How To Create & Send HTML Email

From time to time clients ask us for information on how to send out their newsletters in HTML format. Here's a quick tutorial on how this can be done. You will need:

• An editor, whether straight HTML or a web page design program like FrontPage or Dreamweaver.
• Internet Explorer. Other browsers are fine as well, but most people already have this program so that's what I'll use in this tutorial.
• An email program like Outlook or Outlook Express.
• A website account on our server.

	Cliff's Notes Version Here is the Cliff's Notes version of what you have to do: Make newsletter in HTML Upload to server Browse to it File > Send As Email

If you think of creating the email as a webpage first and then as something you're simply going to send it's less technical. So, create your page, graphics, tables, and all your content, then upload it to your account on the server as if it were a regular web page.

There are three solid reasons for doing it this way rather than sending it directly off of your computer.

1. If a user's email program cannot read you HTML email you can refer them to the online version.
2. It adds more content to your website if your newsletters are simply more pages on your site.
3. Technically, this method has a better chance of success and should be easier because you're doing something you should already be familiar with -- creating web pages.
4. If you do it this way, you won't have to worry about the next section.

If you're using the above recommended method, you can skim over this but not worry about it. See, I really am trying to make this easier.

One thing that many people often don't do is handle the images properly. All the URLs in your code need to be absolute, rather than relative, for all links and images.

For example:
http://www.domain.com/myimage.gif,
rather than something like just /myimage.gif.

This also means of course that any images used in your HTML email need to be stored on a web server, the same as when you use images on a web site.

I'll assume at this point that your newsletter is uploaded onto your server and that you are ready to view it in Internet Explorer. Simply browse over to the page you want to send (in Internet Explorer), click File > Send > Page by Email and then just send it to your list.

A few keys to making the above work is that your HTML on the site be of good quality (something that Microsoft is not known for but for the purposes of a simply email it should work). In Outlook (or whatever program you send email with) you have to set the default email type to HTML. In Outlook this is Tools Menu > Options > Mail Format tab > HTML in drop down box > OK.

Using the above is all I can recommend because it's all I've tested. I understand that FrontPage might be able to send the email itself, however, I have no experience with this. If you do try something other than the above and it works for you, please let us know so that we can pass this along to our techs.

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