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Gmail Canned Responses in email composition form

Gmail's canned response feature lets you save an email reply as a template. You can then use that template when composing a reply or in automated replies in filters. Save countless hours by typing out common email replies just once.Login to your Gmail account.Click on the settings link in the upper right-hand corner.Click the Labs tab. (See screenshot of Gmail settings tabs.)Look for the feature called Canned Responses.Select Enable next to the Canned Responses feature.Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.You will now see a "canned responses" feature whenever you're composing an email. You can also use your email templates as an automated reply in filters. See these screenshots of canned responses in email composition form, canned responses in filters.if(zSbL

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Brad Pineau is founder of domain brainstorming tool DomainHole. In this Q&A, Brad explains how to choose a great domain name and how his (free) app can help create an awesome domain.

Brad: DomainHole provides a set of tools to help you find a great domain. If you've ever tried to find a domain name, then you know the pain of not being able to find anything available. Each of our tools take a unique approach to help you discover domain names that are unique, brandable, and keyword specific. By offering these different tools, we find people are able to find a wide variety of available domain names, and they can choose which they like best.

Our site is completely free to use, and isn't cluttered with advertisements. We are continually trying to solve the problem of "how to find a great domain". In fact, we currently have three additional tools in development.

Brad: The naming of DomainHole started started several years ago. The first domaining tool we developed was our Expired Domain Search tool. At the time, it was a simple tool that we used internally for finding keyword specific domains for our affiliate marketing sites. One of the first searches we ran was on the keyword "domain" and "domainhole.com" happened to come back in the results. We liked it lot at the time, so we called the tool DomainHole.

Years later, when we decided to launch the tool with a suite of other domaining tools, we started brainstorming on what to call the new site. We decided to stick with "DomainHole" in honor of the first tool we created. We've had mixed reactions on that choice. Some people love it (like me) and some people don't, but it has all the elements of a good domain name so I have no regrets on the name choice.

Brad: I use the Expired Domain Search tool every day, regardless of whether I'm looking for a domain name or not. I find the best domain names by accident, and the expired search is a great way to discover these domains. There's three main searches I run:

First, I look for all new short domains that are expiring (.COMs less than 4 characters) - if there's any pronounceable ones, I'll usually grab them. Next, I look for all new dictionary domains that are expiring (1 word .COMs) - these domains are real English words are often rank well in search engines.And lastly, I'll run a keyword search for a list of niches I'm interested in (2 word .COMs) - I've found some great brandable domains with this search.

Brad: All of the tools we offer at DomainHole are completely free to use. You don't even need to create an account, unless you want to set some favorites or create some alerts. Our business model is based on affiliate commissions with domain registrars such as GoDaddy. If a user clicks on a "register" link for any domain on DomainHole, they are redirected to their registrar of choice. If they go ahead and register any domains, we make a small commission.

There's a few other business models we're considering, such as offering Premium Accounts with additional tools only available to Premium members, a Domain Marketplace where people can buy/sell/trade domains, and even a Domain Buy Service where we'll help people find a domain for their business.

Brad: There's three main points I like to consider when choosing a domain.

Can say it over the phone without spelling it or giving any explanation. Example - try telling someone to go to del.icio.us over the phone.Short, and easy to spell. Aim for 10 characters or less.Memorable, so that someone will remember the domain a week later if they want to get back to the site.

If you can hit all these points, you're dealing with a good domain.

Brad: The most important secondary factor to consider when choosing a domain, is the marketing that you'll be implementing for your business. Your domain should match the brand you are building. For example, mailchimp.com branding is based around a chimp, which makes sense. If the founders of mailchimp didn't want to be associated with a chimpanzee, mailchimp.com would be a terrible domain to choose. If you're using specific words in your domain, you should be comfortable and proud to include those words in your branding.

Brad: No one knows for sure how search ranking algorithms work, but it is a common belief that length of domain registration does indeed play a factor in page rank and search ranking. The theory is that spam or "blackhat" sites will only be registered for a year at a time, as there's a high risk of the site being blocked by search engines. Whereas legitimate sites that plan on being around for a while will register for longer periods. Longer registration periods give domains higher credibility. The same theory applies to SSL certificates (ie, https://) - if a site has an SSL certificate, there's a good chance it's not a spam site.

Brad: When searching within the United States, it is commonly believed that .COM domains do carry some priority over foreign country-code domains (such as .LY, .BE, etc). However, they do not have priority over other extensions that are also commonly used in the United States (such as .NET, .ORG, .TV, .INFO, etc). All of these extensions have an equal chance to rank well for your desired keywords. Each country-code domain has the same advantage over .COM on their own international search engines. For example, if you are searching on google.ca, Google will give more weight to .CA domains. Users from different countries will see different search results when searching for the same keywords.

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This is a list of tasks that a local brick & mortar retailer will need to do to start selling products on the Web. This guide aims to help you sell goods online and ship orders worldwide.

The tasks are labeled with 4 priority levels. The required tasks are the things every online retailer needs to do. The recommended and optional tasks will make your ecommerce life easier, but they're not absolutely necessary for selling online. The advanced tasks aim to create an efficient system for high volume sellers.

Have a question, comment or suggestion about this guide? Email me at onlinebusiness.guide@about.com.

Dial-up access won't do when you're doing business online. You'll need to be online to create product listings, upload pictures, process new sales, email customers, and almost everything else. A fast, always-on Internet connection is a must-have for any business working online.

Get the lowest priced DSL plan from your phone company. (Probably in the $50 range, with some kind of discount for the first few months.) You don't need a bigger plan unless the connection feels slow and you upload or share big media files (pictures, videos).

Your domain name is the web address of your website and the part after the @ sign in your email address. For example, the domain name of the New York Times is nytimes.com.

You don't absolutely need a domain name to sell goods online. However, having an email address like greg@yourcompany.com is a lot more professional and trustworthy than a free email address like gregscompany@yahoo.com.

Since they're cheap (less than $10 per year) and easy to register, I suggest registering a domain name even if you don't plan on building your own website.

All of the following domain name registrars offer a quality service at reasonable prices: GoDaddy, Register.com, Enom, EasyDNS, Yahoo! Domains.

More tips on choosing a domain name for your business.

An accurate scale is important from the get go because the weight of the product determines how much it will cost to ship.

Buyers are looking at the total cost (price + shipping) of buying your product, and if your listed shipping weight of the product is too high, you'll price your products out of the market. On the other hand, charge too little for shipping, and you'll have to pay the difference out of your own pocket.

What you're looking for in a scale:

Remote or extended readout display.Adequate weight range for your products.Attachments for rolls and/or envelopes.Big enough surface area for your products.Tare / zero out function.Digital readout for precision.

The Ultraship line of scales has served me well.

You don't need a fancy expensive digital camera or a full studio setup. All you need is a basic digital camera ($100-200) with the following minimum features:

At least 1 megapixel - Yup, that's all. That should not be a problem with any digital camera these days. Macro capabilities - So you can have ultra-close zoom for detailed pictures. Flash disabling - The picture always comes out worse using the built-in flash. Indirect sunlight makes for great lighting. If you want to buy indoor lights, check out this product photography guide first.

Shop for Digital Cameras

You obviously need a computer to do work online. Use these guidelines to get a desktop for under $500 or a laptop for under $1000.

Monitor - Go bigger, it's worth it. Look for 19" - 22" LCD monitors for the best deals. Memory (RAM) - Splurge! Get at least 1 Gb of RAM. 2 Gb is better and would not be a waste of money. RAM makes everything feel snappier. Processor (CPU) - Tend to go cheaper. Spend the money on RAM or a bigger monitor. Storage (hard drive size) - Get at least 100 Gb for a desktop, and at least 60 Gb for a laptop. Raw product pictures take up a lot of space. DVD-RW Drive - Make sure you can burn DVDs to make data backups. Operating System - Any will do. XP, Vista, Linux, OSX... they all work.

You will need to print on two types of paper:

Regular 8.5" x 11" paper for packing slips, reports, general purpose printing.Self-adhesive labels for pre-paid postage and address labels. Shop for Laser Printers.

Compared to an inkjet printer, laser printers are faster, quieter, prints noticeably sharper output, and the ink doesn't smear when it gets wet. It's worth the upgrade.

Printing your own postage from the office is a huge time saver. It might be worth it to get a dedicated label printer. (I like the Zebra LP2844 - fast enough and prints 4"x6".)

If you're not buying a dedicated label printer, get a laser printer that has two trays so you don't have to constantly swap out the regular paper for self-adhesive labels.

This step is high up on the list, even before we list a single product for sale, because email is required for creating accounts with vendors. It's also the primary method of communication on the Web.

You could use a free email address from Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail instead of bothering with a domain (see #1 above) and setting up your own mailbox. But using an email address at your own domain is what separates the pros from the amateurs.

I recommend creating a Google Apps account. It lets you manage your company's email addresses from a central location. You can also add other free services like instant messaging, document and spreadsheet editing/sharing, and group calendars. (Two alternatives to Google are Zoho and Microsoft Office Live.

PayPal is a very popular way to pay online. Think of it as an online wallet. On eBay, it's the preferred way to pay for both sellers and buyers.

With a PayPal account, you can accept payments via PayPal or a major credit card (Visa, MC, AMEX, Discover).

PayPal also offers a free application called MultiOrder Shipping that lets sellers pay for and print postage labels in bulk. (Unfortunately, it only supports USPS and domestic U.S. shipments at the moment.)

The US Postal Service (USPS) and UPS are the two biggest carriers for shipping orders. Both integrate seamlessly with third party selling software (including eBay). That lets your customers calculate custom shipping quotes based on their location.

Both also offer free shipping supplies for their customers. You just need to create an account at usps.com and/or ups.com, and you can start requesting free shipping envelopes, boxes, customs forms, labels, and more.

The UPS advantage over the USPS is tracking. UPS provides accurate global, door-to-door tracking on all their packages. But they cost more than the USPS. Ship globally or high value items? Check out UPS.

eBay is by far the largest online marketplace where sellers and buyers gather, and it's a great place to start your ecommerce business. Start by listing a few small, inexpensive, easy-to-ship items at auction. By selling products one at a time (via auction or fixed price listing) lets you slowly learn about the ecommerce sales (creating effective listings), and gives you time to buildout your fulfillment pipeline (packaging, shipping, returns).

Even if you ultimately decide to build your own ecommerce website, you should still sell on eBay. Its millions and millions of unique visitors a month can't be ignored.

Also try to buy a few things. It's helpful to see the ecommerce process from the buyer's point of view.

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With literally hundreds of options for hosting, marketing and design of your new Web site, it can be overwhelming to decide where to start. Here is your 9 Step Quick Start Guide to Getting Online.

If you are still brainstorming your ideas, consider this set of 27 free e-books. Just click and view material from some of today’s best business minds, including Seth Godin, Jim Kukral and Guy Kawasaki.

To be in business online, you’re going to need a Web host and domain registrar. Bluehost is one of the top hosts and can give you everything in one place. It is a mid-priced service and offers unlimited everything - hosting space, email accounts, domains - the works. If you are interested to consider some others, check out the cheapest Web hosts.

Setup Your Web Hosting:

If you are just getting started, you’ll likely need the basic package. You’ll be able to host a number of websites on this one package, including a number of blogs (or WordPress installations).

Setup Your Domain Registration:

Chose private registration: Although it costs more, you’ll be happy you did. It will prevent huge amounts of spam from burying you in the months to come. Consider registering for 5 years: Search engines recognize long term registrations, and reward you with higher rankings. If you are willing to register far into the future, the search engines view your company as more legitimate and solid.

As with all Web hosts, Bluehost offers many options when registering your domain. Aside from private registration and length of your registration the other options are personal preference – but not likely needed. If you want to see other options, check out the cheapest domain name registrars.

For ease of getting started and maintaining your site, a WordPress installation is recommended. Originally just for blogs, WordPress is now a fully functional site design and management tool. Wordpress is the engine for your website. It manages your content, and allows you to easily modify the appearance of your site – with virtually no technical experience. And it's free.

The theme is what gives your WordPress installation both its function and its design. It’s good to choose carefully, because it can be a hassle to swap themes after you have lots of content. Many of the themes available allow you to disable or remove the blog component if you don’t need it. You can create your page with the “Pages” option.

Depending on your requirements, a free theme may work well. Check out our set of 42 free WordPress themes.

If the free ones don’t fit your needs, check out Pagelines PlatformPro theme. It is the easiest theme to use - and the most customizable. It is a true drag-and-drop WordPress theme. Check out a recent review of Pagelines PlatformPro. Or for a lower cost option, check out the Thematic Themes site. They have themes ranging from magazine styled blogs, to stores, classified and travel guides. This premium theme company will likely have a design to fit your needs. Remember, the colors, logos and layout can most often be completely adjusted within the dashboard of WordPress.

Upload into WordPress and click “Activate”. You can now customize the theme and add content. Note: When you upload the theme to your WordPress installation keep it as a zip file – just as you downloaded it.

You’re going to need a Twitter account for your business. It is valuable for promoting your content, and for interacting with clients and suppliers.

With Hootsuite you can automate the promotion of your new posts. Just five steps will automatically promote your blog through Twitter and other social networks.

Now that you’ve got a Twitter account, you should take a few minutes to learn how to get the most out of it.

First of all, you’re going to need followers. And how will you manage all those direct messages? Visit TweetAdder and try the trial version. This software will build your following of like-minded people and will manage your direct messages as well.

Learn more about the Top Twitter Tools for Business.

Email marketing is an important component of your online business. With an opt-in email list you’ll have a group of people eager to listen to what you’re saying. With a regular email newsletter, your visitors won’t have to remember to come back - you can keep in touch directly. Aweber has a great set of templates to easily create newsletters. Aweber also allows you to manage multiple email lists and websites with one account. Learn about email marketing options in the Email Marketing Service Review.

It’s important to track your progress and see the results of your marketing efforts. Here are two great options:

SEOmoz: Is a combination of free and pay tools that allow you to get the true pulse of your Web site. These can be used in combination with Google Analytics. The pay services are available on a monthly subscription fee. Google Analytics: This is a free option, and surprisingly complex. Simple to use, it’s a quick install into your WordPress installation, and you can immediately begin to track traffic. This includes top keywords, location of visitors, referral sites and popular pages.

Once you have accomplished the first eight steps, it’s time to move on to setting up your other social networks:

The six primary accounts you should have are:

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Eager to launch your online business, but not sure where to start? With improving technology, including excellent online tools and lower costs, there has never been an easier time to put your business online. These 10 steps will get you online in no time.

Or for an even faster start, follow this 9 Step Quick Start Guide.

What is your experience with the Internet? Do you still think "MySpace" is your little office under the stairs? Do you raise an eyebrow when your daughter talks about "tweeting"?

Success online requires spending significant time:

Researching competitorsUnderstanding how Web tools work (Twitter, RSS Feeds, etc.)Becoming familiar with the culture of the Internet

Your domain is your unique address on the Internet. It is your piece of intellectual property, just like a patent or a trademark. There are numerous registrars (companies that register domains) online where you can purchase your domain.

Some registrars even offer "free" domains with a hosting package or another purchase. While many of these are legitimate, be sure to confirm that the domain is registered in your name. If the domain is registered in the registrars name it may be difficult, if not impossible, to switch to another hosting company without losing your domain.

Domain registrars:

A Web host is the company that essentially will "rent" you space on their servers to host your website. These companies usually offer domain registration and it’s often easier to have both with the same company.

Web host features such as storage capacity, uptime percentage, domain based email and server security should be evaluated. Also, the ability to host a blog, provide response forms, marketing tools and tools for e-commerce are important criteria to consider when choosing your Web host.

Web Hosting Providers:

This isn’t as difficult as it sounds. You have two options for site creation:

Create the site yourself, orHire a designer to create it for you.

There are at least three options for creating your own site.

Many hosting companies offer free site building tools. WordPress is a popular free tool – both for websites and stand-alone blogs. It is a very simple install, with many hosting companies having install tools just for WordPress. You won’t need years of study and thick manuals to use this software. The other option is to use a high-end program like Dreamweaver by Adobe (Visit Adobe's Website) which will do everything you need, but has a pretty steep learning curve. One of the training manuals for Dreamweaver is an overwhelming 1000 pages thick.

Hiring a professional designer may be a simpler option. This isn’t necessarily expensive. By using services like Craig’s List or Elance.com you can find designers eager for your work. Expect to pay from $50 to $100 to have a designer assist in the install of your free WordPress software on your hosting space. In addition to the visual design work, you'll need to give significant thought to your site content.

The days of printing and faxing an order form, or mailing a check are long gone. Online payment acceptance is the foundation of an online business. This allows clients to act on an impulse.

Accepting Online Payments:

Shopping Carts:

Be sure to check for required features and their terms. Minimum monthly fees can affect a start-up business. Its best to choose a capable service provider that allows growth, so you can start with basic services and low cost and upgrade as your volume increases.

Determine Product Delivery Methods

Depending on your product type, your delivery methods can range from very simple (downloadable information product or an online service) to more complex (shipping of goods via courier, using a fulfillment company). For downloadable products consider an electronic fulfillment company like E-junkie.com.

Fulfillment Companies, for shipping of physical goods:

Even the most cutting edge design and amazing new product is worthless if it’s buried under millions of other websites. Consider these basic methods of promoting your new site:

Register with the three major search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo)List your blog in the major blog directoriesContent marketing, video and audio podcastOnline Advertising: Google and Facebook ads.Direct mailing (print, not email)Offline marketing (billboards, company vehicles, stationary, print ads, promotional products)

Collection of client and prospect email (and other contact information) is critical to the growth of every online business. However, a large and growing list is only valuable when useful and relevant information is sent on a regular basis to these individuals. The goal of an email list is to turn prospects into clients and clients into ambassadors for your company/product.

Some popular options include:

For more options, check out the Email Marketing Review

Easy (and free) tools are available that allow you to see who clicked where and when. Many Web hosting companies offer traffic analyzing tools.

Google Analytics is a free tool – which tracks, among other things:

Popular pages Traffic sourcesPopular keywordsLocation of clicks

These reports can be customized with a plethora of variables including date range, page views, and length of time on site.

While visitor traffic provides an interesting gauge, what you are really looking for is transactions. Whether you are selling a product or a service, success is measured in sales.

In addition to the specific online considerations, you’ll need to consider:

TaxationBankingLicensing and trademarksLegal business structureBusiness locationProduct warehousingProduct creationAccountingLegal matters, among other things

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