Creating Effective Email and Forum Signatures

Copyright Biana Babinsky and Avocado Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved

Think about your typical networking lunch. You chat with your table companions about your businesses. You discuss the impact of different marketing techniques on return on investment. You might even have an enthusiastic debate about the general direction of economic trends in different industries. Eventually, however, it is time to part ways, and that's when you exchange business cards.

You may want to contact business acquaintances several weeks, months, or even years in the future, but unless you are blessed with a photographic memory, this is going to be an exceedingly difficult feat if you don't have contact information conveniently printed on a business card (and tucked away in an organized system).

When marketing and networking online, your signature becomes your business card. A signature is a short block of text, typically between three and five lines long, that is attached to an e-mail or a message board posting. The signature block usually contains the author's contact and business information.

Some mailing lists discourage the use of a signature in the messages, especially if the signature contains business information. However, these tend to be mostly social boards in nature, and their moderators don't feel it is appropriate to bring business into the mix. On the other hand, the vast majority of business networks encourage the use of signatures. This ensures that there is an easy way for others to contact you or to learn more about your business, products, or services.

What makes a signature stand out? Ideally, the signature should impress the readers and prompt them to learn more about your business and ultimately to buy your products and services? Here are some ideas for crafting a catchy signature:

• Engaging Message. Your signature appears at the end of your email or forum post. Everyone likes reading interesting, educational, and helpful posts. If your post stands out among others and helps the readers, they are more likely to visit the web site in your signature and learn more about your business.

• Less is More. Have you ever come across the all-encompassing signature that reads more like a biography? One of these includes way more than you have ever wanted to know about a person, including addresses of the person's 27 web sites, three phone numbers, two fax numbers, a cell phone number, pet names arranged in alphabetical order, shoe size, birthday, and favorite color?

  An email address or web site address (provided that the site lists an easy-to-find way of contacting you) is sufficient. Few people need to know about every imaginable way they can contact you.

• Keep the Signature Professional. You never know who is going to see your networking forum signature, so keep it as professional as possible. It might be cute to include information about your pets in your signature, but keep in mind that your posts project the image of your business. The more professional your e-mail and forum posts are, the more professional people will perceive your business to be.

• Focus E-mail and Forum Signatures. Even if you run more then one business, any one signature should mention only one company. Long, rambling signatures result in information overload and obscure the message. Keep the signature focused. Include a link to your business, and reinforce it with a short tag line.

• Elements of a good signature. A good signature contains between three and five lines and includes your name, your business name and tag line, and your contact information. The contact information could simply be the address of your web site, or it can also include your e-mail address and phone number, depending on the medium where the signature is used.

Work on creating a catchy, memorable tag line. An effective tag line will result in a higher click-through rate to your web site.

Having a memorable signature is very important when marketing and networking online. It will grab the readers' interest, and get them to visit your web site. Investing time into crafting an online signature will pay dividends down the road.

About the author: Biana Babinsky is the online business expert who has helped many business owners attract more web site customers, bring in more online publicity and increase the bottom line. Visit http://avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.html to subscribe to her newsletter full of marketing tips and ideas and join her online business coaching program at http://www.MarketingSalad.com.