How well is your email signature working for you? For most people who use email,Guest Posting an email signature is just a basic contact information signature file that they append to their emails without giving it much thought, if they choose to use an email signature at all. However, for online business owners, an email signature can be the least expensive yet most effective tool in your online business marketing toolkit. Why? Because it enables you to promote yourself and your business without any blatant advertising. It’s like sending a business card with a call to action in every single email that you send.
Where should you be using your email signature? Here’s a quick list:
–on every single piece of email that Self Inking Stamp you send to friends, family members, colleagues, etc. from your computer’s email program (Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, etc.)
–in every email that you send in response to a posting on email discussion lists–in every posting that you make on an online discussion forum
–anytime you send a broadcast email out to your list through your email broadcast serviceYou never know where you email will end up (how many emails do you forward in one day?) nor who will be reading it, so it pays to attach an effective email signature to everything that you do. It serves as a wonderfully effective free marketing tool that works for you 24/7. I’ve gotten countless subscribers to my newsletter from simply using a compelling call to action in my email signature.
What are the components of an effective email signature? I’ve seen horribly long email signatures (as many as 20 lines), signatures missing basic contact information, and email signatures that leave me thinking, “So what?”. Here’s how you can create an effective email signature that will help you get clients online:
1. Keep it short. Nothing is worse than reading an email signature that’s longer than the email itself. To be most effective, limit yourself to no more than 7 lines. As you participate in discussion lists or online forums, the list moderators may limit your signature to as few as 5 lines. So, just like you make your printed business card “Rolodex proof” (i.e. don’t put essential contact info at the bottom of the card where it will be lost when holes are punched into it for your Rolodex), keep your most essential info in the first 5 lines of your signature file. That way, if some info is cut off when you post to a discussion forum, it won’t be the essential info that you want to convey. Better yet, do as I do and create various email signature files for different uses, including ones specifically created to comply with the rules of various discussion lists to which I belong.