Making up an email page

[Kevin Luce]

I am wanting to make a professional email page for my clients so when they open the email, it will be the first thing they will see. I would like it so the recipient cannot move or change anything on that email page. I do need to add information such as their name and the house we inspected on the email page. Is there software or a different way I can convert this information for an email. Again, I don't want this as an attachment but as the email page when they open it. At this time, I have this email page created in MS Word.

Any help would be great!

[W. Michael Chris]

Kevin,

Little confused about your need - you stated you have a MSWord document you now use, care to provided a link so that we have a better idea of what you are trying to accomplish.

Your e-mail could look something like the following:

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE PURCHASE OF YOUR NEW HOME!

Please find your report attached to this e-mail, the report is in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 minimum).

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call.

Thanks for using (insert company name), and please let me know if you have any questions.

Your Name
Your company name
(000) 000-0000

P.S. If have trouble opening this report, please check to see if you have version 6.0 or higher of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Without knowing what you currently send, not sure if this helps . . . I'm sure others will be along shortly to provided additional comments.

mike

[Kevin Luce]

That is basically what I am looking for but I need to include the buyers name and some other information then convert it so changes cannot be made when that email page is sent.

[W. Michael Chris]

Try this layout:

Homebuyers Name,

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE PURCHASE OF YOUR NEW HOME!

Please find your report attached to this e-mail, the report is in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 minimum).

ReportName.pdf

Sending copies of report to: Agent, etc.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call.

Thanks for using (insert company name), and please let me know if you have any questions.

Your Name
Your company name
(000) 000-0000

P.S. If have trouble opening this report, please check to see if you have version 6.0 or higher of Adobe Acrobat Reader.


Making changes to the items in red.
Not sure what you mean by changing onces the e-mail is sent - suggestion if you're afraid the email will be changed - make sure you send a BCC to your e-mail address you send your message from.
That way if you're thinking about possible problems in the future, you have a blind carbon copy (BCC) of the email you've sent to your client.
I also have an e-mail address I use on a web-base email service that I send a BCC to, it's back up on a daily basic and I have a record of the e-mail offsite and it's FREE.

Hope this helps.

[Kevin Luce]

The BCC is a good idea.

Thanks!

[W. Michael Chris]

You're welcome . . . best of luck!

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Kevin,
It isn't possible to prevent someone from changing an email then printing it out. Mike's idea is probably your best bet. One other suggestion would be to include what you are typing in the email as the first page of the pdf report as well since they pdf is harder to change.
It is important to note that all pdf files can be changed as well, it is just much harder to do than to change a word file.

[Russel Ray]

Here's what I do. First, I create a secured PDF and then upload that file to my web site. Then, in my email, I simply say this:

[date]

Hey, [Client].

This email contains a link to your property report. It is a PDF file. If you cannot open it, you either need to download Adobe Reader to your computer, or you need to upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader. Please go to http://www.adobe.com.

The property report shall always supersede any and all discussion at time services were provided. The report will remain on my web site for 30 days, so please download it to your computer.

Please always feel free to call me if you have any questions about anything or need any clarification about something.

Thank you for allowing me to work for you.

Here's the link: http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/reports/2007/[name of file].pdf

Russel Ray, Property Consultant

If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any action taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

That drives traffic to my web site, thereby increasing traffic rankings for my web site, thereby making my web site rank higher in the search engine returns. Additionally, my Clients and I have found that downloading from a link is far, far faster than downloading an attachment. Additionally, if the file gets too large, some ISP's won't let it go through, or it fills up the addressee's mail box, or whatever. I never have that problem with a link.

[W. Michael Chris]

Russel,

Good point, driving traffic to your site . . . how do you keep others from downloading the report or web crawlers from searching and finding the reports on your website? Do you password protect a certain directory?

[W. Michael Chris]

I just tried: http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/reports/2007/ and was given the good old 403 Forbidden error: You don't have permission to access /rr/reports/2007/ on this server.
So how do you inform the client of password and userid? (or) how does a client gain access to his file?

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Since Russell is using a secure pdf he could set it up so the user types in a password just to view the pdf itself (password is actually applied to the PDF). I wonder if that would be considered enough to protect security. Anyone could download the file, but only that user could actually open.

Spiders will only find the reports if someone links to them.

[W. Michael Chris]

Dominic. didn't think about that . . . I'm sure Russel will be along soon . . . I also know you can place a file in the public_html called robots.txt which tells the robots (spiders, whatever they call them) not to search any further in a directory. For example: robots.txt in the public_html directory might look like the following:

# /robots.txt file for http://www.[yourwebsite].com/
# mail webmaster@[yourwebsite].com for constructive criticism


User-agent: *
Disallow: /personal
Disallow: /cars
Disallow: /family
Disallow: /junkarea

This might do it as well, just not sure . . . anyways, I'm out of here, have an early appointment and this old guy needs his zzzzz's . . . will check back later tomorrrow.

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Good point Chris. You could actually get even more specific and say Disallow: *.pdf and then none of the pdf's would get listed. Although that might be a problem if you had a sample report up. In that case you could say Disallow: /reports/*.pdf or something like that.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by wchris1

Russel,

Good point, driving traffic to your site . . . how do you keep others from downloading the report or web crawlers from searching and finding the reports on your website? Do you password protect a certain directory?

Yes, the directory is not accessible except through a password. But it's not a directory that I provide access to anyone anyway. It's just a storage directory for my reports, which also allows me to be able NOT store them on my own computer, which gives me more free space to let my VRS really race down the road and lets Jim and me both have several VRS "voices" on the computer (my normal voice, voice with a cold, margarita voice, etc.).

Originally Posted by wchris1

I just tried: http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/reports/2007/ and was given the good old 403 Forbidden error: You don't have permission to access /rr/reports/2007/ on this server.
So how do you inform the client of password and userid? (or) how does a client gain access to his file?

The Client gains access to the file through my email. See my post where I quoted my email and provided the link (that's where you got the file directory that you tried to access).

Originally Posted by dmaricic

Since Russell is using a secure pdf he could set it up so the user types in a password just to view the pdf itself (password is actually applied to the PDF). I wonder if that would be considered enough to protect security. Anyone could download the file, but only that user could actually open.

I never password-protect the actual file itself. I consider that too much of an inconvenience to my Clients, especially since they paid for the information.

Originally Posted by wchris1

Dominic. didn't think about that . . . I'm sure Russel will be along soon

Here I am, up from my catnap with Zoey!

Here's the secret.

First, the directory I store them in, as Mike discovered, is not accessible to the public, or anyone else, even my Clients. So you can't just go to the http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/reports/2007/ directory and look at all the reports and then download the ones you want. Nope. Won't work.

However, if I gave you the link to a file:

http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/report...0821-NACHI.pdf

you can get it from that directory. But even once you get it, you can't roam around the directory and get whatever you want. And you can't roam around any of the other directories other than www.abouthomes.info either because none of them are accessible to the general public.

Here's why I don't need a password to inconvenience my Clients:

I use a file naming convention that is virtually impossible to guess the previous file name and the following file name:

aaa-bbbb-cccc-xy.pdf

aaa = the year the inspection was done using just three digits, i.e., 007

bbbb = the date the inspection was done, month-month-day-day

cccc = a consecutive number for the year which allowed me as a nine-inspector company to do up to 9,999 inspections a year, 1,000 per inspector and then whatever I did.

x = the initials of the first Client, as many initials as you want to use, such as rr for Russel Ray

y = the initials of the second Client, again, as many initials as you want to use

If there is only one Client, then y is not necessary, providing even more guesswork and security.

For example, let's say I did an inspection yesterday at 2:30 p.m. for Sir Paul McCartney. Here's the file name:

007-1008-0778-spm.pdf

Now go ahead and try to guess the file name for the inspection I did at 10:30 a.m. yesterday, or the two that I'm doing later today. You can't because you don't know the names of my Clients. You can try guessing, but good luck.

Try to guess the file name for the inspection I did in 2006, on October 8. You can't because you don't know the consecutive number for the year or the names of my Clients.

It's highly unlikely that I would do an inspection next year for the exact same Clients on the exact same date with the exact same consecutive number for the year. But even if I did, the year (first three digits) would change. So once again you're out of luck.

The length of the file name has no bearing on anything since one is providing a link to the file anyway, something that people in today's world seem to have learned to do.

I learned that several years ago when I was following a plumbing truck down the road. On his tailgate, in two lines, was his web site address, something like this:

http://www.yourfavoriteplumbingprofe...iegocounty.com

I thought to myself, "Who in the he!! would have such a long web site name?" I still ask the question, but it led me to the secret of how to name files so that no one could guess their names, and the secret of providing links instead of PDF email attachments.

The main reason why I wanted to get away from PDF email attachments was because my PDF reports had grown to half a megabyte. Holy storage space, Batman! 500 KB! I remember my third computer had a 20 MB hard drive; I was happy as a baby sucking its thumb because it held a gazillionbazillion files. But eating up 500 KB with just one file, even in today's world, is a nightmare, especially since many of my Clients stil--still!--have only dialup. Dialup with a 500 KB link is not a nightmare like it is with a 500 KB attachment that has to be downloaded.

Before I started this method to drive traffic to my web site, my web site ranking was nowhere to be seen, and you couldn't find me in the first gazillionbazillion pages of a search.

After a mere three months of using this system, I showed up as the #1 home inspector in San Diego County, right there midway through page four. The first 3½ pages had been purchased by the various inspection schools and real estate brokers. I'm sure someone searching for a home inspector in San Diego County, after searching the first two pages of returns, wondered if there were any home inspectors in San Diego County, or at least whether or not those who were here had Internet sites.

The number of inspections I got through the Internet jumped from 0% to about 5%. Interestingly, all of the inspections I get through the Internet are from relo's, usually Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Florida, and Texas, with Massachusetts ranking #1 and Texas #2.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by wchris1

Russel,

Good point, driving traffic to your site . . . how do you keep others from downloading the report or web crawlers from searching and finding the reports on your website? Do you password protect a certain directory?

Yes, the directory is not accessible except through a password. But it's not a directory that I provide access to anyone anyway. It's just a storage directory for my reports, which also allows me to be able to NOT store them on my own computer, which gives me more free space to let my VRS really race down the road, and lets Jim and me both have several VRS "voices" on the computer (my normal voice, voice with a cold, margarita voice, etc.).

Originally Posted by wchris1

I just tried: http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/reports/2007/ and was given the good old 403 Forbidden error: You don't have permission to access /rr/reports/2007/ on this server.
So how do you inform the client of password and userid? (or) how does a client gain access to his file?

The Client gains access to the file through my email. See my post where I quoted my email and provided the link (that's where you got the file directory that you tried to access).

Originally Posted by dmaricic

Since Russell is using a secure pdf he could set it up so the user types in a password just to view the pdf itself (password is actually applied to the PDF). I wonder if that would be considered enough to protect security. Anyone could download the file, but only that user could actually open.

I never password-protect the actual file itself. I consider that too much of an inconvenience to my Clients, especially since they paid for the information.

Originally Posted by wchris1

Dominic. didn't think about that . . . I'm sure Russel will be along soon

Here I am, up from my catnap with Zoey!

Here's the secret.

First, the directory I store them in, as Mike discovered, is not accessible to the public, or anyone else, even my Clients. So you can't just go to the http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/reports/2007/ directory and look at all the reports and then download the ones you want. Nope. Won't work.

However, if I gave you the link to a file (an actual report from one of my LIST inspections):

http://www.abouthomes.info/rr/report...0821-NACHI.pdf

you can get it from that directory. But even once you get it, you can't roam around the directory and get whatever you want. And you can't roam around any of the other directories other than www.abouthomes.info either because none of them are accessible to the general public.

Here's why I don't need a password to inconvenience my Clients:

I use a file naming convention that is virtually impossible to guess the previous file name and the following file name:

aaa-bbbb-cccc-xy.pdf

aaa = the year the inspection was done using just three digits, i.e., 007

bbbb = the date the inspection was done, month-month-day-day

cccc = a consecutive number for the year which allowed me as a nine-inspector company to do up to 9,999 inspections a year, 1,000 per inspector and then whatever I did.

x = the initials of the first Client, as many initials as you want to use, such as rr for Russel Ray

y = the initials of the second Client, again, as many initials as you want to use

If there is only one Client, then y is not necessary, providing even more guesswork and security.

For example, let's say I did an inspection yesterday at 2:30 p.m. for Sir Paul McCartney. Here's the file name:

007-1008-0778-spm.pdf

Now go ahead and try to guess the file name for the inspection I did at 10:30 a.m. yesterday, or the two that I'm doing later today. You can't because you don't know the names of my Clients. You can try guessing, but good luck. You'll need it because you don't know how many initials I used--two, three, four, five, or six.

Try to guess the file name for the inspection I did in 2006, on October 8. You can't because you don't know the consecutive number for the year or the names of my Clients.

It's highly unlikely that I would do an inspection next year for the exact same Clients on the exact same date with the exact same consecutive number for the year. But even if I did, the year (first three digits) would change. So once again you're out of luck.

The length of the file name has no bearing on anything since one is providing a link to the file anyway, something that people in today's world seem to have learned to do.

I learned that several years ago when I was following a plumbing truck down the road. On his tailgate, in two lines, was his web site address, something like this:

http://www.yourfavoriteplumbingprofe...iegocounty.com

I thought to myself, "Who in the he!! would have such a long web site name?" I still ask the question, but it led me to the secret of how to name files so that no one could guess their names, and the secret of providing links instead of PDF email attachments.

The main reason why I wanted to get away from PDF email attachments was because my PDF reports had grown to half a megabyte. Holy storage space, Batman! 500 KB! I remember my third computer had a 20 MB hard drive; I was happy as a baby sucking its thumb because it held a gazillionbazillion files. But eating up 500 KB with just one file, even in today's world, is a nightmare, especially since many of my Clients stil--still!--have only dialup. Dialup with a 500 KB link is not a nightmare like it is with a 500 KB attachment that has to be downloaded.

Before I started this method to drive traffic to my web site, my web site ranking was nowhere to be seen, and you couldn't find me in the first gazillionbazillion pages of a search.

After a mere three months of using this system, I showed up as the #1 home inspector in San Diego County, right there midway through page four. The first 3½ pages had been purchased by the various inspection schools and real estate brokers. I'm sure someone searching for a home inspector in San Diego County, after searching the first two pages of returns, wondered if there were any home inspectors in San Diego County, or at least whether or not those who were here had Internet sites.

The number of inspections I got through the Internet jumped from 0% to about 5%. Interestingly, all of the inspections I get through the Internet are from relo's, usually Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Florida, and Texas, with Massachusetts ranking #1 and Texas #2.