E-mail has quickly become many business owners' preferred way of communicating. These may include notes to current and potential clients, input suppliers, lenders, employees, and others. E-mail is wonderful for sending and receiving messages that are delivered very quickly. What once took days or weeks to deliver across the world now arrives almost instantly in many cases.

E-mail is a standard service provided by most Internet service providers (ISPs). Your email address will look like janedoe@example.com. You can usually choose the first part of your e-mail address (e.g., janedoe). However, if it's already in use by someone else, you'll have to select something else. The second part of your e-mail address (e.g. example.com) indicates your host. Although e-mail is a service of ISPs, some companies offer free e-mail addresses. Popular free services include Yahoo, Hotmail, and Google's new Gmail.

E-mail usage has evolved over time. Because of quick

delivery, two or more people can have a conversation by e-mail over the course of a day. Also, because it's so easy to use, many people will send an e-mail when they may not have sent the same message via "snail mail" (standard postal mail). So business owners and others often receive many e-mails each day.