A Simple Graphics Editor Can Help You Make Your Banners More Effective

The use of attractive banners on websites is a common practice all over the internet and is effective advertising at its best that has in no way lost its popularity. Flash banners, font banners picture banners and even 3D banners are common and linked to the advertisers' website or products directly. Header graphics banners have also become a popular way of attracting attention to one's website. It is now quite simple to create your own banner with a banner editor or simple graphics editor and with a little imagination sensational and visually attractive effects can be achieved.

In the past banner design and editing was something only professional and highly qualified graphic designers could achieve, and this was rather expensive at that. Fortunately these days it is now possible to download simple graphics editors with enough features to make delightful looking banners without huge effort or graphics design knowledge. The majority of this software used for editing banners offers you a choice of fonts, color pickers, and clipart designs that can be used on the banner you are designing. Flash banners are a little more complicated and may need more than a simple graphics editor program to achieve the desired effect. With a little practice and patience you will be quite proud at the results you can achieve when editing banners or designing your own.

A word of caution though regarding use of your banners; using too many banners on your website can backfire if they are all on one website page. People are quickly irritated by dozens of different flashy banners and it is hard to focus your eyes on any one of them. It is far more sensible in placing a banner in the fold (Top of your website page) and perhaps at the bottom of your page for the best effect. After considerable research into best placement of banners it has also been found that with the majority of people reading from left to right; having an attractive vertical banner on the left of a page is great for sales as well. People are more likely to click on this as well

Many simple graphics editor programs offer a selection of banner blanks and this is a great head start. Using these as your templates with graphics editor or banner editor software, you can now add your images, text and color schemes to suit what you have in mind. Looking at other banners on websites first may be a good idea to give you an indication of what is the most attractive. After a little experimentation with a graphics editor program you will soon master the art of editing and creating your own banners.

3 Simple And Low Cost Marketing Ideas To Create Visibility

Marketing your business is one of the biggest challenges for any solopreneur – it’s a task we all find quite daunting, and are simply overwhelmed by all the information that’s available. Below I have put together some information on 3 simple and low cost marketing ideas, which you can easily implement right away to create more visibility for your online business and web site. They all work well for me!

To help you decide which is the best strategy (or strategies) for you, I have listed the pros and cons of each one.

Create a Blog

Pros

You can really show off your expertise by posting on a regular basis.

Blog posts don’t need to be very long – approx. 200-350 words.

If you have some important information to share, you can instantly create a post – no waiting for your next newsletter to make your announcement!

If you use a blogging platform such as WordPress, this is hosted on your website. Each time you post to your blog you are creating fresh content for your website, which the search engines love!

Cons

You need to post regularly - at least once a week – in order for this to be an effective marketing strategy.

You need to feel confident that you will be able to write fresh content regularly.

It can be difficult to build a direct relationship with your reader.

Publish an Ezine

Pros

Unlike a blog, readers sign up to receive your newsletter so you already have a connection with them.

You can build a relationship with your newsletter reader and encourage one-on-one communication.

You can go into more depth in your newsletter article than you can with your blog posts.

Your clients/target audience can get to know you through your newsletter.

Cons

You have to make a commitment to publish on a regular basis, otherwise your subscribers will see you as unreliable, and may even forget about you!

There is more work involved in putting together a newsletter than writing a simple blog post.

You will need to subscribe to one of the ezine distribution services – I strongly recommend you do this and not send your ezine via your email client!

Article Marketing

Pros

If you are already blogging or publishing a newsletter, you have your articles written.

It is highly likely that once you submit your article to one of the article submission sites, it will be picked up and published on other article submission sites.

Regularly submitting your articles will elevate you to ‘expert’ status within your field/niche.

Cons

You have to write the articles if you’re not publishing a newsletter or posting to a blog.

It takes time to manually research suitable article submission sites and submit articles.

In order for this strategy to be effective, you have to submit your articles regularly – at least once a month.

Conclusion: You can just pick one strategy to focus on, or you can do all three! Whichever one you choose make sure it’s the right one for you. The key is to be consistent in your approach. If you decide to go with a blog make sure you have the time and motivation to add new posts regularly – at least once a week. Don’t start a newsletter if you know you won’t be able to keep to a regular publishing schedule! And for article marketing to be effective you need to submit articles on a regular basis.