Don't bury the lead

Last week, as I was reviewing all sorts of email messages, email newsletters and articles for clients, I kept noticing that not much thought had been given to what order the material was presented in.

In any communication, but especially with email messages or email newsletters, you should always put the most important point you want to make or topic you want to address at the top. You must assume people aren't going to scroll down. If they do, that's great. You can even encourage them to do so by having your first line be a one-line summary of what's in the message.

For example, cartoonist Lloyd Dangle sent out a message to his list in which he wanted to talk about the Licensing Show this week and his new book, Troubletown Told You So. So here's the way he started his newsletter:

"Dear Blank,
Lloyd Dangle here. In this message: The Licensing Show, Dangle live-blogging, and two new books..."

To read the rest, click here.  And you can read Lloyd's blog here.Check out his hysterical live blogging last week at the The Licensing Show where he connected with a lot of great prospects, too.