May
21
Bishop Seal and Church Crest: 15% off during May & June
At One Source Graphics, we strive to combine artistic vision and creativity with technical proficiency and expertise.
May
21
Writing a classified ad to sell your product isn’t as hard as you might think, if you spend time researching effective copy writing strategies.
Here are a few classified ad writing tips to try NOW!
Classified ad writing tip #1
Never try to sell expensive items from a small classified ad. Use the two step method. Request the reader visit your site for free information or email an auto responder address for more details where you will respond with longer ad copy to effectively sell your product.
Classified ad writing tip #2
Study how other marketers write their sales copy. This is a no brainer. Simply study the ads in newsletters you are subscribed to. Or surf to a few of the free classified ad sites and study the ads placed there. Don’t copy their ads word for word but use them as an effective design to write your own adverts.
Classified ad writing tip #3
Advertise in the right Newsletter. That’s right. This is basic stuff. Don’t place your ad for cooking lessons in a Sports Trivia Newsletter. Or High Tech EBooks on Java-Scripting in a Romance Writers Newsletter.
Classified ad writing tip #4
Target several appropriate publications. Subscribe to the publications and study their classified ads for several editions before placing your ads. Practice writing adverts following their basic ad writing guidelines.
Classified ad writing tip #5
Advertise in more than one publication at a time. Why? You want to pull in as many interested readers as possible in order to make sales.
Classified ad writing tip #6
Change your ad copy if it’s not working. If people read the same old ad copy in the publication every month they will get bored and probably ignore your copy. It’s human nature to do this. Freshen up your copy with new headlines, different lengths, new wording, power words, appropriate humor, details, interesting facts, testimonials.
Classified ad writing tip #7
Key your ads to find out which ones are working. Or simply have several email addresses or auto responders and calculate which email address receives the most response to your ads.
Classified ad writing tip #8
Keep records of everyone who responds to your ads. Follow up with appropriate messages about your product. Of course give them the option to opt out of receiving further correspondence.
Classified ad writing tip #9
Free Classified Ad Sites are a great way to test your ad writing skills before placing paid ads in publications online. Study how other marketers at these sites write their ads. Respond to their ads to see how they further market their product. Don’t forget to set up a free email account especially to handle your request.
Classified ad writing tip #10
Study offline publications. And, advertisements you receive by snail-mail to see how they put it all together. This will help to build your ad writing skills and confidence in your copy writing abilities. 80% of All Advertising Is Wasted Due To This Common Mistake
You’re flipping through this publication as you wait for your latte, when suddenly you decide to stop and read an ad. What made you stop? I’ll bet it was an attention grabbing headline. It is a scientifically proven fact that 5 times as many people read headlines as read the body copy of an ad. So with the headline, an advertiser has spent about 80% of their advertising dollar. It doesn’t take a genius to realize then the headline is the most important part of any ad. Yet, most small business advertising is wasted for lack of an effective headline or, worse yet, no headline at all. Don’t make this same mistake. The headline is the first thing that your reader or prospect sees when they open your letter, browse a magazine, or flip your postcard. In that moment, (about 3 seconds) your reader decides whether or not to read any farther. So first and foremost, any advertisement you produce must have a headline and your headline must grab your reader’s attention immediately. If you don’t grab them by the throat and hold them right away, you never will.
Writing a powerful headline for your ad takes some hard work but it can be done if you follow some simple guidelines.
1. Your headline should give the reader a reason to stop and read now instead of later – a carefully chosen word or two can create urgency
2. Your headline should communicate something the reader considers valuable – they need to be able to justify the time spent reader your ad
3. Your headline should scream how you might offer something that is unique or at least interesting
4. Your headline should point to something very specific for the reader – use facts and how to’s
Using these points as a guide to create your headlines allows you to create headlines that hook your reader quickly, offers them a benefit they want, and gives them a reason to read on. Never use boring, conventional or overused statements and never use a headline to trick your reader into looking on.
Attention Getting Power Words for the Headline of your ad
Look at powerful headlines and you will see that many contain one or more of the following words that sell.
Discover
Easy
Free
New
Proven
Save
Results
Introducing
At Last
Guarantee
Bargain
Easy
Quick
Sale
Why
How To
Just Arrived
Now Announcing
Start of by writing some headlines that clearly communicate your promise, benefit or USP. Then look for ways to make them even more powerful by adding a power word or two and checking if they contain at least 3 of the guidelines provided above.
About the Author
Tony Mack is an award winning graphic/web designer and internet marketing expert that operates One Source Graphics, Inc. He works with small local businesses and large internet based companies to create dramatic marketing material that they use to get more sales and more clients. In addition, he has a highly successful internet business that publishes e-products, learning products, iPhone and windows software, and has helped thousands of people learn and improve their own internet marketing strategies.
800-974-5580
TonyMack@OneSourceGraphics.org
If you need some help designing a magazine ad for your company or business, One Source Graphics is here to help. Just give us a call (800-974-5580) or fill out the simple form below and one of our Design Consultants will contact you!
May
18
All the products that you want to sell online are ready. You have already signed up with the Google Adsense program or with other affiliate marketing programs and you have already prepared the ad you want to post on your affiliate’s site. Your mind is now set to being the next most successful online businessman. But is there anything else that you might have forgotten to prepare? Maybe none. But how about your landing pages? Are they all set for your business?
Landing pages are simply web pages where visitors are directed to whenever they click a result in a web search or whenever they click a web ad. For affiliate marketing, landing pages would refer to the web page where you, as a merchant, would want your potential customer to be directed after clicking your ad on your affiliate’s website. Landing pages are, at most times, nothing really different from other web pages in a particular website, especially if the said website is an e-commerce site. Some online businessmen would even use the homepage of their websites as the landing page for their ads. Are these businessmen making a big mistake? Or should you follow their method in creating landing pages for their ads?
Well, you can always follow what most online retailers do, directing their potential customers to the homepages of their websites. But if you want to achieve something more from your online business, and if you want to earn a lot of profits, you better create a special landing page for your web ads. Why? Here are a few reasons why you need to use landing pages for your web ads. And take note, it would do you a lot better if you create a great landing page than a so-so one.
Read More»
May
17
A Quick 5 Point Checklist
When doing PPC advertising the landing page plays a significant role in your success. A bad landing page will “kill” even the most targeted visitor and he will leave your website. With more PPC ad networks putting a lot of emphasis on “Quality Score” and related pieces it becomes even more critical to have a great converting landing page. Here is a quick checklist that will help you to evaluate your landing pages and to make better ones if needed.
1) Call to Action
Are you telling your visitors what to do or do you let them decide what they should do (most likely leave your website using the wrong exit)? A clear call to action is necessary (!) in making a good landing page. The visitor needs to recognize immediately what the (landing) page is trying to sell him/her.. Use very clear readable text (extremely easy to understand). Use large generic fonts and eventually spice them up with unique graphics and icons. Be careful not do over-do it, because you do not want your sales pitch to be lost in the middle of a freakin’ “image war”. 
May
16
If you have ever tried to make good landing pages, know that you need to test and retest your pages to make sure they convert. One of the best ways to make great landing pages is to look at what the internet marketers are doing online and follow them. Also women’s magazines are a great place to look for what good copy writers write for good landing pages. Some women’s magazines have the very best writers on staff so it’s a great place to look for ideas when you go to write headlines. A smashing heading and some good copy and you’re on your way to making a great landing page that can convert your customers into buyers. Nothing is more frustrating than having a lot of web traffic visiting a site but getting very few leads or sign-ups. If you can put together a simple web page that customer will land on and fill it with some good pictures and have a good clean design you can make a great landing page.
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May
15
Lead Generation is essential to a profitable long term business. If you plan on having continued success with your business then it is a no brainier! Read on for some of my favorite lead generation strategies.
Build a Landing Page
Using a landing page is the number one outlet for generating quality leads. You need a landing page to generate leads!
Your landing page should consist of a few things. Most importantly a form that will capture the visitors contact information so you can follow up with them. Next, you should have some kind of headline that leads in to some ad copy that outlines the benefits of what your offering.
Your headline needs to grab your visitors attention and keep them reading. Your ad copy should tease the reader enough to get them to fill out their information to continue. It’s always a good idea to have your landing page redirect to a relevant offer after they fill out their information.
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May
14
Search Engine Optimization or (SEO) doesn’t rank entire pages but elements of them. Each page is a team working together to produce an overall effect. While each page can produce high rankings and spread to each other is one of the best strategies another is to use a landing page strategy. In this case you can use various techniques to bring traffic to one particular page, usually the home page, and from there direct that pages high ranking to your website’s other pages. When a page points to another page is does not diminish its page ranking. It may not be able to give as high a boost if it points to too many pages but this can be compensated for by a good navigation structure.
Read More»Mar
26
Your corporate logo, banner ads, and other graphic design aspects are key parts to a marketing campaign. It is important for your corporate logo to be unique, recognizable, and to reflect your type of business. Your corporate logo will be representative of everything your company is, and will indicate your company by its presence on buildings, letterheads, advertisements, promotional items, as well as company vehicles or uniforms, if applicable to your company.
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Mar
20
When we see colors, we connect with them instantly on a subliminal level. No one can be sure if our reactions are the result of our very human nature or if they are shaped by our socialization, but the reactions are very real. The human mind is hardwired to respond to color.
Marketing experts know about that powerful connection between consumers and color. They’ve done a great deal of research using carefully controlled experiments and have decided that color does have a big role in forming people’s perceptions of products and logos. That research is confirmed by real world actions, too. Companies have found that changing a logo’s color scheme even a little bit can have a giant impact on sales.
When we see colors, we react right away. It happens faster than we can read a single word. In fact, the mind makes color connections and forms opinions before the conscious mind even knows what we are looking at!
A logo is the most repeated and frequently displayed symbol of your business. It’s on your letterhead, your website, business cards, products and more. It’s your “brand” and it’s an inseparable part of your business.
When you think about how important your logo is and consider the power of colors, it’s pretty obvious that color psychology should be a big part of logo design. If you overlook the color choices in your logo, you might be “turning off” possible customers instead of attracting new buyers.
Using color psychology to your advantage isn’t easy. You can look at a simple chart that lists common colors and explains what they tend to represent–one is even included with this article just to give you some ideas. Doing that, however, really only scratches the surface of what color psychology is all about.
An effective logo designer will go beyond those simple color connections. He or she can take that information and combine it with knowledge of negative color connotations. A logo design specialist will also understand how people react to different combinations of colors and will be able to merge the messages of color psychology with great design skills. The result will be a logo that is both memorable and optimized for color use.
Today, many of us are in love with the “do it yourself” plan. We think that if we do a little research and work hard, we can do things just as effectively as can a professional. That might be true in some cases, but logo design is a perfect example of when we really need an expert’s help.
Logo experts understand design. They recognize the power of various forms and can create logos that communicate the nature of a company instantly. They have special skills and knowledge that helps them produce winning logos that look a lot better than our amateur creations.
The wise use of color psychology is a perfect example of how the talents and knowledge of a professional logo creator can make a lot of difference. A good designer will know how to choose colors to communicate a client’s message effectively without risking the mistakes “do it yourselfers” often commit.
If you are in the market for a logo, consult with a talented logo expert who can use the science of color psychology to your advantage!
Color Psychology Basics
Here are some of the most frequently used colors and the positive messages they communicate. As noted, this basic chart isn’t comprehensive. It doesn’t list negative associations and it doesn’t discuss the best ways to combine colors. However, it is an interesting introduction to color psychology
BLACK: Mystery, secrecy, tradition.
BLUE: Power, calmness, success, trustworthiness.
BROWN: Earth and nature, simplicity, seriousness.
GREEN: Harmony, health and healing, nature and animals, money.
ORANGE: Affordability, fun, youth, creativity, celebration.
PURPLE: Fantasy and dreams, justice, royalty.
RED:Excitement, action, adventure, love, passion, food.
WHITE: Simplicity, cleanliness, innocence.
YELLOW: Cheerfulness, playfulness, curiosity, amusement.
About the Author
Tony Mack is an award winning graphic/web designer and internet marketing expert that operates One Source Graphics, Inc. He works with small local businesses and large internet based companies to create dramatic marketing material that they use to get more sales and more clients. In addition, he has a highly successful internet business that publishes e-products, learning products, iPhone and windows software, and has helped thousands of people learn and improve their own internet marketing strategies.
800-974-5580
TonyMack@OneSourceGraphics.org
Mar
18
Have you ever wondered how multi-national companies like McDonalds, Coca-cola, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Motorola, Sony and UPS came up with their names? Just think, if these companies have some lame or forgettable brand name, would they be as big as they are now? Every company starts out by thinking of a name. A law firm, for example, commonly uses the names of its associates, like Smith, Johnson and Brown Law Firm. The name of a woman’s specialty shop should be something sensual and exciting, like Victoria’s Secret or Bare Essentials. A clothing line should boast the popular designer’s name. Corporate branding does not just involve the company name. It also includes the corporate logo design and the overall company image. More importantly, it conveys your corporate identity. When you think of computers, Microsoft comes to mind. Instead of photocopier, you think of Xerox. Toothpaste equals Colgate. Coming up with the perfect brand name that will stick to the consumer’s mind is as important as coming up with the finances to start a company – be it big or small.
1. First Impressions Last
When you distribute a business card, see what dominates that small piece of paper. Brand names and logos. Bland brand names never work. When you think of a name, follow these rules:
- Be original.
- Do not be overly creative – business cards must be functional. Sure a uniquely sized/shaped card might generate interest but it’s very hard for a secretary to file in a business card rack.
- From your options, choose one that has a global appeal.
2. Branding
In today’s global marketplace, a brand is considered as a valuable corporate asset and a marketing tool for success. Thus, you should always give careful consideration to different cultures if you plan to conquer a worldwide market.
3. The Simpler The Better
When creating the company logo, it is much more advisable to be creative and distinctive. The more conservative designs apply to a target market of the same kind. If you apply the same concept to a company
whose customers are supposed to be young and hip, they will fall asleep as soon as they hear your brand name and see your logo. With a younger clientele, it is best to be energetic and creative when thinking of corporate naming and branding.
4. Brand Name Equals Image
With the Internet being considered as the most powerful marketing tool, it is very important that your customers remember something distinctive about your company. Give out a clear picture of the message that you want to impart and the image that you want to project. Strong graphic design is the ace up your sleeve to leave a lasting impact of your company.
5. Be Consistent
Corporate branding takes time. It includes your company name, your logo, your customer service, the staff, the building location, the state of the offices, even your maintenance staff and the company vehicles. As years pass, your company develops a certain reputation. It is a good thing if, upon hearing the name of your company, people would immediately associate it with the service or product that you represent. Make sure that you stick to the corporate image that you want to project.
6. Create A Powerful, Branded Web Site
Marketing though the Internet is yet another aspect of corporate branding. You should develop a distinctive, informative and complete web site. This is so that customers would have a clear understanding of your company profile.
7. Research, Manage, Dominate!
Try visiting websites which offer corporate branding and advertising services. Better yet, look for the people behind the big companies and ask or research on how these establishments have gotten to where they are now. Check on their corporate structure and how they began. Make sure that the people who make up the corporate ladder have enough enthusiasm and confidence about the company which should rub off on the rest of the staff. It would never hurt your company if you have a good personnel attitude and an intense pride of work.
About the Author
Tony Mack is an award winning graphic/web designer and internet marketing expert that operates One Source Graphics, Inc. He works with small local businesses and large internet based companies to create dramatic marketing material that they use to get more sales and more clients. In addition, he has a highly successful internet business that publishes e-products, learning products, iPhone and windows software, and has helped thousands of people learn and improve their own internet marketing strategies.
800-974-5580
TonyMack@OneSourceGraphics.org
