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One of my customers asked me a question about font choice for her sales letter the other day and this got me to thinking about the purpose of a sales letter.

No matter what you are selling your sales letter has a job to do, and it needs to do that job in the most efficient manner possible 'V this means that it has to get read. For your visitor to want to read your sales letter (or web page) you not only need to have a good headline and high quality content but that content must be presented in a way that is easy to read on the computer screen.

This means you need to use fonts that are easy to read and relaxing on the eyes...

Don't use fonts that are too small - I've got good eyes but I don't want to sit with my nose pressed against the screen just to read your message. By the same token I don't want to sit, so far away from my computer that I can't reach the keyboard because you've used too large a font either!

Generally speaking anything written in a size 12 to 14 will be easy to read, but you do need to be aware that a size 12 'Times New Roman' font has a lower readability factor on the computer screen than say a size 12 'Verdana'.

This is partly because one is a serif and the other is a sans serif font, but also due to the fact that, letter for letter, the size 12 'Verdana' font is physically bigger than the size 12 'Times New Roman' font.

Sans Serif Versus Serif Fonts.

Many people, myself included, are confused when people talk about serif and sans serif fonts - just what are they?

In a nutshell, a serif font is a font that has extended lines at the end of characters.

For instance if you look at the letter 'E' in a Serif font such as 'Times New Roman' you will see that the middle horizontal line of the 'E' has little vertical lines added to the end of it.

If you now look at the same letter 'E' typed in a Sans Serif font such as 'Verdana' you will not see the small vertical lines added to the middle horizontal line of the letter.

Most studies show that 'Serif' fonts are easier to read than 'Sans Serif' fonts, therefore they are more often used for longer bodies of text.

However, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson did some research in 2001 on the readability of different fonts on computer screens and the results were a little different than expected.

He found that comparing a size 12 'Times Roman' (Serif) to a size 12 'Arial' (Sans Serif) there was a 2 to 1 factor of readability in favour of the 'Arial' font.

Now this flies in the face of conventional wisdom until you consider, as mentioned earlier, that size for size the 'Times Roman' font is physically smaller than other fonts.

Unfortunately no comparisons are listed for a size 14 'Times New Roman' font compared to a size 12 'Arial' font which can make the results seem a little skewed.

Not All Computers Are 'Loaded' With Obscure Font Faces.

When selecting the choice of font for your sales letter or web page you should keep in mind that the majority of computers do not have hundreds of different fonts loaded. Because of this, if you choose to use an obscure font in your copy you run the risk of not having your sales letter appear on your prospects computer screen.

Alternatively it may appear with a substituted font in place of your chosen one which can make the layout and legibility very suspect to say the least.

For these reasons it is wise to stick to the most common fonts so that you can ensure most people will be able to read a pleasant looking sales letter or web page.

Some of the easiest to read fonts on computers are:

Arial (Sans Serif)

Verdana (Sans Serif)

Tahoma (Sans Serif)

Courier New (Serif)

Georgia (Serif)

Times New Roman (Serif)

I myself prefer to use 'Tahoma' for headlines and sub-headlines with the main body being typed in 'Times New Roman'.

This ensures that there is a major contrast between the body text and the headlines which is important, not only because you want to catch peoples eye with your headlines, but also because many people skim through your sales letter looking only at the headlines and sub-headlines.

They are looking for items of interest and if they don't see any they will simply click away.

To further emphasise your sub-headlines and help your readers skim through your sales copy you need to also choose a different colour for them, a personal favourite of mine is a darker red colour (hex code #BA0003) which doesn't shout 'Danger' at the reader.

Another tip is to highlight or otherwise decorate words and phrases that you want your readers to sit up and take notice of as they read your words.

Words that are "hot buttons" should be decorated to grab your prospect's attention by using font characters such as bold, italic, underline, different colour, different size, or highlight.

Don't go overboard with this though and do be sure to test any changes you make against a 'standard'' version of your letter to see which one gets the best results.

Copyright (c) 2006 Stuart Elliott