HTML Email Newsletters - 3 Formatting Mistakes By Curt Keller At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

HTML email is one of the most crucial tools in the evolution of email. This has been an especially great boon for email marketers who had to be stuck with the plain text format of emails for a long time, even after the markup language was in web pages. While HTML is a great tool to use to make emails more attractive, the increasing complexity of the medium with each aesthetic addition also makes it a pain. Additionally, there are simple, logical mistakes that people end up making in design. The final and most important mistake lies in using colors that are especially susceptible to spam filter scrutiny.

1. Unmanageability. As stated before, HTML has been a boon with its slicker formatting and ability to layout properly as well as to embed other material within the email. However, with each aesthetically pleasing step that you take, the coding with HTML can become more and more unmanageable. The problem of HTML lies in the number of repetitions that need to be made at regular points. It is for this reason of being cumbersome that the style sheet was invented in the form of the css file. This is a simple file that is written in xml and contains the layout instructions. This file can then be called at any point of time with the HTML code and results in a much less cumbersome HTML email.

2. Loudness. What exactly constitutes a loud and garish color is probably a matter of conjecture and individual opinion; however, when it comes to the predefined spam filter checks, loud and garish will just attract more and more attention. Combating this requires that you not over do the number of colors in an email and the safest bet being that you stick to your own corporate branding colors. This also allows an association to be made in the recipient’s mind.

3. Logical errors. Ever seen a mail that has a small amount of text on the left and huge image to the right? The chances are quite slim. This is because in most Latin-based language sets and cultures, the reading culture is usually to start from the left and then go to the right. Placing a prominent picture at the right is then quite an irritation and cause for the users to disassociate with the main content. Apart from this, the layouts should be more image based with even text in the images so that spam filters do not end up scanning too much of the suspect content.

Most of the methods that have been described here are quite useful in HTML emails but one cannot over look the most important part of a mail, which is the content itself. There is no point making fancy HTML pages and sending them to recipients if your content has been drafted in such a way as to be picked up by a spam filter. Remember to invest time and effort into content creation.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=419707&ca=Marketing

Important Notice DISCLAIMER: All information, content, and data in this article are sole opinions and/or findings of the individual user or organization that registered and submitted this article at Isnare.com without any fee. The article is strictly for educational or entertainment purposes only and should not be used in any way, implemented or applied without consultation from a professional. We at Isnare.com do not, in anyway, contribute or include our own findings, facts and opinions in any articles presented in this site. Publishing this article does not constitute Isnare.com's support or sponsorship for this article. Isnare.com is an article publishing service. Please read our Terms of Service for more information.