Making the most of your email signature
Everyone thinks of an email signature as a way to list your contact information and all your credentials in one succinct place. Most times, employees at large companies utilize email signatures as a professional sign off. More recently, preferred pronouns have been added to signatures to communicate how they would like to be addressed.
Your email signature is the perfect place to communicate more about you. Maybe your writing is only one facet of all the things you do. Listing your second website or other profession can help you generate more leads, but only if it adds to your signature.
If you write self-help books and are also a counselor, those go hand in hand. If you write romance novels and work in a public facing job, that combination could be detrimental. Think very critically about what image you are projecting with your signature. It will be attached to every email you send and can always be found.
You can put a lot of information into your signature, but you have to restrain yourself. You don’t want your signature to take up more room than the content of your email.
Your name (or preferred pseudonym) must be listed first in your signature. You can change the font or make it bold, bring attention to it. Then list your title or position and credentials. Add your contact information like your website, email, phone number (if you choose) and social media links. Adding icons that link to your social accounts makes it much easier for someone to click and follow rather than searching your handle. Adding a photo or logo is also important if you have one you use regularly in your branding.
If this all seems overwhelming, test out an email signature generator. There are so many options and they will all give you different designs and layouts. Once you find a few you like, insert them into your email program and send a few test emails. Have a trusted friend or colleague give you feedback.
Your email signature is the culmination of every email you send. Think about what you want your final contribution to say. Just like your writing, the conclusion is one of the most important parts of a successful story. Endings are just as important as beginnings.
