by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

It’s important that in today’s digital age, writers don’t pass up marketing opportunities.
Unfortunately, I see a lot of writers doing just that when they send out emails.

Your email signature line is prime marketing real estate. 

If you’re not certain what a signature line (sometimes called a sig line) is, it’s the line or lines including or directly below your signature. You can set up one that is automatically generated within your email program. Just go to settings, signature, and set it up.

The addition of my book, blog, and social media info in my sig line has made it much easier for people to:

• Find my blog.
• Buy my book.
• Follow me on social media.

Here are the basics you should include:

• Your name and/or the name you write under.
• A link to your website.
• Your blog address.
• Your twitter account name.
• Your Facebook Fan Page link.
• A link to your latest book (if you write books).

When you include links in your sig line, make certain they are clickable. For instance, I don’t say follow me on Twitter, @EdieMelson, I actually link to my Twitter profile. That way the person reading my email doesn’t have to go to Twitter and do a search for @EdieMelson, they can just click and are taken to my Twitter homepage.

Warnings:

• Keep your signature line to a maximum of 15 lines. Anything more and people lose interest.
• Try NOT to add graphics, except for book covers, and limit those to ONE. Other, gimmicky graphics take longer to load and the person who receives the email often has to click on a permission tab to see them and most of us don’t bother.

Here’s a screenshot of my email sig line to help you see what it looks like.

Special Note: don’t forget to set up email signatures on all your devices—anything you send email from—like:

• Cell phone.
• Tablet.
• Ereader.

Now it’s your turn, what questions do you have about adding a signature line to your email?

Edie Melson—author, blogger, speaker—has written numerous books, including her most recent, While My Child is Away. She’s also the military family blogger at Guideposts.org. Her popular blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and a member of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. She’s the the Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine, Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy, and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com.