SEO Consultant’s Email Signature - What’s Your Tactic?
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I’ve been recently thinking about optimizing my email signature. The problem is, I have too many things to include there and at the same time want to keep it simple and clean. Running a few experiments I came to important (yet evident) conclusions:
- email / digital signature is of great importance: it influences both the response rate and the conversion (in my case, that’s signing SEO consulting service agreement, but that can be anything from backlinks to growing your social community friendship).
- email / digital signature makes your business / brand look solid and trustworthy;
- email / digital signature should comply with your main purposes.
The last point is both obvious and unclear to me. What’s my purpose? I want people to respond (i.e. I want to get them interested); in some cases I want them to become my Facebook friends (or Twitter followers). Besides, I definitely want to provide them with as much information about myself as I can to cut off unnecessary back-and-forth messaging that takes time and lowers the chances of a positive result.
So what to include in my SEO consultant’s digital signature:
- my DBA name;
- my area of expertise;
- my email address;
- my business-related website URL (at least one of them)…
Well, the above points seem necessary. What about the following ones?
Twitter profile URL or Facebook page URL? Or both? Or LinkedIn resume URL? Depending on where you are most active, it seems to make sense that you should link to your social media profile(s) to [first] let people know more about yourself and your community and [second] let them become your friends and thus grow your social media popularity and influence. What if I am active at numerous social media sites and many of them are important to me?
) have a well-optimized call-to-action somewhere on your site, it probably makes sense to refer people there.
All the above things definitely make sense but doesn’t that look too much?
Please share your tactics!
Post image: lightkeeper’s signature
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16 Responses to “SEO Consultant’s Email Signature - What’s Your Tactic?”
That does seem like a lot. How do the majority of your clients contact you? For me, it would look something like this:
Name, Title
Business Name
Email address
Web URL
Phone number
This way, people know who I am and have two different ways of contacting me, plus a link to my website — that covers the basics. Twitter and LinkedIn info can be found on my site, and I tend not to use Facebook for business contacts unless we know each other well. Most people don’t need to know my mailing address, Skype, or IM info — when they get to that point, I’m happy to communicate it directly.
FWIW, I don’t bother with the confidentiality stuff in my email. Nobody reads it anyway.
By cat pickett on Sep 22, 2008
That’s definitely too much to include in an email signature.
I think you’re better off just including the basics (ie, name, title, email, URL, etc), and only include a single URL to your key website. On that website, you should then have an “about me” page or similar, that then links to the other sites (or maybe even include the direct URL to that page in your signature).
That’ll ensure your signature stays clean and lean, but if required, people can still find the additional info.
By Martin on Sep 22, 2008
I think its a wonderful signature like it is! Unfortunately in the real world people will not read it all. Therefore its better to make smaller. I really liked the part where you mention a call to action. I think that a great small signature with a call to action at the end - maybe with a link also in the call to action is a great signature.
Normally people at the end of signatures put some random quote that they like but to really take advantage of the reader’s time and to promote yourself a call to action would be the best in my opinion.
Obviously a call to action that provides value to the reader… Maybe the call to action can change depending on the recipient of the email
By Felipe Suarez on Sep 22, 2008
Dittos to and agree with Cat. I do add a tagline and a link to my LinkedIn profile.
I used to include the confidentiality notice but don’t anymore. Emails were too long, yet I should probably reconsider in this judicious society. However, it’s laughable to see such notices at the bottom of friend’s emails who are sending out jokes from work, during work hours.
Thanks for the food for thought!
By Dana Lookadoo on Sep 22, 2008
A big email signature. I would agree with cat and all the info on your social profile can be found on your website.
By Raghavan on Sep 23, 2008
Thanks for the post. Very interesting.
By IT-Audit Auditors on Sep 23, 2008
“Twitter profile URL or Facebook page URL” and so much more all so much easier now to handle with http://www.wisestamp.com
Make a signature that stands out!
By josh- WiseStamp Signatures on Sep 24, 2008
I just don’t have to much info to put into a signature. I do think that it is a good idea if you have many different way for people to contact you.
By Potato Chef on Oct 6, 2008
in some things these are really difficult.
By QVC on Oct 12, 2008
Definitely include your phone number. Sometimes when I’m on my way to meet someone I need to call them. If I don’t have their phone number in my address book, then I go through my emails on my blackberry and am thankful when I find it in their signature.
By Chase Granberry on Oct 15, 2008
Smarty,
I include this call to action in my email signature.
“Want to learn more about search engine marketing? Read and comment on the SEM Group Blog”
The the other simple information below the call to action.
By Gerald Weber on Nov 5, 2008
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿
Make a SEO signature that really
STANDS OUT!
☛with http://www.wisestamp.com
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿
By WiseStamp Email Signatures on Nov 5, 2008
@ Wisestamps
I tried your firefox plugin.
It is really cool but seems like it only works with webmail. I use thunderbird. Too bad it doesn’t work with this.
By Gerald Weber on Nov 6, 2008
Hi Ann
Whilst all that information may make sense it is, trust me on this one, way too much! Small is often better.
I agree with Cat about info necessary. Also Dana.
By lorne campbell on Dec 4, 2008
Hi Ann,
I was thinking about the same recently. I have read back in 2006 that it’s cool to include the URLs in the email signature, and the guy who wrote that article swore that he always visited a webpage if it was mentioned in the correspondent’s signature. I started including the URL, but by experience not many people actually visit. However, I noticed some friends creating signatures after they saw mine
Nevertheless, when I recently had to update my signature, I included: my name, the key services I deliver, the links to my 2 main websites, and the phone number. I will be updating it soon again, and I think I will have to include my email: by experience, people may not realise that if it was me who contacted them first, they can simply reply to my email or copy my address. Also, a Skype link is a good idea, too. But no Twitter or Facebook. And only the 1-2 main URLs (although in my case it means I’d have to drop my Russian blog…)
I hope you’re doing well anyway. Congratulations on your organic achievement ;-))) and looking forward to your articles in 2009!
Julia
By Julia on Jan 5, 2009