Email Newsletter Format: HTML or Text

An email newsletter is probably the most effective way to communicate with your target audience. One of the main considerations before you create and deliver an email newsletter is what format to use: HTML or Text.

Until a few years ago, some email programs couldn't handle HTML. Nowadays that is not an issue, since most email programs are HTML compatible: AOL versions 6 and higher, Internet Explorer versions 4 and higher, Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, Eudora, Yahoo Mail, and Hotmail all support HTML. HTML email newsletters can easily be managed and sent using services like Constant Contact or Vertical Response.

Using HTML for your newsletter can be a plus from a usability perspective. Studies conducted by usability guru Jakob Nielsen show that most people prefer HTML newsletters because their enhanced layout makes articles easier to read (provided that the design of the HTML newsletter is clean and simple). The same design guidelines recommended for web pages also apply to HTML email newsletters.

However, HTML newsletters are often confused with unwanted advertising, since HTML is the format of choice for marketers trying to sell their wares and services through email messages. For this reason, text email newsletters are still popular, since their plain, no frills look helps differentiate them from advertising.

Text is also the format of choice for those who use a free service (like Topica or Yahoo! Groups) to administer their mailing lists and deliver their email newsletters, since these free services usually don't support HTML. If you use text, remember that you won't be able to use formatting tags, such as bold or underline, and that you must create hyperlinks by adding the prefix http:// before the URL (or the prefix mailto: before the email address, if you want to create an email link).

The approach I prefer is a hybrid between HTML and text. I compose my email messages in HTML, but using only text. HTML allows me to use simple formatting tags like bold, underline and italics, and a nice, screen-friendly font. I use a lot of white space to facilitate scanning, and include only a summary of each article, with a link to the full article (which is hosted on my website), since most users don't like to read long articles in the body of email messages.

My email newsletters, therefore, are similar to the table of contents of a magazine, in the sense that they give readers a broad overview of the current edition's content, and tell them where to find it if they are inclined to read further.

This hybrid format is never mistaken for advertising, is easy to read and scan, and loads fast. Furthermore, by offering links to the full articles, your users will be encouraged to visit your website, where they can have access to more information and learn about your products and services.

About The Author

Mario Sanchez is a Miami based freelance writer who focuses on Internet marketing and web design topics. He publishes The Internet Digest ( http://www.theinternetdigest.net ), a growing collection of web design and Internet marketing articles, tips and resources. You can freely reprint his weekly articles in your website, ezine, or ebook.

---

Producing Ezines for Growing Your Business

What an ezine is ? An ezine is an electronic newsletter sent out by email at intervals of your choice to a list of subscribers. An ezine... Read More

10 Ways, How To Get Significant Exposure For Free

Ezine are one of the best source of information on the web today. They are generally free and can make a huge impact marketing success if used... Read More

Emerging Trends in Web Content and Web Publishing

Content is King but the web pages are still littered with writing that does scant justice to the word content, least of all creative, useful and valuable... Read More

Why Arent You Using CGI?

The very name CGI used to send chills up my spine. Foryears I put it in the 'too-hard-basket'. But like mostthings in life, CGI is not as... Read More

Print On Demand Questions

Print on demand (POD), a cross between self-publishing and digital technology, is a hot publishing trend. Your book will be printed within weeks, but POD is still... Read More

8 Killer Mistakes For Ezine Failure You Must Avoid

It is true that sometimes in life there is a small line between failure and success. The same thing applies with ezines and newsletters. Some details we... Read More

8 Effective Ezine Publishing Tips To Put You Ahead Of The Game

1. Swap sponsor, feature, or solo ads with other ezine publishers.Your swaps will create a win-win situation as both you and the other publisher will successfully get... Read More

Covering All The Bases: How to Make Sure Your Newsletter Gets Opened and Read

It's not enough to prepare and distribute a monthly newsletter, one that offers information of genuine value to your market. You also have to make sure your... Read More

Where And How To Get Information For Your Newsletter And Ezines

With the rapid expansion and diversion of commerce, manufacturers, career seekers and even hobbyist move into more and more specialized areas of endeavor, there is an increase... Read More

Location, Location, Location

The first thing you should consider in advertising is the first thing you should consider when buying real estate: Location, Location, Location. You want to focus all... Read More

The End of Email, Ezines and Online Marketing?

Ok, it's time to bring out my soapbox.Something has been bothering me for over a month now, and it just keeps getting worse, so I am afraid... Read More

Newsletter Design Ideas - How to Get Creative Ideas for Your Newsletter Template

If you want to have a successful newsletter, you need to have a professional newsletter design. And the more newsletter design ideas you get, the better layout... Read More

The Quick Ways To Increase Your E-zines Subscriber Base

1. Give Incentives Give people an incentive to subscribe to your e-zine. Offer them a freebie if they subscribe. It could be a free e-book, free report,... Read More

Good News About Getting Published

So you want to get a book published and add "author" to your resume. A decade ago, there weren't too many options for professionals and consultants to... Read More

The Magic Button That Earns $3,546 or more

Ever wonder how a "guru" earns $3,546 or more just by pressing a button?The first thing a newbie learns when landing on the Internet is that it... Read More

Delivering Your Email Newsletter

After creating your email newsletter, you face the challenge of delivery. With a printed newsletter, there's usually only one method of widespread distribution: the post office.Fortunately, though,... Read More

Convert Your Newsletters into Immediate Cash

One-Page Newsletters can do more than help you keep in constant touch with clients and prospects and educate them to desire your products and services. Each issue... Read More

Ezine Advertising Strategy Exposed-15 Tips to Boost Your Profits

In my opinion, Electronic Magazine (Ezine) advertising is the greatest, untapped source of online advertising available today.The reason: Ezine Advertising (EA) matches your product or idea to... Read More

What Makes An Ezine Worth Reading?

What makes your ezine hot stuff? With literally thousands of ezines online today, how can yours stand out or is it doomed to stay in the junk... Read More

3 Things You Need to Do to Turn Net Information into Cash

Although we are in the information age, very few people have been able to turn the colossal amount of free accessible information available online, into cash or... Read More

Ezine Publishing Donts

When I teach ezine classes, I ask the students what they've disliked about the newsletters they've subscribed to. What makes them push that "delete button" or unsubscribe?... Read More

Are Your E-Mails Bouncing? Hard Bounces, Soft Bounces, and Everything in Between

Are you doing "the bounce"? No, it's not a new hip-hop dance. A bounce, or bounce-back, is an e-mail that is returned to you because it cannot... Read More

Free Ezine Advertising That Works!

When I say free ezine advertising, I'm not talking about the free ezine ads that some publishers offer, this technique is FAR more powerful than that.One of... Read More

Publish Anything: The Saga of a PublishAmerica Author

My story is that an author who'd done online writing for such dot gones as Themestream, Written By Me, and The Vines, someone trying hard to have... Read More

Start Your Own Ezine Newsletter & Profit!

The information listed here is worth more than gold. if you apply these simple list building plans and techniques, we guarantee you will see results. you may... Read More

21 Questions to Ask Any List Service Before You Sign on With Them

If you publish an e-mail newsletter, or "e-zine," you'll need to sign on with a list service (or "listserve") to manage your subscriber list. There are many... Read More