Text is for E-mail

By Bob Osgoodby
Posted Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Text is for E-mail and HTML coding is for Web Pages. I can't begin to tell you the number of E-mails I get formatted for HTML. These are basically not readable in a text mode and get quickly deleted. While some mail readers will display HTML coding, many will not. If you use E-mail to send information to potential clients, always make sure that you send it in a format they can read.

AOL has some pretty nifty tools and allows you to put script in colors, use italic print or to bold parts of your note. That's fine if you are writing to someone at AOL. but did you know that these tools may not be readable by the email client software that many people use? They may, in point of fact, block the message from being read? I get at least 2 or 3 E-mails every day with nothing in the body of the note. What a waste of your time and mine. When you do send something like that, you are begging for people to block all future E-mail from your address.

Many E-mail readers have filters which easily allow offending E-mails to be automatically "trashed". If someone sends 4 or 5 spams, examine the return address. The odds are they are forged and will all be different. Blocking their E-mail address is useless here as they use a different one every time. Better yet, pick a sentence in their E-mail, and block any message with that sentence.

E-mails with no text, and the message they wish read is an attachment to the E-mail, is another common mistake. If it's not from someone I know, it is immediately deleted. Why should I waste my time opening an attachment in an unsolicited E-mail? If the note is in "Doc" format it never gets opened, even if I know the person. They could unwittingly be sending me a virus.

One way that works, is to include the message in the body of the E-mail, and attach your HTLM message to the note. That way the recipient has a choice. Remember - text can be read by all E-mail readers and that is your best bet. Otherwise, you might be simply wasting your time.

About the Author
Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter Visit his Web Site at (http://adv-marketing.com/business) to subscribe and place a Free Ad for your business.