With the digital age upon us, personal contact is becoming less popular everyday. Cellphones, e-mail, voice mail and blogs almost make actually seeing a person unnecessary. The main problem with digital communication is, we tend to forget all about etiquette. The internet is a world within itself, with that, there are certain guidelines that we should follow. The list I have compiled is not in any particular order.

1. Do not assume everyone knows everything. We are still very much in the infancy stage of the internet, that being said, everyday thousands of people surf the internet for the first time. That fact alone is astounding. It almost seems hard to believe that there are millions and millions of people that have never surfed the web or even checked their e-mail. That means, the obvious things that most people know about computers, is not known by everyone. I clearly remember when someone took the time to show me how to cut and paste, now I have cut and paste keys on my keyboard

2. Take time to read e-mails, if not interested unsubscribe. People spend good money to send you e-mail. We all know spam is a bad thing and as technology advances its days are truly numbered. The email that we subscribe to by requesting info, or by purchasing something should be welcome . Take the time to read their offer, you were interested at some point in what they had to say. If you are no longer interested, unsubscribe from their mailing list. Do not waste your time (or theirs) if you are not interested any longer.

3. Respond to e-mail and blog post as soon as possible. People that are trying to get businesses started on the internet rely on other people for a lot of different things, if someone asks you a question, answer them quickly, they may be waiting for your reply to reply to someone else.

4. Kill them with kindness. In the digital world it is very easy to be misunderstood, without seeing facial expressions and other forms of communication in person, it is easy for someone to not realize you were making a joke or being sarcastic.

5. Do not forward e-mail with your whole mailing list on it. When you receive those e-mails from someone with the jokes or inspirational stories, before you pass it on, copy and paste it in a new e-mail, so you are not sending all the e-mail addresses that are attached all over the internet. If that is to much work, do not forward it at all.

6. Check out offers. If an e-mail gets passed all your anti-spam software, read it. It is well documented that there are millions of bogus offers on the net, but there are also millions of legitimate ways to make money on the net. One of those legitimate offers that could be the key that opens the door to a world of financial freedom may be in your inbox right now.