Disclaimer: People who are sensitive about their really long, boring, meaningless email signatures probably shouldn’t read on. Just joking! You should definitely read on….  

If you haven’t got one…

Well you need one. Now. Especially when communicating with a new client or a person providing a service to you. Admittedly people should perhaps add your very important contact details to their phone the instant they receive their first email from you but mostly likely they won’t. Or perhaps they use a landline for calls. After a week of correspondence if they still have to search for your first email to get a hold of a phone number for you well you might wonder why they’re a bit techy when they finally get on to you. You might say that they need to get organised and add it to their address collecting software. Or maybe you could make it really easy for them to pick up the phone to you and create an email signature.

If you have got one…

Just have a wee check there in your email client. Does it all fit in a few neat lines or do you adjust your screen resolution and scroll down to read it. If so then it is too big. Waaay too big. Unless you are a lawyer and have written your own personal disclaimer nonsense that you want to proudly display like a new blog post get rid of all the shite at the bottom of your email signature. No one reads it and most definitely no one wants to see it at the end of every single email from you. Do you even know what it means?? It’s not just us who think this – brainy, accomplished people from the Economist have commented on the email signature “yada-yada” being quite meaningless.

What should be in your email signtuare…

It should be neat and tidy like a business card and take up minimal room. It should include…

• Your Full Name
• Your mobile and phone number
• Website or latest blog post
• Your company address (fit it on one line please)

It might include…

• Something about your social connections – Skype, Twitter, Facebook etc. Logos not necessary.
• Your company reg number
• One line of news. One line!
• Your logo.

Creatives types can get away with…

• a small picture of themselves. ”Small” being the operative word.
• a small, well designed banner promoting something. I highlight the use of the word “small” again here.

Always always always check to make sure that any images you include are tiny in file size AND actually appears. This means that you will need to check it on someone elses computer and/or outside the office. ie. send it to a friend. If you have a big old file broken at the bottom of your signature it looks unprofessional and it’s been like that for a year it looks a bit silly. If in doubt leave the logo off.

Fancy shmanshy or plain text?

I would probably advise a small amount of fanciness in the form of html (i.e. formatting like bold or sizing of text) to make the signature neater and unobtrusive. See the beautiful example of my own email signature. Or for inspiration see Maryrose’s wonderous example of an image heavy but tight piece of work…

Image heavy but perfectly executed

When should you use your email signature?

ALL THE TIME. Even if you are emailing your best friend. It is a great way to promote yourself and business and remind people of the different ways to connect with you. After two years of constant emailing maybe one of your clients will visit your Facebook page and become a fan. Or visit your blog post and decide that they like your style and should award you a zillion dollar contract. It happens.

If you are replying within the same email conversation or thread it’s ok to leave it off if you included it in the first email although most email clients are now smart enough that they often minimise a signature in the email replies.

Now I feel a little calmer having put forth these words of wisdom on the email signature. I am offering a weeks worth of free phone advise to anyone who needs to create or recreate their own email signature. CALL ME!! I will help you! And together we can make a better world through better email signatures!

I'm not afraid to say that this is an example of a good email signature

Happy 2012 to all

It’s a great looking website and provides a very valuable service to people who are looking to purchase a used car. Nominated in the E Business category the website checks all the boxes by being intuitive and user friendly, and providing a viable means of doing business securely online.

Best of luck at the awards ceremony tonight (10th November 2011, Dublin Convention Centre) – we have our fingers and toes crossed for you!

Cartell.ie - click to launch website

It’s not all about appearances though! We’ll step you through the additions and give you some great tips for your Facebook page

Profile Pic

Like it? It’s cute, distinctly Active Travel Mullingar and works well as a thumbnail. Remember this is going to be the face of your Facebook presence so of all things we’d recommend you get this looking awesome. Like a business card it should look professional and not squished and bitty. Also consider how it appears in the thumbnail that appears beside your wall posts.

Welcome Tab

Custom Welcome Tab

First up it’s the Welcome Tab. This is a custom Facebook tab designed and created by Cookie Web for the ATM page. It’s a wonderful way to introduce new fans to your page and your message. It will appear when non-fans first access the page. We use the opportunity to tell them about ATM, it’s goals, lead them to events and helpful info and maps around Mullingar.

 The Wall

The Wall

Where the action happens. Probably the most important part of the Facebook page – this is where you connect with your people! If the wall posts are dull, infrequent, too frequent even you can loose fans. It’s so easy for Facebookers to unsubscribe from updates so it’s more vital than ever to plan and deliver your posts with some panache! We say: make sure the content is compelling, try a variety of media (i.e. pics, video) and always ask your subscribers to contribute.

Info Tab

Info Tab

This is something you can all do easily yet often the Info tab contains nothing but one or two lines and a link to the website. This is your opportunity to give people another overview of your products/services/goals etc. Give them links, tell them more! Work it!! Check out what we’ve done with ATMs info tab for ideas.

Events

Events

Another way to let people know what’s going on is with the events facility – you don’t have to invite people – just post up any company events as it’s an excellent way to show off your vibrant business.

Photos & Albums

Photos & Albums

Custom Tabs

Custom Tab Maps & Routes

Sometimes you might have something special that you want to add to your Facebook page. In this case Active Travel wanted to showcase the maps and routes for walking and cycling in Mullingar directly within Facebook. We were easily able to put this together for them. Other ideas might include – a sign up tab for your newsletter, a shopping tab highlighting your sales items, a video introduction to your business. The options are pretty much unlimited. You can do your own through a Facebook App provider but we would caution you to look at the monthly subscribe costs – it might just be cheaper for your local friendly web designers to whip up something perfectly suited to you without a subscription necessary.

Especially if you are a Mullingar local please do visit Active Travel Mullingar’s Facebook page and LIKE! Are just take a snoop around and think how you might implement some of these ideas into your own Facebook page. Do you need to set up your Facebook page? Our WebTweaks.ie website will show you how…

Lyons & Casey website - Click to launch http://lyonsandcasey.com/

The website had to stand out from the crowd – but not in an outlandish way. It needed to be a confident expression of what Lyons & Casey are about – great ideas, actual results, a lot of experience. And it needed be concise without the waffle. Together we thought that a one page website might deliver these concepts in the best way. And so it did! From Maryrose…

Our tagline for our new social media service is “You Get Us & We ‘Get’ You”. When it came to working with a designer who would ‘get us’ there was no question of working with any other than Heidi at CookieWeb! One meeting and she got what we wanted. We are delighted with our beautiful one page website. And Heidi did a great job at creating it without any branding or logo or any other starting point.

Thanks Maryrose!

Who are Lyons & Casey? Maryrose Lyons and Taryn Casey are two of Ireland’s leading internet marketers and together they bring some serious experience to companies looking to really kick their social presence into top gear. They’ve worked with the big guys and they get actual results. But you can read all about them on their fab new website!

This healthcare event is organised by Investnet, and the brief for the project was to create a clean and professional design. Built on WordPress, the site is easy to update which is essential as the conference agenda and speakers are revised and added to regularly. We think the website looks great – check it out for yourself – www.primarycareconference.ie

Primary Care Conference - click to launch website

The network was established in early 2010 to  develop the food sector in the county and  is made up of a collection of like minded food producers from the local Westmeath area. The site is full of information on each of the members, from the food they produce to where you can purchase their mouth-watering produce, it also has a great blog with delicious recipies and news on upcoming events. Save this site to your favourites as we are sure it will keep you coming back for more!

Westmeath Food Network - click to launch site

This music festival in westmeath will celebrate the best of Irish community with a one day programme of contemporary and traditional music, old time dance, poetry and literature as well as children’s events. Be sure to log onto the website for all the information you could possibly need on camping, tickets, line ups and lots lots more….

Green Village Music & Arts Festival - click to launch site

Check out their site info on upcoming shows and tour dates, services they provide and a great blog to keep up to date with all things Savee.

Savee Entertainment - click image to launch site