Get Organized!
This advice applies not only to those in affiliate marketing, but to anyone who works online. It may seem like common sense, but it is something many people (including myself) often fail to do.
Today's tip: E-Mail
Around two weeks ago, I changed the settings for all of my various e-mail accounts, and set them to forward any mail to my GMail account. I'll spare you the sales pitch for GMail, as I'm sure we've all heard it hundreds of times before.
I estimate that this change has saved me hours of time every week!
Spam Filtering
I previously used "Spam Assasin" on a few of my email accounts - it didn't work amazingly well, and I still spent a great deal of time deleting spam. Since I have been using GMail, it has caught over 1000 spam emails!
General Organization
Previously, most of my email was in my "inbox" folder, with important ones (email from clients etc) being sorted in to their own folders. Now I tend to have around 10 "conversations" in my inbox at any one time, with everything else being labeled appropriately and archived away.
Speed
A big plus with web based email is that it does not use any system resources (except a browser, which I have open pretty much 24/7 anyway) - searching for an email now takes seconds, rather than minutes 
Everything I Had Before
One thing I like about GMail is that it also allows me to collect my email via POP3, as I used to, so I can still run an email client on my main workstation and keep a local copy of any email (after it's been spam filtered!)
Of course, there are many other web based email providers to choose from, so don't try to see this as a big Google ad - GMail is simply the one I have chosen to use. (I've heard good things about Yahoo's new email service)
Now, see what you can do to organize your email more efficiently, and consider how much time it could save you! 
Comment by The Gent — July 11, 2006 @ 9:40 pm
I will verify that you are so right regarding Gmail. Being able to forward all mail from the server to gmail means you have a permanent record that you won't ever have to delete as it grows. The way it threads all the mails together is such a time saver as well. I use Eudora locally but seem to read most of my mail in Gmail. One thing about spam though Burt, it seems to have caught a mail I sent you
I haven't received a reply and would be grateful if you could let me know you still have it?
Comment by The Gent — July 11, 2006 @ 9:41 pm
Sorry I didn't realise that this was Oli's post! I hope that Burt reads it anyway…
Comment by Carlos — July 12, 2006 @ 2:07 am
Nothing tops Gmail when it comes to spam filtering, plus Gmail is about 10x as fast as yahoo mail.
Comment by burt — July 12, 2006 @ 9:15 am
I use Gmail all the time. It's fast, it's portable, it's easy to organise. This means I can be elsewhere and check on my mail (internet cafe, library etc).
On my desktop I also use cloudmark, which is excellent.
Gent; I don't shave, cheers though
Comment by David Crowther — July 12, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
I was invited to test their hosted Gmail service in which you use your own domain name and can set up to 25 email addresses. It's working out well for all the benefits you mentioned in your post.
Comment by Matt — July 17, 2006 @ 6:20 pm
I use thunderbird at home (fast for using and for searching) but at work I use thenew Yahoo Mail as its easy to get my home POP mail, I find both easy to use and fast enough, gmail I found the design a bit naff, but its a good system and the conversationing of emails is a crackin idea!