At the very top, include your email newsletter title, date, issue number, your email address, and a  section informing recipients that your mailing list will not be sold to anyone else.

Keep your content clean, simple and as short as possible. Cut out every word you don't absolutely need.

Don't let lines "wrap" in your email newsletter, press the Enter key after about 60 characters on each line (that's about 2/3 of the way across the page).

Use symbols to separate sections of your newsletter. Ex: ====== or ------ or ~~~~~~ or *****

When you reference a web site, if you type in the complete URL (http://www.yahoo.com) a clickable hyperlink will automatically be created.

Spell check, proofread and edit thoroughly!  If time permits, set it aside for a few hours and read it again.  Better yet, have someone else proofread.  It's often difficult to catch your own mistakes.

Check the look and content of your email newsletter by emailing a copy to yourself before sending it out to clients.

Once you've constructed your first email newsletter, save it as a template that you can edit for subsequent issues.

Don't type in all caps - people will think you are yelling at them.  Write in a friendly way.

Read your newsletter out loud, and if it sounds stiff or silly, that's how it's going to hit your readers.

Readers want to know what you're talking about. Get straight to the point of what you want to say.

Add a section for a special tip or secret that they won't find easily anywhere else - even on your web site. This keeps up the interest and keeps you from losing subscribers.

Use a part of an article or a catchy blurb to interest the reader, then give them the URL so they can go read the rest of it.

Don't send your newsletter in HTML format, unless your reader specifies it. HTML email takes longer to download, and not all email programs read them properly.

Break up the text into paragraphs of two or three sentences. Long, run on paragraphs are hard to read and most readers will lose interest quickly. 

Sign off with something friendly, but timely.

Always include an option at the end of your email newsletter for recipients to unsubscribe to your newsletter. It's required to make the subscribe/unsubscribe directions easy to find and included in every newsletter. 

Also include a section that says, "Feel free to send/forward this newsletter to a friend." If you want to encourage return email, include a clickable return address like: mailto:yourname@yahoo.com.

When you've checked and rechecked, and are sure you've done your best, hit the 'send' button.

Use a real email address to reply to that will allow your recipient to be removed from your list.

Honor all your remove requests - immediately and permanently!

Include a snail mail address as an alternate way of contacting you for removal. This could be a P.O. Box if you work from home and don't want to give out your home address.

Do not try to mask your headers (hide your real email address). This is illegal and indicates you are not a legitimate business.

Use the abbreviation of advertisement "ADV" as the first word in your email's subject. (Ex: "ADV from Yourname)

To be in full compliance with the law you must include this statement in the beginning or end of your email...
This message is sent in compliance with the email bill S.1618 TITLE 111 passed by the 105th US Congress. This letter is not considered spam as long as the sender includes contact information and a method of removal. To remove, please reply to this message with the word "Remove" in the subject heading and you will be permanently removed from our email database.