The A to Z Guide to the Internet

E

E-business- An e-business is defined as any business that is drawing a majority of its income from selling their products or service in an online format.

There are many advantages to running an e-business, as opposed to a traditional business. The start up costs for doing business online are relatively low compared to opening up a store. All you need is an internet connection and a website. There can also be added costs for advertising and setting up a merchant account so you can accept payments.

However, overall, the costs are much lower than opening a store in a building. You can do business directly from your home, and with certain suppliers, you don’t even have to have inventory. Another advantage to doing business online, as opposed to locally, is that you can sell to the entire world instead of just your local community.

E-business can also be used to refer to any business practices that are handled electronically (such as supply chain management, order tracking and processing, and payroll).

E-book- This is a book that can be downloaded and read on a computer. Most e-books are saved in Adobe Acrobat and require Adobe Acrobat reader (a free program) to be accessed. E-books (sometimes spelled ebooks) are quickly becoming the newest way to receive information online. There are many free e-books available on the web, and there are also e-books available for purchase. When you purchase an e-book, you can download it directly to your computer.

E-mail (electronic mail)- E-mail is mail that is electronically sent to your computer. E-mail (sometimes spelled email) is delivered instantly. This feature is one of the main reasons people seek to gain Internet access. E-mail is completely free to use, and allows you to communicate worldwide.

To use e-mail, you need a computer, an online connection, an e-mail account and an e-mail program. The e-mail account can be obtained through your ISP, or from one of several free e-mail services online. These free e-mail services include:

G-mail (www.gmail.com) - provided by Google

Yahoo Mail (www.yahoomail.com) - provided by Yahoo

Hotmail (www.hotmail.com) - a service of MSN

Fast Mail (www.fastmail.fm)

AIM (www.aim.com) - an AOL e-mail service, independent of the AOL ISP

Inbox (www.inbox.com)

Since an e-mail address is the main form of communication online, it is recommended that you choose a memorable e-mail name. Too many numbers and misspellings will make it difficult for others to contact you. Many people use more than one e-mail address to separate their business and personal e-mails.

E-mail Marketing Campaigns- This is a form of direct marketing that uses electronic mail to communicate commercial and fundraising messages. These focus on gathering e-mail addresses of web visitors. These addresses are added to a potential customer mailing list, and the list receives updates on the site, free e-courses, and special offers. Autoresponders are an essential part of e-mail marketing campaigns.

Emoticons- One of the biggest problems with communicating over the Internet is the inability to show emotion. Emoticons have filled that gap by providing ways to use text to describe feelings. The name “emoticon” comes from a combination “emotion” and “icon.” Simply put, they are symbols that are used in chat rooms, message boards, e-mail messages and IM messages to display emotions.

Emoticons are normally used at the end of a sentence in order to convey the feeling associated with that sentence. For example, when a person makes a statement in jest, the “winking” emoticon can be used afterward to imply sarcasm.

Originally, emoticons only made sense if you turned your head to the side. Today many IM programs, chat rooms and message boards employ animated “smilies” to imply emotion. These smilies are normally unique to the platform they are being used on.

Here are several of the most common emoticons:

: )  -- Smile

: O – Surprise

: ( - Frown

: P – Tongue stuck out

; ) – Winking

> : ( - Mad

Examples of graphical smilies can be seen at http://www.world-of-smilies.com/.