Archive for March, 2009

 

Free Website Promotion: Why Not?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Can you ever avail of free website promotion? Is that even feasible?

Of course yes! Nowadays, your baby website can amass huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.

How does this free website promotion go anyway? What are things to be done?

1. Enlist your website.

Look for the hottest Internet directories and enlist your site there. This is the easiest and most effective free website promotion tactic. Start with this step and the rest of the good things will follow.

Just don’t forget to prep your website and make it all spruced up for a higher chance to get accepted in your directory of choice.

2. Know your forums.

One reason why forums are created is for free website promotion for everyone. Log in, post actively, let them know about your site in every post and you attract instant visitors right there.

3. Write a press release.

Release your writing prowess and start up a press release that advertises your site! This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime. Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet e-zines, newspapers and other media and massive traffic will come to you pronto!

4. Be friendly online.

Free website promotion means you need to be friendly to other webmasters. Why, you ask? So they can link you immediately! Establish contacts and never tire of link requests and exchanges.

5. Write an article.

Say, your website is about your travel agency. Write an article about the perks of traveling or the hottest travel spots in the world. On the concluding paragraph, mention your website in passing. This article works as an advertorial and doubles as a free website promotion approach.



6. Just let the whole world know about your site.


What is free website promotion without the word of mouth? Insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one mouth to another!

7. Make a banner ad.

Make a banner ad for your site and ask another webmaster to do the same for his site. Then swap!

8. Take up a free website promotion course online.

Yes, there are free website promotion tutorials. But don’t you know that you can actually take a free website promotion course that can help you out further? Part of the free website promotion program is signing up for newsletters.

When you make a website, you need not pay anything to promote it. You just read it — there is such a thing as free website promotion!



By: Ben Pei

About the Author:

Ben Pei, an aspiring internet entrepreneur, sets out to help others make money online by sharing online money making tools, tips and ideas with his blog community www.PeiProfit.com
Discover How You Can Generate Passive Income At Home Here: Passive Income Secrets Revealed!



 

I can’t find “winnersresult2nd@promotion.com”, where could I find the website?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
jobel G asked:


I’ve recieved an email coming from “European Union Award”, stating that I was awarded 2nd. I just wanted to know if it is real or just a scam.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

 

12 Tips for Designing an Artist Website That Showcases Your Art

Monday, March 30th, 2009
Summary

Here’s the scoop on what you must know when designing a website to showcase your art, impress galleries, and win over collectors. Learn how to avoid the mistakes most emerging artists make when creating their online portfolio.

1.You need an artists website

Any artist who can classify themselves as either “emerging” or “mid-career” will definitely benefit from having their own website to promote their work. At this stage of your career it is important to be able to have a place where anyone in the world can easily access and view your work.

2.Know who you are trying to impress

Are you trying to engage a Soho gallery to sell your $20,000 paintings or sell $5 prints to children in Korea? That Soho gallery might not be impressed when they see your online-store selling prints and art cards – but on the other hand, you could make a very handsome living if you really knew how to market those art cards.



3.Make your website fit with your overall art marketing strategy


A website is most effective when it is part of a larger overall marketing strategy for your art. This includes mailings, lots of in-person gallery visits and presentations, regular (physical) showings of your work, and developing relationships with the art world. An effectively planned website can greatly compliment and simplify your other marketing efforts.

4.There is a real market for art on the internet

The internet is quickly becoming an accepted place to showcase your art to collectors and arts professionals. They might still want to see your work in person before they buy, but the fact remains: they saw it first on your website! Having an online art presence is very important at this time.

5.Have your own website and a website portfolio service

A website portfolio service (e.g. www.absolutearts.com or www.art-exchange.com is like an online slide registry. For a fee you can upload images of your work together with a bio, artist statement, and resume. They have many visitors and are a convenient way to make your work accessible to potential clients. The down side is that they don’t display your work well, and there is little flexibility in how the art is showcased.

Your own website, on the other hand will require more work to promote, but you’ll be able to present the work in the most beautiful way. Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home? That’s how a good artist’s website should showcase your work.

We recommend both options – they are a perfect compliment.

6. Have a website that collectors and art professionals will enjoy

Here are some common elements which most dealers and galleries would agree on for your website design:

- Keep the site simple and elegant with the focus on the art itself and don’t overpower the art with a site that looks too busy

- Avoid advertising such as banner adds or sidebar adds. If you must have them, put them in a separate “resource” section

- Avoid complex effects like flash movies. In the time it takes to play your exotic entry page, your visitor may have moved on. Include your bio, artist statement, resume, contact information, gallery(s) of your work, contact information, and a pricelist.

Showcase your work beautifully

You need to have visual design skills to create a beautiful artist website. Here are some points to get you started:

- Most Important: Use high-quality, professionally-photographed images. Excellence in, excellence out!

- Keep the website simple and elegant with the focus on the art.

- Create multiple galleries to compliment the work – just as a good physical gallery would do.

- Choose colors that compliment (not overpower) the work. Think of the colors you would use in a physical gallery to showcase your work – neutral colors like crème, white, gray, and good safe choices.

- Think “minimalist” not “busy” for the layout.

- Keep your copy (text) brief. Let the art speak for itself!

7.Bring collectors and galleries to your website

Its no use having that stunning website sitting in hyperspace. Make it work for you! Here are the ways to bring quality visitors:

Search Engines: If your website has been well optimized for search engines, a search on your name or your style of art should bring up your website in the first few pages of results.

Letters of Introduction: A letter of introduction sent to a gallery or dealer is a very effective way to bring a qualified visitor to your website. Better still is to include a brochure or postcard of your work with the letter.

Advertising online or in magazines: For example, if your art is minimalist and modern in style, a banner add on an interior design website focused on the same minimalist ethic could draw a lot of traffic to your site.

You need to be able to sell your work on the internet.

But there are many ways to do it. More important than anything is that you have clear and up-to-date contact information on your website. If a buyer likes your work enough to bring out their checkbook, they will normally be happy to call you to close the sale.

It’s also handy to be able to sell directly from your website, especially if you sell lower-cost reproductions. There are simple and cost-effective ways to do this.



8. Think again before designing your own website.


- Have you really added up the total cost? Here are some questions to consider before you start designing:

- Do you have visual design skills/training?

- Can you wait several months for the site to be ready?

- Can you afford to give up a month or more of your valuable artist time?

- Do you have all the computer software and the relatively-new computer needed to build a high-quality website?

- Are you fully trained in your design software?

Can you answer “Yes” to all of the above? If so, you might think about doing it yourself. Otherwise, hire a designer!

9. Choose your website-designer thoughtfully

The most important thing here is to remember what you are trying to create – a beautiful online gallery space to elegantly show your beautiful work – this is very different from building a high-volume website selling printer ink cartridges and paper rolls!

Look for the ability to design a space to present your work. One way to do this is to find artist websites that you like and then contact the artist to get the name of their designer.

10. Know what you should pay

Artist’s website development prices range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. Typically, bigger design firms have larger overheads and will be significantly more expensive. On the other hand, Joe down the street can probably build you a website for $200 – but you probably don’t want that website!

At Beautiful Artist Websites we have packages ranging from $700 to $2000 for simple elegant artists websites with different levels of functionality. We can also develop fully customized sites to your specifications with prices based on requirements.



By: Beautiful Artist Websites

About the Author:

Beautiful Artist Websites is a design studio based in Santa Monica, California and Minneapolis, Minnesota. We specialize in the development of beautifully designed artist websites that showcase artists’ work to arts professionals and collectors. Our mission is to help you sell your art. That’s it. There are thousands of good designers to choose from – but only a few understand the special needs of showcasing art. We do.We love art. And we are passionate about design.; We aim for premium quality clean and elegant solutions for all your design needs. Whether it’s a website, an artist brochure or artist DVD we can create an integrated look and feel that will capture the essence of your vision as an artist.



 

Website Promotions?

Monday, March 30th, 2009
bzqstf z asked:


I want to get my new website noticed and found these guys. Are they any good? Here is the link: Back Door Marketing Software

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

 

Website Promotion: Things to Avoid

Sunday, March 29th, 2009
It is rather obvious that website promotion is of utmost importance for e marketing. Although we all know this, with the intent of promoting our sites on the net, end up doing things that do more harm than benefit for our website promotion. In fact, we often do things without actually knowing what we are doing. Let us here explore the activities that should best be avoided while we are attempting at website promotion.

The first thing is not to spam. Many experts consider this as the cardinal rule for website promotion. Never, under no circumstances, should you engage in the activity of sending mass mails. Innumerable hustlers will try to convince you about the positives of such spamming acts. Nevertheless, believe me, at best they will create enemies for you. Nonsensical spamming may also bar you from the big internet service providers.

Do not submit your website to as many search engines as you can get hold of. No, that is never going to do any good for your website promotion. There are only a handful of search engines worth their name. Others are all trash. Instead of being a positive factor for your website promotion, it will only depreciate your bankroll. What most such search engines will do is run the URL on any auto-submitter that you can always do on your own without spending a single penny.

There are several search engines as well as directories. Sort out for yourself only those few that will yield good returns for the purpose of website promotion. Which directories are appropriate for your purpose? Spend time over this and get rid of the obscure ones. They will do no good for your website promotion. Being selective over this matter will save a lot of your time and effort.

You will certainly submit your site to several directories as well as search engines. That is obvious for website promotion. Nevertheless, do not rush into such submission. Before you start submitting your site with the intent of website promotion, make sure that you have checked and re-checked each part of the site thoroughly. There may be several sections of your site. Are all such sections perfect as per your standards? Remember, no surfer will possibly come back to any URL that features a non-functional link or any annoying sign such as ‘under construction’.

Several big companies spend a rather hefty amount of money for designing their websites. However, it is quite a baffling thing that many of them recede from featuring that very URL on the business cards, etc. since that will cost them a few more bucks. Do not commit this mistake. Make sure that you include your URL on all the media of the company – all the letterheads, releases, even the coffee mugs – everything possible should feature the URL of your site. This is a great way for website promotion. At the end, remember that website promotion is an ever-continuing phenomenon. It is not that once you submit the site, all is done. That will do no good for your website promotion. Keep returning to the places where you submit your site. There may also be several new sites with much more effectiveness. Be on their hunt, ever.



By: John Mahoney

About the Author:

John Mahoney is a freelance author who writes about various technology related subjects including Website Promotion. For more information about John visit his website: www.techstore.ie