Basic Rules For Effective Email Marketing

Copyright 2005 Ronald Gibson

If you want an email campaign to succeed, you don`t want to
offend anyone when sending your messages. Turn off a
consumer with your email and you can be sure they`ll tune
out your message. Don`t let that happen to you

A message that earns respect has a better chance to make
sales. That`s why our topic for discussion is email
etiquette.

Train yourself to always -- and I mean always -- stick to
the rules below when crafting your email messages.

RULE #1 - ALWAYS WRAP YOUR LINES AT 65 CHARACTERS OR LESS

Whenever you write an email, always format the lines so
that they`re 65 characters, or less, across. To do this,
you may need to do a "hard return" by hitting "Enter" at
the end of the line.

Wondering why you should limit your lines to just 65
characters? Good question! There are two reasons why "less
is more":

The first thing to remember is that looking at a computer
screen for a long time causes "eye fatigue" for many
readers. The shorter span of characters across the screen
makes reading easier and more appealing to the recipient of
your email message.

The other reason to go short instead of long is this: some
email clients automatically enforce line-wrapping at 60-65
characters on received messages. If your email is wrapped
at 70, the content will arrive all "chopped up." This makes
it unattractive...and worse -- unappealing.

How do you get your lines to wrap at 65 characters? Some
email clients, such as Outlook Express, allow you to set
the line-wrap to any character-width that you choose. That
means you won`t have to hit Enter each time after typing 65
characters. Makes life easier. You can also type 65
asterisks or dashes in a Notepad file to create a template.
Then paste your email below it to see if any lines extend
too far to the right.

RULE # 2 - BE CAREFUL USING ALL CAPS
How many times have you changed the TV channel to avoid
listening to a screaming car salesperson? No one likes
ascreaming salesperson...and no one likes a "screaming"
email message, either. Odds are, when someone has
over-amped the volume of their message by using too many
capital letters(not to mention too many exclamation points
and other punctuation) - you`re going to be turned off.

On the Internet, email messages written in all caps are
considered yelling. It`s okay to write some sentences and
some words in all caps, but don`t go overboard. (As you
can see in this message, I`ve tried to use capital letters
to help break up sections of the content from time to time).

Remember that consumers buy from a source they trust.
Emails in all caps are perceived as "shady" or uneducated,
and have an appearance that damages the credibility of an
offer.

RULE #3 - WATCH YOUR Ps & Qs (Spelling and Grammar)
Would you be influenced by an email selling you something
that had noticeable spelling and grammar mistakes? Sure
you would...and the influence would be negative, not
positive! When a consumer reads a sales message that`s
filled with errors, they think to themselves, "Good grief,
this person doesn`t even take the time to get his emails
right. His product is probably the same quality as his
emails."

When you`re in business, your image is your reputation and
your reputation is the reason people buy from you or the
guy down the block. It`s essential that you create an
image of integrity, credibility, and honesty in the mind of
your prospects. Sending emails filled with errors doesn`t
hurt your professional image...it destroys it.

Follow these basic email marketing rules and you will
dramatically improve your chances of being a successful
email marketer.

About the Author:
Ronald Gibson is a Web Designer and Web Marketer. He is
the Webmaster of AffiliateUtopia.com, which offers
information about some of the best money making
opportunities on the Web. For more information, visit:

http://www.affiliateutopia.com/