Format Your Article Properly
You go to a lot of work to write an article and then send it out in an email broadcast in the hopes that it will give you lots of exposure, and click-throughs to the links you’ve liberally sprinkled through it.
But would you like to know how to increase your chances of your articles actually being read by your subscribers?
You see, the way your article “appears” makes a big difference to whether it is glanced at, scanned quickly, or read thoroughly by your subscribers. An eye-pleasing presentation will make a HUGE difference!
So here are a few tips for formatting your articles properly.
As you read this, you’ll be aware that I’m using HTML format to present you with a nice-looking page, but most email marketers use simple text. Indeed, I still do so myself for my “mass-market” subscribers … (my “A-to-Z Newsletter” only goes out to a select 10,000+ subscribers, of which you are one). So let’s just concentrate on formatting for simple text messages.
First and most important is the W-I-D-T-H of your page.
Ask yourself why it is that ALL newspapers and magazines build their pages with columns that generally don’t exceed about 3½” (9cm)
The reason is simple… after 3½” the eye begins to “wander”. It is more difficult to follow the line without straying elsewhere. In fact, for people with any form of mild dyslexia, long lines are a total nightmare.
Now I can understand you asking yourself why it is that this very page you’re reading is more than the recommended… and that’s because I can easily change my formatting to catch your eye and keep you focused. In a simple text email, you cannot do this, so you have to retain your reader’s interest in a different way… by using a narrow “column” of text.
In fact, I’ve become so used to doing this that I now write ALL my emails this way.
The quick and easy way is to write your email broadcast in simple text (using Notepad or similar) and then paste it into your email or autoresponder when it’s complete.
Start off by placing a “ruler” in the text and then type above the “ruler” so you know when to press your “Return” key.
I always use 50 characters per line as a maximum (though I occasionally stray beyond that by a letter or two).
Here’s how it looks in the text file…
Dear Merrill
Welcome to another bulletin from your favourite
newsletter and, hopefully, your favourite marketing
expert.
This week, I want to talk to you about formatting
your emails to make sure they get read by your
subscribers.
—-5—-0—-5—-0—-5—-0—-5—-0—-5—-0
I think you’d have to admit that it’s pretty easy on the eye. (But don’t forget to remove the “ruler” before you send it out )
But there’s also another reason for keeping your lines short, and that’s because some email clients will automatically “cut” your text at 60 characters and begin a new line, no matter what. That can lead to some lousy-looking formatting problems like one word on one line in the middle of a paragraph (ever wonder why that happened? – Now you know!)
By pre-typing your lines at 50-55 characters, you overcome all of these problems straight away.
After WIDTH, the next most important aspect of formatting is L-E-N-G-T-H
Here, I’m referring to the length of your sentences and your paragraphs (not necessarily the length of your email).
You should keep sentences short. You’re not writing something of high literary endeavour – you’re writing a marketing pitch. You need to appeal to ALL readers, not just the hi-brow ones!
So keep ”em short.
Paragraphs, too!
Like this one.
Or this!
See what I mean?
And finally, a couple of “quickie” tips….
Don’t use strings of characters like —– or ***** in your article to set information apart. This can throw the formatting out and even make the page unreadable in some email clients.
Don’t use all CAPS. Using all capital letters in your title or within the body of your article is unprofessional and will attract the unwanted attention of the spam filters.
Take a little time over your formatting and your emails will look better and be received better by your readers. Give them what they want – quality information in a way that makes it easy for them to act.
-Graham Hamer, A to Z Newsletter
