How to Create and Send HTML Email
by Herman Drost
Until recently text-based email was the most popular way to
communicate, however with the advent of HTML email you can now
create and send beautiful graphics, create clickable links and
use interactive forms.
HTML email can have the same appearance as a web page. You can
include your favorite photos, create colorful newsletters or
charts for your friends or business associates.
It's now often used as a valuable tool in email marketing
campaigns.
HTML email has now surpassed text-based email in popularity.
Read this survey on email format preferences and programs.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/email_format_preferences.htm
Let's first point out the pros and cons of sending HTML email
before we get into how to create it.
Pros Of Using HTML Email
* Visually appealing
* Able to include graphics, icons, clickable links, different
fonts, interactive forms.
* Increased interactivity with your customers.
* Mostly used by advertisers, however more consumers are using
HTML email as they switch to faster connections.
* Ads can be more effective in HTML.
* Most of the popular email clients now support HTML email
(i.e. Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Communicator,
Hotmail, Rocketmail, AOL, Yahoo, Web TV).
Cons Of Using HTML Email
* Slow loading due to downloading of graphics.
* Takes up more space in your email client.
* Not all computers support HTML email.
* Users may not have the required bandwidth or may have
download quotas set by their ISPs.
* Hackers can send viruses, trojan horses embedded in HTML email.
* Users may turn off the option to receive HTML email, or use
filters to quarantine it.
How To Create A Simple HTML Email
1. Create a new directory on your web site
i.e. http://www.ihost-websites.com/htmlmail where /htmlmail
is the new directory for all your HTML email files. Your
files should include all the graphics and HTML pages you
want to use.
2. Open your favorite HTML editor
i.e. FrontPage, Dreamweaver to create your new HTML email
(you can also use MS Word 97 or 2000 but it tends to bloat
the code a little).
3. Create a new HTML email page, name it (i.e. newsletter.htm)
and save the page in the new directory you created above:
(i.e. http://www.ihost-websites.com/htmlmail/newsletter.htm)
4. Keep your design simple - your audience will be viewing the
HTML email document in their Email application, not a Web
browser. You have no control over how large or small a window
the person will use to view your document.
Don't use javascript, flash, style sheets, framesets rollovers
or nested tables. Your beautifully created HTML email page, may
not render well for your recipients.
Limit your use of graphics so your viewers will not have to wait
long to download your document in their email software.
5. Create and store your graphics (i.e. images, icons, fancy
fonts) on a web server to correctly appear in your recipient's
email software - you could save it as an attachment, however
most folks will not open the attachment (and delete it)
especially if it's from someone they don't know.
If you don't want to use graphics, you could use colored tables
for different sections (i.e. header, masthead, contact information
and footers).
This will enable you to create HTML email without using a web
server. Keep in mind your HTML email won't be as attractive as
the one which includes eye-catching images.
6. Always use absolute URLS for your graphics and links. Your
readers are all going to be at different locations, so you
need to use absolute paths in an HTML email to ensure that
the images display and the links work.
(i.e. http://www.ihost-websites.com/images/header.gif).
It's best to first complete the design of your images using
relative URLs, then when you are finished, change the relative
URLs for the images into absolute URLs.
7. Upload the HTML email folder (which includes your images and
HTML pages) to your web server.
Now you are ready to send your HTML email document.
8. Open your Email Software - in outlook express (since it's the
most popular) go to create mail - insert - text from file -
scroll to your saved HTML document.
9. Email a test to yourself before you send it to your
subscriber list. You may want to send it to your friends who
have different email programs so you can be sure most of your
subscribers can read it on their computers.
10. Once you have created an attractive HTML page or newsletter,
save it as a template. Now you can just open the template
whenever you want to send HTML email and most of the work
will be done for you.
HTML email is still rather new, but it is a great marketing tool
if used properly. The key is to test, test, test to see if your
subscribers prefer it over text based email. If you are unsure
your subscribers can read HTML email, then offer both text-based
email and HTML email, to cater to both audiences.
In my Part 2 of this article, I will discuss "How to create and
send an HTML email form" to increase the interactivity of your
subscribers and boost the response rate in your email marketing
campaigns.
Resources Mailing software that supports HTML email:
Group Mail (http://www.infacta.com) - free version allows a
list of up to 100.
http://www.add2it.com/scripts/mailman-pro.shtml
Free HTML Templates
http://www.sparklist.com/services/htmltemplates.html
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Herman Drost is the author of the NEW ebook "101 Highly
Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site"
< http://www.isitebuild.com/web-site-promotion >. Subscribe to
his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original articles.
mailto:subscribe@isitebuild.com. You can read more of his
in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles
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