Editor's Message
How to Create and Send HTML Email
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I was a little sceptical of what email format (html or text)
most people use to read their email. Most recent surveys
suggest html email, however I thought it would still be text.

My own survey results showed subscribers still preferred html email
over text based email by a few votes.

My conclusion is that it is still best to use both methods so you can
still please everyone.. If you only use html email you will surely lose
many subscribers.

Today's newsletter issue gives you the step by step process on
"How to Create and Send HTML Email"

I hope you find it useful for your marketing efforts.

Best Wishes,
Herman Drost

How to Create and Send HTML Email
© 2003 Herman Drost

Until recently text-based email was the most popular way to
communicate, however with the advent of html email you can now
create and send beautiful graphics, create clickable links and
use interactive forms.

HTML email can have the same appearance as a web page. You can
include your favorite photos, create colorful newsletters or
charts for your friends or business associates.

It's now often used as a valuable tool in email marketing
campaigns.

HTML email has now surpassed text-based email in popularity.

Read this survey on email format preferences and programs.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/email_format_preferences.htm

Let's first point out the pros and cons of sending html email
before we get into how to create it.

Pros of using html email

* Visually appealing
* Able to include graphics, icons, clickable links, different fonts,
interactive forms.
* Increased interactivity with your customers.
* Mostly used by advertisers, however more consumers are
using html email as they switch to faster connections.
* Ads can be more effective in HTML
* Most of the popular email clients now support html
email (ie Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Netscape
Communicator, Hotmail, Rocketmail, AOL, Yahoo, Web TV).

Cons of using html email

* Slow loading due to downloading of graphics
* Takes up more space in your email client
* Not all computers support html email
* Users may not have the required bandwidth or may have
download quotas set by their ISPs.
* Hackers can send viruses, trojan horses embedded in html email.
* Users may turn off the option to receive html email, or use
filters to quarantine it.

How to create a simple html email

1. Create a new directory on your web site ie
http://www.ihost-websites.com/htmlmail where /htmlmail is the
new directory for all your html email files. Your files should
include all the graphics and html pages you want to use.

2. Open your favorite html editor ie FrontPage, Dreamweaver to
create your new html email (you can also use MS Word 97 or 2000
but it tends to bloat the code a little).

3. Create a new html email page, name it (ie newsletter.htm) and
save the page in the new directory you created above:
(ie http://www.ihost-websites.com/htmlmail/newsletter.htm)

4. Keep your design simple - your audience will be viewing the
html email document in their Email application, not a Web
browser. You have no control over how large or small a window
the person will use to view your document.

Don't use javascript, flash, style sheets, framesets rollovers
or nested tables. Your beautifully created html email page, may
not render well for your recipients.

Limit your use of graphics so your viewers will not have to wait
long to download your document in their email software.

5. Create and store your graphics (ie images, icons, fancy
fonts) on a web server to correctly appear in your recipient's
email software - you could save it as an attachment, however
most folks will not open the attachment (and delete it)
especially if it's from someone they don't know.

If you don't want to use graphics, you could use colored tables
for different sections (ie header, masthead, contact information
and footers).

This will enable you to create html email without using a web
server. Keep in mind your html email won't be as attractive as
the one which includes eye-catching images.

6. Always use absolute URLS for your graphics and links. Your
readers are going to be at all different locations, so you need
to use absolute paths in an HTML email to ensure that the
images display and the links work.
(ie http://www.ihost-websites.com/images/header.gif).

It's best to first complete the design of your images using
relative URLs, then when you are finished, change the relative
URLs for the images into absolute URLs.

7. Upload the htmlmail folder (which includes your images and
html pages) to your web server.

Now you are ready to send your html email document.

8. Open your Email Software - in outlook express (since it's the
most popular) go to create mail - insert - text from file -
scroll to your saved html document.

9. Email a test to yourself before you send it to your
subscriber list. You may want to send it to your friends who
have different email programs so you can be sure most of your
subscribers can read it on their computers.

10. Once you have created an attractive html page or newsletter,
save it as a template. Now you can just open the template
whenever you want to send html mail and most of the work will be
done for you.

HTML email is still rather new, but it is a great marketing tool
if used properly. The key is to test, test , test to see if your
subscribers prefer it over text based email. If you are unsure
your subscribers can read html email, then offer both text-based
email and html email, to cater to both audiences.

In my Part 2 of this article, I will discuss "How to create and
send an html email form" to increase the interactivity of your
subscribers and boost the response rate in your email marketing
campaigns.

Resources Mailing software that supports HTML email

Groupmail (http://www.infacta.com) - free version allows a list
of up to 100)

http://www.add2it.com/scripts/mailman-pro.shtml

Free HTML Templates
http://www.sparklist.com/services/htmltemplates.html

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Once your Web site is up, you must maintain it. Maintenance
means changes, and each time you make a change, you may make
a mistake. If your visitors get a link that doesn't work or incomplete
instructions, or if your copy is lackluster instead of passionate, they
will leave your site and not bookmark it.

Before you invite Web potential customers to see your masterpiece
you need to check and correct all parts of your site, especially the
home page. Use these 9 tests to maintain your Web site.

1. Test your headlines. You have 4 seconds to get your visitor's
attention. Test your title or opening sentence. This one item alone can
make a huge difference in the responses you receive.

Instead of the wasted words "welcome," put a benefit
with a link to either a story about your product, a sales message,
or straight to the order page for your product.

When I made "Quadruple your Web Sales in Just Three
Months "a hyperlink to my sales piece for "High Traffic = High Web
Sales", my Web sales increased ten times from the original one,
and this is only 7 months time. If your headline doesn't do it, the
game is over.

2. Test your offer. People perceive more value when you add an
incentive to buy. Give them a bonus FREE report or a tips list
with the order. It takes little time and effort to create, but
it increases sales ten-fold.

For the holidays, I sent out a half price notice for my nine eBooks.
The results amazed me.

3. Test your promotion piece by emailing your preferred audience several
choices. Which one would they buy? Emphasize different benefits,
try different phrases, power words and metaphors. Appeal to their
different senses like smell, touch, emotions and visual.

4. Test your price. A price that is too low is as bad as a price
too high. Too low a price devalues your product or service.
Potential clients or buyers might think, "If it's that cheap,
it must not be good."

One myth is that eBooks have less value than print books. If your
book has information your one particular audience wants, it has high
value and you must price it accordingly. My eBooks are in 8 ½ by 11"
format. That means they have twice the information as a regular size
book. They can be purchased by regular eMail or put into Portable
Document Format (PDF).

5. Test your copy. Change testimonials or pictures every so often.
Redo your opening page and closing page. Instead of "Subscribe
to my ezine," put a short testimonial from a famous person in
your field right before the "click here" to subscribe. Always
give your visitors a reason to buy. Make your copy "you"
oriented. Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Publishing Manual,
said this about my free monthly ezine "The Book Coach Says...
ezine is chock full of useful information - totally worth your
time."

6. Make your Web pages easier to read by using bullets.

On my home page I put these statements in bullets:

"Book Coach Offers These Book Writing and Marketing Outcomes"

· Crystallize your book concept for absolute clarity.
· Know your book's best publishing options.
· Organize a model compelling chapter to apply to all chapters.
· Know the first steps to writing a great selling book.
· Know your book's best promotion after it is finished.
· Know your book has value and will sell, before you invest time
and money

7. Test your Web site paragraph length. In general, keep them
short, around 1-4 sentences. Imagine looking at a long line of print
before getting to the meat? Discouraged, you would probably
leave the page, and possibly the site! Check for passive sentence
construction too. Your spell and grammar check gives you those
percentages at the end. If your sentences are more than 3-4%
passive, you need a professional coach to check your copy.

8. Test your Web site layout. Know where visitors are entering
your site and exiting. Many companies out there can give you this
counting service. If potential buyers keep leaving at a
particular page before they go to products and ordering page,
your words deceive you-and some changes are in order. You can
track: where your traffic is coming from, what pages visitors
like, and how long are they there, even which Web visitors signed
up for your eNewsletter.

9. Test your order process. Ask certain people to run through
different parts of your site (show your appreciation by paying
them for it with free product or service). Tell them you have a
thick skin, and appreciate their honesty.

One would-be customer couldn't finish the order for one of my
teleclasses. It took a lot of effort to get that mistake rectified with
some free product. I know a famous eBook author from which I
tried and tried to buy a book. I even emailed him about it. He said
he didn't take email orders and sent me back to where the problem
was. It's much better to have all links work, so your customers
will have an easy ordering experience. Then they will return to your
Web site over and over again.

Know that your job of testing never ends. It's what we call
maintenance. 80% of life is maintenance! Just experimenting
with these tests will bring more sales. Keep testing to know
what your potential buyers really want.

===============
Judy Cullins: 20-year author, speaker, book coach
Helps entreprenurs manifest their book and web dreams
eBk: "Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Online"

Send an email to subscribe@bookcoaching.com
FREE The Book Coach Says... includes 2 free eReports
Judy@bookcoaching.com
Ph:619/466/0622

Search engine optimization and submission is an absolutely
essential marketing strategy to attract traffic to your site.
Without people visiting your web site, no sales can be
generated.

Just submitting your site will not guarantee a place in the
search engines. You must first optimize your web site for the
search engines before it is submitted.

This promotion package eliminates the need to learn all the
strategies and the great amount of time it would take, if you
would do it yourself.

Here is what you will receive in the package.

1. Search Engine Analysis of your website
Research Appropriate Keywords
Check Link Popularity
Link Validation
Keyword Density

2. Recommend Changes - I recommend the changes to be made
to your web site (metatags, web copy and /or design)
based on my research above.

3. Hand Submission to all Major Search Engines (this does not
include paid inclusions), plus 30 or more smaller search
engines using submission software.

4. Generate a report of all submissions

5. Monitor Site Rankings

6. Suggest other strategies you can use to gain more traffic to
your site.

Side note:
Your site should be monitored on a monthly basis to
be listed, stay listed and gain higher rankings. Search engines
take several weeks (or months) for web sites to get listed.

Disclaimer: Although there is a chance for your site to gain
top rankings in the search engines, there are no guarantees,
since search engines often change their strategies from time to
time. You must stay up to date with current search engine
strategies to stay listed.

Please contact me for a free quote.

Herman Drost
promotion@isitebuild.com

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Thank you,
Herman Drost
Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) and President of
iSiteBuild.com Site Design, Hosting and Promotion
http://www.isitebuild.com

Author of “Marketing Tips” Newsletter and the NEW ebook
"101 Highly Effective Web Site Promotion Strategies".