As a graphic designer, I can tell you something right here, right now, right off the bat without blinking….the graphic design process is a pain in the butt. From the graphic designer point of view, here’s what it looks like.

1. Client meets graphic designer to discuss elaborate plans to market, advertise or promote their products. Potentially, there’s a chance that the client wants (needs) the graphic designer to ‘revamp’ the whole image and identity of the client company. Client gets all hyped up about the potential mullah that will roll into their bank account. Graphic Designer hyperventilates and salivates at the imagined amount on the invoice

2. Graphic Designer proposes some concepts and ideas. Client says that it’s not EXACTLY what they had in mind and asks the graphic designer to come up with more ideas. For the graphic designer, this is like being handed a really enormous machine gun to just shoot around in the dark, hoping to hit the target on the dot, you get what I mean?

3. The process gets dragged on. Graphic designer gets frustrated because client is not able to dispense of his idea because he doesn’t KNOW what he wants but knows it only when he sees it.

4. Client consults other people in the company and a whole bunch of people gets thrown into the picture with their own ideas and proposals.

5. Graphic designer and client sit down in a limp heap of entangled flesh, not knowing what to do now because months have been wasted testing and trying. Now, we start all over again…..

Knowing what you want right from the start is important. If you have no idea what it is that you want to achieve with your new marketing stuff, sit down with your staff BEFORE you get the graphic designer to do any work. Now, this is a very important point, so, let me say it again….CONSULT WITH YOUR PEOPLE BEFORE YOU GET YOUR GRAPHIC DESIGNER TO DO ANY WORK!

Next, get it all down on paper. Even if you have no intention of passing that piece of document to the graphic designer, at least, you have a clearer vision on what you want. THEN speak to your graphic designer to explore ideas and possible changes to your original idea.

Once the graphic design process has begun, pick and choose the people you consult with with care. Too many cooks DO spoil the broth! Only people who can and SHOULD make or help make the decision should be consulted at this very point in time.

However, as any client will tell you, the graphic designer has a huge and major role in ensuring that they understand the client’s instructions, takes the initiative to research and explore other ideas. When the client tells the graphic designer what he/she wants from their new marketing stuff, it’s not set in stone. The graphic designer SHOULD present his/her own ideas as an alternative. If not, what’s the use of the graphic designer? Why not just get a clerical or the secretary to just learn how to use the appropriate programs/softwares and come up with something that the client wants?

Being a graphic designer is a pain in the butt….and working with a graphic designer is also a stab in the rear end but at the end of the day…when you see that your effort and all those frustrations results in a smashing success, you can sit back and admire your (and your client’s handiwork) over a cup of cappuccino.

Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and copy writer who works from home. She designs apparel and premium items at http://www.creativejooz.com and http://www.allmomstuff.com and is the author of "Raising little magicians", and the popular "The Lance in freelancing". More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com

Classified ads do not have the big market appeal that a full color display ad has, but they are still one of the most economical ways to get your business into the public eye. And, because classifieds do not demand expensive eye-catching designs or ingenious wording that you often see in direct-mail campaigns, they are a perfect marketing avenue for even new entrepreneurs. Here are some tips to help you write ads that will make the difference between mediocre ads to great ads that get good or even exceptional results.

Keep It Short

Ads that are short and precise have better results. Use white space to make your classified ad stand out from the rest of the listings. Look at the local classifieds and you will see that this works especially well for newspapers. With a little care you can apply the same concept to online ads,

Place just a few words in each line with: 1) the first line listing a benefit the reader will receive; 2) the second line containing the name of your company; 3) the third line your address or email. This results in a striking, centered ad surrounded by white space.

If you are placing an online classified ad and do not have the capability to insert line breaks or center the text, then you will need to keep the text short and use key words to attract the reader to your ad.

Goal of Placing Your Ad

The goal of placing your ad should only be to get the customer to click through to your site for more information. If your listing does not elicit that response, then you should rework it until it does.

Action Words

Use action words that will prompt a response from the reader. For example, words such as: amazing, attractive, confidential, etc., are all words that compel the reader to do something. There are a many resources available; one that I found to be particularly useful is Words That Sell, by Richard Bayan.

Unique Appeal

You want to make your product or service appear unique to all other products or services on the market (if any). Spend a few minutes to identify what is unique about your product or service or solicit feedback from friends or family about what would appeal to them should they need a product or service such as yours. Use this uniqueness to appeal to the market in the ad.

Do Not Try to Sell Your Reader

Whatever you do, do not try to sell your reader on your ad. What you DO want to do is evoke a response using action words. The ad is meant to entice them and evoke an action from them to return to your site and then prompt a sale(s) of your product(s).

Spark Interest and Curiosity

Using a combination of the title and the text or body of the ad you want to spark an interest or curiosity in your ad or product. Use the title to grab the interest and attention of the reader and the ad, or text body, to spark curiosity. You want to generate enough curiosity to have them act in response to your ad.

Avoid Saturated Ads and Products

If your product is already over-marketed on the Internet or your ad is one that is “canned” or pre-prepared you are less likely to achieve good results. Develop your ad so that it is unique, draws the attention of the reader and then guides them to your site or product that is also unique and fresh.

This does not mean that you should not sell information products, for example, which are in overabundance on the Internet market. Instead, think of one type of e-book or information product you can develop that will stand out from the others and meet some need that has prompted the reader to start searching.

Avoid Hype

Nothing is appealing about an advertiser that resorts to hype, threats, or false innuendo about their product. Avoid hype or false representation at all costs. I cannot emphasize this enough. Internet users have grown up and have become savvy, intelligent buyers and are not interested in purchasing products that are hyped. Just state the real facts and use some sound business principles and marketing methods to get the job done well.

Be Organized

Do not underestimate the power behind having a schedule for posting your ads. Post the same ads every 5-7 days. No more. No less. This will keep your ads in front of the readers and you will avoid being black-listed for spamming. Spamming is an incredible annoyance that is truly deterring good customers from Internet buying. Simply do not send SPAM!

Let’s Wrap This Up

These simple and easy-to-use tips can make the difference between ads that deliver mediocre results or those that deliver eye-boggling, heart-pounding results. You will need to develop your own style for writing your ads and then practice, practice, practice. Few of us were born with the ability to write a “super” ad right away. Most of us have had to practice, watch for results and then tweak the ad to get the results we have wanted. Do not be discouraged if you find yourself in this group too, you’ll be a part of a much bigger group of entrepreneurs. What is important is that you learn from each ad and campaign that you send out. If you can infuse these simple steps into your advertising campaigns you will be well on your way to posting classified ads that get results!

REPRINTS AND PERMISSION

You have permission to reprint or use this article in your eZine or newsletter with the agreement that it will not be modified in any way, reprinted exactly as shown here, and links back to the author site (see Author Bio box) are displayed. Please send courtesy email indicating your intent to use this article to mw@RegistryAds.com.

Michele Webb is living proof that an “ordinary” person can be a successful Netpreneur who successfully launched a classified advertising website in a highly specialized niche market. Visit her website at http://RegistryAds.com or send email to mw@RegistryAds.com

Branding is very important to a business, whether it is an online or offline business. Your brand will be the first impression the public has of your business and could very well be the most important one. The goal in business branding is to give consumers a visual image of your company. Business branding is very important to a business because it allows the public to identify your company name on sight.

There are several elements of business branding, the first of which is your logo. It is a good idea to use a professional in creating your company logo. A logo designed with clip art and unprofessional graphics can make your business seem unprofessional. Your company logo should appear in as many places as possible including emails, letterhead, pens, and notepads. The image your company projects should be professional and memorable.

Another important feature of business branding is your slogan. A slogan identifies the values and mission statement of your company. A slogan should emphasize the message you want to convey to the public. You should choose your wording carefully and create a short slogan that is easy to remember. Business branding is very important to any type of business and you should include your logo and/or slogan in your web site design and signage. In creating the perfect brand for your business you need to determine who your customers are and how your business can fill their needs, and who your competitors are and why your business is a better choice for consumers.

Business branding must be highly visible and easily identifiable to the public. Your branding logo and slogan should be consistently displayed in all your company advertisements and correspondence. The image your company projects is just as important as the quality of services and products you provide.

For more valuable resources for growing a successful business head over to http://www.redrockva.com today!

The publishers of the popular video game “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” are feeling the heat from the Federal Trade Commission as of late. A probe has been launched into the popular video game and this comes on the heels of New York Senator Hilary Clinton and Michigan Congressman Fred Upton urging the US House of Representatives to investigate whether video game publisher “Take Two Interactive Software” intentionally deceived the ratings board to avoid an “Adult Only” rating.

According to reports sex scenes were buried in the video game and this was not told to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, who have raised the rating from Mature to Adults Only.

As of now retailers such as Circuit City, Best Buy and even Wal-Mart have since ceased selling the video game and removed it from their shelves.

Will the latest scandal be the end of “Advergaming”?

It’s doubtful, the video game industry is an $11 billion dollar industry that reaches one of the most evasive demographics, males between the ages of 17 to 35.

“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” is a very popular video game but it’s one of hundreds that hit the shelves every year. It just so happens that due to their actions they will bring stricter laws to the table and make it more difficult to get a PG rating for action games.

Though marketers may have been scared off, and for good reason, they should not discount the potential value of embedding their brand within video games. Instead of abandoning the medium, marketers may want to be more selective in what video games they associate their brand with. No brand wants to be involved in controversy especially when it relates to pornographic material being embedded in a video game.

Marketers may want to do more research into the video game before jumping in headfirst. They need to perform their due diligence which includes looking at past video games published by a particular company and previewing the game itself.

In short, “Advergaming” is only in the beginning stages and will more than likely grow in popularity in the near future. This is a hurdle that the video game industry needs to overcome, but as with anything you can’t judge an industry by the actions of one company.

Louis Victor
New Age Media Concepts
www.namct.com
646-403-9972

Louis Victor is the Executive VP of New Age Media Concepts, an advertising, marketing and public relations firm.

A great logo can help a business project a positive image while a bad logo can bring a negative impression about a company. For many companies, a logo is the only identifiable mark a potential customer may ever see, so it needs to be memorable, descriptive and easily recognizable. If a logo is the company spokesman, how much is it really worth?

Cheap logo designs are all over the Internet - logo designs under $150! $99 logo designs, $75 logo designs, $49 logo designs and even lower! You will easily find a wide range of prices for logo design on the Internet. Be careful of cheap logo design offers, some designers may be using clip art. A logo design that includes a royalty free piece of clip art cannot be copyrighted. That same piece of clip art could be used on dozens of other logo designs. A designers portfolio should be displayed and there should be a wide variety of logo samples. At $49 each, do all of the logos look the same? Do the majority of them have block lettering and a swoosh?

Some logo designers charge one flat fee for a logo with no questions asked. Can you imagine Coca-Cola purchasing a logo design for $99? What a deal! Or how about Bob’s bait shop paying $750 for a logo. There goes the budget! All companies are not equal in size, budget and usage. All designs are not equal. Does a swoosh take the same amount of time and effort as creating a detailed motorcycle?

The confusion doesn’t stop there. Some logo designers charge additional costs for extra colors, extra modifications and extra preliminary designs. You have to get your calculator out just to figure the final cost of your logo. Do you really know what you are paying for?

How much is a logo design really worth? Ask Coca-Cola, Polo, Nike, The Hard Rock Cafe, Hallmark or any other company that relies on their logo as their number one spokesman. Not every company is as large as these but every company should have a logo that is easy to identify and stands for the integrity of that business.

A logo design is more valuable to a company than a single spot illustration. An illustration is normally used once or used for a limited campaign, whereas a logo is used for years and is placed on business cards, letterheads, envelopes, web sites, vehicles, buildings and products. Do you see the difference in value to a company? A logo has more value than just the hours spent on creating it. It becomes the companies identity.

With that said, shouldn’t a logo be worth more than just the time involved in creating it? Professional graphic design rates average anywhere from $30 to $75 per hour. If you see a logo design priced at $125 and that designer charges $50 per hour for design work, do you assume that they spent 2.5 hours on your logo? That price would include the time spent to contact you, the research done on your company and competition, the preliminary ideas, the changes, the finalizing of the logo, the file prep for each different format, sending the logo, billing and allowing you to have all rights to the design. So how much time was actually spent creating your logo?

My conclusion is that a logo is much more valuable to a company than a standard illustration so the price should reflect the added value. Many professional graphic designers would be hard pressed to create a top notch illustration for under $150 let alone a creative, well designed logo. So beware of logos priced under $150, you may get what you pay for.

There’s even more confusion about logo pricing. Some designers base their logo rates on several of these factors:

Logo Modifications - You could get charged for each time you want a change or modification to your logo. If a logo designer asks the right questions, does the research and stays in close communication with the client there should be no need for major changes during the creation of a logo design. Be a good communicator and explain to the logo designer exactly what you want your logo to be saying about your business. As a designer, you should get signed approval for each modification showing that the client was in agreement at the time.

Extra Colors - Printers charge more for extra colors. If a logo designer charges more for a two color logo than they do for a three color logo, get a detailed explanation as to why. It only takes the click of a mouse to add an extra color. In today’s world there is very little need for color separations so there should be no need for a designer to charge by the color.

Preliminary Designs - A few choices is good, to many choices is overkill. A logo designer should be able to decide for you the correct amount of preliminary designs it will require to create your perfect logo. Be leary of eight, ten and more initial designs. How much time could actually be spent on each design? If you don’t like your first two or three designs you can easily request two or three more.

If you are on a committe or a board, I assure you that you do not want to present ten logos to ten different people. You may never get down to a winning design.

On the other hand, if you need an additional presentation of logos due to a complete change in direction on the companies part, there should be an extra fee. An example would be asking for a yellow duck logo design and changing your mind to a red dog design once the logos are presented to you.

Adding an identity program to your logo is a legitimate cost. Designing the business card, letterhead and envelope layouts are normally a higher priced package. You should receive camera ready files for each design.

There is a standard reference for pricing graphic design and corporate identity projects. It is Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, published by the Graphic Artists Guild. Any logo designer can purchase the book. A professional graphic designer would have a tough time supporting a family and a studio designing all of their logos below $200.

I’m not writing this to give exact prices for a logo design because each logo designers circumstances are different. Amateur logo designers charge much less to get their feet wet, but slowly increase their rates as they gain experience and creativity.

The standard logo design rates are based on two major components, company size and application or distribution size. The majority of logo designs created over the Internet are created for small companies and individuals with limited application and distribution uses. Fortune 500 companies normally pay much higher logo design rates and use advertising agencies.

My conclusion is that the value of a logo should be based on a few important criteria:
1. Experience of the logo designer
2. Size & budget of the company using the logo
3. Scope and usage of the logo
4. Difficulty of the design

An individual or small company with small to average uses should be prepared to pay anywhere from $300 to $1500 for a top quality, professional logo design.

What’s included with your logo? The worst part of paying for a cheap logo is finding out that you were not sent the correct file formats for printing and web. You will then have to pay another graphic designer or printer to create the correct files. Be aware of what file types you will be needing and ask your logo designer what file types are included in their price.

The most common file types needed are AI (Illustrator) and EPS for most professional print jobs. These are vector format files. These files should be in a CMYK color format. Vector art allows you to reduce or enlarge a design to ANY size without losing detail or clarity.

For home use and some print jobs you will need TIFF and BMP files. These are pixel files and should have a DPI (dots per inch) of at least 300 dpi. 600-1200 dpi is best for professional printing. These type of files lose their detail when enlarged but can be reduced.

The last file types you will need would be JPEG and GIF. These are pixel files and are used for web design. They should be in a RGB color format. Be aware that not all colors translate well on the Internet, especially GIF files. Ask if the logo designer used web safe colors. You should receive crisp 72 dpi files for the Internet. A GIF file should be transparent if you do not want a white box around it when displayed on your page.

Be sure and ask your logo designer about your logo colors. Ask them for the Pantone PMS color numbers for each color. You will need this information each time your logo is printed. This insures that you get the exact same colors with every printer that you use.

Will you get your files over the Internet or will you receive a CD? Try to get a CD, it is much easier to take that to your local printer. Ask your designer how long they keep your logo on file in case you lose your versions later down the road.

You should also receive all rights (copyrights) to your logo. Since a logo is a companies identity you will need to own all rights to get a trademark. Ask for this in writing if you have any doubts.

Ask for the background on the logo designer you choose, you should at the very least know their name. Do they have a degree? How long have they designed logos? Is this their profession or a hobby? Where is there portfolio? Can you contact their other clients? Can you speak to them directly? With the amount of software available today and the invention of the Internet, any sixteen year old kid can start his own logo design company.

In closing let me say that the information above is a personal opinion and is taken from years of searching logo design web sites and reading books on graphic design. The prices and information I have explained here only pertain to the work of graphic designers, not advertising agencies. An advertising agency handles logo design on a larger scale and incorporates an entire corporate identity service. Their logo design rates are many times higher than a graphic designers.

Curtis D. Tucker is one of the leading cartoon logo designers online today. His company, The Curtoons Cartoon Company, specializes in helping individuals and small businesses create fantastic looking cartoon logos and characters. The Curtoons cartoon portfolio contains over 200 cartoon designs and can be seen at http://www.curtoons.com

Curtis can be reached 7 days a week at 580.977.9947.

When advertising, you need to sell your opportunity, your products and yourself. What sets you apart from everyone else? Maybe you produce a newsletter with a specific content where there is a demand from a particular group of people, or you promote your own special product that no one have not yet seen.

That’s a huge benefit! That’s what you need to sell in your ad campaign, and those are the things you need to do in order to become successful.

You don’t have to be worried that network marketing prosperity is difficult. It isn’t. In fact, it has never been so easy to make a decent second income or even a full time. But it takes time, persistence and uniqueness.

The people looking at your ads and reading your follow up letters are going to judge you and your whole business not only by what the materials have to say, but also by their appearance.

Be sure you send a powerful, positive and convincing message. Invest some time and money on your marketing materials, the payoff will be well worth it. Look at others ads on the Internet, see what’s attracting you, this will most likely attract others too.

Do you see what I have in mind? Your advertising campaign will be the propel to your business success. By now you think "How do I create one of those successful ads" After all, It’s the words that sell your opportunity. Write a good ad and It’s taking you to the top. Read others ads, get some good ideas from it, don’t copy it, that’s theft. Just get some inspiration from it. Let your friends take a look at your new written ad and say what they think about it, honestly.

Now where to put your ad? If you place your ad in a pets publication and the ad is promoting toys for children you might not get a single response. But placed in the right publication it will be a winner. It’s very important that you from the beginning know exactly where to put your ad. Just think about you having spent hours on that ad and then you put it in the wrong publication and get no response at all, that’s a big waste of time and effort.

My best advise is that you always work on your ads. Write them down, leave them for some time, go back to look at them again, let others look at them and after a while you will see the picture of your ad and you will se if it’s working or not. If not then you have to start from the beginning and write a new one and follow the same procedure again. But now it’s easier because you are deeply involved in the process.

The Internet are full of ads, start clicking around and read others ads, this is the best way to learn what is working or not. You probably can tell instantly when an ad is good or not at least after a while.

This article courtesy of http://www.ult.net. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.

Pressure washing companies often miss what we call ‘super niche’ markets, those industries which very much need pressure washing services and are willing to pay top dollar for them. One such industry is the signage business. For a pressure washing company with no relatives or friends in that industry it is hard to break in and get work there, however if you con-brand with an existing company you may find yourself with more work than you can handle and able to bill at very high rates

Having been in the pressure washing industry some 25 plus years, we had always found that hooking up with a local sign company gave us instant credibility in the region and an expanded customer base of new clientele. Must of the new clientele once there cleaning signs had much more to wash also. For instance one time we went to clean a large sign for a sign company at a Lumber Company. Once there the owner was pleased and read the side of the work truck which we had also traded out in services for washing the sign company’s service trucks. The Lumber Company owner had us busy for two-days washing and waxing all his delivery trucks, forklifts, concrete and common area.

Below please find a letter that you can use and modify to fit your own business. Use this technique to alert local sign companies of your ability and willingness to work with them. Think about this and as always; Wash On !

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dear Signage Contractor,

We know you have a tough job maintaining signs for clients. Our pressure washing company’s industrial division specializes in cleaning signs. We would like to help you and make some money. We’re looking for a win/win situation. We work in two ways:

You give us a list of clients (contact names) of your customers who might be interested in monthly sign washing. In return we will wash your work trucks for free every other week. (Yes, tire dressing too!)

You set up accounts for maintenance of signs, do all the billing and we do the actual sign cleaning while you work on mechanical and emergency calls. We bill you monthly for our washing.

No matter which way you choose, if we work with you, we will only work exclusively with you in your area. No other signage companies. We will also contact many store owners directly to clean their signs. If these stores need new signs or mechanical repairs of old signs, we will refer this work to you.

Sounds good? We thought you would like it. There is a bonus. We already have accounts to clean wheel chairs at hospitals, real estate agents cars, truck fleets, shopping carts at COSTCO, concrete for local property managers, etc. In other words, we know everyone. By giving you leads for new possible clients we can help you. Information sharing, networking, strategic partnerships, whatever you want to call it, it works! We are in it to win it! If you want to join (company name here) “110% Team” call us. If not the dust is free and we’ll even give you a paper plate. (No plastic fork. You can make a taco.)

If you don’t do this, one of your competitors will. That I can personally guarantee.

Thank you in advance,

Name
Owner/Operator

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

In this article, we want to explore the idea of using the popularity of celebrities and current event (news) topics to help market any internet business.

The Idea

Celebrities and news events are not only popular topics, they are also popular "keywords" in the major search engines. Thousands upon thousands of users everyday search the engines to find the latest info.

The idea is to build mini sites that target this market.

We call these "pop surfer" sites.

It sounds a bit far fetched at first, but with a little strategy, these "pop surfers" can help sell our products - NO MATTER WHAT WE SELL, or at least generate a decent amount of qualified traffic.

To get an idea of the type of traffic, have a look at these sites:

http://buzz.yahoo.com

http://50.lycos.com

http://www.wordtracker.com

http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

Look at the terms in these lists. I’m sure you recognize most of them, as they are an indication of what and who is "happening" right now. Also, keep in mind these sites (Yahoo, Google, Lycos, etc.) are among the most visited sites on the net.

The "Pop Surfer" Mini Site

The first step is to develop a "pop surfer" mini site (or sites - the more the better). It doesn’t have to be the greatest or prettiest site ever created. Don’t put as much work into it as you would your primary site. The key to these sites is to get the popular names and terms on the page so the search engines can find and spider them.

When developing your "pop surfer" page, keep in mind that you want a page that will 1) get into the search engines, and 2) grab the pop surfers’ attention while they are searching for their favorite artist, news story, etc.

The Strategy

After we have our "pop surfer" mini site(s) built and listed in the engines, how do we use it get customers to our businesses?

There are two models that we will call the Indirect model and the Direct model. Each approach has it’s own advantages and uses. In one model we "indirectly" target the "pop surfers", and in the other model we "directly" target them.

The Indirect Model

This model gives us the most qualified visitors. In this model, we utilize the power of traffic "exchanges". After we start getting our share of "pop surfer" traffic, we use the exposure ratio from these "exchanges" to drive qualified, targeted visitors to our primary business site.

This works because exchanges allow us to target our visitors. When signing up for an exchange you are usually asked what category you want exposure in. They often give you a list with such categories as Health and fitness or Business Opportunities. This gives us control over where we want our primary sites’ information viewed.

Some exchanges have a 1:1 ratio where one exposure on your page is worth one exposure on someone else’s page. Others use different ratios such as 2:1 which gives two exposures on your page for one exposure on someone else’s.

There are several types of exchanges. The more popular ones are:

Banner Exchanges, which gives banner exposures in exchange for placing other banners on our site.

Exit Exchanges display your whole website, usually as a pop under window when a visitor leaves your site, in exchange for your site being displayed (as an exit pop under window) on someone else’s site.

The most powerful, however, are:

Opt In list exchanges. These are special, because in every marketing circle, the number one rule for promoting your online business is to obtain an opt in list of subscribers. Opt in exchanges deliver the most targeted, and qualified visitors we can get with the exchange model.

How they work is when someone enters or leaves your site, a list of newsletter, or business opportunity sign up forms are generated in a small unobtrusive window. When that happens, your newsletter or biz-opportunity is listed on someone else’s website - IN THE TARGETED CATEGORY THAT YOU CHOSE when you signed up.

Put the exchange code(s) on your "pop surfer" sites, and take advantage of the traffic.

The Direct Model

The direct model is more of an indirect approach in that we may not necessarily use the "pop surfers" for our primary business but we can still profit from them.

How?

One way is by utilizing Pay Per Click. Not pay per click in the sense that we bid for our sites’ exposure in a search engine, but Pay Per Click in the sense that we place listings on OUR sites and GET PAID for having them there. Every time someone clicks a result in your page, you get a percentage of the bidding amount for that click. If you use pay per click strategically, it can be very profitable.

Merchant affiliate programs work well also. Amazon.com, for example, sells books, music, toys, and more. They let you place their products on your website, and you get a percentage when someone buys from you.

Several other merchants work the same way. Do a search for merchants who sell CDs, books, video, toys, or clothing, and have an affiliate program. There are many out there.

Finally, you don’t only have to look for affiliate programs. If you have a business or product that you think might cater to popular culture, target the "pop surfers" directly!! For instance, if you print T-shirts, you could probably sell some with hottest stars’ faces on them.

Do your research for your pop surfer page topic. You can bet that if a celebrity or topic has recently made news, the traffic is sure to follow.

Rony Perry is an internet marketer with a B.S. In Computer Science. He maintains websites on various popular topics. http://www.fasbnet.com/celeb/

Any business with the minimum interest to be successful should concentrate on developing their corporate image and when I say “any business”, I mean it, absolutely any business—even if it’s a mom-n-pop shop. “Corporate image” might be a big word for such small ventures, however, what I meant by that is how the business wants themselves to be perceived by their customers. Irrespective of the size of the business it is very important to determine how do you come across to your potential customers? How do you compare to your competitors? These factors are largely determined by your branding and marketing strategies. Branding tools like logo designs, business cards etc goes a long way in creating your corporate image. Any marketing communication material should ideally have your corporate logo on it, which would give more credibility for your business as well as help your client to perceive your business as a professional enterprise.

Logo design is an absolutely indispensable part of corporate branding strategy and should always be assigned to professional logo designers. A professional logo designer is not just a graphic designer but he should also have ideas about branding and positioning of business. Depending on your requirements he will create a logo that would successfully exude the nature and attitude of your business. He also needs to understand the media in which you are going to use your logo; it can be web, print, electronic media (TV commercial etc) or a mixture of all of these. The logo should be compatible and equally attractive wherever you might choose to use them. While working on any of our logo design orders we ( Custom Logo Design )always try to capture as much as information possible, from the client.

Basically there are 4 types of logos, glyph, alpha-glyph, alphanumeric or a combination of any of these. There are a number of factors that should be looked into to determine what would be the ideal solution for you. A professional logo designer or a specialist logo design firm can definitely help you with decision making in this aspect.

Types of Logos

Glyph: This includes symbols, icons, pictures etc that represents your company. These are most widely used for secondary communication rather than business logos, except for few like, Apple. Glyphs though used rarely as logos, if created properly by talented logo designers can be extremely sophisticated and create a deep impact as a corporate identity. However, we need to be careful that glyphs need to be done by well experienced professionals, an amateur attempt can simply male your logo unattractive and useless and might even cause loss of credibility to your business.

Alpha-Glyph: An alpha-glyph logo uses a letter from the name of the company to graphically convey the nature of the business. At times picking the first letter of the company name and designing it in a particular way also do this. Ideal examples of this type of logos can be seen with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), IBM, Honda, Motorola, and Oklahoma State University. This type of logo is also not used very commonly and shares the same advantages and disadvantages as the glyphs.

Alphanumeric: This is a very common type of logos and is also used by some of the most reputed and well-known companies in the world. To name a few, Microsoft, Sony, Fed Ex etc. These logos are nothing but the name of your company written in a unique way with typographical effects. The typographic treatment gives a unique look to the logo and there is generally no issue with getting a Trademark. These logos are comparatively easier for amateurs to create however to get the best effect from an alphanumeric logo it’s always better to work with a professional logo designer. Choice of font, color, letter spacing etc can make big difference in creating an impressive corporate logo.

Combination Logos: This is the most common type of logos and is found everywhere. Most of these are actually glyph or alpha-glyph with an alphanumeric company name. It is the arrangement of the company name and the image and their color combination that plays the most instrumental role in the effectiveness of the logo. Some good examples of combination logos are UPS, Red Hat Linux and Intel.

Placing your corporate logo on all marketing collaterals including business cards, brochures, flyers etc helps you to mark those collaterals as your company property and establish your corporate identity.

Logos and marketing materials are integral part of a company’s brand establishment strategy. A logo done by an amateur can ruin the credibility of your business in no time but when done by a professional logo designer can definitely add value to your business. A professional logo designer can help you to decide which type of logo is best suited for your business and can make people perceive your company as a huge corporate house with much credibility even when it might be just an one man shop.

It’s the image of the company that matters, if you intend to portray a positive and impressive image of your company go for a professional logo design today.

Ray Smith is a marketing Expert with years of experience in different industries and specialized knowledge on branding and internet marketing. Custom Logo Design

A few years ago, I analysed the statistics of where one of my clients, M & M Pest Control in Sydney, generated all their leads from. As a result of this, Ray Milton, the director of the company said:

“Scott measured the results we were getting from our advertising, and as a result, this confirmed my decision to eliminate over $42,000.00 in unnecessary expenses – because it wasn’t paying it’s way”

$42,000 is a lot of money… in anyone’s language!

What did I do? I simply analysed his advertising expenses… and identified whether or not the ads were generating a strong yield for his investment.

And I’m willing to bet you could do the same for your business.

Right now, you’re probably thinking… in the words of Pauline Hanson…

“Please Explain”

Listen. I’ve met with hundreds of businesses that advertise in the Yellow Pages. And most of the time, I ask them “What return on investment do you receive as a result of your advertisement?”

To which 9 times out of 10, the answer is as good as a blank stare!

How much money are they burning? Investing $20,000 on an ad (or $1,000 or $5,000, or $100,000 – the same principle applies) and not even know what their returns are!

Would you hire a salesperson and not ‘give a toss’ about how much income he was generating.

No! No! No!

So why on earth would you do it with your advertising dollar?

Some people say it’s too hard. Their staff won’t find out for them. My advice. Fire those staff, because they are costing you BIG money!

Listen, all you need to do is:

1.Code all your ads with a reference code to identify the source of the inquiry

2.Train your staff to ask one simple question: "Where did you hear about us?"

3.Enter the details into your computer.

4.Analyse the statistics.

And you need to be as specific as possible. One of my clients, a spit-roast caterer in Sydney measured the results of a series of ads in the local yellow pages directory. You know what he discovered? Only one of the directories was generating a strong return on investment – the rest were losing money!

Priceless knowledge. And in the world of advertising…

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

So unless you want to be like John Wannamaker, the ‘father of the modern department store’ who once said “I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half it is” then grab the bull by the horns and start measuring the results of every ad you run… right now!

Yours in profits,

Scott Bywater
Copywriting That SELLS

Visit my web site for your complimentary copy of my ebook (valued at $29.95) and free subscription to my valuable ezine "Copywriting Selling Secrets" where you’ll discover how to write ads and sales letters that make people line up and practically beg you to take their money.

Here’s the address: http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au