If You're Slinging Web Words, These Tools Help

6 Cool Tools Every Web Writer Needs

Once you’ve started to see an increase in demand for your writing, you’ll want to add some money-saving and time-saving tools to your kit bag. Check out the following. Some cost a few bucks, some are free or shareware. But all develop added value to your clients and that makes you a more valuable asset.

1. Skype. Today’s web writers have clients around the world and talking to a client 12 time zones to the east is going to cost a bundle using your cell or land line.

Skype allows you to use VoIP free or nearly free. You can call Skype to Skype at no cost, meaning you can talk to your client in Adelaide, Australia for an hour at no cost.

If the client doesn’t happen to be a Skype subscriber, that call down under will cost you .026 a minute so an hour chat will set you back about $US1.50.

Open your account with a $5.00 purchase of Skype minutes. This service also provides voice recording, call block, caller ID and even a separate Skype telephone number so you’re always in contact cheap.

2. I love Freemind’s Mind Map software. It’s a great tool for organizing lots of information from lots of different sources into a mind map – a visual tool that shows you how Tab A fits into Slot B.

It’s excellent for organizing longer pieces. It’s also a great tool for creating site maps for clients and you so you both understand what’s going to be done and by whom.

Very flexible shareware. (Pay what you can.)

3. SEO Elite. This software will set you back $US169 or so but you’ll get it back on your first gig. This software performs a variety of analyses on existing web sites, allowing you to spy on your clients’ competitors, see which keywords are working, how many in-bound links the site has and from whom – all good background when preparing your content for the client site.

No sense reinventing the wheel.

4. Conference calling. There are lots of free and low cost services that enable you to talk to Bob in San Francisco while you’ve got Rick on the same line in London. In fact, you can invite a crowd.

You’ll receive a call number and access code that invitees enter. Services are usually tiered so if you also want to share a Power Point presentation or get some face time, it’ll cost you something in the neighborhood of $0.036 a minute for the additional bandwidth.

Google “tele-conferencing services” and open an account.

5. Elance.com. Lead generation and marketing your services is time consuming. Sites like Elance.com deliver leads to your inbox – even invitations from job posters asking you to bid.

Elance takes an 8.75% bite but if you figure that into your bid price, the client pays. You can log on at any time and find 300 leads. Bid on those projects at which you can succeed.

6. AVG.com. Great security software – FREE. You can schedule scans, isolate cookies, viruses and other malware and clean up all of that garbage with a couple of clicks.

If you’re running your business off your hard drive you need solid security on the system side. AVG’s freeware is popular and effective. This one’s a no brainer.

There are other tools. Twitter is great for announcing posts to a blog or a newsletter you just blasted across the W3. There are free organizational tools, free communication apps, posting apps (got a blog, get Feedburner) and other tools worth downloading and installing to make your day more productive and more financially rewarding.

Later,

Paul

www.webwordslinger.com

REAL WORLD MEETS WEB WORLD: MARKETING CHANNEL INTEGRATION

photo courtesy of alles-schlumpf

Business and Website Synergies:

Real World Meets Virtual World

There are plenty of brick-and-mortar business owners who don’t recognize the value of a store web site. They’re doing well, lots of foot traffic, improved margins every year – so why take on the headache and expense of a web site? It’s just one more thing to worry about, right? Wrong.

A web site that promotes your real world store can not only boost profits, it can eliminate routine chores that currently eat up a lot of time. When you own your own business, time is money.

The Costs

The cost of a fully functional, secure, commercial web site aren’t what you think they are. With a little help (actually you can do it all by yourself) you can have a web site up and running in just a few hours – a web site complete with a secure checkout, a blog, product pix and all of the other bells and whistles you expect from today’s web sites.

The costs are surprisingly low if you go with the right web host – the company that will rent server (computer) space that’ll hook you in to the world wide web. Prices as low as $7.00 a month get you plenty of disc server space and a box full of free site building tools – free. So, for less than $100 a year, you can have a web site open 24/7 selling your goods and services. Cost should not be a factor when deciding on whether to build a site or not.

Saving Time

Working in your store each day takes up a certain amount of time for administrative chores. You process credit card orders, make deposits at the bank, keep track of inventory and expenses – all activities that take away from the one thing you should be doing and that is taking care of your customers.

With a web site, payment collection is automated, order print outs can be printed for fulfillment, deposits to the business account are automatic – it’s not exactly passive income, but it certainly won’t double your real world workload. It’ll save time.

For example, let’s say you plan a “special customers” sale available to your most highly-prized clients. A computer can help you get the word out quickly and inexpensively. That’s what auto-responders do. They notify customers by e-mail of this special sale or special event. No postage, no running to the post office and no expensive ad in the local newspaper. Instead, you send out a personalized invitation to your best customers to notify them of the impending sale.

Save time and money through the automation of many administrative functions. On-line purchases can be completely automated so that purchase price is deposited into your business account, a shipping bill and label are printed automatically and, if you use drop shippers to handle order fulfillment, all necessary information to process the order is sent to the shipper. You don’t have to do a thing.

Saving time by automating routine functions via a web site is a great way to improve your margins – additional sales without additional labor.

Using Your Website to Promote Your Business

The critical factor, here, is to create synergies between your store and your web site. And there are lots of them.

Use your web site to conduct polls and surveys to see what your real-world customers like and don’t like about their shopping experiences. Low cost promo with high end potential. After all, real world or virtual world – the customer is always right.

Develop sales leads using an on-line form. If someone in town is looking for a good price on a new furnace, you’d want to know about it, right? Well, a web site can give you name, address, telephone number and even the customer’s needs. How convenient is that?!

Use give-aways to collect e-mail addresses. These are called “opt-ins.” You give the site visitor a free pamphlet, a downloadable e-book or a printable 20% off coupon and all the visitor has to do is give you his or her e-mail address. As your e-mail list grows, so, too, does your potential customer base. Each one of these opt-ins has a relationship with you and you can stay in touch with auto-responders, keeping your company’s name and services in front of the customers.

Promote special sales and events on your site’s home page. Provide “how-to” information to keep customers coming back. The possibilities are endless. Think of a web site as a salesperson who never sleeps, never calls in sick and never complains about your management style. And all of that for less than $7.00 a month? Talk about a bargain.

Use Your Business to Promote Your Website

A web site has a certain cachet – it’s an indication that the store owners are sharp business people. And because the cost of building and operating a web site are so low, a web site is a low-cost, badge of prestige and you want as many people as possible to know you’re on-line.

Once your site is functional and all of the bugs have been worked out (pretty easy to do) it’s time to use your business to promote your web site, developing synergies that lead to sales.

First, make sure your web site URL (address) appears on all business stationery from letterhead to business cards and from invoices to adverts in local, traditional media. By telling people where to find more information about your business, your web site becomes an on-line billboard along that ‘Information Highway’. Customers who see your URL in a newspaper ad may choose to make a purchase on-line rather than drive clear across town or across state.

Design an on-line campaign to drive more people to your web site. Announce in your local newspaper advert that customers will receive a printable coupon for 15% off when they visit your web site. Of course, while they’re on-line visiting your site, entice them to make an on-line purchase, as well.

And don’t forget giveaways. T-shirts, bumper stickers, pens and other free stuff that display your web site’s URL will all generate more site traffic and, therefore, greater business efficiencies.

Explain to real-world customers that all transactions can take place on line or in person. Your web site should be a seamless extension of your actual business, enabling buyers to make purchases and payments, ask questions and even process returns. There’s plenty of software that will enable you to do this – free checkouts, free inventory managers, free shipping software – it’s all there making your job and your customers’ buying experiences easy.

Another reason to maintain a web site? Let’s say you run a local deli offering specials of the day. Your regulars will appreciate the ability to log on and see “what’s cookin’” today. Web sites are very easy to update, so use your site to keep customers up to date on daily specials, menu changes, new product lines and other helpful information. If your URL appears on all business-related paperwork, more and more people will find their way to your site. And, if they find useful information on the site, they’re more likely to visit your store one town over.

Selling Pizza in Zimbabwe?

A web site provides a world-wide presence so if you run a pizza place in Dayton, you won’t have much interest in orders from Zimbabwe – even if they want the super-deluxe special. How are you going to get it there in 30 minutes or less?

If you’re business is strictly local (it doesn’t have to be, by the way) you can use various search engine filters so that only people within a certain range will actually visit your web site, which will cut down on questions from Zimbabwe regarding the status of their order.

Localize your listings with Google and Yahoo so you’re reaching those customers who might actually visit your store or order something because they’ve been to the store before and know they can count on your quality and service.

However, don’t rule out expanding your little enterprise globally. Let’s say you run a small town hardware store. Most of your business comes from local residents looking to buy a wheelbarrow or a hammer. That doesn’t mean that you can’t ship a hammer to Zimbabwe. In fact, that’s one of the coolest things about having a web site.

One web user was looking for those plastic cases used to protect baseball cards. They’re called “screw downs” in case you didn’t know. So, instead of driving from one sports memorabilia store to the next, the buyer Goggled “screw downs” and found just what he was looking for eight states away. The buyer never would have even heard of Ed’s Sports Collectibles, or made the purchase, if old Ed hadn’t built a web site.

So, a web site can save time by automating routine tasks – everything from processing sales to answering FAQs. This frees up your time to devote to in-store customer care.

Next, you can build marketing and promotion synergies between your brick-and-mortar and your virtual on-line store, using one to promote the other.

Finally, you can do all of this for very little money. You don’t need a big, fancy expensive web site design firm and the cost of hosting a feature-rich web site are low – often less than $7.00 a month.

Now the question is – what are you waiting for? Promote your business and your products around the corner and around the world by building synergies between real and virtual worlds. You’ll be amazed at the jump in sales and  just how easy it is to do.


Webwordslinger.com

BANDWIDTH BACKLOG WITH TOO MANY GOODIES

photo courtesy of docsplatter

Tightcasting:

On-Demand Site Communication

Today, site designers offer a variety of tools and features to help visitors navigate a website. Flash demos greet visitors and sell the products. Flyouts and dropdowns provide directions within the context of the entire site. There are all kinds of bells and whistles including avatars, icons and other forms of visual and text communication.

And though these goodies sing and dance, they can’t be customized by the user who must sit passively, listening to the cartoonish, computer-generated “human” make the same sales pitch each time the user returns to the home page.

But things are changing rapidly thanks to increased multimedia opportunities and the explosive expansion of broadband. In the future, sites will become unique broadcasting platforms tailored to the needs of each visitor. This variation on broadcasting has been called narrowcasting or tightcasting – and it’s time to get on-board and turn your web site into a truly customizable, multi-media experience.

The Multiple Problems of Multi-Media

The reasons we aren’t seeing tightcasting across the world wide web have to do with both costs and technology.

Cost

To provide a more humanized appearance to its website, a non-profit organization paid a design firm to create a human avatar to answer common visitor questions so when you arrive at the home page, you’re greeted by a cartoon rendition of a women who blinks, looks around and even follows visitor cursor movements.

Visitors type in common questions and the on-screen “personality” does her cyborg best to provide the right answer to the visitor’s questions. Problems arose when questions were entered using different nouns and verbs – too many variations to deliver accurate results. So, often visitors received answers to questions that weren’t asked. Or, they received the “I didn’t understand you. Please re-enter your question” message which got pretty tired after a few go-rounds. Finally, the mouth movements of the avatar never synched up to the audio words that were being played so most of the time the avatar looked like she was chewing celery.

The cost for this abomination? $5,000. And that was just for the answering avatar. The rest of the site cost a whole lot more. And while this site is still active today (talking cartoon lady and all) the site owner figures she spent the $5k so why not use the feature – even it doesn’t work!

Multimedia – Flash animation, videos, music and other multi-media experiences are coming, but we’re still in the early stages of development here and how you spend your site development dollars may not require a talking, cartoon head to maintain interest. A simple PowerPoint presentation can accomplish the same thing (even better) for a lot less money so shop around for affordable multi-media solution.

Technology Incompatibilities

Not every application seamless syncs up with HTML coding to produce an attractive, interactive site, leading to the use of “work-arounds” – fixes that get the job done but not in the most efficient fashion. If a multi-media feature is a round peg pounded into a square hole, it may work – but how well? What’s the failure rate? And will the multi-media features run equally well on AOL’s browser (the worst) to Google to Firefox? (FYI, Firefox is well ahead of the curve on usable multimedia applications. And you can download it for free. Very cool. Very simple.)

Search Engine Limitations

Search engine algorithms – the formulae used to assess, index and rank a site – are pretty primitive even after 12 years in development. SE spiders are confused by Flash and they think avatars are alien life forces that have infiltrated the site.

The fact is that current search engine technology is limited in what it can read and can’t read. First, any text in a graphics format (gif, jpeg or other formats) is invisible to the spiders crawling a site. So you could have a really expensive, screaming-mimi homepage filled with avatars, Flash animations and cool videos of products in use…and search engines won’t pick it up – at least for the time being.

Recognizing the trend toward multi-media sites, search engine designers are working to correct this problem, and though the much-touted Orion algorithm,  purchased by Google from a grad student in Australia, attempts to address some of these technical limitations, expectations have been adjusted downward as Orion is being refined and ready to launch in 2007.

With the popularity of Youtube.com (recently purchased by Google for $1.6 billion after less than two years on line), myspace.com. facebook.com and other social and personalized sites, the trend toward more user-defined content and site application is just around the corner.

Now, we just have to wait for SE technology to catch up with the demand for more interactive multimedia to customize each user’s onsite experience.

The Future Won’t Wait

With customizable, on-line user experiences, niche sites or larger sites with niche products will be able to highlight these products to motivated buyers. Instead of getting lots and lots of “just-looking” traffic, sites can be customized dynamically based on the user’s keywords.

This allows for demonstrations of products, easy assembly instructions for the technology-impaired, narrowcasts targeted at a very narrow demographic saving bandwidth and visitors’ time.

Tightcasting isn’t broadcasting (obviously). Broadcasting via traditional media, i.e. radio, TV newspapers, etc. must appeal to the broadest demographic (and, all too often, to the lowest common denominator). With tightcasting, the message, the product, the information can be targeted with laser specificity, meeting all of the needs of the reader.

Even more beneficial is the way information (product descriptions of otherwise) is delivered and assimilated by site visitors. Today, we read site text. The average American reads at an eighth-grade level which severely limits the words and terms used in site text. Ask the average guy on the street what an avatar is and he’ll guess it’s Toyota’s latest SUV or Taco Bell’s newest offering.

People learn best when they receive information in both visual and auditory forms. Readers can read at their own paces, turn off the sound, or turn up the sound and skip the reading altogether. The delivery of information is best accomplished through multi-media, fully-interactive means. And that’s what tightcasting is all about. And that’s where we’re all headed as site owners and webmasters.

Tomorrow’s Tightcast Platform

It’ll look better and sound different from the websites today. Think of your website as a little TV station. You can narrowcast everything from crocheting to swapping out an engine in a 302 Mustang – while you’re selling the products to do those very things (though probably not on the same website).

You’ll be able to offer viewing options to visitors that haven’t even been invented yet, though they’re coming on fast.

Traditional websites, with sections on products, the company, spec sheets and other standard fare will soon give way to a more personalized tour of the site, directing visitors with verbal and visual cues, providing additional information at the request of the visitor, delivering how-to videos and product demonstrations.

Why not televised testimonials from happy customers? (Nothing sells like a happy customer.) Video documentaries form numerous for-pay and open access sources. It won’t be too long before the television and the world wide web will become one, with TV watchers actually able to buy products seen in a show. It’s coming and fast.

So, look to the future and prepare yourself for the multi-media, fully interactive web site of tomorrow. In fact, you can get a running start by adding some features like Flash and video easily. Download course lessons, take a test drive from home, try it on-line before you buy it.

Oh it’s coming, all right. The question is, will your site be ready for the next generation of interactivity. If not, you won’t be able to take advantage of all of the different media that visitors will expect when they stop by your site. Ultimately, you’ll be the black & white, 12-in screen TV in the age of 64-in, hi-def, flat screen TVs.

And, no doubt, it’s going to hurt your bottom line.


Later,
webwordslinger.com

HOW MANY WAYS CAN VISITORS ENTER YOUR WEB SITE?

CAN SITE VISITORS COME

THROUGH THE SIDE DOOR?

Add More Doors to Your Store

Good for you. You’re building your own vision on line. It’s not hard – all design elements are click and go so you don’t need a degree in graphic design to create a super-slick, professional looking site. And writing the text about your area of expertise isn’t so tough, so you can do this thing.

But, as you’re building and then optimizing your site there are some very simple, behind-the-curtain tactics you can use to create a bigger search engine presence, to create a more prominent on-line persona and provide more points of access into the guts of your site.

Here are some simple things you can do to quick start your e-business. They don’t cost anything, but they really deliver a punch.

Create more doors to your store.

If you Google “indoor plant care,” somewhere on that first search engine result page (SERP) will be a link to a book listed on Amazon. If I click on that link, I’m taken directly to the Amazon page that describes that book. I didn’t come through the front door, via the Amazon homepage. The Google link took me to an interior page through another access point for the Amazon site.

You see it all the time. Not all of your site visitors enter your site by way of the home page. Why? Because search engine algorithms are intended to produce the most relevant search results, and that’s a book on indoor plant care on Amazon.

Using simple HTML code, it’s possible to create dozens, even hundreds of visitor access points. The key is to use HTML

The information in the title tag is indexed as a separate entity back at the search engine storehouse. The reason? Search engines don’t index web sites. They index web site pages. These bots are none-too-smart with very little in the way of AI so they track letter strings and read title tags.

Add a title tag to each page of your site. This page will be indexed differently than another page on the same site, including categorization within a completely different taxonomy. This is especially true if you sell numerous products or provide a variety of services. Your financial advisor pages will be indexed differently from your insurance broker pages because search engine users want relevance.

Treat each page of your site as a distinct entity. Add title tags that describe that page’s content and be sure that the information in the title tags synchs up with the actual text on the presentation layer. If it doesn’t, search engine algorithms (a suspicious group) may slam you for perceived black hat tactics and ban you. Not a good start to your new venture.

Update Meta Data

Meta data appears above the HTML code that actually forms the structure of a web site. It’s meant to be seen only by spiders and it provides information spiders need to technically assess and index a web page.

Most site designers (even the high-priced professionals) don’t change the meta data on each page since most of the information remains the same. So, to save time in development, coders produce meta data at the outset and use the same information throughout each page of the site.

Though they don’t carry the weight they once did, meta data includes your site page’s . That means you have the opportunity to distinguish each page with keywords and phrases specific to the page’s content. Once again, this turns every page of your site into a visitor access point.

• It provides increased specificity within search engine taxonomy (you’ll be in the right category, even if it’s a niche category).

• It increases the likelihood of seeing some organic search results when your site page appears on page one or two of the SERPs.

• It makes it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for without having to click through drill down screens to find the exact product shown in your site’s SERP link.

• It places your site before potential buyers who wish to purchase a specific product and know make and model of the item. Make and model are the keywords the search engine buyer will use. If your pages are all distinctive, when a search engine user enters “Scabbard 480 miter saw w/change out templates,” you’re page 84 will show up on page one of the SERPs as long as the page has been properly and completely indexed.

Add title tags and keyword tags to each page to create as many access points for visitors as possible. They’re more likely to find you and more likely to stick around long enough to see what other items or services of interest you sell.

Increase On-Site Connectivity

More doors. Only these aren’t doors to the outside web. These are interior doors that lead visitors to specific information and encourage further exploration of the site.

Embed text links, especially when they employ a keyword. Embedded links, in the ubiquitous blue font color, provide doorways for easier access to specific information, they pull the visitor deeper into the site and they assist visitors in their search for information.

Consider embedded text links as sign posts directing visitors to related information. However, don’t overdo the use of embedded links. You’ll have visitors bouncing around like ping pong balls and they’ll eventually move on to another site after one too many pings or pongs.

As you’re deciding where to place embedded links remember this: search engine spiders follow links. They don’t move about randomly. They follow whatever path or paths are present. That’s good. That means when your site is crawled, the spiders will follow the embedded text links. This accomplishes a couple of important things.

First, it assures that the different pages and zones of your site are properly indexed. If there’s any confusion on the spider-side (bots are brainless) your site may be indexed improperly within the search engine taxonomy or system of classification. That means you’ll see more unqualified traffic if you see any at all.

Second, it ensures your site is completely indexed. Again, spiders follow links including links that take them off your site to another, related site. Interconnectivity between mutually relevant sites is a good thing. Search engines like interconnectivity because it makes it easier for search engine users to continue their search.

However, this also means that a site – especially one with few embedded links – may not be completely indexed the first time it’s spidered. Entire sections may be missed. Entire sites may be missed. Web lore has it that some sites never get indexed for unknown (and therefore scary) reasons.

Help the spiders. Help your visitors. Help yourself. Provide more doors to the store by adding title tags to each site page and changing meta data on appropriate pages. Add embedded links to direct both visitors and spiders to useful information about your products or services, order pages, contact information and other key data. These internal links increase the intra-connectivity of individual site pages.

It takes time, especially when your site is made up of hundreds of pages. Just think of each of those pages as a doorway to your site.

Instant expansion of your site’s web presence. Free.

Need some advice on making it easier to make that sale? Piece of cake. Drop me a line or give me a call and let's add some more doorways to your web site.

Webwordslinger.com

STOP THE PRESSES WITH A MEDIA KIT. FREE DIGITAL INK.

Website Media Kits:

Downloadable Free Marketing

Fortune 500 companies have press kits available on their websites. So do most of the sites that comprise the Russell 2000. Even small, one-person service providers make press kits available in the hopes of getting some free “ink.” And why not? Print media needs green content just as much as web sites so, if you have an interesting idea, promo, freebie, service, give-away or contest, put together a downloadable press kit.

What should your press kit include?

1. Well, obviously, it should include a brief description of your site, your goods and services, coupled with your unique selling proposition. What makes you so good?

2. A one-page list of bullet points. Remember, this press kit is being read by a journalist who wants the facts fast so she can move on to her next assignment.

3. Your picture, and one that’s been done by a professional. A picture of you playing with the kids at a theme park does not say “Professional Investment Advisor.” You, in that standard corporate pose from the waist up, set against seamless paper, as boring and mundane as these business pictures are, represents the best of you.

Dress the part. Suit. Take out the ear stud and, if at all possible, cover the neck tattoo. (What were you thinking?) It’s not a trust builder and that’s what your picture is all about. Building trust. There’s a guy behind this web site and you’re looking at him in a suit.

4. Complete contact information including: name, email address, phone, physical address, Skype user name – whatever makes it easy for a reporter to contact your PR Director for more information.

5. Production values count. Yes, the media kit will be downloaded and who knows what will actually appear in the viewer’s browser. It depends on which browser he’s using and what settings she has clicked on or off.

Do bear this in mind. As many as 50% of all recipients of your media kit will not be able to view images – charts, graphs and other picture-type files. Instead, they see that box with the red ‘X’ inside it.

Send images as bitmaps (bmp), gif or jpg files. One of them should work in the reporter’s browser.

Back to production values. You can look good on a budget. One advisor rented an office from a friend to shoot his online video. No deceit. You see this kind of thing on TV ads all the time. The advisor, who worked out of his house, was shot using a broadcast-quality DV camera with interchangeable lenses, the set was lit to compensate for image compression (needs a bit more light in this case), the shooter rented a teleprompter ($25 for the day) and the video welcome looks absolutely first rate on this financial advisor’s website.

Remember, as we’ve said many time before, perception is reality on the W3. If people perceive you to be a well-established consultancy because your web site maintains high production values and offers a lot of good information, you’ve done a good job. And it’s not cheating if you deliver high-quality services to fit the standards set forth on your online outlet.

6. Testimonials. A few, not pages and pages of raves from satisfied buyers. A couple of good testimonials using complete names and community addresses to add validity is all you need in a media kit. Reporters want facts, not opinions – unless they’re professional opinions.

One web site sells used medical equipment – expensive stuff – hundreds of thousands of dollars for a CAT scan with only 40,000 miles on it. Any way, the owner of this site has testimonials, with pictures, from MDs and hospital administrators who testify about the money they saved buying this or that piece of medical hardware. Those “professional” testimonials work better than the one from Martha B., Los Angeles.

7. Often forgotten, be sure to include your company’s logo in the most common image formats (bmp, gif and jpg). A reporter may use your logo in the piece and that’s free advertising. Don’t miss the opportunity.

8. Finally, include a contact card. A business-sized card with your company name, your name and other contact information. The reporter may not want to run a story on you now, but may want to keep your name on file. A contact card is ideal, especially if it slips right into the Rolodex.

A press kit that presents the best image of you and your business takes a little time and a little money to compile. And, for sure, not every site owner needs one. However, if part of your marketing campaign is to grab some local or regional ink from your hometown print media, a press kit will more than pay for itself after your first feature runs.

So, do it right. Look good. And create a link on your site for a downloadable press kit. As one of millions of web reporters, I promise – we’ll all appreciate it.

Looking to grab a little digital ink for your web business? No sweat. Drop me a line or give me a call and let's start seeing some traffic. It ain't rocket science.

SAY CHEEEEEESE!

Product Shots Add Visual Appeal AND Sell Products by answering prospects' questions.

Turn Your Website Into A Photo Gallery

Camera Tips for Killer Product Shots:

Turn Your Website Into a Photo Gallery

First, let’s start with a basic, fundamental principle of advertising: products sell better when people can see them. That’s why every product in your Lands’ End catalog has a nice (really nice) product picture taken by a pro photographer using professional models. Oh, and a Nikon commercial, digital camera that costs more than $2000 before you start adding lenses.

Here’s the thing: you don’t have to be a pro, use professional models or own a $2K digital camera to improve the quality of your product shots. Even if you take them into Photoshop to enhance them, Photoshop can only work with what you’ve produced so take a lesson on producing product shots that sell the product.

The Only Thing Worse Than No Photo Is a Bad Photo

Pop over to eBay to see this point in action. The better, more professional sellers have nice looking product shots, often ripped from printed product information. First-timers, or sellers that just don’t get it, plop the product on the kitchen table, snap a digital picture, upload and they’re done.

You can actually go to eBay and see some of the most awful photos ever taken. A chimp could take a better snapshot. The point, here, is that if you aren’t going to do it right, don’t do it at all. No picture really is better than a bad product picture.

Staging

Staging involves laying the product out for the shoot. Consider a couple of factors here. First, if the product contains more than one item, i.e. a headset, separate ear cups, a USB adapter and a user’s guide, show the entire package and all of the components in the package.

You usually see this with the unopened pack center stage with the components laid out around the complete package. The reasons for this are obvious. It shows all of the pieces the buyer will receive and it presents an array (display) that looks pretty impressive.

Another staging tip? Use a neutral colored background. If you’re serious, go to a photography store and buy what’s called “seamless.” It’s thick, seamless, matte (no shine) paper used by professionals. It creates a neutral background that keeps the buyers’ attention on the product.

Keep it simple. Don’t dress up the “set” with distracting doo-dads. One thing you can add is a human being – all of one or just a part of one. For example, if you’re selling wet suits for scuba buffs, having your brother wear one of your products is a pretty good idea – as long as you can still shoot against a neutral background! If you plop your brother in the backyard for your product shot, guaranteed visitors will be looking at the above-ground pool behind him.

A hand, foot or face is also a good addition for some product shots because it provides scale. The buyer can see how large the handbag is or how small the MP3 player is. Just make sure that the hand is clean, well-manicured and nail-polish free. Focus on the product, not on the shade of polish she’s wearing.

When staging products, prop them up rather than lay them flat against seamless or some other neutral background. Pick up a children’s block set. You’ll find blocks of different sizes you can use to create a professional looking layout that catches the eye of the web buyer.

Lighting

For some reason, lighting is always a stumbling block to high-quality product shots. Maybe it’s because the photographer simply uses the direct flash from the camera, which is product photo death in most cases.

You usually see a bright, white reflection of the flash off the product, making the product look like it’s glowing, while the rest of the background goes dark. It’s terrible. Looks like a five-year-old took the shoot.

Never use the camera’s built in flash as your sole source of light. It’s fine for holiday snapshots but it does absolutely nothing to make a product look better.

Actually, the best light for many products is natural light, preferably on a partly cloudy day. Photographers call it “gray” or “flat” light and they love it. You will, too. It’s even, it’s just bright enough to light the product without any glare and it creates a neutral “atmosphere” invisible to the viewer. Once again, we want them focused on the product.

If you do shoot indoors, use at least two different light sources. Incandescent lights don’t work. They aren’t bright enough and they cast a yellowish hue. And stay away from florescent bulbs entirely. They give your shots a sickly green hue guaranteed to make the best product look icky.

You can rent lighting at the local photo shop or ask your friends. The best lighting setup? One general fill light on the right, a narrower spot light focused on the product from the left and the camera’s flash from the front. The side lighting mutes the harsh camera flash. The result is a well-lit, clear, professionally looking product photo.

Shooting Tips

The quality of digital cameras is measured in pixels. The more pixels, the sharper the image. Now, you don’t have to go out and buy a top-of-the-line camera. A mid-priced camera, like the Panasonic Lumix FX01, is available for less than $250. If you plan on taking lots of product pictures, a decent camera is well worth the money. And, you can use it to take pictures on the family vacation. Not bad.

Use a tripod. If you don’t have one, borrow one or buy one. You can find just what you’re looking for at less than $35. A tripod not only gives you clearer shots (less hand shaking), it gives you an extra set of hands.

While staging your products, lock down the camera so it covers the field you want – the height and length of the actual, finished picture. Now you can make adjustments to products, glance at the camera screen and readjust as necessary. You don’t have to keep reframing each shot. The camera is locked into position so all you have to do is stage the products and click.

It’s also a good idea to take a backup shot of each product. Adjust the lens aperture or speed a notch. This will give you a couple of exposures from which to choose. Another tip: identify each shot you take by product number, or at least a brief description so you can find a particular shot when you need it. Believe it – this is a real time saver when you start uploading shots to your site.

If you intend to change products often, it might make sense to set up a simple studio somewhere. You’ll need fill and spotlights, a flat surface, seamless paper and blocks to show products in their best light. If all of your photo supplies are in one place and set up to shoot, regular updates of new products on your site won’t be such a time-consuming chore.

You don’t have to be a professional. You don’t have to hire a professional photographer. But you do need some basics to take product shots that actually sell the products – the right lighting, background and a decent digital camera.

Oh, and you’ll also need to practice and experiment. So, take your time, have some fun and save some money by creating your own product shots.

Is your web site visually appealing? Got lots of pix? Product shots, work samples and other helpful visual information. No? Then you've missed a critical opportunity to make a sale. Drop me a line. Pictures sell products and services.

Webwordslinger.com

Web 5.0: What Will the W3 Look Like In 10 Years?

Predictions are easy. Especially when they’re 10 years out and no one remembers you stuck your neck out back in 2009.

 

When I was kid, I was told that in the future, I’d have my own hovercraft. Traffic jams a thing of the past. They also told us that nuclear power generation would enable us to disconnect our electric meters, power would be so cheap. Boy, did those prognosticators get it wrong as I open my $400 monthly oil bill.

 

Even though tellers of future events are wrong most of the time, even Nostradamus gets it wrong, Webwordslinger reads the tea leaves  and makes his utterly fearless predictions for what the web of our grandkids will look like.

 

Just look at that changes that have occurred in the 15 years since you became web smart.

 

What do you think the future holds for the web? We’d like to know, so please leave your opinions below. We’d love to hear from you.

 

1. In less than 10 years out, your TV and computer will blend seamlessly into one device. Watch TV on your computer. Click a link on the TV screen to get a sample of new Fab laundry detergent.

 

Further, we’ll see shows develop around viewer interactivity. No more reaching for the phone to try to get in your American Idol vote. Just click your fave and your done.

 

2. Miniaturization of computers will continue, especially as voice activation and recognition becomes more sophisticated. 10 years from now, you will use a device no bigger than the frame of a pair of eye glasses. Through voice commands (keyboards are sooo 2011) you’ll have complete access to your personal data and a web that’s in its fifth incarnation.

 

3. We’ll all be stars. Anybody with something to say will become a star when blogs, TV and solid information collide. You’ll be able to call up any number of thousands of video blogs on your TV set to learn everything from fly fishing to how to remove your own pancreas!

 

4. You’ll interact more with the TV and computer. See something you like, click your TV mouse and learn more from your drop-down, glasses sized computer – immediately. Consider how the transmission of information quickly will affect everything from your food choices to who you vote for.

 

Right now, TV and computers are taking baby steps toward integrating content from a variety of sources. Google, search engine par excellence, is now also a content provider with its acquisition of You Tube. And Microsoft is chasing Yahoo, threatening a hostile takeover. The reason?

 

Because these companies see the future and it doesn’t really involve them to the degree they’d prefer. Want to send an email to a friend? No need to log on. Grab the TV keyboard and send it via digital to your friend who will be able to access the text on his TV, eye-glass computer, ear PDA or text via cell phone.

 

Integration of technologies is a certainty for the future because there’s money to be made. Lots and lots of it and every content producer (TV, movies, newspapers, blogs, any form of content) will be under siege to produce more, better, faster.

 

5. Accessibility will increase. We’ve mentioned voice commands, but eyeball scanning will also be in place. Just look at the link for 2 seconds and you’re there. Think it. You’re there. This technology is already available in our sophisticated war machinery. It’s only a matter of time before it trickles down to the consumer level – like Velcro did.

 

6. Functionality skyrockets. We’re toddlers trying to synch up different platforms, languages, protocols and other digital details. But these are stumbling blocks, not brick walls.

 

We’ve seen huge growth in digital functionality in the past few years. Order your pizza on line, using your cell. And, if your cell is equipped with GPS, it’ll tell you how to get to the pizza place.

 

Utility and functionality will make us more productive. Also more reliant on digital communications.

 

7. In a digital world, an electromagnetic pulse knocks out the web. The web is a grid, and like dominoes, and EMP, properly placed could throw us all off line for months. Hey, welcome to the ‘70s – again.

 

So we can expect to see the web a more secure bastion – a necessary means of commerce. Just think about it – how would your business and your life be if the web disappeared?

 

More secure walls and rebounders are being developed (we ain’t there yet, folks) to offset the effects of a terrorist EMP.

 

And lets’ not forget hackers who will have many more access points to a site and to your information. These black hats aren’t going to mosey out of town. In fact, hacker tactics grow more sophisticated (read lethal) everyday. So, in 10 years, we’ll be padlocked with iron clad protection updated 10K a second.

 

Wanna bet?