Free Advertising with Email Signature Files

A much often overlooked means of free promotion for your
Web site, service, or product is your e-mail signature file.
Everytime you send an e-mail message to a friend, colleague,
newsgroup, mailing list, etc. you have the opportunity to
convey a marketing message and attract a new visitor to
your Web site.

Sig File Contents

Many of the e-mail programs provide "hot links" to email
addresses and URL's. To take advantage of these features
simply enclose them between lesser than and greater than
signs. For example, type your e-mail address as
<mailto:someone@somewhere.com> and your entire URL as
<http://www.yourdomain.com>.

There are many approaches to Sig files. One way is to
categorize them according to purpose:

E-Mail User:

An e-mail user is usually concerned with providing a return
e-mail address. It is very common to see the use of a favorite
quote incorporated into their signature file. An example may
be:

Jane Doe <mailto:jane@provider.com>
"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to
find it for himself." -- Galileo Galilei

Business User -- Non Promotional

A typical business user may take a "business card" approach.

John Doe, B.S., M.S.
Director of Sales, Websites Be Me
<mailto:john@websitesbeme.com>
Tel: 888-123-4567 -- Fax: 222-987-6543

Business User with a Web site:

Don't miss the opportunity to give the URL for your Web site.

Jane Doe, CEO <mailto:jane@softwareisus.com>
Software Is Us Website: <http://www.softwareisus.com>
Tel: 888-123-4567 -- Fax: 222-987-6543

Business User - Promotional:

-To make a signature file even more effective, include the use
of a marketing message and a call to action.

John Doe, Director of Sales <mailto:john@websitesbeme.com>
Tel: 888-123-4567 -- Fax: 222-987-6543
*** Websites designed to your specs! Personal, group or biz***
***<http://www.websitesbeme.com/samplesites.html>***

Signature File Formatting

Netiquette dictates that a signature file should be between 4-6
lines. Due to the differences in e-mail programs, design your
signature file to be 60-65 characters wide and touch Enter at
the end of each line. Use a non-proportional font such as
courier 9 point. It is OK to use spaces but not tabs.

After you create your e-mail signature, send yourself an e-mail
message to check that the lines do not wrap before the end of
each line and the overall appearance.

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