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WHAT ARE E-MAIL SIGNATURES?

e-mail signature is a very useful website promotion tool that produces great results compared to the effort required to use it, and e-mail signature files are a non-aggressive form of site promotion, and in a way this is their most valuable feature, because the person that reads it don't consider themselves the recipient of an advert.

You, as most of us, probably send a lot of e-mail, so why settle for just one brief line with expressions like "Take care" or "See you later" followed by your name?

People use to hand out their business card to nearly everyone they meet, why not do the same with e-mail? Instead of just signing with your name, why not include a commercial message at the end of every e-mail your send? This message is what it's called an e-mail signature.

The beauty of e-mail signatures is that you do not have to say anything about your own site, in the body of your letter...unless it's relevant or appropriate. You can even e-mail someone telling him how much you enjoyed HIS site...you don't need to mention your own site...your e-mail signature will say it for you.

And an e-mail with an e-mail signature instead of just a letter, becomes a traffic generator!

It's difficult to give detailed instructions on what must you put in your e-mail signatures. Because signatures are as different as people are. If you are a teenager promoting your site about latest pop band, you would hardly want to use the same e-mail singnature thatn a middle-aged man trying to get visitors to his online home business.

Think about what kind of people you usually exchange e-mails with. Try to figure out what these people like. If you aren't sure of what kind of words fit better, go with a formal style rather than marketing hype The signature represents you, so don't spoil your reputation with something that can be considered unprofessional or tactless.



CREATE A GOOD E-MAIL SIGNATURE

Add your title (if appropiate). If you own a site you can rightfully call yourself a "Webmaster"! Brief descriptions of your site. People needs to know what your site is about Encourage people to visit your site. But don't try too hard. Put a link to your site. A good description is nothing without it. Remember to use the full link: . http://www.yoursite.com/instead of www.yoursite.com. Be concise. A good general rule of thumb is that your signature shouldn't exceed four lines in length. If your signature is too long, people won't take the time to read it, and some places actually request signatures to be under a certain length. Check for spelling error and bad grammar. They can kill your message If your site is giving away something free, it would definitely be a good thing to mention it

OK, lets see some e-mail signature examples..:

---Easy HB Newsletter ... The Sure Way to Make Money! We teach you FREE how to work your MLM Business http://www.easy-home-business.com/mlmnewsletter.html ---

The DHS Club. The best opportunity because it attracts the best people. Earn and Save thousands with our personalized help! http://www.cl ubshop.com/cgi/members/RB106500 Our e-Business Institute has all you need to know about Home Business! ---

FREE Guide to Home Business! Learn how to: Start, Promote, Handle, Improve and reach Success with Your Own Home Business! http://www.easy-home-business.com/free-guide.html ---

Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi http://www.easy-home-business.com Publisher - Editor e-mail: rbonomi@easy-home-business.com ---

This examples are good because they are short, go right to the point, and deliver accurate information about who you are, where your site is located and how the receiver might benefit from visiting it.

If you want to add a bit more "hype" to your signature, feel free to do so, but don't overdo it.



HOW TO USE E-MAIL SIGNATURES

Once you create your e-mail signature, you have to add it to your e-mail program so that you don't have to type it again every time you send out an e-mail.

How this can be done depends on the program you use. The signature features in America Online 5.0 and Microsoft Outlook Express are both good examples of how easy it is to set up and use e-mail signatures.

In aol 5.0, you can create and save up to five e-mail signatures per screen name. Each e-mail signature must have a different name for quick retrieval and you can designate one as the default.

The default e-mail signature is the one that's automatically inserted in each e-mail screen. You can also select a signature from your library by clicking on the Insert Signature file icon.

In Outlook Express, click on Tools | Stationery | Signature (or Tools | Options | Signature, and choose Add).

You can type in the e-mail signature text, designate a computer file, or select your business card format from your contact database.

You can ask Outlook Express to autoatically insert your e-mail signature or you can click on Insert | Signature from the Compose menu when you want to.

In Eudora Pro, you set up an e-mail signature by selecting Tools | Signatures and choose New from the right-click menu of the Signature window.



E-MAIL SIGNATURES IN THE USENET

Discussion forums and Usenet are a bit different from e-mails, although the same basic principles apply, e-mail signature advertising in the Usenet differs from the use of e-mail signatures in e-mails.

Usenet is like a big party where everybody talks with everybody, and from time to time it gets quite noisy and confusing, but it is a great opportunity to exchange information and meet new people, while e-mailing only involves two persons, so it is more personal.

Discussion forums have a specific topic and nearly every post has something to do with it, while in e-mails, it is possible to talk about everything.

If you use the Usenet or discussion forums only occasionally, you may not worry about these differences and just use your e-mail signature at the end of your posts. But if you use them requently it's worth to fine-tune your e-mail signature advertising strategy accordingly.



Warning!

The first thing you should do is to verify if the forum you are posting to allows the use of e-mail signatures, because some of them completely forbid the use of e-mail signatures.

If you are posting to the Usenet, using an e-mail signature of four lines or less is

Before posting, try to locate the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and check the rules they have about using e-mail signatures. If you cannot find the answer post and ask what the rules are (if you can't gess it for what others are doing)

Do not poste rubbish just to get your signature displayed. It is not worth the bad reputation and angry e-mails you will get from it.



SIGNATURE ADVERTISING STRATEGIES

Even while the Usenet divides its newsgroups by topic, your e-mail signature can be off topic, as long as the message itself is on-topic, because most of us have also other hobbies and areas of interest in addition to the one our site covers.

An e-mail signature that has something to do with the discussion gets more attention than a completely irrelevant one. So try to adapt your signature to match the topic of the newsgroup.

If you feel that you cannot create an e-mail signature that matches the topic, it's better to use it as you normally use it, than to not use it.

It's wise to have a special e-mail signature for the Usenet, created using words that are know to draw attention or some capitalized letters, because there is a risk that the readers will just jump to the next message without reading your signature.

If you regularly visit the same group, after a while, you'll start receiving less hits from your signature, because many of the people who follow the newsgroup have seen your signature, so it is a good idea to completely change your signature every now and then.

FINAL WORDS

E-mail signatures DO work very well and produce a nice deal of traffic if you are able to use them correctly.

Written by Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi

About the author:

Dr. Roberto Bonomi is a successful e-book writer that shares his home business experience at: http://www.easy-home-bus iness.com If you already have, or are looking for an Internet Home Business, you can't miss the free knowledge that you'll receive at his site.