Dear Microsoft, there’s no doubt that Outlook.com (previously Windows Live Hotmail, Microsoft Hotmail) is cooler than Gmail or Yahoo! Mail. But you know what? Gmail (or Google Mail) is way ahead of any other e-mail service when it comes to productivity. I’m using Gmail ever since they launched as an invite-only beta release and it’s Gmail and not Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail that redefined the way I use an e-mail service.

That said, as a Microsoft fanatic I finally migrated to Outlook.com from Gmail last year even though I was aware that I’m not going to get all the features I enjoy from Google Mail. But that migration was part of my break-free from Google as I was too obsessed with Google products.

So today, I would like to compare Outlook.com vs. Gmail vs. Yahoo! Mail to revisit the features I enjoyed at Gmail that “Hotmail…”, err, “Outlook” doesn’t support. You’ve compared Outlook.com with Gmail and Yahoo! Mail with a bias so I would like to show you an unbiased comparison of the top 3 e-mail services out there.

Gmail vs. Hotmail Outlook.com vs. Yahoo! Mail: A Quick Comparison

Outlook.com: Pros and Cons

Why I Love Outlook.com?

1. Outlook.com is clean and fresh with an intuitive design. There are no ads in my account (I exactly don’t know why). But anyways Outlook.com’s tile ads are not as annoying as Gmail’s spammy text ads.

2. You can Delete, Move, Categorize, Mark as read/unread, Sweep, Junk a message in one-click using Instant Actions.

3. You can sign in to your account using a one-time password (via SMS) so that you don’t have to enter your password if you’re using a shared PC.

4. You can recover deleted messages in Outlook.com.

5. You can create an alias (can be renamed or deleted) and it can be used as additional e-mail address that’s linked to your primary e-mail account.

6. You can clean your inbox by deleting and blocking all future messages from a sender in 3 clicks by using the “Sweep” feature of Outlook.com.

7. You can sort your messages by file size.

8. I love Outlook.com’s “Reading pane“. You can easily turn it off, or change the view to horizontal or vertical in a click.

9. The “New Message” and “Reply” space is huge with no annoying sidebar with ads.

10. The “Right-click” menu on Outlook.com is cool. Of course, Gmail supports right-click with “Message Sneak Peek” labs feature and it’s nice but Outlook is awesome.

11. You can connect your Outlook.com to your Facebook account and can chat with your Facebook friends.

12. Your Outlook.com inbox is tightly integrated with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Read: 13 Hotmail (Now Outlook) Tips & Tricks You Probably Don’t Know

Why I Hate Outlook.com?

1. It will take ages to move e-mails from your old e-mail client to Outlook.com as they limit the number of messages to 60 at a time. I’ve over 100,000 e-mail messages in my Gmail and that’s the reason why I’m using Gmail’s e-mail forwarding instead of the POP-in feature in Outlook.com.

2. There’s no official Outlook.com app for iOS but you can access Outlook.com on your Windows Phone, iOS, and Android devices.

3. I’m a fan of labels ever since I started using Gmail. Outlook.com supports folders and labels (known as categories) but there’s no option to delete the default labels.

4. Outlook.com supports “Rules for sorting new messages” but it’s not as flexible as Gmail and moreover you can’t create a filter with multiple parameters. You have to create a separate filter for each rule.

5. One of the most appreciated features of Outlook.com is its automatic categorization of mails. Well, it may be useful but I won’t call it perfect as Outlook’s algorithm is not clever enough.

6. I hate categories in Outlook.com. In Outlook.com, it’s possible to move messages from  Sent folder to say Inbox or any another folder. It’s really absurd as I expect my sent messages to stay in that folder even though I accidentally moved them to another folder. In Gmail, you can move a message from “Sent Mail” to “Inbox” but it continues to appear in “Sent Mail” as Gmail uses labels and not folders.

Gmail: Pros and Cons

Why I Love Gmail?

1. Gmail’s killer feature is its powerful search. The search combined with labels and filters is just amazing.

2. Never delete a message ever again as you have tons of storage! I don’t delete any of my messages instead I “Archive” them so that Inbox remains clean. Of course, both Outlook.com and Yahoo! Mail have unlimited storage but it’s Gmail which started the storage war with free storage that’s 250 times bigger than Hotmail.

3. You can send attachments up to 10 GB as Gmail is tightly integrated with Google Drive.

4. You can star any message in one-click. Outlook.com lets you flag (equivalent to Gmail’s starring feature) only incoming mails and not the sent mails.

5. You can also use Gmail to send messages from your other e-mail addresses using Gmail’s “Send mail as” feature. You can hide your Gmail address by sending the mails through your other account’s SMTP server settings.

Read: How To Use Gmail SMTP Server Settings For Sending Mail

6. Gmail’s filters are so powerful and flexible that you can define the filters the way you want. You can create a filter with multiple parameters. For example, I can create a filter to “Star” messages that are coming from abc@example.com and then apply a Label and mark automatically as important and send an automatic reply or forward to another e-mail address. They’re all possible using just one filter.

7. Like filters, another feature that’s worth mention is its Labels. Instead of using folders Gmail uses Labels. In Gmail virtually there’s only one folder and everything else is labels. You can add as much labels as you want to a message and you can search messages using labels apart from using other criteria.

8. Gmail Chat is so addictive and so powerful that it supports Instant Messages, Group Chats, Video Chats, Group Video Chats (Hangouts), Phone Call, etc. That’s not all! All your conversation history is archived online and is searchable. Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail later followed this feature and are now saving all chat histories on the cloud instead of saving on your local PC.

9. With Gmail Labs (experimental new features in Gmail) you can boost your e-mail productivity. And my favorite Labs are “Undo Send” (you get up to 30 seconds to stop messages from being sent), “Canned Responses” (create e-mail templates), “Inserting images” (it’s a killer feature that allows you to paste images directly into the message body), “Quote selected text” (quote only a part of the message instead of including the whole conversation when you reply) “Message Sneak Peek” (enables right-clicking on a messages).

Read: 10 Gmail Lab Features You Must Enable

10. Now when it comes to security Gmail is probably the best among the trio. With 2-step account verification Gmail is almost hacker proof.

Read: How To Secure Your Gmail Account From Hacking

11. With Gmail you can now track your recent login sessions (Access Type, IP Address, Data, Time) and can also sign out remotely. Click on the “Details” link present at the bottom right corner of your Gmail inbox.

Read: 10 Gmail Tips You Probably Don’t Know

12. Google offers a simple task manager called Google Tasks. Though I no longer use Google Tasks it’s really a cool product that’s integrated with Gmail.

13. Gmail allows you to create custom e-mail signature for each account that you have added.

14. Gmail’s app for mobile devices is just awesome with push notifications.

Why I Hate Gmail?

1. Gmail is not social and is integrated only to Google+ that nobody uses. But you can use the third-party add-on called Rapportive to connect your Gmail account to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more.

2. Gmail is heavy with too many unwanted features.

3. Gmail’s reading pane, known as Preview Pane, is a mess with ads, horizontal scroll bar, etc.

4. Gmail’s sidebar is ugly with distracting and spammy looking ads.

5. Replying to an e-mail message is awful as the reply window is very narrow with annoying ads.

6. You can’t recover a deleted message.

7. Gmail has got a simple interface but it’s really boring.

Yahoo! Mail: Pros and Cons

Why I Love Yahoo! Mail?

Oh wait, I don’t love Yahoo! Mail. I use my @yahoo.com only to receive spams or to sign up on a website that appears to be spammy. But still, if there is one feature that I like about Yahoo! Mail, it’s the Disposable Addresses (but available for Yahoo! Mail Plus users only). It’s different from “Plus addressing” of Gmail or Outlook.com. Instead of adding a “+tag” after our username Yahoo! allows us to create another base name (call it an alias) and then we can add up to 500 unique tags separated by a “hyphen“. For example, maheshone-twitter@yahoo.com; maheshone-facebook@yahoo.com instead of maheshone+twitter@hotmail.com or maheshone+twitter@gmail.com in case of Outlook.com or Gmail.

Why I Hate Yahoo! Mail?

Well, I think I can write another blog post on that topic as I hate almost everything about Yahoo! Mail except for its unlimited storage.

Gmail vs. Outlook.com vs. Yahoo! Mail: An Ultimate Comparison is a post by Minterest

I read few articles about how to get Twitter feeds (Tweets) in Google Reader when I Googled “How To Read RSS Feeds on Twitter”. But, I wonder, why would anyone do that when an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader can’t just replace Twitter. I was looking for a way to replace Google Reader (RSS reader) with something else as I spend too much time checking Google Reader for new updates.

Of course, I can get all the updates from my subscribed blogs by following their Twitter accounts or by creating a Twitter list. But that was not a feasible option as their Tweets may contain links to other sites or ReTweets as well which may not be useful for me.

Again, another option is to push the RSS feeds of subscribed blogs to my Twitter timeline (like many others do) via twitterfeed. But, I wouldn’t do that as it annoys the followers so badly that they may unfollow or even block me for spamming their timeline. In fact, I myself have unfollowed all those accounts that were using twitterfeed.

So, How To Read RSS Feeds (From Google Reader) On Twitter

Okay, the best way to read RSS feeds on Twitter is by creating another Twitter account. You just create another Twitter account exclusively for news consumption, connect that account to twitterfeed, and add all your RSS Subscriptions to twitterfeed.

Once twitterfeed is setup it checks for new updates every 30 minutes and will push new items to your Twitter timeline. Now, follow your newly created Twitter account or create a new Twitter list and add that account to it. So, now all you need to do is visit your twitter list URL or add a column to your TweetDeck (or whichever social media dashboard that support this feature) exclusively for this list.

Now, I no longer have to open Google Reader every now and then to check new feed items as I will get instant notification on my TweetDeck whenever there is an update. However, it shows only the titles of feed items so you will need to click on them if you want to read the real content.

BONUS: Try Yahoo! Pipes

You can use Yahoo! Pipes (an interactive feed aggregator and manipulator) if you want to combine many RSS feeds into one. Yahoo! Pipes is a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web.

Now, if you’re using Internet Explorer (or another browser which comes with an RSS reader) then you can use its inbuilt RSS Reader and add the new feed URL generated by Yahoo! Pipes.

How To Read RSS Feeds On Twitter Without Annoying Your Followers is a post by Minterest

Yahoo! Search Marketing UK / Microsoft adCenter UK

Yahoo! Search Marketing UK (now known as Microsoft adCenter UK) is the most admired pay-per-click search provider in the United Kingdom. You can reach your customer when they are actively looking for products and services offered by you online. Advertise on Yahoo! for FREE with Yahoo! Search Marketing UK Coupon, you can reach more users online than ever before with Yahoo! – Microsoft Search Alliance. The advertisers only need to write quality ads for their website related products and do a well keyword research. The ads generated by you would be available for display on Yahoo search result. So when somebody make a search for your website keywords, your ads may appear on the sponsored link during search result. Yahoo! search engine marketing is the best way of getting your business prominently placed in search results!

The foremost impressive feature of Yahoo Search Marketing UK is you are advertising to the people that are already interested and looking for your product. Yahoo! Search Marketing UK further guarantees prominent positions on the results pages of the most widely used Internet Search Engines such as Yahoo, so products and services could appear in front of customers specifically searching for what websites sell. Yahoo! Search Marketing UK puts your company top of the results. You only pay when a customer clicks on your advertisement – giving you great ROI.

Yahoo Search Marketing drives more than 83% of Internet users in Europe (Nielsen//NetRatings – July to September 06). In fact many of them are potential customers searching for company’s products and services online. Yahoo’s extensive reach is made possible through their sharing network of search engines and portals such as Yahoo, Orange and Lycos.

How Does Yahoo Search Marketing UK Program Works?

The success of Yahoo’s Search Marketing UK program is purely built upon the success of the advertisers. So it does everything that is required to get more out of your ads and impress qualified prospects in the most cost-effective way. You get 24/7 accesses to detailed performance reports, which assist you track the effectiveness of your advertisement campaigns. Working of Yahoo Search Marketing UK program is very simple and well in trend. Your prospect customers can simply click on your ads to make a purchase from your site. Below given are the simple steps explaining you how Yahoo Search Marketing UK works.

How To Advertise On Yahoo For Free

Let me divide that for you in steps:

First Step

Start with £30 Credit in your Yahoo! Search Marketing UK (adCenter UK) account

Second Step

Make an ad campaign to appear in Yahoo Search Results, you can even choose for multiple campaigns:

• Yahoo! helps you to select relevant keywords for your online business – products or services.

• You simply need to make catchy phrases and effective text ad recognized as description to encourage business in search result.

You set the maximum bid amount to pay each time the ad gets clicked.

Third Step

Interested Customer coming in search of what you sell.

• When site visitor types one of your site related keywords in Yahoo Search box, your ad appears in yahoo search result.

• Here you need to work smart. Cost-per-click and excellent quality ads would help your ad to appear more on the displayed search results.

…and

Once your appears customer clicks and your website.

• You receive leads for your business.

• You get more traffic to your site.

• Your bid amount is calculated only for the number of clicks on search result and you pay zero for the impression.

• The amount you pay out is based on the maximum cost-per-click you precise.

With the most admired Panama platform, Yahoo’s Keywords review becomes easy than ever before. Your preferred keywords get automatically approved and you can see them live in couple of minutes. Take advantage of Yahoo! Search Marketing UK and just create multiple ads campaigns for higher conversion ratio!

How Does Bidding System Of Yahoo Search Marketing UK Works?

You can earn more revenue from your website and simultaneously offer the site visitor for an amazing online experience. With Yahoo Search Marketing UK you can make money online with minimal effort and best bidding system. It is very easy to play around with this program. You will come across two way of bidding in Yahoo Search Marketing UK – One if you want your ads to be appeared on top of the search result then it is good to go with Bid Range for Top Positions. In case you want to predict how many clicks you may get for some particular bid, then go with the Estimated Clicks per Bid sliding graph, which assist you for bidding. Note – Bid Range for Top Position gets data, which are recent and Estimated Clicks per Bid sliding graphs carries historical data. Be aware that both the system uses only predicted value and do guarantee you number of clicks. Actually, bid amount and ad quality is what would decide upon your ad’s ranking in search results, so it would be the most excellent ides to use more quality content while creating ads. Yahoo Search Marketing UK wants you to spend low on bid and point more on excellence of ad.

Tips for Yahoo! Search Marketing UK Bidding

• Make sure your ads are well compatible and much appealing, so you get a better rank even after lower bid amount on ads.

• No concerns about the ads, which are less competitive, focus only on your relevant ads.

• You require focusing on your efforts that matter to your business, and do go for the most excellent and catchy marketing messages.

• Your quality of Yahoo Search Marketing UK is calculated by how apt an ad is and determined in comparison with other competitors ads quality displayed.

Yahoo! Search Marketing UK Promo Code

Yahoo! Search Marketing UK Credit Details: Offer expires 8:00 A.M. GMT July 1, 2012 and applies to new Microsoft adCenter UK advertisers only. Any portion of Yahoo! Search Marketing credit not used within 90 days from the date you signed up will expire. Ads must be stopped after ad credit is used up or within 90 days from date account was opened, whichever comes first, or your credit card will be charged for advertising clicks. Offer valid only to residents of UK. Limit: one ad credit per customer. Offer may not be combined with any other offers or discounts, separated, redeemed for cash, transferred, sold, or bartered. There is a minimum bid requirement of $0.05 per click through when using adCenter. Search listings subject to editorial review and guidelines. See Advertiser Terms and Conditions when you sign-up. Other terms and conditions may apply.

Related Post: Free Microsoft adCenter Coupon

Free Yahoo! Search Marketing UK Coupon is a post by Minterest

Yahoo! Search Marketing Coupon Code

Yahoo! Search Marketing places ads for your business in search results on the Web’s most popular destination, enabling you to reach more customers. It’s a great way for you to connect with the ideal customers-the ones already interested in what your business offers. With text ads that appear in search results, you promote your business to people who are actively searching online for your products or services. And you pay only when your ad is clicked. Yahoo! attracts “more than half a billion consumers every month in more than 30 languages.

Microsoft & Yahoo! formed the Yahoo! and Bing Search Alliance. So you can reach 55 million U.S. searchers who don’t use Google by creating a Microsoft adCenter account. Microsoft Bing and Yahoo! ads are known to convert at a higher rate than Google AdWords ads.

Since Yahoo! and Microsoft formed the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, Yahoo! Search Marketing is no longer serving ads to Yahoo! Search sites in U.S, Canada, and India. So, as part of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, Microsoft adCenter is now the single platform that serves ads to Yahoo! Search and Bing sites.

Yahoo! Search Marketing Promo Code

Advertise on Yahoo for FREE using the following promotional coupon codes.

If you’re from US, Sign Up here & get Yahoo! Advertising Coupon worth $25.
If you’re from Canada, Sign Up here & get Yahoo Advertising Credit worth $25.
If you’re from UK, Sign Up here & get Yahoo! Advertising Coupon worth £30.
If you’re from France, Sign Up here & get Yahoo! Advertising Credit worth €30.
If you’re from India, Sign Up here & get Yahoo! Advertising Voucher worth Rs. 500.

Important: Promotional code is different for each country. adCenter Coupon for US is $25, for UK it’s £30, for India it’s Rs. 500, and for France it’s €30. And, your address and currency should match (e.g. UK address, UK currency; US address, US currency). You can’t change the currency once the account is created so make sure that the coupon is for the same currency and country you’re located, otherwise it’ll not work properly since the adCenter promo codes are considered as type of currency.

So, what exactly are you waiting for? Sign up for Yahoo! Search Marketing today and get the promotional code!

Related Post: Why You Should Advertise On Microsoft adCenter And Not On Google AdWords

Yahoo! Search Marketing Coupon

Yahoo! Search Marketing Credit Details: Offer expires June 30, 2012 and applies to new Microsoft adCenter advertisers only. Any portion of Microsoft adCenter credit not used within 90 days from the date you signed up will expire. Ads must be stopped after ad credit is used up or within 90 days from date account was opened, whichever comes first, or your credit card will be charged for advertising clicks. Offer valid only to residents of US, Canada, UK, India & France.

Free Yahoo! Search Marketing Coupon is a post by Minterest