So, what is an e-card? It usually depends on where it
is getting sent from. On the surface, an e-card is an electronic greeting card
that you can personalize with your own message and send to someone to show
how much you care. They are often passed through e-mail and can be found on
many websites on the net.
Of course, underneath this nice skin of sending emotional greetings to loved
ones may lay a deeper plot. On some, not all, websites, when you
send the e-card, you rarely notice the little checkbox or two that says Ýsign
me up for your newsletter.ÿ Yes, unfortunately, many websites use e-cards as
an attempt to get your e-mail address in their database so they may send you
tons of newsletters and sell your name to their partners so you can be spammed
more easily. Nice advertising trick, but don¼t be fooled. Look before you
send and watch out for the dreaded checkbox.
Despite the flaws of capitalist America, some websites truly have e-cards
simply to add a nice touch to their e-commerce. For example, Yahoo.com allows
you to send personalized greetings, and there is no fear of being spammed, no
checkboxes, and no pop-up ads. Ecards.com must be a nice site for sending
cards as you have to register to use its services, which usually means there is
a fee involved. I don¼t review pay sites until I get paid to join them so you
will have to check up on that one by yourself.
Hallmark.com, who obviously offers e-cards, has a few descent choices, but not
as many as I would expect form a card store¼s website. Still, there are few
pop-ups, one semi-noticeable checkbox, and some pretty neat flash animations
in their cards. However, customization is not really present since you only
get 500 characters for your personal message to the recipient. To give you an
idea, this paragraph is exactly 500 characters. That means no writing long
love letters to anyone with Hallmark.
How about some better sites? Well, the best way to find one is pick a site
that you wouldn¼t normally think of having e-cards. For example,
www.enature.com, a site devoted to animals and tree-hugging, has a lot of
great cards dealing with animal life. They are not flash greetings, but they
do allow 1,000 character personal messages in addition to a quote, greeting,
and salutation. And to make it even better, few to zero pop-up ads.
However, the best, by far, for free e-cards, is Yahoo greetings. You can
choose from several animated e-cards across numerous subjects. My favorite was
the bear that teaches you how to hug yourself and then says ÝNow pretend it is
me.ÿ Once the card is chosen and you have filled in your name and the
recipient¼s name, you may then fill in up to 4,000 characters for your own
personal message. Four thousand is a lot of characters compared to the 1,000
from enature.com, or the 500 from hallmark.com. In addition, you can pick the
layout of the card, including where you want the message and the picture to
appear. No pop-ups or e-mail newsletter offers--just good, wholesome e-card
fun! I actually enjoyed sending lots of these, and I hate e-cards. That
certainly says something about their quality.
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