Are You Forgetting Your Own Free Advertising?

By Joe Reinbold
Posted Friday, August 6, 2004

I receive hundreds of emails everyday. It amazes me just how many messages I receive from individuals sending for information, asking questions or sending their offers that don't have a signature file attached. A signature file is a simple file made up to be attached to every email you send out. In 90% percent of the email programs out there, the program will attach this file automatically to all your outgoing messages once you make one up.

Here's what a simple signature file can look like:

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The Entrepreneur's Home Business Link - A resource for the home based entrepreneur. Free resources, weekly newsletter monthly drawings for advertising and more! (http://www.homebizlink.com/)
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I am not sure what email program you use, I use Eudora Pro, but most will work the same way.

Why use a signature file? Well, the name of the game, whether you are selling services, products, or involved in network marketing, is to Promote, Promote, Promote. If you send out 50 emails today, that's 50 ads (through your signature file) that you sent out. How much did it cost you? Zip!! Where can you get a better deal than that? A signature file can be written for your newsletter if you have one, a simple reference to your web site, an ad for some associate program you are affiliated with, just about anything.

With Eudora I can set up as many signature files as I want and choose the one I want to use for a particular message. Or I might want to change them on a daily or weekly basis. Make them simple and not too long. AND - don't over do it! I receive some messages that have five or six signature files attached. That's a bit much! I believe one is enough. It looks professional and isn't overbearing.

When you prepare your email messages, you won't see the actual signature file on the message. It will be placed at the end of the message when you hit the send button and it will appear on the message at the receiving end. So there is one thing you want to make sure you do before using a signature file.

When you make the file up in your email program and save it, make sure you test it by sending yourself a message so that you know how the actual signature file looks. Sometimes lines of dashes or other characters come out longer in an email than they look when you prepare the actual file. You will also want to make sure to use a hard return at the end of each line in the file so it doesn't extend as one line across two screen lengths. Normally you should keep a line in an email message to about 65 characters so it fits neatly in most browser screens. I like to keep my signature files about 50 characters per line so it looks nice and neat. You want to make it appear professional, not one with lines and words wrapping to another line, etc.

So don't forget to get that advertising out every day on every message. It's FREE and it doesn't take that much work to prepare!

About the author:
Joe Reinbold, owner of The Entrepreneur's Home Business Link publishes a free weekly email newsletter "Home Income Quarterly E-dition" which is dedicated to assisting online marketers. For a free subscription just
mailto:subscribe@homebizlink.com or visit his site at (http://www.homebizlink.com)