15 Email Design Tips By Neil Anuskiewicz

Designing an effective email is not difficult, but it has a few unique aspects that should be considered in the design process. Regardless of design however, the message should be clear, simple and easily identifiable. The following tips are basic reminders for good email design.

1. Do not use too many or too large graphics in your email marketing. Ideally, you would have about 60 percent text and 40 percent graphics in your emails. It is never a good idea to send an email that is one giant image. Keep in mind that many email clients have images turned off by default.

2. Use the HTML alt tag for important images. Not only does the alt tag display text while images are loading, you can use it to describe the graphics.

3. Provide a link to allow people to view your email as a Web page. Some people just prefer to look at things in a browser and your HTML email may not render well in every email program out there. Many Email Service Providers (ESPs) have a standard mail merge value such as {{{browse}}} for viewing emails in a browser window.

4. If you do use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), keep in mind that email newsletters only supports inline CSS. Ideally, you would stay away from CSS altogether in your email design as some email programs will jus strip it out.

5. Be sure to send a text version of your email along with the HTML version. If you create both an HTML and a text version most ESPs will send the email as a multipart format, which means that the text version will be presented to those services and programs that cannot handle HTML. It is good to remember that some email programs and mobile devices can only handle text emails.

6. Do not rely on background images. There is no guarantee that your background images will display properly on all the different email programs, and if they are stripped out, they may alter your message.

7. Since you are designing for email programs and mobile devices, be aware of file sizes of images. You do not want to bog down your emails with large image file sizes.

8. To accommodate as email programs and mobile devices try to limit your email width to no more than 600 pixels.

9. Avoid things like flash, java script, etc., as many email programs do not support these things properly.

10. Tables are important component of email design and have made a comeback as email marketing has grown. Make sure to use the table attributes to maximum advantage in your email marketing design.

11. If you do use tables, keep it simple with a two-column table with a row across the top. Email programs are not as sophisticated as web browsers so avoid complex table layouts.

12. Your company name should be apparent in the "From" address, subject line, and content of your email. This decreases the chances your email newsletter will be mistaken for spam.

13. The law requires either a physical address or P.O. Box in all email marketing emails. Be sure to include this in every email you send. Most ESPs will not allow you to send emails that do not comply.

14. Make sure your subject line is relevant and avoid over hyping with all CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation marks! Email receivers and spam filters have come to automatically associate these things with spam.

15. Test your emails against a list that includes a variety of email clients, such as Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook, and so on. Do this as a quick test before you send out your production email to make sure everything looks all right.


Keep these tips in mind, paired with compelling and relevant information and offers, and the result will be a solid and successful email.

Article from SmartBiz.com: http://www.smartbiz.com/article/articleview/2524/1/53

5 Tips for Quick Social Media Success by Susan Gunelius

You started a business blog, created a Twitter profile and developed a Facebook page--now what? Sure, you can start publishing updates and sending friend and follow requests, but those communications are just the preliminary steps to social media marketing success.

Here are five tips that anyone can apply to their social media marketing efforts today and start seeing positive results almost immediately.

1. Make it easy and non-threatening for your audience to participate.
Not only does your content matter on the social web but your personality matters, too. In other words, you need to be accessible and approachable in all of your social media marketing communications. Don't talk at people, talk with them, and do so in a manner that makes it clear that you want them to join the conversation.

This applies to your employees as well. Your employees are your best brand advocates. Make it easy and non-threatening for them to talk about your business on the social web by providing simple guidelines for them to follow. You can find an excellent directory of well-known company social media and blogging policies here, which you can benchmark in order to develop your own business' guidelines.

2. Write share-worthy content.
The more amazing content that you publish online through your social media profiles and branded destinations, the more people will want to share it with their audiences. That leads to far more online exposure for you, your business and your brand than you can get on your own. Of course, not every piece of content that you publish on social sites has to be share-worthy, but you should try to publish as much amazing, share-worthy content as possible. Not just to broaden your exposure, but also to add value to the online conversation.

3. Acknowledge and recognize your audience.
The power of social media marketing comes from the relationships you develop with your online audience (who will become brand advocates and will talk about your business, champion it, and defend it against naysayers). With that in mind, you must acknowledge people when they reach out to you.

Would you ignore a person who walked up to you at a networking event and spoke to you? Hopefully, your answer to that question is, "no." No one likes to be ignored, and social media conversations shouldn't be treated differently from in-person conversations. Many of the most successful marketers make a point of responding to every e-mail, blog comment, tweet and so on that is directed at them. So recognize your audience, and make them feel important.

4. Integrate all of your marketing efforts.
All of your marketing efforts should work together to present consistent brand messages and lead to your ultimate marketing goals. You should also cross-promote your various marketing efforts. For example, feed your blog content to your Twitter and Facebook profiles using a tool like www.Twitterfeed.com. Promote your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles by including "Follow Me" buttons in your blog's sidebar that link to your profiles. Include your Twitter ID in your printed ads and link to your blog and social media profiles in your e-mail signature.

The key is to surround your audience with branded experiences and let them select how they want to interact with your business and brand. Give them options and make it easy for them to join the conversation in the way that they choose.

5. Don't try to keep up with the Jones'.
Just because your competitor is doing something on the social web doesn't mean that you need to do the same. By blindly following your competitor's path, you're marketing scared and without purpose. Plus, it's probable that your competitor's initiatives won't help you meet your goals at all. While it's essential that you monitor your competitor's social media marketing activities, you should analyze them against your own goals before implementing any of them yourself.

Susan Gunelius is president and CEO of KeySplash Creative Inc., a full service marketing communications provider and branding consultancy, and owner of WomenOnBusiness.com, a leading blog community for business women. She is the author of several books, including Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, published by Entrepreneur Press. Her newest book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, is now available.

Help!

Many small businesses see the Donald Trump, Oprah and more powerful business owners and think they can do it all on their own. They say "It isn't that difficult to get that done on my own." If everything was so simple everyone would be in business alone and not need assistance, consultants or a team in place to help with projects.

It is important to note that all successful entities have a team, support or some outside source to assist with the business. It would be nice if everything could be done by one but it just isn't logical or healthy.

If you need help in any area for your business make the time to draft the need and then look for the qualified help needed to take things to another level.

It is your business but you cannot build Rome alone.

June Celebration

National Professional Wellness Month

June 1–30. Increase your worth in the marketplace. Add value to your company and your customers. Be accessible, reliable and fair. Update your resume, increase your skills and learn your business completely. Become a source of reference: be visible, attend meetings and company or community socials. (from answers.com)

Effective Communications Month

June is Effective Communications Month

In order to service clients and make long lasting connections with vendors you have to have open, honest or reliable communication.

Use this month to take some communication quiz to find out how you are communicating with others. You maybe surprised at what you discover.