Now I know what you are thinking: basics do not sound very exciting or "empowering." But these basics are the foundation upon which everything else is built. Miss these and you may end up spinning your wheels for the next 12 months. After all, would you not rather be spinning stories about how you made your first million?

If you want an email campaign to succeed, you do not want to offend anyone when sending your messages. Turn off a consumer with your email and you can be sure they will tune out your message. Do not let this happen to you!

A message that earns respect makes sales. That is why our first topic for discussion is email etiquette. Train yourself to always and I mean ALWAYS stick to the rules below when crafting your email message.

Rule #1 - Always Wrap Your Lines At 65 Characters Or Less

Whenever you write an email, always format the lines so that they are 65 characters, or less, across. To do this, you may need to do a hard return by hitting Enter at the end of the line. Wondering why to limit your lines to just 65 characters? (Good question! It shows you are thinking.) There are two reasons that less is more.

The first thing to remember is that looking at a computer screen for a long time causes eye fatigue for many readers. The shorter span of characters across the screen makes

reading easier and more appealing to the recipient of your email message. The other reason to go short instead of long is this: some email clients automatically enforce line-wrapping at 60-65 characters on received messages. If your email is wrapped at 70, the content will arrive all chopped up. This makes it unattractive...and worse -- unappealing.

Tip within a Rule #1: Email clients such as Outlook Express allow you to set the line-wrap to any character-width you choose. That means you will not have to hit Enter each time after typing 65 characters. Makes life easier!

Tip within a Rule #2 - You can type 65 asterisks or dashes in a Notepad file to create a template. Then paste your email below it to see if any lines extend too far to the right.

Rule # 2 - BE CAREFUL USING ALL CAPS

How many times have you changed the TV channel to avoid listening to a screaming car salesperson? No one likes a screaming salesperson...and no one likes a "screaming" email

message, either. Odds are, when someone has over-amped the volume of their message by using too many capital letters (not to mention too many exclamation points and other

punctuation) you are going to be turned off. On the Internet, email messages written in all caps are considered yelling. It is okay to write some sentences and some words in all caps, but do not go overboard.

Tip within a Rule: Consumers buy from a source they trust. Emails in all caps are perceived as shady or uneducated, and have an appearance that damages the credibility of an offer.

Rule #3 - Watch Your Ps & Qs (Spelling and Grammar)

Would you be influenced by an email selling you something that had noticeable spelling and grammar mistakes? Sure you would...and the influence would be negative, not positive! When a consumer reads a sales message that is filled with errors, they think to themselves, Good grief, this person doesn`t even take the time to get his emails right. His product is probably the same quality as his emails.

When you are in business, your image is your reputation and your reputation is the reason people buy from you or the guy down the block. It is essential that you create an image of Integrity, Credibility, and Honesty in the mind of your prospects. Sending emails filled with errors does not hurt your professional image...it destroys it. (Ouch!)