When mulling over any type of recording project, a production company with the proper equipment will make all the difference. If you are looking to hire someone for voice over production for your project, the vocal equipment needs to be reliable and top quality. It doesn’t matter how good the voiceover is if it was recorded on a microphone with a buzz in it, or if it keeps cutting out. You want your voiceover work to be distinct and understandable, and the right equipment will make a huge difference.
Once you know that a company has the right equipment, you will want to find out about the vocal talent. The voiceover artists are just as important in a voice over production as the equipment. You will need to know what type of voice over you are looking for. Many areas of the country have a fairly well known voice over for that area, expect that talent to charge more. If you do not care if the voice over is immediately noticeable you can save some money by going with a talent who has less expertise. Ask to hear samples of the talent before making your last decision.
Lacking the wonderful design for your flyers, flyer printing may throw away valued marketing dollars. Follow these quick and easy flyer printing design tips to ensure your flyers receive a positive response and not a harmful one. Remember - your flyers speak for you when you can’t be there!
1. The first tip out of the flyer printing design tips is to keep things regular and efficient. Complex designs, busy imagery and crammed content may look terrific but you need clients to take one look at your flyer and know exactly what it’s all about. Keep the design straightforward and kind and ensure the reader can clearly see what it’s in relation to. You need to be able to get the message across to everyone, counting those people who take the flyer and put it in the bin later on.
2. Double check your copy before sending the design off for flyer printing. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes and other content errors can have a negative impact. If a potential customer reads a flyer with an error in it, all they will see is the error and not what the flyer is about. It can also have the negative effect of reflecting poorly on the proficiency of your business.
3. Be sure you check with the flyer printing company how much bleed they need. Bleed is essential for ensuring print jobs don’t come back with part of the flyer cut off leaving a white gap or missing text. Make sure you have enough bleed around the design of your flyer to avoid this.
4. Make sure your design accurately relates to the right clientele. If you are targeting parents with young children it’s no good designing flyers that satisfy to the elderly, if you are targeting Teenagers, make sure the flyer will speak to them. The design has to indicate the clients you are targeting with your flyer printing in order to be thriving.
With the rise of Blogs across the U.S., a new type of information dissemination has grown to mammoth proportionsconsumer generated media produced by blogs. Pew Internet & American Life study reports that 7% of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the internet say they have created a blog or web-based diary. That represents approximately 8 million Americans. Twenty-seven percent of internet users say they read blogs, totaling 32 million people. What most people don’t know is that search engine spidering technology is attracted to web sites whose content “changes” constantly. This means that blog content has a higher likelihood to find its way to the top of search engine results as compared with static web site content. This is the primary reason for the POWER behind the growth of the blog as a media outlet.
The birth of blog related consumer generated media has played havoc with the fundamental goals of public relations firms. As late as ten years ago, all a good PR firm had to do to control the image of its clients was to maintain good relations with the three major TV networks, the fifteen major hub newspapers that feed content to hundreds of other daily newspapers, and the 3 or 4 major radio networks. Currently, a PR firm has to contend not only with the mainstream media, cable and radio networks, but also a tidal wave of information flooding onto the internet from blogs.
This new wave of internet related content may not have been a problem if the role of the World Wide Web had remained in the hands of the universities library system and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) where the internet was spawned. Unfortunately for those companies recently targeted by negative commentary via the blog network, the following chilling internet user statistics are quite relevant. On a typical day at the end of 2004, some 70 million American adults logged onto the Internet to use email, get news, access government information, check out health and medical information, participate in auctions, book travel reservations, research their genealogy, gamble, seek out romantic partners, and engage in countless other activities. That represents a 37 percent increase from the 51 million Americans who were online on an average day in 2000 when the Pew Internet & American Life Project began its study of online life. This trend is ONLY going up.
Another Pew study identified that fact that over 50% of all online purchases are now PRECEEDED by an internet search. Thirty-six percent of all internet users under the age of 30 say that they could not live without internet search engines. This illustrates what many ad agency executives now take for grantedthat people, in higher and higher numbers, are using internet information, not mainstream media related advertising, to make buying decisions. Every day, more and more people are turning on computers versus the TV set for information and entertainment.
Public Relations Firms Must Adopt New Strategies
Public relations executives and professionals must begin to develop new strategies for controlling what is said about their clients on the internet. This can be done in one of two ways: 1) focus efforts towards influencing bloggers in terms of what they are saying about their clients and change any negative attitudes (the way PRs used to address potential negative messages distributed through the limited number of mainstream media outlets of yester year); 2) control what is found on the first half dozen pages of internet search results when their client’s information is being looked up. The goal of the latter solution is far more attainable than the first solution. With millions of bloggers, and the number is growing hourly, pumping out terabytes of information each and every day, control of their message is an impossible task. Only through some revolutionary content control techniques can a PR begin to win the battle with the bloggers.
This report will track the progress of one company, In Touch Media Group, in its daily efforts to control client search results through tools it has recently developed and streamlined (www.intouchmediagroup.com).
ITMG, one of just a few companies that have been awarded the prestigious Google Adwords Qualified Company status given out to experts in their technology, created a two-part plan to dominate the initial search results found whenever someone was seeking information on any of its clients. The process, known as Press Direct, involves creating professionally written, interest grabbing articles and press releases that are linked in terms of story content and then distributing the articles to dozens of article content hubs. These content sites provide news stories, articles, and commentary to tens of thousands of users such as TV and radio news directors, print editors, popular web sites, news sites and other information destinations. ITMG subsequently distributes the related press release, which is targeted to media contacts, after the prior articles begin popping up all over the internet.
The article hubs aren’t just any media outlets. These sites are selected because of their substantial distribution reach and Alexa ranking (Alexa.com is tantamount to the Neilson of the internet world. Alexa ranks web sites worldwide in accordance with their visitor traffic levels). Each article and related press release is search engine optimized based on the most popular keywords connected to a given industry so as to make it search engine friendly before placement. Once the initial article is submitted and that same article finds its way onto thousands of other web sites via the content hubs, a press release version is distributed to major wire services and to a large home grown list of media contacts owned by ITMG, numbered in the thousands.
“We figured out that we should write an appropriate ‘linked article’ in conjunction with a press release”, describes Bob Cefail, Chairman of In Touch Media Group, “and place the article into as many of these article hubs as possible. The effect was breathtaking when we saw that the article we had written was sweeping across the internet”. What ITMG figured out was to first lay the ground work for a press release through the use of a well designed article. What ITMG didn’t expect was that the article, placed in the hubs, and the follow-up press release would completely dominate the first few pages of any internet search on almost any topic; thereby, pushing negative content back into the back pages of the search results.
When considering the fact that huge article hubs have ever-changing content numbering in the thousands of daily changes, one can see why the search engine spiders are highly attracted to the article hubs. One can liken these content hubs to “super blogs” in terms of their effectiveness in search engine ranking versus normal blogs. The key to In Touch Media Group’s success can be tracked back to the ancient teachings of a Chinese Military figure named Sun Tzu. The famous general wrote in his well known book, The Art of War, that when one has a larger opponent, one must get a bigger friend. By using what amounts to “bigger blogs” in its efforts to help its client, In Touch Media Group was able to out- create negative consumer generated media produced by consumer blogs.
The Press Direct campaign also accomplished several other significant results. With one movie company client, the Press Direct service resulted in over 400 media pick-ups of just one press release story over only a 7-day period as reported by PRWeb.com. In another case, an ITMG faith-based media client, whose Alexa ranking was 2,398,449, had its ranking bettered to under 94,000 in less than a month!
With consumer generated media creating as much as 40% of all search results presently, a substantial percentage of which is negative in nature, potential candidates for search engine content management and control includes politicians, entertainment, sports, and large public corporations. Consumer product companies are at particular risk as concerns negative blog commentary because their products or services reach such a large mixture of clientele. If just a small percentage of clients find reason to complain, a large company’s search results can be critically damaged and no amount of traditional PR firm repair work can remedy their online image. Only a highly targeted campaign involving the aid of article content hubs, search engine optimized articles and press releases can stem the tide of negative commentary.
Bruce Prokopets
Managing Editor
Marketing World News
www.marketingworldnews.com
Supply and Demand and Marketing Darrin F. Coe, MA 11/30/04
According to Dough McCormick, Chariman and CEO of iVillage, Inc,
“Technologists focus on supply but they don’t understand
advertising is focused on demand. Just because we have an
available ad doesn’t mean we have to sell it.”
What in the world does that mean? It means not every product
online is going to sell. Online retailers and marketers are not
going to succeed just because they are online. Marketing is
about understanding the demand of the consumer and meeting it or
creating demand for a product.
This means online business people must take the time to
understand the consumer. They need to develop an understanding
of the consumer’s thinking, motivation, and needs. Just because
you develop a website and slap up some product graphics and have
a checkout process using paypal does not mean you’ll be selling
and rolling in money.
Is there a demand for your product or service? If there is how
does your product or service fulfill that demand? If there is
not a demand can one be created through advertising and
marketing? For some products or services you’ll not be able to
create demand and people won’t buy simply because you provide a
supply.
So what’s the practical application of focusing on demand
instead of supply?
1. Take the time to research your demographics 2. Consider
streamlining your websites to include interactive elements that
help develop an understanding of what your visitor desires. 3.
You may need to develop a different marketing campaign based on
whether there is a strong demand or weak demand for what you are
offering. 4. Demand can be created via a long term process of
education/awareness, then branding, then interest, then trial,
then demand. 5. In a demand mindset you’ll need to be more
strategic, combining a campaign of both rational information
with desire oriented emotionalness
Remember, just because you supply it does not mean there is a
demand for it. Take the time to study your idealized market and
idealized customer profile then search them out to ascertain
what their demand level is for your product or service. This
will help you develop your marketing strategy. Be prepared for a
long-term commitment.
They are calling him the million dollar man. Jason Calacanis recently revealed in his blog that he is on track to earn a million dollars from AdSense over the year ahead.
And if that number doesn’t wake you up and have you sitting on the edge of your seat, consider for a moment that he reached this level in less than a year. His company only started using AdSense in September 2004.
Calacanis runs Weblogs Inc., a network dedicated to creating trade weblogs across niche industries. And he’s quickly proven that AdSense is a credible advertising partner.
As their network has grown, so has their AdSense revenue. In January 2005 they earned an average of $580 per day. In March it was $737. In May it was $1,585. One day in July, just before he made the blog entry referred to above, they earned $2,335. Remember that is just for one day. If they can take that daily average to $2,740 they’ll be earning a rate of $1 million for a year. And Calacanis predicts that reaching daily earnings of $3,000 or even $5,000 is quite achievable.
That’s quite an achievement. Keep in mind that Calacanis has 103 bloggers on the payroll and nine staffers. Even so, many webmasters would give an arm or a leg to have even a third of that.
Google’s AdSense has been revolutionary. It has become firmly established as the darling of the online advertising industry. Although rumors are heard of major competitors launching a similar service, AdSense’s premier position seems secure for now.
In essence, AdSense has made it possible for almost anyone with a web site or blog to earn some revenue from advertising, without having to employ sales people or spend precious time searching for advertisers.
AdSense works like this. Webmasters sign up for an account in just a few minutes. They receive a small snippet of code to include on their web pages. Google will then automatically serve advertisements that are relevant to the content on the webmaster’s pages. When someone visits the webmaster’s site and clicks on one of Google’s AdSense advertisements, the webmaster earns a fee. Advertisers can pay anywhere from five cents to a hundred dollars per click, and the webmaster receives a percentage of that fee.
Many webmasters are content with earning five to ten dollars from AdSense to cover the cost of web hosting. But many, unsurprising, have higher ambitions. At a popular WebmasterWorld forum, participants share tips and encouragement on reaching a goal of $300 per day from AdSense. So it is no wonder that Calacanis created quite a buzz when he made his million dollar blog entry.
Google have proven once again that they excel at designing innovative Internet services. If you are in the web industry and have not yet used AdSense, then perhaps you should try it out. Or if you are already using it, perhaps Calacanis’ impressive results will encourage you to track the performance of your AdSense units more closely, fine tune their positions and formats, and take your earnings to a new level.
Calacanis’ million dollar blog entry can be viewed at:
http://calacanis.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000403051129/
Scott Adams is an internet entrepreneur, and earns a living by marketing affiliate programs on pay-per-click search engines, including Google’s AdSense. He explains the remarkable system he uses in his book, Affiliate Adventure, which is available at http://www.AffiliateAdventure.com .
Promoting a Website through Directories has many significant advantages over other forms of promotion. First, Directories group similar Websites together under specific Categories. This is important for illustrating similarities between a newly developed Website and existing, “Authority Websites”. Additionally, most Directory indexes, or Sub-categories, become highly focused on a topic. Focus occurs from two unique aspects; anchor text leading to each specific topic and Titles’ and Descriptions’ for the Websites displayed. This is believed to greatly improve Search Engine recognition and help deliver relevant traffic. In addition, some quality directories can deliver traffic directly. Because of these factors, paying a review for inclusion fee in a Directory could be the wisest long-term choice for spending advertising dollars.
Types of Directories, Broad and Niche
Before launching a Directory Advertising campaign, there is an important element one should understand, “Not all Directories are the same”. While some Directories offer a broad index of topics, others are focused or concise. Directories that are focused or concise are typically referred to as, “Niche Directories”. If a Niche Directory can be found, relevant to a Website being promoted, they will generally offer greater value as they better demonstrate the premise of listings. To help illustrate, a broad Directory may offer a general, “Automotive Shopping Category”. In contrast, a Niche Directory could extend further by including specific indexes for various Automotive Makes and Models. However, we should not exclude broad directories. Two of the most popular directories on the Internet, DMOZ and Yahoo, are very broad but deliver incredible results.
Avoid Directories that Implement Masking
There are numerous Directories that monitor outgoing and incoming traffic. This is done by masking links. Rather then providing a direct links to convey users, they are first transferred to a, “Script,” that counts the click, then transported to the Website they wish to visit. Incoming Links are tracked in a similar manner. Why is this bad? First, the script which counts the click and redirects the user causes a time delay. This is not something people enjoy when surfing the Internet. Additionally, if the script has an error, the Website they are trying to visit appears to have problems. This creates a negative impression of the domain and Site Title, for the surfer. Last, some search engines are not able to follow the links. They appear to be a dead-end when not loaded in a Web Browser. Because of this, no recognition is passed to the Websites that are listed.
Suggesting the Website to a relevant Category
In most cases, Developers will find they need to locate a relevant category before submitting the Website to a given Directory. To make this task easy, clear the mind and seek the categories containing links to the most closely related Websites. Avoid placing extreme emphasis on personal consideration of the category title. Personal consideration could be very different from the evaluators. In addition, being listed along with like Websites will produce the greatest overall benefits. Moreover, this will help ensure the Website is accepted into the category and time is not wasted.
Writing Titles and Descriptions
Most Directories demonstrate clear verbiage instructing developers to provide an Objective title and/or description. When writing the title and description, bare in mind, this is not a classified ad. If the title or description begins to sound like an ad, it’s decreasing the odds of being accepted. Read the description out loud before submitting it for review. If it sounds like an advertisement, reword the description.
Michael Medeiros is the founder of Mjmls.com. Sharing tips and research on Internet Promotion is something he enjoys doing in his spare time.
http://links.mjmls.com
