AOL users, you got to love them!  Because if you didn't, you would have a hard time putting up with the aggravation of standard text hyperlinks not working and attached files often getting "crunched".

Are they worth it?  Well, for U.S. agents, a significant portion of their online business will likely come from AOL members.  In fact, of the 10,841 visitors (that's visitors, not hits) to Judy McCutchin's Web site in December of 1999, at least 55.6% of them were online with AOL when viewing her site.  (NOTE: Judy closed in excess of $11,000,000 of online generated business in 1999).  So it definitely pays to make sure your e-mail is AOL "friendly"!

Give Them Something To Click On

In the September '98 issue of "Ask Mr. Internet!" we saw the importance of creating text hyperlinks within your e-mail message text or your signature.  For example, if you put http://www.yoursite.com somewhere in your e-mail message, it would create an active hyperlink (i.e. blue and underlined) that most recipients using standard Internet e-mail would be able to click on to immediately transport them to your Web site.  

Likewise mailto:jane_agent@yoursite.com creates a hyperlink that when clicked on, opens a new e-mail message window with your e-mail address already in the TO: section.  These hyperlinks are very useful because the recipient is only a click of the mouse away from viewing your site or sending you a message.  Unfortunately, however, this link method does not work for AOL users.

To make links work for AOL users, you have to use a bit of HTML code.  Figure 1 below shows how you create a hyperlink to a Web site in e-mail messages to AOL recipients.  While definitely more complicated than just using http:// in front of the Web address, it does have the advantage of allowing any kind of text to show up as the hyperlink.

Figure 1

You can create an e-mail address hyperlink as well by substituting mailto:jane_agent@yoursite.com for the Web address above.  Note that the hyperlink text "Click Here!" was given just as an example.  It is more useful to use your full Web address and e-mail address respectively as the hyperlink text.  That way recipients get a chance to learn them.

POWER TIP: Create a separate signature just for your AOL clients and prospects that provides links to your Web site and e-mail address in the way described above.  This is a very targeted form of e-mail and they will love you for it! 

Now that we know how to create user-friendly hyperlinks for our AOL e-mail  customers, let's see what we can do about the issue of sending attached files intact.

Don't Attach —Let Them Retrieve

AOL is a commercial network that does not use standard Internet e-mail protocols.  This can be a real problem when sending attachments to your AOL customers from a regular Internet mail account.  Often times, the files either don't show up or they end up garbled.

There is a clever way to handle this that completely eliminates the need to send attachments.  Whalemail is a free service that lets you create online "safe deposit boxes" where you can upload any file (through a Web browser).  Here is how you would use it to "send" files to your AOL clients:  Suppose you needed to send a CMA report to a prospective seller.  Just create a Whalemail account, upload the file through your browser, and Whalemail will e-mail your recipient saying that there is a file for them to pick up at a particular Web link.  The recipient simply goes to the link address and downloads your file through their Web browser.  It's as easy as that!

Clients and prospects that use AOL can create a goldmine of online business for you.  The key is to eliminate their frustrations by making it easy for them to interact with you via e-mail!