Make a Postcard from your Home Page

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You know how ...
it is to drive traffic to your site. The ...
of websites make it all too easy to get lost in the crowd. ...
are becoming less ... at keyword ...
b You know how difficult it is to drive traffic to your site. The sheernumbers of websites make it all too easy to get lost in the crowd.
Searchengines are becoming less effective at keyword searches, banner advertisinghas a lower clickthrough rate than it once had ..... One solution to the traffic problem is offline advertising.
Big names likeBeyond.com are already promoting their site through commercial ads onnational television networks Those of us without deep pockets might do well to look for more affordablemethods of offline advertising -- such as postcards containing a picture ofyour web site and a custom message. Let's call them "Netposts."Here are just some of the ways that you might use Netposts.
* Mail them to clients in thanks for business.* Send them business contacts in lieu of Christmas or other seasonal cards. * Distribute them at networking groups and trade shows.* Leave them in selected locations instead of brochures.
For example, ifyour site is selling pet care products, publish some articles on pet care onyour web site, then ask animal hospitals and veterinarian clinics if theywill display your netposts. * Send them out to potential customers before you make that cold call.Since the cards are colourful, attractive and easy to handle, they are morelikely to be kept on display than a letter or even a brochure.
* Mail them to your customers to announce special deals, sales or othercorporate news.You can make your own netposts if you have the equipment, software and skillto use both effectively. You will need a graphics software program (i.e.
PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop),a desktop publishing program (i.e. PageMaker, CorelDraw, MS Word), andsheets of blank postcards such as those sold by Avery (www.avery.com).
Youwill also need access to a good quality color printer. Desktop bubble jetscan work quite well when budgets are tight, but do not expect the samequality printing as you would from an offset printer.
Here is what you do: 1. Take a screen capture of your Web site.
PC users, press the PrintScreen button on your keyboard. Mac users, your instruction manual will tellyou a keyboard command to use.
A screen capture will save an image of yourscreen on the clipboard if you are using Windows, and on the desktop if youare using the Mac. 2.
Open your graphics software application. Mac users, open the image thatappeared on your desktop when you did the screen capture.
PC users, open anew file then paste your clipboard contents onto the new file. (To paste, PCusers use the keyboard command of Control V).
Voila! You now have a graphicimage of your home page. Edit and resize as desired.
3. Using a sheet of Avery postcards as your guide, lay out a postcard pagein your desktop publishing program.
Use your creativity to add text or otherimages if wanted.4. Design a back page for your postcards, including your return address andany other message you require.
You can also add recipients' addresses. 5.
Print your front page onto your Avery postcards, using any good qualityprinter. Then, turn the postcards over, being careful to match upsides; and printthe back page There you have it.
Your own do-it-yourself netposts! Article Tags: Home Page, Screen Capture Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .