It's arguably become *the* mode of modern-day communication - more so than the telephone, certainly more so than letter writing.
There's a limited amount of real estate in every email that you send. How you use it determines, in part, how effective your emails are and how well you are marketing yourself. Given how often emails are forwarded around, a well-crafted email signature can get you calls/emails from prospects you never knew even existed, new ezine subscribers and, in the best case, a new client - this is a great return on free marketing.
1. Keep it *plain*.
There is such a variety of email programs and capabilities out there -- Outlook, Eudora, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, gmail, etc. - that you should use plain text in your email signature to insure that everyone can read it.
In addition to my text address, I use a border to separate the email address from the body of the email. You can use basic symbols which separate your signature without distracting from it. In my case, I use a line of dashes to separate the body of my email from my email signature.
2. Make it automatic.
Most email programs today will allow you to set up a default email signature which will automatically append the end of every email you send. In Outlook, you can even set up a variety of signatures depending on which email account you are using and you can alter the address based on whether you are initiating and email versus replying to one.
Setting up an automatic email signature will save you a lot of typing in addition to insuring that your signature remains consistent.
3. Make it complete.
I highly recommend that you include either your email address or your URL (assuming you have a website) in your email signature. You want to make it easy for people to find you.
Someone receiving your email for the first time may not wish to pick up the phone and call you - they may want to learn a bit about you first.
When possible, include your email address in such a way that it's clickable no matter the email account that opens it. You do this by writing mailto:yourname@yourdomainname. Having the "mailto" at the beginning of your email address makes it a "clickable" link.
Some discussion groups don't allow you to include your email address in your email signature. But if you have a website, you can direct readers there by including your URL as a clickable link. You do this by typing http://www.yourURL. Adding the "http://" to the beginning of your URL makes it a clickable link for your readers - even in a plain text email.
4. Keep it short.
Keep your signature to no more than 5 lines - more than that and your signature becomes overwhelming and will turn off readers.
Many online discussion groups/forums will limit the number of lines that your signature can be so be sure to check out the guidelines before you post. As a result, I use three variations of my signature: one for online discussion groups, one for existing clients and one for everyone else.
5. Give 'em a reason and a gift.
Do you want subscribers for your ezine? Do you want people to visit your website? What is the "call to action" of your email signature?
You want to give your email readers a reason to go to your website or sign up for your ezine or pick up the phone and call you by including an invitation in your email signature. You could offer them a F*REE special report, an e-course or a F*REE teleseminar - all for the "price" of heeding your signature's call to action.
Your email signature block is a small, yet very valuable piece of marketing real estate - think of it as the written version of your elevator speech. You want to give as much thought to constructing it as you do the rest of your marketing materials.
Internet marketing is the use of different tactics online to advertise and sell your goods and services. Internet marketing is associated with several business models such as e-commerce, publishing and lead-based websites where an organization generates value by acquiring sales leads from its website.
Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when the ratio of cost against the ability to reach massive numbers of perspective buyers in the target audience is compared.
Internet marketing is a cost effective way to deliver quality buyers for your goods or services at little cost compared to most types of marketing approaches available. It is by far the fastest growing advertising method for all companies today.
Internet marketing is all about people knowing each others interests, values and preferences and attracting them to a solution. Internet marketing is a relatively new field in comparison to traditional offline marketing.
It's a long process where you first build a website and nurture it through its growing pains until you can find a way to place it at the top of the search engine rankings. Internet Marketing is definitely not something that you set and forget, as many would have you believe.
It's an action plan compiled by you which must be followed through with on a daily basis. It's an Internet Marketing plan with consistency being its primary objective.
Internet Marketing is a field, perpetuated on some fronts, by lies, fantasy and tales of overnight success which has given different areas such as MLM or Multi Level Marketing a bad name in some quarters.
Internet marketing is an important business building function for any business and is a process not an event, unlike nearly any other form of marketing. It is comparable to traditional marketing strategies in that you will have to determine what works and what doesn't and continually experiment with newer strategies to help establish your business and make it successful.
Internet marketing is booming and everyone has a great opportunity to benefit from this prosperity as long as they know how to market online and have the patience to stick with their plan. It doesn't happen overnight.
The most important component of any Internet Marketing strategy is to have a written well thought out plan in place. You must be consistent and apply this plan on a daily basis to attract visitors to your website and you must stick with it through good times and bad in order to achieve success online.
This plan however is not set in stone. Without a doubt, you will have to adjust it and find the right combination of strategies that work for you. There are many and varied approaches to internet marketing and you should try to find not only what works best, but also what you enjoy most.
Pay per click has proven to be very successful for a lot of people over the years but it's not for everyone. It can be a complex process which you have to be on top of at least two or three times per day. If you aren't vigilant when it comes to PPC then it could cost you financially and produce very limited results.
For example, you may enjoy Social Networking or the new Web 2.0 as it's now called and you may be just as successful combining this approach with a multimedia strategy, which is gaining more prominence online everyday.
There are so many weapons you can use in your Internet Marketing Strategy to drive traffic and sales that you should be able to find the combination that suits your needs and also translates into success online. The bottom line is to have a plan, follow through consistently on a daily basis and don't give up.
Both Sandra P. Martini & Bob Withers are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Sandra P. Martini has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Shopping and Marketing. For the past 5 years, Sandra Martini has been showing self-employed business owners how to get more clients consistently by implementing processes and systems to put their marketing on autopilot. Visit Sandra at. Sandra P. Martini's top article generates over 165000 views. to your Favourites.
Bob Withers has sinced written about articles on various topics from Direct Marketing, Your Online Business and Writing. Bob Withers is a professional sales and marketing person with over twenty years in the field. He has also turned his sights on network marketing to apply his trade. If you want to get in touch with Bob or learn more about sales and marketing please visit:. Bob Withers's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.