Many people out there still do not know what HTML is all about. Well, HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language which is a technological language that is used to mix visual and audible content along with the plain text. With the help of HTML website pages are made much more appealing as without it the pages would be nothing but a white page with information written on it in just the normal way. This is what makes it important for marketers to grab user’s attention. More attractive the website page is more traffic will it earn.
The main motive of an email marketer is to make the user read the email and create profit by clicking any link or making a purchase instead of just pushing the email in the junk folder. So now with HTML, the marketers get all they want. The attractiveness of the link compels the reader to visit it and thus increasing the probability of number of click through rate and ultimately generating profit for the marketer. Through photographs and graphics marketers are able to give the consumer the minute details about the product.
Designing process
Creating a HTML newsletter requires some coding work to be done. To reduce the complexities of code writing many applications are developed to help programmer write codes more easily. Some of these applications include Expression Web, Dreamweaver, Microsoft FrontPage and many more. Each of these software have inbuilt comprehensive HTML editor. You can also take help of any third-party in designing newsletter template. But if you it yourself, you can save lot of extra charges and will have full control over it. Even if you take an outside help, you should give it to the right programmer who has the skills required to give what you want.
There are three main categories of newsletter formats: PDF newsletter, HTML newsletter and text newsletter. Each category has its unique plus points which make it difficult for programmer to select one over others. HTML newsletter is the most popular among the three as you have more facilities for designing and customization. The reason for the use of text newsletter till present date is all due to the simplicity involved in the designing process and its compatibility with all the clients worldwide.
Following are some quick tips that will help you in designing more efficient HTML newsletter –
Width should be between 500-600 pixels
It is better not to use the entire width of the window. Leaving some boundary space is always beneficial. The email is displayed in the client’s frame which is generally less than 600 pixels. Hence if you limit the width of the page to this limit, you can prevent messing up of the data and the layout. It is a standard window pixel range followed by all.
One should follow very plain HTML formatting
Generally email clients are designed to run very basic HTML tags. They do not have full access of all the facilities as compared to a web browser. Using the complex features of HTML may land your HTML layouts disfigured by any other email application. Hence using simple coding language is always advantageous rather than getting into the sophisticated designing templates.
CSS use should be minimal
Both CSS and HTML are almost similar to each other. But it is generally advised to stick to HTML while designing HTML newsletter as all the email clients do not normally have CSS support. And even if they do have, all it can do is executing the general tags. CSS is used only in the refining of the look of newsletter and not in the layout and design coding.
Avoid Multimedia Files as more as possible
Redirecting your videos (if any in your data list) with the help of a link is always advisable as many email clients have no extra support for such multimedia files. The disadvantage of including these files in the main page is its slow loading and occupying too much space.
The tips discussed above are for webmasters who are well familiar with CSS and HTML. But if you are not so good in handling these codes then ready-made HTML templates is the best option for you.
