Do you need help? Get help from a REAL person!

Yes we all like to outflow on occasion, even sometimes write an email to an email list. But outflowing the message is only part of the communication. Getting someone else to inflow the message is another part of it. Without it getting received on the other end... well... make up your own mind about that.

So how do you get your email read?

Make a good subject line.

So what does make a good subject line? There are lots of tips to making a good subject line. Here are some of them:

1. If you are posting about a local event, include the location and something about what it is. If the event is in Los Angeles, put "LA" in the subject line. You DO want the LA people on your list to read it, right? Those people in other parts of the world who are interested, will still read it, but those who aren’t interested will be able to pass it by.
2. Use a brief descriptive summary for the subject line. It could be a leader into the topic such as "My big realization from my classes..." or "I need child care..." (a real example) or it could be directly stated, like "Seeking Joe Blow" or "How I Handled ‘Cooked’ Skin in One Night" (a real example).
3. Don’t forget to include the "direction of flow" your message will take on. Good examples are "Help needed" or "Wanted: Plumber" or "Webmaster for hire". Bad examples are "Help" or "Plumber" or "Webmaster".
4. Don’t use vague mystery subject lines like "Urgent!!!!" or "Help". Who wants to read those? Would you?

There is far too much communication and advertising thrown at people these days. When one’s communication channels and perceptions are constantly bombarded with "Me too!", "Read me!", and "Buy this!", it gets old and really tiring, very quickly.

So do everyone a favor (including yourself) and by using a good subject line in an email it allows readers to chose to read just the right messages. Then everyone’s happy.

Ruth