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Benchmark Email Bulletin - Volume 24
Email Marketing Layout Links:
5 Essential Tips
Using links in email campaigns is simple. Using links successfully in email campaigns is an entirely different story. While it's tempting to think that a smatter of links alone will kick your campaign up a notch, there's an entire set of guidelines for those little pieces of code. Here they are:
 
Most spam campaigns feature links to various places, but since the emails are uninvited, very few links get clicked on. However, if you'd like to build up your reputation as a legitimate email marketer, links are an essential element. If customers click on your links, they work as a sort of implied confirmed opt-in. It shows email and Internet service providers that you not only have permission to email your recipients, but that your recipients are interested in whatever you're sending. Not only that, active links can improve your email delivery. Having active links and a high click-through rate is something to definitely shoot for.
 
Sometimes it's okay to have a standalone link in your HTML email that simply says "click here". However, try to use keyword-rich links instead. Why? Because if your newsletter is archived, search engines bots will "see" those keywords and it could give your newsletter more pull in search engines. An SEO bot will roll right past a link worded "click here", but it will pause on a link that says "tankless hot water heaters" and index that info accordingly.
 
Don't bother posting entire articles, sales spec sheets or other data in your newsletter in full. That's what links are for! Keep landing page summaries and articles to a few sentences or a paragraph and use a keyword-rich link to send people directly to the source.
 
Unless you're sending an email dedicated entirely to links, don't go overboard with the amount of links you put in your layout. We recommend putting no more than 10 links in any email campaign template. If you use too many links, you'll overwhelm your recipients.
 
Nothing says amateur like a link that sends you to an expired page. Think ahead. If you're going to link to articles or pages other than your own, find out how long your links will work. With articles in particular, many links work for a week or two before the article is sent to the archives. If the links you've chosen will expire in a short amount of time, find something else to link to with more staying power.
 
For more info, please contact Jennifer Perez, Benchmark's PR and marketing director, at jennifer@bmesrv.com.
 
Highlights
Use links to build a great rep
Use keywords whenever possible
Use links to cut back on copy
Don't go overboard with too many links
Only use links that have staying power