Email signatures are like online business cards. Image: Flickr / osde-info / CC-BY-SA

In today’s communications environment, the likelihood is that someone, somewhere will Google you. If you are connecting with strangers for business, then a search will likely be their first step; so why not give your contacts an easy way to find you online?

Email signatures are effective

Email signatures may sound relatively old-school, but they are still one of the most effective marketing and sales tools available. Email is one of the most common ways to communicate with others in a business setting, and an e-mail signature provides a starting point for an individual to get more information about you, your business or the products you offer.

What you should put in a signature

Email signatures should include links and pieces of information relevant to someone investigating your brand, product, or service. A webpage, social network information and some kind of call to action are all appropriate for an email signature. Everything that you would normally put on a business card –phone numbers, physical address, etc. — should go in the signature, plus links. Do not include political, religious or personal quotes or comments unless your business is religion or politically based. Email signatures should be to the point.

The technical how to

Keep in mind that a badly formatted or linked e-mail signature could make it more difficult to get your emails through spam filters. Include no more than three text links, and choose those links carefully. If you do include images, then know that those images will likely not be initially downloaded. Design the signature to look good no matter whether the images are downloaded or not. At its simplest, including a text-only signature, having any email signature at all is more effective than nothing. Keep the number of images limited with logos and social networking links.