1.) Choose a blog. There are free hosted blogs online through many sources that can help you by giving you the tools and resources to make it simple to start your own blog. Or you can register a domain name and start your blog from scratch if you have a bit of technical savvy.

2.) Choose a niche. Once you've decided on a blog, decide what you will write about to attract visitors. Some simply use their blog as a place to write editorials or opinions while others blog about a specific subject they are knowledgeable on. Many professional bloggers recommend that you choose a niche so you can build a following.

3.) Promote your blog. Use web services that will get you some attention such as blog directories and social bookmarking. Using these services can help you get indexed in search engines and drive traffic to your blog. Commenting on other blogs can also build links in to your blog and help more people find you. Once you have some material to read and are indexed in search engines, you can begin to really monetize your blog and start earning money.

Tips & Warnings

• Make your blog visually appealing. Ask for advice from friends on the look and layout of your blog. Try to blend advertisements into your blog so they are more appealing and less obvious.

Monetize Your Blog

Steps

1.) Sign up with Google Adsense. Google offers the ability for people to display targeted advertisements on their blog. Google will give you a percentage of that revenue when people: click on the ads, view the ads and purchase something from a sponsor. You need to apply to Google Adsense and wait for acceptance, and then you will have to work with your blog program to embed the code so the advertisements display properly. This is not difficult.

You need to follow Google's TOS (terms of service) in order to maintain good standing. See warning section in this article for more information.

2.) Apply to other websites that pay you to post on your blog. There are many blog sites that will pay you a flat fee for writing a specific advertisement and link into your blog. Sites like Payperpost, Blogitive or Blogvertise offer these services once your blog has been indexed in search engines such as Google.

3.) Apply for professional blogging jobs. Many online classified networks advertise the ability to post on your own blog or on a blog belonging to a company. Many freelance bloggers earn a regular income by blogging this way.

4.) Join affiliate programs like Amazon and Chikita Mini Malls that offer the ability to advertise on your blog. Many affiliate marketing programs exist that allow you to monetize your blog and earn based on click through rates.

Maintain Your Blog

Steps

1.) Update your blog regularly. By keeping your blog fresh, you attract readers who will keep coming back and who might click your ads or purchase advertised services.

2.) Add reader services to your blog such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to allow syndication and to attract more readers. Continually finding ways to grow and improve your blog will increase your money-earning potential.

3.) Advertise. Once you are earning money from your blog, increase your earning potential by paying for advertising in places that fit your niche. You can also accomplish this by trading links and banners with other pro bloggers to increase exposure for your blog.

Tips & Warnings

• Google will ban Adsense participants for fraud click and cancel any earnings owing if fraud is suspected. Do not click your own advertisements as Google tracks IP addresses and suspicious behavior. Do not tell your family or friends to click your advertisements as a favor to you. Google's algorithm is very advanced, and once your account is banned, it's nearly impossible to be reinstated.

How to Create a Blog For Absolute Beginners

Introduction

So what the heck is this blog thing everyone is talking about and how do you get one? Blog is short for "web log" and it's basically your own personal online diary. It's a great place to post photos, ideas, rants and ravings and remain anonymous--or not. And they're pretty easy to create. This baby seems to be doing it. So here are the basics to get you up and running...

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Internet connection

Steps

1.)

Click to enlarge

Explore the blogging websites. Most of them are free to set up and use, and the ones that cost money are probably too complicated for a beginner anyway. Several of the more well-known free services are Blogger, Live Journal, MySpace, and Friendster. Even Yahoo and AOL have pages where you can create a private or public blog. (AOL’s is on their “People Connection” page.) And if you want your dog to have his or her own blog, and why wouldn't you, you can create one at a site called Dogster.

Click around to see which site most appeals to you. Browse through a couple of their blogs. Blogger offers a nice beginner’s tour right on their homepage.

2.) Choose a service and create an account. The usual password and email rigmarole.

3.)

Click to enlarge

A snap, so far, right? Okay, now here’s where it gets interesting. After you set up an account, the next thing the website will ask you to do is name your blog. It could be something simple and boring like “John Smith’s Blog,” but people usually come up with more creative titles describing themselves or their interests, such as “Bitter Angry Writer” or “The Artful L.A. Dodger” or “Catwoman’s Scratching Post” or the like.

4.) Now, the site will ask you to choose a web address, also known as a URL, where your blog will live on the web. It will be something like www.tlperl.blogspot.com or www.bitterangrywriter.myspace.com. And just like when you chose your email name, you might have to go through several combinations to find a site name that’s available. Once you’ve done it though, you’ve essentially created your own web page! Mazel tov!

5.)

Click to enlarge

The next page shows you templates with thumbnail sketches of different designs. There are all kinds of cool layouts to choose from, from the most basic black-on-white to colorful graphic designs. Choose the one that most appeals to you and that fits your blog subject if you have one. Like everything else about your blog, you can always change it later. At blogger, once you've acheived this step, you will get a message congratulating you for creating a blog and directing you to start posting.

6.)

Click to enlarge

The next screen you see looks like a big email box. Type your journal entry just like you would an email. You can choose different fonts and sizes of text, add pictures, lists, links to websites, anything you’d like. There will be a preview button to click to see if you like the way your blog looks. If not, click the “return to edit mode” button and do just that until you like what you see. Then, click publish. It’s as easy as that. You're blogging, baby!

7.)

Click to enlarge

You’ll usually also find a button marked “customize” or “settings” on the page. This is where you get to choose if your blog is public or private, what personal information you’d like to display on the page and other such settings. You can alter these at any time as well. There’s also a “change template” page if you’d like to rearrange the boxes on your blog, or change the colors, or add pictures to the main page ad other stuff too. There are lots of other fun and more complicated things to do as well to spruce up your site. Try not to get overwhelmed and stick to the basics at first. If you do get adventurous, check out the help section for tips...

How to Add a FreePolls Poll to a Blogger Blog

Introduction

Adding a FreePolls poll to your blog has many benefits. It allows viewers to cast their opinions based on the subject matter. It gives you an opportunity to find out what content is popular within the blogging community. It is a fun way for your viewers to become more interactive with your blog. It can increase traffic flow and give you a chance to make new friends.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Steps

1. Go to freepolls.com.

2. Create an account or log in.

3. Go to "Polls".

4. Click on "Create Poll".

5. Type in your question and choices.

6. Click on "Create Poll".

7. Copy the HTML code.

8. Go to your blogger.com.

9. Log in.

10. Go to "View Blog".

11. Click on "Customize".

12. Click on the "Template" tab.

13. Click on "Add a Page Element".

14. When the pop-up window appears, click on "ADD TO BLOG" under HTML Javascript.

15. Enter the title and paste the code in the text field provided.

16. Click "Save Changes".

How to Write for Search Engines

Introduction

Writing for Search engines requires an eye for formatting and content in such a way search engines as well as people can read and get something from it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You'll Need

• Good Grammar, Spell Checker, Proof Reader

Steps

1.) Determine what you are going to write about

2.) Before starting to actually write, create a small outline with at least 3 sections to emphasize

3.) Prioritize the sections based on importance to the overall topic as mot readers of web content browse.

4.) The first sections ( most important ) first sentence should focus on the overall topic.
i.e. This is what search engines will also focus on.

5.) If possible, try to include some bullet points in the first section. ( Search engines also focus on bullet list )

6.) Once your article is written, revisit and write a brief summary that emphasizes the 3 sections.

7.) Have someone proof read to see if it makes sense to them.
( This is probably the most important step )

8.) If any changes are suggested, try and incorporate these changes. ( It's very hard to be critical when you are looking at things your own way )

How to Speed Up Download Time on a Web Page

Introduction

Fast Web pages are the key to keeping visitors interested. There are many ways to optimize a site for fast download.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Steps

1.) Begin at the root of your page: Keep the background graphic simple or use a color for the background instead of a graphic.

2.) Keep images small and use the HEIGHT and WIDTH Hypertext tags to specify size. Visit a Web site, such as GifCruncher, that will automatically reduce your GIF pictures without
sacrificing quality.

3.) Reduce the number of images used in general. The best Web pages are uncluttered, easy to
read and fast.

4.) Use the HR tag to insert a horizontal line instead of using a graphic line, which takes up
space.

5.) Create several small tables instead of one large table on the Web page. Each table has to load separately before the viewer can see the contents - with smaller tables, the viewer will see content loading faster.

6.) Limit the number of advertisement banners on a Web page. Each advertisement banner
must call up information from another site; if that site is slow, so is your page.

7.) Keep the page short and simple. Create other pages for information that doesn't belong on the welcome page.

8.) Use the same background, fonts and, if possible, images throughout your Web site. Once an
image has been loaded, it usually remains in the viewer's cache file and does not have to be reloaded when a viewer visits another page with the same image.

9.) Keep special effects, animations, scrolling text and other images to a minimum. These eye-catching effects can bog down a page.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to keep each page below 25K, including graphics and special effects.
  
  
• Always use the HEIGHT and WIIDTH tags for an image, even if you've already resized it in a paint program. Specifying the height and width allows the browser to finish the rest of the page while loading the image.
  
  
• Do not save bandwidth by linking to an image on another Web site. Download the image to the hard drive and insert a link to the other Web site.

How to Create A Top Site Web Site

Introduction

A top site website is basically a website of your own, which appears on the top of all search engines in terms of viewership, traffic and content. To create this website, it should contain a quantitative as well as qualitative data that is extremely easy to use, read and understand. It should also be appealing and interesting enough to keep readers returning to your site. You can create a website on your own if you have the knowledge of HTML, java script and FTP. Otherwise you can get a website made from professional designers online in the following way.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Steps

1.) Visit any search engine and search for website creators.

2.) Click on the one that is most appealing to you and create an account.

3.) Select the style of your website, including the template, colors of the text and background, image and where your company name appears.

4.) Create your home page, which would include details about you, your company and other product and service details.

5.) Include a contact page that includes the e-mail address or phone number to reach your company.

6.) Create a domain name for your site. You can buy your own domain name as your web designing site provides you with this option.

7.) Get web space for your site to be shown on. Submit your sites to major and minor search engines.

Tips & Warnings

• To create a top site website, you have to make the site look extremely flawless and the service it provides should be extraordinary.
  
• Give your site a combination of usable information attractively designed and easy to access.
  
• Make sure that your content is very precise, so that while someone is doing a search on a relevant word, it matches correctly.

How to Create a Search Engine Friendly Web page

Introduction

With thousands and thousands of web pages being published daily it's no wonder that you cannot find your site or pages listed on the major search engines. Search Engines love content and want to index your pages, but if you do certain things they will not index your site or pages at all.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You'll Need

• Web design software ( notepad or any text editor will also work )
• Internet connection
• hosting space
• Assumption is that you already have a site, or pages on the hosting server.

Steps

1.) Open page you want to edit.

2.) Make sure you have a meta description , it should look like:

3.) Make sure you have some keywords that closely reflect the contents of the page.

4.) Make sure to add a tag for search robots commands:

see: www.robotstxt.org for standard commands and situations for using.

5.) Make sure your robots.txt file is not blocking search robots.

See http://www.robotstxt.org for more information.

6.) Make sure that any JavaScript used within the page will display the full URL of any other pages it's linking to.

7.) Make sure all images use the "ALT" tag description for the image.

8.) Make sure that all pages linked within the site are using the full URL for the link, some search engines do not like relative links ( ../../nextpage.asp ), use absolute links ( http://www.domainame.com/section/nextpage.asp ), so the search engine can index that page.

9.) Save page and upload to server.

How to Add a Skype Call Me Button to a Web site

ntroduction

It seems like everyone has a Web site these days, and some have more than one. If you are one of these connected types you can add a button to your site that allows visitors to contact you via Skype. You can also add a Skype Me button to your email signatures or forum signatures. Skype has made it simple to create a customized button; you don’t need to know HTML or any other programming language. All you need is a minute or two and an Internet connection.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Create a Skype Me Button

Steps

1.) Navigate to the Skype Web site then click Share on the menu bar at the top of the window.

2.) Locate and click on the Skype Buttons link at the bottom of the page under the heading Skype Share.

3.) Enter your Skype username in the field provided.

4.) Select the Skype button you want to display then preview your button by clicking the "I'm not telling" icon.

5.) Select either the Web HTML or Email HTML button located near the heading “Copy & paste this code." If you will be posting this button on a Web site, including a forum or message board, choose Web HTML. For email and instant message signatures, choose Email HTML.

6.) Select all of the text in the code box. You can do this by clicking just to the left of the first symbol and dragging your mouse to the end of the code.

7.) Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard then press the C key once. This will save all the data you just selected to your virtual clipboard.

8.) Open a text file on your computer. To do this click the Windows Start button then click Run. Type the word notepad into the window that pops up, then click OK.

9.) Hold down the CTRL key then press the V key once to paste your HTML code into the notepad file.

10.) Save your document before closing it.

Add a Button to a Web Site

Steps

1.) Depending on the program you use to build your Web site, you may have to find the option that allows you to add HTML code to it. Select that option.

2.) Open the document you created containing the HTML code from the Skype Web site.

3.) Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard, and press the A key once to select all the text.

4.) Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard, and press the C key once to copy all the text.

5.) Place your cursor in the Web site design program.

6.) Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and press the V key once to paste the code to your Web page.

7.) Save your Web page and take the necessary steps to upload your new and improved page onto your Web site.

Add a Button to a Forum or Message Board Signature

Steps

1.) Visit the message board you belong to and log in.

2.) Go to your Profile page.

3.) Find the Signature Settings menu and paste (CTRL + V) the code from your text file into your signature.

4.) Save your new signature and view it to make sure there are no errors.

Tips & Warnings

• Note that some message boards and forums do not permit the use of HTML code in signatures.

Add a Button to Your Email Signature

Steps

1.) Create a button as instructed above, but choose Email HTML rather than Web HTML. Copy, paste and save the code in a text document.

2.) Open Microsoft Outlook or your mail program. From the main Outlook window, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.

3.) Under Signature, click the Signatures button and then click New. In the "Enter a name for your new signature box," enter a name.

4.) Under "Choose how to create your signature," select the option you want, then click Next.

5.) In the Signature text box, type the text you want to include in the signature.

6.) Open the text file containing your Email HTML code. Select all the text by holding down the CTRL key and pressing the A key.

7.) Copy the text (CTRL + C) then paste it (CTRL + V) into the signature text box.

8.) Save your signature then view it to check for errors.

How to Add a Page Transition Effect With FrontPage 2000

Introduction

Start your page in a unique way with a page transition effect. FrontPage 2000 allows you to set transition effects for each page in your web.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Steps

1.) Start FrontPage and open the desired web. Double-click on the page the effect will be added to.

2.) Choose Format from the menu bar and select Page Transition.

3.) Select the Page Event (Page Enter, Page Exit, Site Enter or Site Exit) and choose the desired effect from the right-hand box.

4.) Enter the amount of time the effect should last in the duration box.

5.) Save the page and preview it in a browser.

How to Find Pages That Link to a Web Site in Google

Introduction

Building up link popularity is an important aspect of search engine optimization. The more Web pages that link to you, the better your chances are of being noticed. Google allows you to find out which Web pages are linked up to yours. Just follow these steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Steps

1.) Go online and visit the Google home page (see resources).

2.) Go to the Advanced Search Page from the Google home page.

3.) Type in the URL in the "Links" box of the "Page Specific Search" section.

4.) Alternatively, enter the following search key in the main search box of the Google homepage: "link:www.nameofthesite.com."

How to Attract New Members to a Web Community

Introduction

So you've created a slick design, written riveting content and published your Web community. Now you might ask, "How do I attract new members to my Web community?" The answer is simple: link, get involved and focus. Once you get the ball rolling, your Web community or forum will begin overflowing with visitors and threads.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Steps

1.) Start simple. Make your forum easy to join and easy to look at. Make sure it doesn't look like a ghost town. Start with only a couple different board topics where the discussion can be focused, rather than dividing the posts over many different boards.

2.) Meet and greet. Check your forum everyday for new visitors. When new users join or make their first post, make sure to greet them and make them feel welcome and excited to get involved in the community. Consider setting up an "introduce yourself" forum where new visitors can make their first post without treading on the toes of others.

3.) Create good content. You can't base a Web community around nothing. Either write content that is interesting and will get conversation flowing, or hire someone to write it for you. There are a couple of sites out there that provide free content. See the resources for links.

4.) Contribute. As the host, you should be an active presence on your board. Make several posts a day, reply to everyone and try to get conversation rolling. Make sure there are always fresh topics on your board.

5.) Get some back links. These are links from other websites to yours. Find some other websites that are related to your Web community and approach them to see if they would like to make a link exchange. Also, try joining Web rings or associations to get your community listed for free.

6.) Keep at it. It may take awhile for your Web community to gain popularity, but always be actively promoting and recruiting. Tell all your close friends about it, include links in your signatures for emails and forum postings and your blog. The first few members are the hardest to get, but after that they will grow exponentially.

How to Add a CSS Stylesheet to an RSS Feed

Introduction

RSS feeds are a popular method of offering consumers, clients or friends the opportunity to stay updated and abreast of the latest in news and information. Having your own RSS feed gives you control over the information displayed on your Web site. Of course, with the rise in CSS, the obvious question is how to mix a CSS stylesheet with those popular RSS feeds. By using a simple RSS file, CSS file and a CSS/HTML editor, having the stylish CSS formatted RSS feed will offer precision and good looks to your own Web site.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Steps

1.) Open the CSS/HTML editor and using the command for opening files, open the CSS file.

2.) Edit the CSS file to regulate how each of the RSS tags will be displayed using "font-family" for font characteristics, "display" for the display look, "padding-(left, right, bottom or top)" to set the padding and "color" for adjusting the color scheme to fit your needs. Use Ctrl+S to save the CSS file to your computer.

3.) Using the command for opening files, open the RSS file with the already open CSS/HTML editor.

4.) Add on the first line and on the second line. Use Ctrl+S to save the RSS file to your computer.

5.) Open an FTP program. Connect through the FTP program to your web server using the appropriate information. Open the folder on the web server containing the files for your Web site.

6.) Use your mouse to select the RSS file and the CSS file. Drag and drop those files into the FTP program connected to your web server. Close the FTP program.

7.) Open up your RSS feed and make sure it has the required look and feel. Adjust as needed.

How to Syndicate My Content Using RSS

Introduction

RSS has become popular by the blog explosion, and more of your users are downloading content to their readers everyday. There are several ways that vary in degree of difficulty. To install most RSS feeds, simply follow these steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Steps

1.) Find the RSS feed that you want to add to your page.

2.) Get the code for the RSS feed.

3.) Copy the code to your Clipboard or Notepad.

4.) Open your editing software.

5.) Paste the code into your page.

6.) Save the page.

7.) FTP the page to your server account.

How to Set up RSS Feeds on Your Blogger.com Account

Introduction

RSS feeds allow readers to keep abreast of your blog by notifying them whenever the blog is updated. Enabling feeds on your blog can increase traffic and the number of readers. In addition, you can set up RSS feeds from other blogs or Web sites to provide feeds to your blog.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Log in or Set up a Blogger.com Account

Steps

1.) Begin at the Blogger.com home page (see the Resources section below).

2.) Sign in with your Google account or set up a new account by providing an email address and password.

Edit Your Settings to Allow RSS Feeds

Steps

1.) Sign in and access your blog's 'Dashboard' page.

2.) Click on the 'Settings' link in the 'Manage' menu.

3.) Find and click on the 'Site Feed' link in the 'Settings' tab.

4.) Select 'Full,' 'Short' or 'None' from the drop-down menu labeled 'Allow Blog Feed.' This allows for the full version of your text to be syndicated or just the first paragraph.

5.) Choose the 'Advanced Mode' link to have more control over your blog syndication. The advanced mode allows you to choose if you want posts, comments or per-post comment feeds.

6.) View your blog page to see the 'Subscribe to Posts' through the Atom feed method. If your viewers would like to change this to RSS, then they will need to add '?alt=rss' to the end of the site feed URL.

Add Links to Your Blog to Get RSS Feeds

Steps

1.) Choose a site feed you would like to add to your blog. Most Web sites and blogs that are updated regularly provide an RSS feed link.

2.) Click on the 'RSS feed' icon on the Web site you would like to link.

3.) Highlight and copy the URL from the address bar to your clipboard.

4.) Return to your Blogger.com 'Dashboard.' Click on the 'Layout' link.

5.) Click on the 'Add a Page Element' box where you would like your RSS feed on your blog.

6.) Choose the link that says 'Add to Blog' under the 'Feed' label.

7.) Paste the URL of the feed in the text box and click on the 'Continue' link.

8.) Click the 'Save Changes' link to save the feed to your blog. View your blog to see your new RSS feed links.

How to Find the IP Address of an Email Sender

Introduction

All emails come from an IP (Internet Proticol) address. Every computer that has internet access has an IP address. It consists of several numbers that each have a meaning. The IP address is easy to locate in incoming email.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You'll Need

• You will need to have access to an email that has full headers activated. This usually an option somewhere on the open email received. Full headers include time of arrival, who it is to, and who it

Steps

1.) After you open the email, open the "Full headers" option if you haven't already done so.
In Outlook Express the process for IP address is different: go to File then select Properties and then look at the bottom "Received From" message and the IP address is located in parenthesis.

2.) look at the top few lines and you should see more than the usual from xxx@yahoo.com and the subject. Look for something that says X originating IP:

3.) The next step is to look at the number next to the originating IP: in my confirmation email from ehow the nuber is [72.5.232.39]. This is the IP address of the computer that was used to send that email.

How to Reply to an E-mail Message

Introduction

"Replying" to a message simplifies your correspondence, since you do not have to enter the recipient's e-mail address manually. Most popular e-mail applications follow a similar procedure.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Steps

1.) Click on the closed e-mail message to select it, or open the message.

2.) From the Message menu, click on Reply, or click Reply in the toolbar. A new message window will open. The recipient's address will appear automatically in the To field. The Subject will be the same subject as in the original message, and the content of the original message will usually be included, preceded by > signs.

3.) Add your new content to the message. If desired, you can delete part or all of the content from the original message. You can also add new content at any place in the message so it resembles a conversation. This is called "continuing the thread."

How to Send an E-mail Message

Introduction

E-mail allows you to communicate quickly anywhere in the world, providing your recipient has an e-mail account. The message is usually delivered within a matter of minutes.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Configuring Your E-mail Software

Steps

1.)Open your e-mail program. Before you can send an e-mail message, your e-mail software must have the right configuration so it can send your mail.

2.) Look for commands labeled Settings, Accounts or Options.

3.) Check to be sure that your e-mail software displays the correct settings for your account. If you do not know these settings, your Internet Service Provider or e-mail service will be able to tell you what they are. You will need your POP server name and the SMTP server name.(The POP server is where your e-mail resides; the SMTP server is what transfers e-mail you send.)

4.) This information need only be entered once, although you can go back and change it whenever you want.

How to Forward an E-mail Message

Introduction

When you forward an e-mail, you send a message you've received to someone else. Usually you can add your own message to the forwarded message before you send it. These instructions should work for most e-mail programs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Steps

1.) Select or open the message you want to forward.

2.) Using the Message menu, select Forward, or click Forward on the toolbar. The message you received will appear in a new message window.

3.) Leave the subject field as it is or change it. The subject will typically be preceded by "FW:" so that your recipients know it's a forwarded message.

4.) Type the e-mail address or addresses of the recipients.

5.) Edit the text or add new text if desired.

6.) Click Send.