Email Basics ; Internet Marketing Tools
By Shelley Lowery
Electronic mail, better known as email, is the most
important tool used on the Internet. It's much faster
than snail mail, less expensive and enables you to instantly
communicate with your visitors and customers.
Although most Internet Service Providers include email
accounts for their customers, these accounts really
aren't adequate for a Internet business -- especially
if you get a large amount of email. Not only do the
email addresses contain your ISP's name, but they are
also very limited on features and options. There are
many email programs available on the Internet. However,
the best program I've found is Eudora. Eudora is a standalone
email program that works with any ISP. It will enable
you to easily organize your email by filtering your
messages into specific mailboxes. This feature alone
can save you a great deal of time. What's more, your
email address will be your own domain -- not someone
else's. One of my favorite features is the ability to
create an unlimited number of personalities. What this
means is that you can specify the "from" address depending
on the message you're writing. For example, if you're
answering a support request, you can set up a personality
that displays support@yourdomain.com or whatever you'd
like as the "from" address. Best of all, it's free.
For further information about Eudora, visit: http://www.eudora.com
Basic Email Guidelines
Although writing an email message may seem simple,
there are some important issues that need to be taken
into consideration.
Subject Line
The subject of your email is the most important part
of your message. Your subject should be short and provide
a summary as to what your message is all about. This
is especially important if you need to grab your readers'
attention. For example, if you send out a mailing to
your ezine subscribers, you want the subject to instantly
grab their attention and intrigue them to open your
message. Just because they subscribe, doesn't mean they'll
actually read your publication.
Formatting
Although there has been a great deal of controversy
over the best email format -- HTML or text, text is
still the best option. HTML messages may look nice;
however, not all of your readers will be capable of
viewing your message. If you'd really like to use HTML,
the best way to accommodate all of your readers is to
create two versions and allow your readers to make the
choice.
Line Length
When you begin typing your email message, keep in
mind, some email programs don't automatically wrap the
text. What this means is that although your message
may look great to you, your email recipient may receive
your message as one long sentence or it may look something
like this:
Thank you for your interest in our
products.
We are dedicated to providing you
with quality
products to assist you in your
endeavors.
To prevent this problem, limit your line length to
under 65 characters per line. This can be accomplished
by using a hard carriage return (hit enter) at the end
of each line.
If you'd rather not have to manually format your text,
you can do so online at the following web address:
http://www.web-source.net/format_text.htm
Linking
When placing web addresses within an email message,
some email programs will automatically create live links
with web addresses beginning with "www." However, other
email programs will only create live links when the
web address begins with http://. To alleviate this problem,
always include the full URL beginning with http://.
The America Online email program is in a class of its
own. Their email program won't create live links with
any form of web address. In order to create a live link
within AOL, you must include a complete HTML link. To
accommodate all of your readers, consider including
two links for each URL -- one beginning with http://
and the other with the complete HTML link code.
When including an email address within an email message,
always include "mailto:" directly in front of the email
address. This will enable most email programs to create
a live email link. AOL will require the complete "mailto:"
HTML code.
Another important consideration is the use of punctuation
with web addresses -- especially periods. Some email
programs will include periods within a live link. When
clicked on, the browser will return an error. There
are a couple of ways to alleviate this problem. You
can enclose your web address with brackets and place
a period after the closing bracket
<http://www.yourdomain.com>. Or, you can place
your web address on a separate line like this: http://www.yourdomain.com
When including a long web address within your message,
some email programs will force part of the URL to the
next line. When the live link is created, only a portion
of the URL will be live. When clicked on, the browser
will return an error. To avoid this problem, try to
keep your web addresses short. If necessary, you may
want to consider creating a redirect HTML page with
a shorter URL.
The appearance of your email message is an important
part of your professional image. If you follow these
simple guidelines, you can almost completely alleviate
these potential problems.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2003. All Rights Reserved
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of several successful ebooks
including Web Design Mastery - An in-depth guide to
professional web design. Ebook Starter - A Complete
Ebook Design Kit, and eZines: A Complete Guide to Publishing
for Profit. Subscribe to Etips and receive a free copy
of her highly acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing
Strategies." http://www.web-source.net
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