As you may already know, if copy is emailed to a non-AOL user and an AOL user, the links in that copy can only be clicked by the non-AOL user. In order for the AOL user to be able to click the link, the sender of the e-mail must add some html coding. For instance, in the last e-fund, we had the following link:

Every article in this newsletter is available on our website at http://www.npadvisors.com.

A non-AOL user would be able to click this link and be directed to the appropriate page.

However, this same sentence would be coded as follows so that an AOL user might be able to take the same action:

Every article in this newsletter is available on our <a href=”http://www.npadvisors.com/efund”>website</a>.

As you can see, there is additional coding included in the AOL version that will make this sentence appear as follows when the AOL user reads their e-mail:

Every article in this newsletter is available on our website.

(The word “website” is linked.)

You can create your own coding easily. <a href= is static (always the same). Inside the quote marks is the link or page you wish to direct the person to. Inside the carrots (>  <) is whatever description you want to use for that page link. This is the part the AOL user will actually click to get to that page. In this case, it is the word “website.”  And, finally, /a> is static.

If you prefer, you can always copy the link between the carrots (so that the web address is visible and linked), but we’ve found it provides a cleaner appearance to the AOL user to substitute the link with words such as “click here,” etc.

October 2003