I’ve observed for far too long now individuals writing their email in plain text format. You know who you are. Ultimately I guess there is really nothing I can do about this other than to vent my frustrations in a forum such as this. You might as well just use a typewriter, throw it in an envelope and send it off with your friendly postman. Aesthetically speaking there’s no difference between the two. Sure email is certainly easier but at this point in the game there’s really no excuse for sending boring plain text emails. Using HTML format in your email program opens up all kinds of opportunity for making an impact and creating business opportunities.

How many emails do you send in a day? As a REALTOR and part owner of a real estate office I send 100’s if not 1000’s of emails a month. My email is an e-board advertising my office and myself reaching my clients, co-workers in the industry, family and certainly not least of all my friends.

Starting with the basics:

Switch your format to HTML! In MS Outlook go to the Tools menu, select “Options” then select the “Mail Format” tab. Under that tab you will see “Compose in this message format: Under the drop down menu select HTML. Click the Apply button at the bottom left corner and you’re done! Outlook Express is similar. If using another email program there is most definitely a Help link or instructions from your email provider that will show you how to do the same.

Your email should contain a signature. What’s a signature you ask? Simply put it’s a way for you to place your contact information in every email that appears automatically every time you press the “New” button to write an email. Typically your signature will contain your name, your office address, phone number (s), fax number, email address and your website. Incidentally both your email and web address in HTML formatted email magically create a clickable link that anyone receiving your email can click on. That is especially nice for sending traffic to your website and/or your blog. There are many options using HTML to customize your signature as well. I won’t go in to this now though as it will be better to take baby steps.

Some other great benefits of using HTML as your email format are the ability to place images in your email, header graphics, backgrounds and interactive text. I wouldn’t recommend going too crazy with jazzing up your email as it will greatly increase the size of your email and you could run the risk of making your email a little too busy, especially if you are in a corporate setting. Definitely use graphics in moderation.

If you need some instruction on how to add a signature, create a link, or add a graphic, send me an email and I’d be happy to give you some pointers!

First things first though…..get that format changed to HTML!

David Keith

JTC Realty Group LLC