How can I professionally present my graphic design samples?

Great HTML Newsletter layout and design samples?

• We're in the process of setting up a newsletter for the new year and were wondering of there are any good designs out there of well laid out and sharp examples. This newsletter will be focused on the online recruitment. Thank you. -Dusty

• Answer:

  Hi Dustydune ~ I am assuming you are interested in a newsletter design that would lend itself well to email, could easily be added to your Website and possibly be printed and mailed as well. Your question is timely ... as we were discussing recent developments by AOL (in AOL 9.0) and Microsoft (in Outlook 2003) who have default in those versions which block HTML graphics. Your readers will see the text portion, but alas! no graphics. This is covered, too, in Marketing Sherpa's latest newsletter, and is available until 10/25 on the Marketing Sherpa site here: - http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2492 Notice the reference to the three ways (none except the third) to ensure your HTML newsletter reaches your readers and you have a decent Open Rate. She has some good examples of newsletters, although not specifically aimed at recruitment. So long as we're talking about examples of a good HTML email - you have got to include Marketing Sherpa's newsletter. Take a look at their site - http://marketingsherpa.com/ - and that is basically what you get in their newsletter, with links to the whole article on the website. This is actually an outstanding layout and use of HTML in mail. ======================= Lyris ======================= Another good source of both information on the 'how to do it right' HTML newsletter and some templates is Lyris. Lyris is relied on by many companies handling extremely hard lists, for both its products (such as List Manager, Mail Engine and Mail Shield), as well as hosting several of the large (500,000 to over a million subscribers) newsletters. In any case, good information about what to do and what to avoid (and why) is available from Lyris in "Testing Your Email Message" here: - http://www.lyris.com/products/listmanager/tools/html_testing.html They have some basic HTML template samples available here: - http://www.lyris.com/products/listmanager/tools/html_templates.html If some of them look vaguely familiar, they should - some of their customers are: * CNet * Tech Republic * IBM * Sun Microsystems and other well-known names who put out some fine newsletters themselves. You can check their customer list here: - http://lyris.com/about/customers.html#news ===================== Marketing Wonk ===================== A well known name on the internet is Andy Bourland (started & sold ClickZ) ... and his newest venture is Marketing Wonk ( http://www.marketingwonk.com/ ). Bourland recently bought the very successful newsletter/moderated discussion lists from Audette Media, and while he acquired an already-successful set of lists, he has added his own distinctive combination of HTML/text to the letters and his own new starts. While Bourland has established his reputation and a following of his own, his newsletters are good examples of a sensible mix of HTML and content. He has managed to keep both the pro- and anti-HTML newsletter readers happy with the results. Take a look yourself. Just sign up for one (I suggest I-Sales) and see what you think of that. The layout is simple and would lend itself to any industry and/or newsletter with good content. ====================== E-Newsletter ====================== World Wide Web Communications has a section of HTML samples - which are actually EMail advertising campaigns. In several examples, the campaign is not much different from the company's regular newsletter, just aimed at a particular campaign, but each is effective, and had a good 'open rate' from the readers. You can see these here: - http://www.emailmarketingcampaign.com/samples.html I know I seem to have aimed at the marketing end. The reason is simple - the examples I have chosen are both successful and they do it right. And they are successful at what they do. While an occasional mistake may make it through, as a rule they don't make stupid mistakes that create problems with delivery (getting through spam filters or added to white lists), and the design works well in most of the email clients in use. ====================== Summary ====================== Whatever the layout of your HTML email, it should complement and be identifiable with your website. The content is more important, really, than the layout, because nothing you do will convince some people to accept HTML email. If that's the case, without the content, you'll not have the readership you should have. Search terms used: - html newsletter problems - html newsletters - html newsletter samples I hope this helps, it should be interesting to see your layout. Serenata Google Answers Researcher