OK, I don’t mean it. (Not entirely anyway, I’ll explain in a minute.) Email is obviously great for communicating and has brought the world much closer together…
(Quick question, when was the last time you hand wrote someone a letter and sent it postal mail? I was probably 6.)
…but it does have it’s problems. Notably, spam filters. Ever have an important email get lost in your spam folder? I have. And for me, that usually means I lost a chance at some big bucks.
I’ve had awesome opportunities simply vanish in to my spam filter. And the only reason I know about those is that I found them while digging through the junk, albeit way too late.
Those opportunities include copywriting projects, managing big launches, attending seminars free as a guest… UGH!
But the one that really gets me is when my OWN APPLICATION FORM sends mail to the trash. I recently found a client application that looked like a great lead… in my spam folder… I emailed him back 5 days after he applied and got no reply. I missed my chance.
Of course, there are probably ways to ensure those applications make it to my inbox. But there have been other problems with my application form. It’s written in PHP and uses PHP mail to send the application to my inbox.
Well because I’m on a shared server and PHP mail can be used for spam, my host will randomly shut off the use of PHP mail without telling me. Meaning I’ll not only never receive applications from people who apply until PHP mail is turned back on, I won’t even know there’s a problem!
This has all led me to believe I’m going to need to turn my application form in to an RSS feed. This way whenever I get a new applicant it’ll show up in Google Reader right along side the blogs I read via RSS.
I hope to finish the switch by next week. If you’re a service provider, my bet is you’ll want to switch to this application process too. So when I’m finished, I’ll let you know.