September 2002

Email Technique
Make Money with Your Sig File

This is one of those work, get paid, paid, paid, paid, paid techniques that I'm always talking about. Don't expect rushes of big money coming in from this one every day, but over time you will profit immensely from this technique.

A sig file (short for signature file) is a brief section of text added to the end of your outgoing emails. It is usually used to contain your basic contact information and maybe a line about what you do. Sometimes it is used to save you lots of repetitive typing as I covered in the Dec. 2001 issue.

In this issue I'll cover some ways that a signature file can make you money.

First things first. You have to be able to create a signature file. I'm going to cover Microsoft Outlook 2000 here. You'll have to look for "signature file" in your help menu if you are using another email program.

In Outlook you click on "Tools" then "Options" then "Mail Formats" then "Signature Picker" then "New." Enter a name for your signature like "Speaking" or "Real Estate Inquiry" or anything that reminds you of what is contained in the signature file. Then pick "Start with a blank signature." You would use the other option of "Use this existing signature as a template" if you already had one that you just wanted to copy from." This would keep you from starting from scratch each time.

Let's say you worked from home as a professional speaker but you sold real estate on the side. You wouldn't want to use the same signature file for a real estate inquiry as you would for a speaking inquiry.

Here's a sample of one of my speaking sig files:

Get your free Subscription to Great Speaking Ezine http://www.antion.com/ezinesubscribe.htm ===========================================
New Speaker Video http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm

Here's how I might change the original if I sold real estate:

I have listings in 12 counties and buyers waiting
===========================================
Search for Real Estate while sitting on your Butt
http://www.ButtEstates.com

If I got a speaking inquiry, I would simply click a button and the first sig file would pop in to my email. If I got a real estate inquiry, it's just as easy to pop in the real estate one. If you have way more speaking inquiries than real estate emails, then you would set the speaking sig file as the "default" so you didn't have to insert it every time you write an email.

OK so how does this make money?
Believe it or not, people do look at these sig files. Not all people, but some people. You can have links to your products and services in your sig file as long as you don't overdo it. It's a little bit overkill and downright hokey to have a two word email and a 20 line signature file, so don't go wild with this.

I have several variation of sig files to promote different products and services. The first one above promotes four things. My "Wake 'em Up Video Professional Speaking System" http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm , my link trade program, my ezine and the little blurb about speaking. This is all in one concise package, but just pushes the limits of acceptable size.

A good email program will allow you to make as many different sig files as you want. Here's how I might use different sig files depending on how busy I am when I send an email.

If I know you already bought a particular product or service, then I'm most likely to send you a sig file that promotes a different product or service that maybe you didn't know about. I've had lots of people over the years say to me, "I saw X in your sig file. I didn't know you did that/sold that etc."

Affiliate Programs
Sig files are another good place to put affiliate links when you don't have lots of your own products to sell. This way you still have a chance to make money if someone clicks and buys something from your affiliate vendor.

Upcoming topics for this section:

• Email strategy

• HTML email

• Plain Text Email 

• Link tricks

• Getting subscribers fast

• How to make money with your zine

• How to gain clout with your zine

• How to maximize the signups on your website

Back to September 2002 Index page