Astounding Language

Pictures and graphics are one of the most important elements that a company uses to create brand awareness and communicate its message. Ever wonder where those images come from? The general term for these images is “stock photos” and the evolution of digital photography has caused a revolution within the stock photo industry. In our business of selling trade show displays and designing graphics for these displays we are constantly challenged with how to develop a graphical message that is suitable for trade show graphics. Trade show graphics are considered large format printing and it has its own set of challenges, especially when it comes to finding high resolution photos that when printed look presentable. Many of you have probably taken an old 35 mm picture and blown it up to a poster size graphic only to see the quality deteriorate that it only looks good when your fifteen feet away. Imagine taking that same picture and making it 7 feet tall by 10 feet wide. Yikes!

If you’re the likes or Nike or McDonalds it’s no big deal to arrange professional photographers to take high resolution digital photos for any type of ad campaign, brochure or billboard. If you’re the average small business in America then you have a bit of a challenge finding images that won’t break the bank account. For most of our clients this is where the “Sticker Shock” of buying stock images comes into play.

So how does one get high resolution images for displays? Before the turn of the century, that is the year 2000, the world of stock photography was dominated by a few industry giants like Getty Images and Corbis and still today these two companies can supply you with just about anything. For example, let’s say you want a high resolution picture of “Britain’s two man bob sleigh team, competing at international sporting event, 1948, St. Moritz, Switzerland”. You’ll have to get this type of image from one of the major suppliers. In fact here’s the link for this image on Getty.

Britain’s two man bob sleigh team image

There are two types of images in the stock photography world. The bob sleigh image is “Rights Managed” which means you have to detail how, where and when you’ll be using this image for marketing or advertising purposes. For a trade show display this image would cost you anywhere from $975.00 - $1350.00 per year for one display. This is where the sticker shock happens! The other type of image is called “Royalty Free” which means you can use it for most things and only have to pay a flat fee. There are lots of variations in “Royalty Free” so make sure you understand the conditions of using the photograph. “Royalty Free” images are usually priced in the range of $180.00 - $350.00. Sounds pretty good until you realize that you may need 10 photos to achieve the design you want.

What if there was a way to reduce that pricing to $10.00 per image? Almost sounds to good to be true, but it isn’t. Digital cameras and the Internet have completely revolutionized the way high resolution images are being bought and sold and this new segment is called “Microstock”. Microstock photo websites are where individuals can buy and sell their high quality images. The average consumer can easily purchase a professional level digital camera and with a little training can create all kinds of unique images to sell, especially when you use your photography skills along with the power of some photo editing software like PhotoShop. The two best known Microstock photo websites are iStockPhoto and ShutterStock. Both of these sites offer hundreds of thousands of high quality photos for large format printing purposes. These images are still “Royalty Free”, but “Extended” licenses are available when you print large quantities of brochures or other marketing materials.

If you purchased “Royalty Free” photos from one of the major industry websites then the photos in the design could easily range from $1980.00 - $3850.00. If you purchased “Rights Managed” photos you would spend $10,750.00 - $14,850.00.

This cost savings has gotten the attention of the “big guys” to the extent that iStockPhoto was recently purchased by Getty Images for $50 million dollars.

So if you need high quality high resolution photos for Trade Show Displays, Exhibits or Booths or any other large format printing job make sure to check out all your options including the Microstock world.

Check the complete article at: http://www.smashhitdisplays.com/Trade-Show-Articles-News-Tips-Suggestions
/2006/March/How-To-Save-Big-Bucks-When-Purchasing-High-Quality-Stock-Photos.htm

Evan D. Owen, President, http://www.smashhitdisplays.com
Founded in 2003, A Smash Hit! Trade Show Displays is a leading Internet distributor of trade show display products primarily servicing North America. As a wholesaler we can offer display products at half the price as local suppliers. We offer full graphics design, printing and can work on displays as small as tabletop units to larger island style displays.

Turning a boring description of what your business does into a valuable, useful article to be eagerly read by your prospects is without doubt one of the most powerful online marketing strategies that any business can use today.

Why is it so effective? The answer is simple. Folks are seeking information whenever they come online. If the information you offer is useful and works for them, they don’t mind one bit if it points to a certain product or service that makes the whole thing work. However they will react very strongly and negatively to any effort you make to advertise or selfishly promote your product. Unfortunately this is exactly what most people do, more so in their online articles promoting their enterprises.

They would be well advised to change tact. Never show the fish your hook, you’ll never catch them. Instead they will violently swim away to safety. The truth is that if an article does not pass the advertising/content mix test, then it is almost useless and will make very little impact in promoting your business and generating valuable leads to your site.

I have proved in tests using my own articles that a single article can generate thousands of leads to a site every week while another will generate two or three hits a week. The difference is tied to a single factor. Namely how convincingly the content is integrated to your advertising or marketing.

Some of the articles that I have written to advertise my online business are over a year old. However they still generate thousands of dollars in business for me. That’s how effective the advertising/content mix is.

In other words it is all about producing an article that is useful information that at the same time doubles up as a lengthy advertisement for a product or service.

Impact on Traffic and Adsense Revenue

Everybody knows that the amount of traffic generated is very important to any site. Very few people pay attention to the mood of that traffic you have generated when it arrives at your site. In most cases, a huge percentage of visitors to a site arrive there out of curiosity more than anything else. Even when they are lead there by well-written articles.

The correct mood that you should be looking for in traffic that arrives at your site is excitement and anticipation. Excitement at discovering the information that you have to offer, anticipation of more valuable information to be found at your site. This is the sort of traffic that will end up spending more time at your site. The longer they spend at your site, the higher the chances that they’ll end up buying something. When they spend a longer time at your site, chances are also much higher that they will end up clicking at your Adsense ads.

In other words your online revenue boils down to how convincing you are in linking your valuable content to you marketing or advertising. So how does somebody do this effectively? There are a number of very important factors that you should take account when creating your content or your advertising article.

Christopher Kyalo is a successful online entrepreneur. Read the second part of this article in his free email newsletter. To get a copy send a blank email now to articlesrgold-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Many business owners I have worked with have tried running ads in direct mail pieces that come out monthly or quarterly (or something in between). Their hope is that the direct mail piece will drive them business because it reaches a large number of households.

When they tell me about their results from ads like these, I can predict almost exactly what they’re going to say: “We got a decent response the first week or so but then it really died out after that.” They seem disappointed in the results because the response dropped off so fast.

Because the next mailing doesn’t come out for another six to eight weeks, they suffer a roller coaster effect if this is the only marketing they are doing.

When you buy advertising, understand what you’re buying and how it fits your goals and your business.

A big mailing every couple months will give you a big impact all at once but you’ll have ups and downs in your new business flow.
You can smooth out that roller coaster by adding some repetition.

Buy some low impact advertising that keeps your message out in the community all the time, day after day, week after week. This keeps your name and message in front of your potential customers on an ongoing basis. It fills the gaps that fall between your big direct mailings. Remember, with advertising you are buying exposure.

Think of it like buying a case of beer or soda. You can drink it all at once and then it’s gone and you go thirsty until next month. Or, you drink just one can a day and you get to enjoy it all month long (well, almost all month).

With most businesses, a balanced combination of impact and repetition is the best way to meet your marketing goals.

Kevin Stirtz has developed a unique concept called “Blow Up Your Business.” He speaks to groups of professionals and business owners who want to attract more customers and put more money in their pocket. Kevin can be reached at http://www.KevinStirtz.com or 952-212-4681.

Here are 10 killer website marketing tactics to
boost your profits:

1. Gain an advantage over your competition. You
should find one benefit your competition doesn’t
offer and use it as your main selling point.

2. Design your e-zine so it creates multiple free
advertising streams. Ask readers to forward it to
people they know, offer ad trades, etc.

3. Allow your visitors to subscribe to an update
e-zine. Anytime you make changes to your web
site they can receive an informative e-mail.

4. Focus your articles on information the targeted
readers and e-zine publishers want. They will get
published more often, which means free publicity.

5. Use problems to attract online traffic. Find a
common online problem and use your web site
to solve it. People will visit and see your ads.

6. Have an informative FAQ page at your web site.
Anticipate questions your prospects or visitors
may have; this will help improve your sales ratio.

7. Improve your negotiation skills. This’ll improve
your business because you’re always negotiating ad
swaps, supply prices, joint ventures, wages, etc.

8. Beat your competition by giving away a similar
product or service that they charge for. It could
be add on products, warranties, servicing, etc.

9. Build a larger online community by giving your
visitors bonuses for participating on your message
boards or chat rooms. Try free products, ads, etc.

10. Instead of starting an affiliate program, start
a referral program. Give people discounts and free
products for referring people to your site.

May these website marketing secrets help you to make
a lot of money and succeed

Warmly,

I-key Benney, CEO

I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of “Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System”, (forex trading) program, which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.

Mscsrrr Millionaire Secret Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free “cash”…

Links are much like referrals in the real world. When you hang out with people smarter than you then this in turn will eventually make you smarter because of your company which in turn will provide you more perceived value. Referrals or links have 3 very important things in common: more people you know the better, the more quality people you know the better, and not knowing everybody the better.

For example, starting out in business you probably did not know alot people. But as you got more customers, your sphere of influence becomes broader. Thus giving you the capability to recommend them to others. With links, it is the same way. Link popularity is dependent upon the number of incoming links you have, therefore giving your web site more exposure and higher rankings.

On the internet, links operate the same way. A link ( referral ) from an .gov is considered more credible because of the source, therefore giving you a great referral. Be real choosy of the type of links that you accept.Therefore if you commence linking with disreputable people then your webpages rankings will go lower.

Furthermore be conscious to the fact that if you get a plethora of friends over night, then bells and whistles start going off and your website usually gets punished by the Google.

At Magnetiks, a Houston search engine optimization company should help you build your interconnections consistently over time therefore ensuring continued web presence on the internet.

The numbers are supposed to be big in online marketing, but are they significant in the online marketing of music? Clearly, we need someone with ‘Net experience to set a few things straight. Scott Meldrum is a businessperson and musician with a dry wit and a background in bulk mail. Oops, excuse me, direct response advertising. He’s also the man called on by major labels when they want to brand an artist and reach millions of fans via the Internet.

Beginning with Papa Roach in 1998 and continuing with such platinum-selling artists as Avril Lavigne, Dido and Jennifer Lopez, Meldrum’s Long Beach-based firm, Hype Council, is one of the prime marketing weapons utilized by the world’s largest entertainment companies.

Taking center stage for a Monday evening presentation by NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals) at the Beverly Garland Hotel in Los Angeles, Meldrum began with some facts about the Internet. Does that sound a bit dull? It wasn’t. His presentation quickly revealed things about the ‘Net that should be known by every marketer (that’s you, if you or your artists are selling music online).

THE GLOBAL AUDIENCE FOR MUSIC.

Most Internet users (nearly a majority of them) are between the ages of 30 and 49, far older than many in the audience thought. And for those of us who believed that the USA had the highest percentage of Internet users, it was a surprise to learn that we’re only sixth. (Of course, in raw numbers of users, the USA has by far the most people.)

Fully 40% of the USA’s 177 million ‘Net users go online for music (more in some other nations). Look at it another way: if you put your music on the Internet, you have a potential audience of some 70 million. And with total Internet users currently at 404 million, that translates into a worldwide potential audience of 161 million people.

The problem is: how to reach them. They are wildly segmented in terms of music genre; they only want to be contacted under certain sets of circumstances; and they need to have a safe, secure, and easy way to make purchases.

Fortunately, “The Internet is still a new medium,” Meldrum asserts, “and there are tremendous opportunities for people in the business of selling music.”

Some of those opportunities are being wasted, however, through poor Web site design. Meldrum revealed the biggest errors made in creating or maintaining a Web site. . .

TOP 5 MISTAKES OF WEBSITES:

1. Mistaking creativity for functionality. “Don’t try to put everything on your front page. Organization is the key. Lead your fans to the most important things.” That’s what menus are for, so don’t hide them. “How many times have you gone to a site that looks interesting, but you have no clue how to navigate it? People don’t have time to waste figuring it out. Make it easy for them.”

2. Burying the offer. “Links to buy the CD should be available at almost every page on your Website. Many Websites challenge, almost dare visitors to find the product, let alone buy it.”

3. Ignoring fans. “Many artist Websites have a registration feature, but it is not prominently displayed. When you are not selling albums at your Website, you need to be collecting email registrations.” This builds a fan base where you can sell an album now and more in the future.

4. Not giving fans what they want. “Make your music accessible. Offer a few full streams of your songs. Make a download available in exchange for an email registration. You will win more fans and sell more CDs giving your music away than you will by not letting your potential fans really listen before they buy.”

5. Failing to design with bandwidth in mind. “Ever been to a Website and forgot why you were there before the page fully loaded? Getting people to your site is hard enough. Losing them because they got tired of waiting for your page to load is a waste of everyone’s time and energy.”

CONSIDER OTHER OPTIONS:

Websites are a necessity, but don’t overlook other ways of reaching out to potential fans on the Internet. Banners can be bought or traded. Emails can be sent (be mindful of the CAN-SPAM law; see below for link). Marketing can be done on search engines. You can join or participate in message boards and blogs (web logs). And the latest advancement in music marketing involves social networks such as MySpace.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Meldrum had many specific suggestions for attendees, including:

* use Google for research
* check out MySpace.com
* target your audience
* simplify your Website
* give away some songs
* interact with your audience often

“You can send emails in text or HTML format. With HTML (hyper text markup language), you can include pictures and graphics. They look nice, but we get twice the ‘open rate’ with text emails.”

THE BOTTOM LINE ON WEBSITES:

“To your online fans, you are your Website. If they love it, they will love you, and will be eager to follow your careers. Take all the great things about you, your talent and your message, and translate to HTML. Keep it simple, easy-to-navigate and informative, and you will have a highly-effective marketing channel for your music.”

Sources for more info:

http://www.narip.com

http://www.hypecouncil.com

http://www.scottmeldrum.com

http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html

http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htm

http://marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/

http://www.google.com

http://www.myspace.com/thegman

# # #

Scott G (The G-Man) writes and produces radio commercials from G-Man Music & Radical Radio. With albums on Delvian Records, iTunes, Amazon, and many other online stores, he also composes music that is played in clubs, on college radio stations, and on commercials. A member of NARAS (the Grammy organization) and NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals), he writes about music, advertising, marketing, communications, advertainment, and digital distribution for the Immedia Wire Service and MusicDish.com. Samples of his songs and commercials are on his site at: http://www.gmanmusic.com