Time for our weekly help desk column.

Hi Lynette, My website is www.create-a-mural.com I started it about 6 years age is doing well. I am having a problem with understanding how to address: Todays internet marking with an older website.

1-Adding “Bookmark with the little icons

2-I have 2 different providers for my website & my email list making them flow better.

3-Adding a blog (rss feed?) -Do you do business consultation? - Camille

Heya Camille,

What fun and lovely murals. Your site is a classic online store and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. What you need is not to add all these bookmarks to the site because when people are there, you want them to focus on buying.

But I do see where having a blog to compliment the site would be very beneficial. There are so many things to blog about in your line. You can share ideas, talk about

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Every now and then someone will ask me “How do I manage so many email address for so many different sites?” Building a good email flow sounds terribly complicated. I admit, it did to me too and for a long time I procrastinated on it.

Over the past 12 months, I spent considerable amount of time devising a smooth, workable infrastructure for the company’s customer support email flow. Best thing I ever did. Some parts still need sanding down - that is inevitable. Even the best systems have some rough patches. Overall this has worked out nicely.

Like many Internet Marketers, we have several websites. We started off with each one having its own email address with its own POP3 account. As you can imagine that quickly got out of hand.

So we started re-directing everything into one or two email address but it was still problematic because we’d mess up on the reply emails and overall it was

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Back to our regular Mailbag Thursday. Here’s the question of the week.

I want to set up my first Real Estate Blog, My Company has a web site: But I want to focus on my Residential Christian clients, and local residential clients.

I think a blog, keeping them informed would be helpful, and I would also like to communicate on the condition of the market, as well as use it as a christian vendor exchange. Am I trying to do to much with this. God Bless & Thanks for your help. Bob Weaver

A: Hi Bob!

I like that idea, especially the local flavor. Love the part about sharing information about market conditions. This is one of the hot topics these days. Actually, it’s a good topic whether times are good or bad. And, some markets do OK while others don’t, therefore, the local angle is great.

The only part I’d be cautious about is the vendor exchange. This

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photo credit: mistress_f

When you don’t plan on returning your calls?

Mini rant here. I’ve been told some not very nice things because I use a help desk system instead of a phone number. I understand we all prefer different methods of communication. But seriously, don’t judge the website by the telephone number (or lack of it)

I recently tried to contact someone who displays his telephone number prominently in the contact/support area. But here’s what gets to me.

First of all, I was re-directed to a line of someone I wasn’t expecting. Instead of announcing the company or website or site owner, e.g. “Thank you for calling TechBasedMarketing.com or Lynette Chandler”, the voicemail message gave me zero idea who I just called and left me wondering if the number is even legit.

Next, it’s been over 10 days and still no return call. I made very sure to state my name, phone number and even website address clearly. C’mon folks.

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