If you're sending out your ezine in HTML format, are you sure it displays as intended on your subscribers' screens? The trouble with HTML email is that most email programs are not really designed to display HTML, this being the purpose of web browsers. Although most email programs have HTML display capabilities, unfortunately none of them support the full HTML feature set.

So, what can you, as an ezine publisher, do? First of all, don't assume if your email looks fine on your end that all is well. Instead, follow these three simple steps to ensure your email messages display as best as possible for most of your subscribers.

1. Design Properly
If you're just starting your ezine, make sure you design it with these limitations in mind. Hiring a professional designer who has not only done web page design, but HTML email design as well, will certainly help in the process.

2. Create Test Email Accounts
Sign up with as many free email accounts as you can find. At least do the main ones: Google Mail, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail and AOL/AIM Mail. Next, register a few domains with different registrars and set up sample emails just for this purpose. Most domain registrars will offer at least one email account which you can access through their web mail applications.

Then, create a number of accounts at your main domain that you will read using different PC/Mac programs, such as Outlook (Express), Eudora, Apple Mail, etc. For this purpose, you can create MacEudora@mydomain.com, and so on. In case you don't have a Mac (or a PC), try asking a friend or your web designer who has one to read the emails for you.

3. Test Extensively
Once you have a list of a dozen or two test accounts, and your design is ready, start testing and tweaking your design. Log in to your Email Publishing System and create a test list that will contain the email addresses of the various email accounts that you have created in step two.

Now, send your message to this test group of email accounts as if you're sending a regular broadcast. Log into your various online accounts and see how your HTML email renders in each and write down the differences, or print out the email. Do the same using the email programs you have on both PC and Mac computers.

Using the results of your tests, tweak your HTML template until you are satisfied with how it performs. You may find out that you need to drop some elements of the design of your ezine to get it to perform well in most situations. However, that's a small sacrifice in exchange for making sure your messages display well for the largest number of your subscribers.

Ezine expert Boris Mahovac, "Your Ezine Coach," publishes the 'Contacts 2 Clients' biweekly ezine. Sign up today and receive a free tele-seminar: "Six Steps to Setting Up Your Business On Line and Making Money with Ezines," an exclusive interview with Glen Hopkins. If you want to jump-start your small biz marketing, make more money while working less, get your free tips now at http://www.YourEzineCoach.com

Source: www.isnare.com