WHAT IS A SIGNATURE FILE ANYWAY?

A signature file is text that is appended to your output email message, everytime you send an email to someone. All you have to do is create a signature file with a simple text program and tell your e-mail program where it is!

HOW DO I CREATE ONE?

OUTLOOK EXPRESS: Go to "Tools", "Signature"

EUDORA: Go to "Tools" "Signature".

NETSCAPE: 4.x...Go to "Edit" "Preferences" "Mail and Newsgroups" "Identity" "Signature" "Browse"

WHAT SHOULD BE PUT IN YOUR SIGNATURE FILE?

GUIDELINES FOR CREATING YOUR SIG FILE:

1. Be Brief: This is not a billboard ad. State who you are in simple and clear language. Keep it short.

2. Contact information: Phone and fax numbers can be included. Always include your email address and /or your web URL.

3. Product or Service description: A very brief benefit. Some folks add a quote instead on a particular philosophy of life

Here is one that we have used recently:

--
There are several things that need to be discussed about the above Signature File. Notice it is 8 lines in length. You must be careful when you create your Signature File that you don't make it too long or cluttered! ALWAYS reply to anybody that ever sends you an email, no matter if you just say Thanks! You are not only being very professional by prompt responses but you never know who on the other end will see your message and respond to it!

NEVER use a 16 line signature file when you are participating in a Newsgroup. The netiquette seems to be a 6-8 line Signature. The next thing you should be wondering about is email artwork. You must be cautious when using any kind of Signature that requires vertical formating such as the sample above. Every email program has different characteristics that will change the formatting when received. We have found that if the artwork is at the far Left there will less distortion than anywhere else.

Closing with LOVE, Bryce & Lisa Jackson
____________________________________________________________

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____________________________________________________________

EMAIL FORMATTING TIPS:

• The user has the control over the look and feel (font type, size, and color), not the Creator.
• Make your lines 70 characters or less across.
• Constructive use of white space, even in email, is a good thing.
• Use spaces for formatting - not TABs (each email pgm handles TABs differently)
• Try to avoid using anything other than the standard ASCII character set.
• Put artwork to the far left.
• Formatting with fixed width font like Courier may be benefitial. (Some email pgms convert to proportional fonts)
• Always use COMPLETE http web addresses and mailto addresses.

THIS LAST ITEM IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST:

Many software packages will show the email address and web site in color with a hypertext link, allowing a person to click on it and bring up the web page or the new email message box ready to send.

BUT, you MUST use the proper formatting for them to be in color, i.e

This set should be highlighted:

WEBWORKER

ADSPLUS

This set should not.

www.webworker.com

email:carrollw@cadvision.com

Nor should the balance of this http://

www.multi-level.com/millennium/wjc.html

(Please note that some people let the http part end a sentence with the balance of the URL on the next line. Only the http portion is in color and clicking on it will not provide the proper link.)

Mailto: bryce@webworker.com vs

Mailto:bryce@webworker.com

First mailto is not completely highlighted. However removing the space between Mailto: and bryce, highlights it. If you are using Pegasus and you double click in Pegasus, it will bring up a new message box with your address already entered.

The "http" & "mailto" always need to be on the same line with the message.

RECIPROCAL LINKING: This has become one of the most important ways to promote your site on the web...especially since the search engines now give a higher relavancy rating if your web pages have more external links pointing to them.

• Free automated reciprocal linking program.. Awesome concept...it creates links to other related web sites, automatically and then guides you on how to approach the webmasters for reciprocal links back to you.

SELF PROMOTION If you have a website, you absolutely have to check out this amazing, wonderful, incredible resource. You can use it for free to register your site with all the important search engines and indexes, and THEN decide if and how much you want to pay to support the service. It's great -- so great that I donated to them even before using their services. Visit SelfPromotion Now! offers a radical advancement in multi-submission of your URL to literally over 100 of the TOP sites FREE instead of just a handful. You can get almost INSTANT hits by utilizing SelfPromotion guaranteed traffic builder!

WHERE SHOULD YOU USE YOUR SIGNATURE FILE?

• Your Own Email Messages
• E-mail Discussion Groups (Mailing Lists)
• Newsgroups
• Forums
  

YOUR OWN EMAIL MESSAGES

Here is your opportunity to "get back" at all of those unsolicited email messages that you receive. Bless them for they may just be from a person that is looking for what you have to offer. And since they are sending you an unsolicited email you are certainly within proper netiquette to respond to them with a "thank you for sharing that information" which will have YOUR advertising message. I guarantee you that it will be read!

In addition to unsolicited messages, always respond to any email sent to you, even if a response is not expected! Email responding, especially promptly, will facilitate that your message will be seen!

E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS or MAILING LISTS

An "E-mail discussion group" or "mailing list" is a group of people with a common interest in a specific topic. They have all "subscribed" to or "asked" to be on the list by sending a specific E-mail message to the list E-mail address. They can also "unsubscribe" or be taken off the list at any time by sending a specific "unsubscribe" E-mail message.

Anyone on the list can "post a message" to the list and it will be E-mailed to everyone on the list - usually a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of people. There are thousands of these "mailing lists" in existence on every subject imaginable.

This is a favorite method of marketing, your "marketing signature" is delivered to hundreds or thousands of E-mail boxes! And, some of these lists can be very interesting and informative. HOWEVER, YOU MUST DO IT CORRECTLY - NETIQUETTE! Netiquette is simply etiquette on the internet, or the "right" way to "behave" on the internet. The basic rules of netiquette for our purposes are.....

1. NEVER POST INAPPROPRIATELY! Whether you're posting a message or file to a mailing list, newsgroup, or forum, your postshould always relate to the subject of the group you're posting to.

2. NEVER blatantly advertise on these groups. There are a few exceptions that I'll cover later.

There are two ways to go about marketing on mailing lists:

1) Go through the list described below and find any lists that relate to the product or service that you are marketing. Subscribe to these lists, but DO NOT post a message for several weeks. "Lurk", or just "hangout" and watch the posts for a while - take notes on each of the lists that you're monitoring. Everytime anyone posts to the "list", you will receive the post in your E-mail box along with everyone else on the list.

CAUTION: On most lists, you will receive a post or two per day. However, on some lists you could receive 10, 20, 30 or more posts per day. If you've subscribed to 10 mailing lists and getting 20 posts per day on each - you'll be getting 200 E-mails per day. Proceed slowly! When you subscribe to a list, you will usually be sent a "welcome" letter describing the list and how to "unsubscribe". Print this information and set up a file folder for each list you're subscribed to.

Once you've "lurked" for a few weeks and feel like you can post a "subject appropriate" message to the list - do it! PLEASE NOTE! Your post MUST be appropriate to the list and cannot be an "ad"!

EXAMPLE

Let's say you have written a booklet on "making and selling customized wooden furniture", and the list title is "making wood furniture". You could post a "blurb" about a particular method you use to sell wooden furniture or how you make a particular type of furniture and maybe offer them a free report on it (provide them with valuable information). In the report, you would mention the availability of your booklet. Once you "lurk" for awhile, you'll get a "feel" for appropriate posts. DO NOT post inappropriately!

2) The second way to market on mailing lists is via your "marketing" signature. It's the way you "sign" your posts -- for example.....

John Smith
Author of "How to make wooden furniture" Smith@wooden.net (ph.) 123-456-7890 (fax)098-765-4321

A three to five line "signature" is usually acceptable. Although this is most effective when used in mailing lists related to your subject area, it can be used on any of your posts. HOWEVER, keep in mind that your posts still have to be appropriate to the "list".

EXAMPLE

Your booklet is "How to make and sell customized wooden furniture". However, you also have an interest in classical music, and you want to know more about old cars -- so you subscribe to the twenty "lists" related to these. You "lurk" for awhile and then make an appropriate post ( in the "old cars" list, you would post something informative or ask a question about old cars) and sign it with your "marketing signature". Although your booklet is not related to these "lists", thousands of people will see your "marketing signature" and a percentage of those will have an interest in your booklet. Again though--YOUR POST MUST BE RELATED TO THIS SUBJECT OF THE LIST!

Here's how to get a *huge* list (over 300 pages when printed) of "email discussion groups" or "mailing lists"......

Send email to listserv@bitnic.educom.edu Type "list global" in the body of the message (without quotes), and leave the subject line blank. Within an hour or two, it should be in your email box.

Of course, you won't use the majority of these, but you should look through all of them and choose the ones that will help you the most. This list should be your "bread and butter" for years to come! Try a few at first and then try new ones every few weeks. Continue to use the ones that work best for you or that you have an interest in and try a few new ones every few weeks. There are enough to last a long time!

Be sure to keep organized notes on your use of these lists so you'll know what's going on on each and what you've done on each. This may seem like a lot of work, but keep in mind that you're reaching tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people with these email discussion lists!

To subscribe to one of these lists, send email to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NET Type the following command in the message (not the subject) area.........SUBSCRIBE "list name". Replace "list name" with the name in the first column of the list. For example, if you wanted to subscribe to the first list on the list, AAAS Computer Systems, you would type AAASCS in the message area and leave the subject area blank.

NEWSGROUPS

Newsgroups are very similar to "mailing lists' (See previous section) except in the way they're accessed. Newsgroup posts have to be accessed with a newsreader online. On the other hand, "mailing lists" posts are sent to your E-mail box. For this reason, fewer people actually see newsgroups posts. However, it can still be a viable avenue for marketing.

All the guidelines for "mailing lists" apply to news groups. ALWAYS "lurk" for awhile before posting anything! ALWAYS be sure that your posts are subject appropriate! There are thousands of newsgroups and eight major newsgroup categories. They are:

A newsgroup category that is smaller but much more "commercial" than the other newsgroups, is the "Biz" category. This category was formed in the late 1980's for blatantly commercial posts. This is a good place for you to start, but again, "lurk" for awhile before you dive in and be sure that your posts are subject appropriate.

Here are the TOP 49 popular business related newsgroups for you to check out:

FORUMS

FORUMS..Participate in online discussions. Not only will you learn some valuable information, this is a great way to soft-sell some of your wares. Visit this excellent source of ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS and search for a few discussion groups in your area of interest.