Strategy and emotions - Pressing the right emotional buttons to get your visitors to purchase. First we need to learn what kinds of visitors come to our sites. What kind of people are they, and what kinds of emotions compel them to buy? Does keeping up with the "Jones" motivate them? Do they have a family or children? Are they older and planning for retirement? Are they more motivated by competitive price or quality of merchandise? Do they prefer ease of use or features, what benefits are they looking for?
The answers to all these questions can be and should be simplified down into basic emotional needs. Take for instance a person who is looking for ways to generate more income because of the financial needs of college tuition and a nest egg to pass onto their children. Now combine that person with a website that could help them cater to these needs, and help them to accomplish their goal. Think about the feelings that could be generated to compel this person to buy. Think about the feelings and reasoning this person has for the goal they are trying to achieve.
Doesn't every parent want their children to have it better than they did? What can a webmaster/website designer do to convey feeling in this instance? To begin with let's start with painting a picture. Stories are good at that. Using words to paint a picture for them about what our services can offer, and how those services can benefit their children with financial stability. Then we can choose pictures that convey the same kinds of feelings that our text did. For instance, maybe a image where the child is young, and then the same picture where the child is older and standing in front of a college or university. We could also use a picture of a new car to imply the financial stability and wealth to own such high-ticket items directly resulting from purchasing our products/services.
These are just some examples. Keep in mind that we need to keep the trust in tact. Do not make offers that cannot be delivered upon. Done correctly, you can see how compelling such a site could be. Of course, there are other factors that come into play. People like to work with reputable companies. People also look for organisations that are going to be around for a while. They fear making a purchase and then being left alone without anyone to turn to for technical information or repairs. Again, all of this boils down to feelings and basic emotional needs. Knowing which buttons to push will help develop websites that not only draw visitors back, but also compel them to buy, or click through affiliate programs.
If you're looking for marketing or social media jobs why not visit our job site dedicated to social media marketing jobs. http://www.marketingjobsuk.uk.com.
I am a social media marketing professional and Managing Director of Panther Interactive Marketing a social media marketing agency. Panther was founded in 1994 & has clients across the UK, with a focus in the midlands - Nottingham, Derby, Leicester & London areas. Panther Interactive Marketing specialises in social media, social media marketing and social media networking as well as more traditional marketing methods. We help clients blend their social media into their overall marketing mix. Panther's team help businesses grow in the UK and internationally with measurable ROI.
We offer social media courses and training to businesses from large multinationals to small home based businesses. We also have a wide range of packaged and bespoke social media services that we offer at very competitive rates.
Friday 25 March 2011
How Social Media Can Lead To Impulse Buying
Today, more people than ever are choosing to shop for products and services online. The result has been an increase in online impulse buying. The rise of impulse buying on the internet is due to a number of shopping features such as easy access, the availability of many more items, use of credit cards, and the success of marketing promotions and direct marketing. Businesses are now using these media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to market their products. Businesses have been able to convince consumers to make more impulse purchases and therefore, increase their online spending.
With the astounding popularity of social-media sites such as Facebook where there are about five hundred million users, businesses now have another way to interact directly with potential customers to promote their products and services and this interaction can reach millions of online users. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets make it easy for business marketers to track consumer preferences, behavior, and trends, which allow them to directly target users and offer products and services they specifically want. As well, their marketing strategy includes offering special deals to further encourage impulse buying.
When utilizing social media to reach online users, marketers have the ability to schedule specific campaigns when specific products are selling well. Since social-media trends are changing all of the time, businesses can track the emerging trends, which give them the ability to launch promotions that will enable them to more successfully sell their product or service.
Now, social sites are offering easy shopping access. Companies are developing promotional tools to take advantage of impulse buying from the social sites page or through user mobile devices. Companies are now beginning to provide a way for users to buy their products direct from the social media page and social sites are implementing better filters which mean the targeted customer can be reached much more easily. As well, because these media is now moving into the mobile world, marketers can reach consumers wherever they are and at anytime of the day and night.
Now, as more and more consumers are sent sales and support information and get updates from social-media, businesses can effectively tailor marketing campaigns based on their distinct shopping habits and preferences. Many analysts believe in the near future, social media pages will no longer be controlled by the user, but the marketer will control their social sites followers and the advertisements and promotions that appear on their social media page.
Social-media has changed the way businesses market their products and services. With a few clicks and a credit card, consumers can buy any time from anywhere. The financial implication is there will be an increased rate of impulse buying which will result in more people taking on more debt. Shopping online using social sites has become so easy today, the consumer must develop prudent shopping skills to avoid accumulating too much credit card debt that can eventually result in financial ruin.
With the astounding popularity of social-media sites such as Facebook where there are about five hundred million users, businesses now have another way to interact directly with potential customers to promote their products and services and this interaction can reach millions of online users. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets make it easy for business marketers to track consumer preferences, behavior, and trends, which allow them to directly target users and offer products and services they specifically want. As well, their marketing strategy includes offering special deals to further encourage impulse buying.
When utilizing social media to reach online users, marketers have the ability to schedule specific campaigns when specific products are selling well. Since social-media trends are changing all of the time, businesses can track the emerging trends, which give them the ability to launch promotions that will enable them to more successfully sell their product or service.
Now, social sites are offering easy shopping access. Companies are developing promotional tools to take advantage of impulse buying from the social sites page or through user mobile devices. Companies are now beginning to provide a way for users to buy their products direct from the social media page and social sites are implementing better filters which mean the targeted customer can be reached much more easily. As well, because these media is now moving into the mobile world, marketers can reach consumers wherever they are and at anytime of the day and night.
Now, as more and more consumers are sent sales and support information and get updates from social-media, businesses can effectively tailor marketing campaigns based on their distinct shopping habits and preferences. Many analysts believe in the near future, social media pages will no longer be controlled by the user, but the marketer will control their social sites followers and the advertisements and promotions that appear on their social media page.
Social-media has changed the way businesses market their products and services. With a few clicks and a credit card, consumers can buy any time from anywhere. The financial implication is there will be an increased rate of impulse buying which will result in more people taking on more debt. Shopping online using social sites has become so easy today, the consumer must develop prudent shopping skills to avoid accumulating too much credit card debt that can eventually result in financial ruin.
Muscle Media Buying
If you've got a strong e-mail campaign going but you're looking to expand your direct-response tactics to include online ads, chances are you will do some media buying. Why? Because purchasing banner, text or other display ads can be a very cost effective way to attract customers.
As a multi-channel marketer, many of my responsibilities over the years have required me to buy ad space in magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, and the Web. Along the way, I've become an expert (especially with online media), and picked up a few techniques that could save you hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars
But before I explain further, I'd like to point out that there are differences in online advertising.
You can focus your ad to be direct-response-oriented, which includes lead generation (acquiring e-mail names) and product sales. Or you can focus your ad on branding. Branding isn't direct-response marketing - meaning it doesn't require an immediate action from the consumer. Its goal, rather, is to build awareness and name recognition of a product over time and help it stay in the minds of prospects. In the offline world, think the battle of the cola giants. In the online world, it's typically video ads like the ones you see for a new car or truck.
Because results are harder to measure with branding, many online marketers lean toward the direct-response model.
Your job as a media buyer is simply to try to get the best bang for the buck when purchasing media units. It involves allocating money for advertising in various outlets, print or online, and negotiating the actual advertising agreement with the publisher. This agreement is known as an IO (insertion order), and will cover the ad unit cost, size, placement, and other critical components (which I'll address shortly).
Here are some helpful hints to keep in mind when buying media for your sales campaigns.
Hint #1: Keep up with the industry.
Sign up for free industry trade papers, such as DM News, Response Magazine, and Target Marketing, and as many free e-letters as you can read. One of my favorite e-letters is Clickz, because it covers the online marketing world in a comprehensive and dynamic way. I also like Mediabuyerplanner.com, which keeps you abreast of the latest media-buying news, and DoubleClick, which provides some of the marketing industry's best practices, trends, and forecast reports.
One current trend is flash banners. These ad units support audio/video use (which engages the viewer and is great for branding), but they are more costly than standard flat (no animation) or animated banners.
Hint #2: Know the ad units.
There are many types of banner ads to choose from: leader boards, skyscrapers, buttons, micro banners, and more. You can find a full list of types of ads, as well as industry guidelines for how and when to use them, at iab.net. All of these ad units are available on most websites, but not every type is effective.
For instance, it has been my experience that leader boards (ads that run horizontally across the top of a Web page) or skyscrapers (ads that run vertically along the side of a Web page) are the least effective. The best placements are typically LRECs - large rectangles, such as 300 x 250 IMUs, at the top or middle of a page or within the content. (IMU stands for Internet Marketing Unit.) Putting an ad inside the body of an article is a great placement, since the reader must breeze over the ad while absorbing the content. A recent eyetracking study by The Poynter Institute supported this observation, indicating that banner ads at the top left of the page, as well as ads close in proximity to the body of an article, garnered the most attention from viewers.
This is where you want your message to be!
Hint #3: Master the art of negotiation.
You will be required to analyze many proposals when you're looking for the right ad space. You'll need to determine if the prices are cost effective and comparable to industry rates. If you're looking into buying ad space on CNN, for instance, check out the prices for that same ad unit and timeframe on similarly ranked news websites. Also, check out various ad networks to see if any include CNN in their coverage. (For more on ad networks, see Hint #7.)
Since many variables can affect ad prices, I recommend starting an "ad unit matrix" to keep track of rates. Break down a spreadsheet into columns for ad unit type, size, placement, website, impressions (how many times the ad unit appears on the website), and CPM (cost per thousand impressions). Click here to se a great tool that easily calculates the CPM for you.
Another factor that can affect pricing is seasonality. Internet traffic typically drops during July and August (because so many people are on summer vacation) and, depending on the industry you're in, can be slower around the holidays as well. So, when you're negotiating your media buy, try to get lower rates during those times. If you're running near a typically slow time, let's say around Thanksgiving, you may want to pause your ad unit the day before the holiday and the day after so you don't waste impressions.
To help ensure that you're getting a comparable rate, check out each site's traffic ranking and page views to see where it stands in relation to its competitors in terms of popularity and reach. It's best to get this information from a subscription ranking service, like Nielsen//NetRatings or ComScore - but if you don't have access to such services, consider the free Alexa traffic ranking website.
Hint #4: Reporting rules.
Make sure, especially if you buy media from an online ad network, that you have full access to the OAS (online ad server) reporting system. Look for key performance indicators, such as impressions served (ad units that ran), and click-thru rate (the percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked on a link in it). If you are testing various ad units and sizes, each one should have a unique tracking code. If your advertiser doesn't give you access to their OAS, ask about getting daily or weekly reports from your account executive. These reports will be critical in refining your ad to get maximum results.
As a general guideline, the average click-thru rate for a banner ad/text ad is 0.5 to 2 percent, and the average click-thru rate for a dedicated e-mail (an e-mail ad that a third party sends to their subscribers on your behalf) is 7.5 percent.
Hint #5: Know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.
In your insertion order, have a clause that allows you to terminate your advertising commitment without penalty at a given time (an "out clause" or "termination right"). For instance, most online campaigns can be optimized in about a week. If you're watching your reporting daily (which I suggest you do for the first two weeks) and notice that not many viewers are clicking on your ad, then you should switch to a different ad. If the second ad is not working, you may want to initiate your termination right, end the campaign, and pay only for the impressions you were served.
Not all advertisers will offer this option, but you should certainly ask for it.
Hint #6: There are no stupid questions.
If you're buying banner ads or other advertising spots on a website, it's key to find out a few things from your account executive:
--Will your ad be ROS (run of site)? Typically, this means your ad will randomly appear on a site's home page and most (if not all) subpages within the site. This is more cost effective than a targeted ad in a specific section of the site.
--Will your ad position be fixed or rotated (shared) with anyone else's ad? If shared, what percentage of impressions will your ad receive?
--If you're considering buying a dedicated e-mail from a third-party, find out the size of their e-mail list, how often the list gets mailed, the AUS (average unit sale) per subscriber, and whether or not there will be an introduction or implied endorsement by the list owner. (According to copywriting genius John Forde, this can often help boost response rates by 25 percent or more.) All of these factors will help determine the value of the list and, ultimately, the cost you're willing to pay to access the people on it.
Hint #7: Be on the lookout for low-cost options.
If you're targeting a specific audience or a niche buyer, go directly to the website's publisher for an advertising quote. Cutting out the middleman (ad broker) may get you a better rate. PLUS, it will help you build a relationship with the publisher - which can be advantageous for you down the road.
If your goal is to reach the biggest, broadest audience possible, and you want to run an ad on various websites that have a distinct "channel" or genre (such as entertainment, finance, health, etc.) within the broader subject range of the site, consider an ad network.
Ad networks have an agreement with a variety of popular websites to serve up their ads, and they can sort by website type. Since they typically buy their ad units in bulk from the publishing sites, the networks can pass the savings down to the advertiser and charge a lower CPM rate. Some popular networks include Advertising.com and ValueClick. You can find a full list at iwebtool.com.
Just remember to get proposals from more than one network. Some of the lesser-known (Tier 2) networks are looking to make a name for themselves, and may offer better rates. But be wary of "micro" sites, which have little traffic or Web presence. Be sure to ask for a sample of the network's site listings. I always go for quality over quantity.
Depending on how many impressions you buy from these ad networks, your average cost for an LREC can range from $2 to $5. For blog ads and blog networks, you can often find CPMs lower than $1 or even 50 cents. And if you're looking to save even more money, ask if remnant inventory is available. Remnant inventory is simply an advertising unit that is not as popular as other ad units on a site and is unsold. Depending on your marketing goal, these ad units may accomplish your objective - and to make them more attractive, networks usually offer them at a lower rate.
Hint #8: Show your poker face.
In this industry, it's all about confidence and knowledge. If you come across as someone who is savvy to media buying, you're less likely to be taken advantage of.
Do your homework and follow some of the recommendations above... but your best lessons will happen as you buy.
Wendy-Leigh Montes de Oca, MBA
Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
http://www.earlytorise.com
Ms. Montes de Oca’s diversified background includes over 15 years of experience in law, financial services, and marketing. She has a proven track record with both acquisition and retention efforts as well as has both editorial and copywriting experience. Her background includes multi-channel marketing (print, email, direct mail, radio, TV) with expertise in direct response marketing for the web, where her search engine optimization and lead generation tactics generated growth of more than 1,500% and 162% year-over-year, respectively. In addition, her marketing initiatives helped bring in millions of dollars in revenues. She was also the editor of a quarterly investment newsletter and had several investment articles published in Hometown News. Ms. Montes de Oca has worked as a consultant as well as for entrepreneurial companies and global leaders. She has been recognized throughout her career with awards for quality, innovation, teamwork, and new product/new business dev.
As a multi-channel marketer, many of my responsibilities over the years have required me to buy ad space in magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, and the Web. Along the way, I've become an expert (especially with online media), and picked up a few techniques that could save you hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars
But before I explain further, I'd like to point out that there are differences in online advertising.
You can focus your ad to be direct-response-oriented, which includes lead generation (acquiring e-mail names) and product sales. Or you can focus your ad on branding. Branding isn't direct-response marketing - meaning it doesn't require an immediate action from the consumer. Its goal, rather, is to build awareness and name recognition of a product over time and help it stay in the minds of prospects. In the offline world, think the battle of the cola giants. In the online world, it's typically video ads like the ones you see for a new car or truck.
Because results are harder to measure with branding, many online marketers lean toward the direct-response model.
Your job as a media buyer is simply to try to get the best bang for the buck when purchasing media units. It involves allocating money for advertising in various outlets, print or online, and negotiating the actual advertising agreement with the publisher. This agreement is known as an IO (insertion order), and will cover the ad unit cost, size, placement, and other critical components (which I'll address shortly).
Here are some helpful hints to keep in mind when buying media for your sales campaigns.
Hint #1: Keep up with the industry.
Sign up for free industry trade papers, such as DM News, Response Magazine, and Target Marketing, and as many free e-letters as you can read. One of my favorite e-letters is Clickz, because it covers the online marketing world in a comprehensive and dynamic way. I also like Mediabuyerplanner.com, which keeps you abreast of the latest media-buying news, and DoubleClick, which provides some of the marketing industry's best practices, trends, and forecast reports.
One current trend is flash banners. These ad units support audio/video use (which engages the viewer and is great for branding), but they are more costly than standard flat (no animation) or animated banners.
Hint #2: Know the ad units.
There are many types of banner ads to choose from: leader boards, skyscrapers, buttons, micro banners, and more. You can find a full list of types of ads, as well as industry guidelines for how and when to use them, at iab.net. All of these ad units are available on most websites, but not every type is effective.
For instance, it has been my experience that leader boards (ads that run horizontally across the top of a Web page) or skyscrapers (ads that run vertically along the side of a Web page) are the least effective. The best placements are typically LRECs - large rectangles, such as 300 x 250 IMUs, at the top or middle of a page or within the content. (IMU stands for Internet Marketing Unit.) Putting an ad inside the body of an article is a great placement, since the reader must breeze over the ad while absorbing the content. A recent eyetracking study by The Poynter Institute supported this observation, indicating that banner ads at the top left of the page, as well as ads close in proximity to the body of an article, garnered the most attention from viewers.
This is where you want your message to be!
Hint #3: Master the art of negotiation.
You will be required to analyze many proposals when you're looking for the right ad space. You'll need to determine if the prices are cost effective and comparable to industry rates. If you're looking into buying ad space on CNN, for instance, check out the prices for that same ad unit and timeframe on similarly ranked news websites. Also, check out various ad networks to see if any include CNN in their coverage. (For more on ad networks, see Hint #7.)
Since many variables can affect ad prices, I recommend starting an "ad unit matrix" to keep track of rates. Break down a spreadsheet into columns for ad unit type, size, placement, website, impressions (how many times the ad unit appears on the website), and CPM (cost per thousand impressions). Click here to se a great tool that easily calculates the CPM for you.
Another factor that can affect pricing is seasonality. Internet traffic typically drops during July and August (because so many people are on summer vacation) and, depending on the industry you're in, can be slower around the holidays as well. So, when you're negotiating your media buy, try to get lower rates during those times. If you're running near a typically slow time, let's say around Thanksgiving, you may want to pause your ad unit the day before the holiday and the day after so you don't waste impressions.
To help ensure that you're getting a comparable rate, check out each site's traffic ranking and page views to see where it stands in relation to its competitors in terms of popularity and reach. It's best to get this information from a subscription ranking service, like Nielsen//NetRatings or ComScore - but if you don't have access to such services, consider the free Alexa traffic ranking website.
Hint #4: Reporting rules.
Make sure, especially if you buy media from an online ad network, that you have full access to the OAS (online ad server) reporting system. Look for key performance indicators, such as impressions served (ad units that ran), and click-thru rate (the percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked on a link in it). If you are testing various ad units and sizes, each one should have a unique tracking code. If your advertiser doesn't give you access to their OAS, ask about getting daily or weekly reports from your account executive. These reports will be critical in refining your ad to get maximum results.
As a general guideline, the average click-thru rate for a banner ad/text ad is 0.5 to 2 percent, and the average click-thru rate for a dedicated e-mail (an e-mail ad that a third party sends to their subscribers on your behalf) is 7.5 percent.
Hint #5: Know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.
In your insertion order, have a clause that allows you to terminate your advertising commitment without penalty at a given time (an "out clause" or "termination right"). For instance, most online campaigns can be optimized in about a week. If you're watching your reporting daily (which I suggest you do for the first two weeks) and notice that not many viewers are clicking on your ad, then you should switch to a different ad. If the second ad is not working, you may want to initiate your termination right, end the campaign, and pay only for the impressions you were served.
Not all advertisers will offer this option, but you should certainly ask for it.
Hint #6: There are no stupid questions.
If you're buying banner ads or other advertising spots on a website, it's key to find out a few things from your account executive:
--Will your ad be ROS (run of site)? Typically, this means your ad will randomly appear on a site's home page and most (if not all) subpages within the site. This is more cost effective than a targeted ad in a specific section of the site.
--Will your ad position be fixed or rotated (shared) with anyone else's ad? If shared, what percentage of impressions will your ad receive?
--If you're considering buying a dedicated e-mail from a third-party, find out the size of their e-mail list, how often the list gets mailed, the AUS (average unit sale) per subscriber, and whether or not there will be an introduction or implied endorsement by the list owner. (According to copywriting genius John Forde, this can often help boost response rates by 25 percent or more.) All of these factors will help determine the value of the list and, ultimately, the cost you're willing to pay to access the people on it.
Hint #7: Be on the lookout for low-cost options.
If you're targeting a specific audience or a niche buyer, go directly to the website's publisher for an advertising quote. Cutting out the middleman (ad broker) may get you a better rate. PLUS, it will help you build a relationship with the publisher - which can be advantageous for you down the road.
If your goal is to reach the biggest, broadest audience possible, and you want to run an ad on various websites that have a distinct "channel" or genre (such as entertainment, finance, health, etc.) within the broader subject range of the site, consider an ad network.
Ad networks have an agreement with a variety of popular websites to serve up their ads, and they can sort by website type. Since they typically buy their ad units in bulk from the publishing sites, the networks can pass the savings down to the advertiser and charge a lower CPM rate. Some popular networks include Advertising.com and ValueClick. You can find a full list at iwebtool.com.
Just remember to get proposals from more than one network. Some of the lesser-known (Tier 2) networks are looking to make a name for themselves, and may offer better rates. But be wary of "micro" sites, which have little traffic or Web presence. Be sure to ask for a sample of the network's site listings. I always go for quality over quantity.
Depending on how many impressions you buy from these ad networks, your average cost for an LREC can range from $2 to $5. For blog ads and blog networks, you can often find CPMs lower than $1 or even 50 cents. And if you're looking to save even more money, ask if remnant inventory is available. Remnant inventory is simply an advertising unit that is not as popular as other ad units on a site and is unsold. Depending on your marketing goal, these ad units may accomplish your objective - and to make them more attractive, networks usually offer them at a lower rate.
Hint #8: Show your poker face.
In this industry, it's all about confidence and knowledge. If you come across as someone who is savvy to media buying, you're less likely to be taken advantage of.
Do your homework and follow some of the recommendations above... but your best lessons will happen as you buy.
Wendy-Leigh Montes de Oca, MBA
Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
http://www.earlytorise.com
Ms. Montes de Oca’s diversified background includes over 15 years of experience in law, financial services, and marketing. She has a proven track record with both acquisition and retention efforts as well as has both editorial and copywriting experience. Her background includes multi-channel marketing (print, email, direct mail, radio, TV) with expertise in direct response marketing for the web, where her search engine optimization and lead generation tactics generated growth of more than 1,500% and 162% year-over-year, respectively. In addition, her marketing initiatives helped bring in millions of dollars in revenues. She was also the editor of a quarterly investment newsletter and had several investment articles published in Hometown News. Ms. Montes de Oca has worked as a consultant as well as for entrepreneurial companies and global leaders. She has been recognized throughout her career with awards for quality, innovation, teamwork, and new product/new business dev.
What Exactly Does an Ad Agency Do?
Cornerstone to an Ad Agency is high profile clients. Clients include businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies and we are often hired to produce multifaceted new media advertising campaigns. While some advertising agencies limit the amount and kind of service they offer. Such agencies usually offer only one or two of the basic services. For example, although some agencies that specialize in "creative" also offer strategic advertising planning service, their basic interest is in the creation of advertising. Similarly, some "media-buying services" offer media planning service but concentrate on media buying, placement, and billing. On the other hand The McKenna Agency has 5 specilized divisions;
1) Northwest Photo and Video - HD Video and Stock Photography services,
2) The Web Masters - technically advanced & highly visual web design services,
3) System Interactive Communications - search engine marketing services
4) Avondale Studio - voice over recording and commercial music composition services and
5) Systemic, Inc - organizational development and related business consulting services..
When the client chooses to use limited-service advertising agencies, it must assume some of the advertising planning and coordination activities that are routinely handled by the full-service advertising agency. Thus, the advertiser who uses limited-service agencies usually takes greater responsibility for the strategic planning function, gives greater strategic direction to specialist creative or media agencies, and exercises greater control over the product of these specialized agencies, ensuring that their separate activities are well-ordered and -coordinated.
Specialist Advertising Services
In addition to the full-service, general-line advertising agencies, there are also agencies that specialize in particular kinds of advertising: recruitment, help-wanted, medical, classified, industrial, financial, direct-response, retail, yellow pages, theatrical/entertainment, investment, travel, and so on. As a general rule our agency does not focus a specific industry.
Specialization occurs in such fields for a variety of reasons. Often, as in recruitment advertising, for example, specialized media or media uses are involved that require knowledge and expertise not ordinarily found in a general-line agency. In other cases, such as medical or industrial advertising, the subject is technical and requires that writers and artists have training in order to write meaningful advertising messages about it.
Such specialist advertising agencies are also usually "full-service," in that they offer all the basic advertising agency services in their area of specialization plus other, peripheral advertising services related to their area of specialization.
Interactive services
Interactive services differentiate themselves by offering a mix of web design/development, search engine marketing, internet advertising/marketing, or e-business/e-commerce consulting. Interactive agencies rose to prominence before the traditional advertising agencies fully embraced the Internet. Offering a wide range of services, some of the interactive agencies grew very rapidly, although some have downsized just as rapidly due to changing market conditions. Today, the most successful interactive agencies are defined as companies that provide specialized advertising and marketing services for the digital space.
The digital space is defined as any multimedia-enabled electronic channel that an advertiser's message can be seen or heard from. The 'digital space' translates to the Internet, kiosks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and lifestyle devices (iPod, PSP, and mobile). Interactive agencies function similarly to advertising agencies, although they focus solely on interactive advertising services. They deliver services such as strategy, creative, design, video, development, programming (Flash and otherwise), deployment, management, and fulfillment reporting. Often, interactive agencies provide: digital lead generation, digital brand development, interactive marketing and communications strategy, rich media campaigns, interactive video brand experiences, Web 2.0 website design and development, e-learning Tools, email marketing, SEO/SEM services, PPC campaign management, content management services, web application development, and overall data mining & ROI assessment.
The recent boost in the interactive agencies can also be attributed to the rising popularity of web-based social networking and community sites. The creation of sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube have sparked market interest, as some interactive agencies have started offering personal and corporate community site development as one of their service offerings. It still may be too early to tell how agencies will use this type of marketing to monetize client ROI, but all signs point to online networking as the future of brand marketing and Interactive being the core of Brand's Communication and Marketing Strategy.
Due to the social networking explosion, new types of companies are doing reputation management. This type of agency is especially important if a company needs online damage control. If a customer becomes disgruntled, it is very easy to damage a companies reputation over social networking sites. Because of how rapidly the information spreads, it becomes absolutely necessary to address any rumors, gossip or other negative online press immediately.
Search engine services
Lately, pay per click (PPC) and (SEO) search engine optimization firms have been classified by some as 'agencies' because they create media and implement media purchases of text based (or image based, in some instances of search marketing) ads. This relatively young industry has been slow to adopt the term 'agency', however with the creation of ads (either text or image) and media purchases, they do technically qualify as 'advertising agencies'.
Social media services
Social media agencies specialize in promotion of brands in the various social media platforms like blogs, social networking sites, Q&A sites, discussion forums, microblogs etc. The two key services of social media agencies are:
•social media marketing
•online reputation management
Legal communications services
Legal communications delivered via print, video, web and mobile communications for both marketing services and trail presentations for any business in Law related fields.
Healthcare communications services
Healthcare communications agencies specialize in strategic communications and marketing services for the Healthcare and Life Science industries. These agencies distinguish themselves through an understanding of the strict labeling and marketing guidelines mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and industry group guidelines, most notably ADVAMED and PHARMA.
Notable examples include: Dudnyk
Medical education services
Medical education agencies specialize in creating educational content for the Healthcare and Life Science industries. These agencies typically specialize in one of two areas:
•Promotional education - education and training materials tied to the promotion of a given product or therapy
•Continuing medical education - accredited education and training materials created for continuing physician and medical professional education.
The Left and The Right Brain
Technical services
While not advertising agencies services as such, our enterprise technology services often work in tandem with our advertising services to provide a specialized subset of services such as those offered by Web 2.0 website design and development, Content management systems, web application development, and other intuitive technology solutions for the web, mobile devices and emerging digital platforms.
General Agency Services
Creative services
The people who create the actual ads form the core of an advertising agency. Modern advertising agencies usually form their copywriters and art directors into creative teams. Creative teams may be permanent partnerships or formed on a project-by-project basis. The art director and copywriter report to a creative director, usually a creative employee with several years of experience. Although copywriters have the word "write" in their job title, and art directors have the word "art", one does not necessarily write the words and the other draw the pictures; they both generate creative ideas to represent the proposition (the advertisement or campaign's key message). Creative departments frequently work with outside design or production studios to develop and implement their ideas. Creative departments may employ production artists as entry-level positions, as well as for operations and maintenance. The Creative Process forms the most crucial part of the advertising process.
Account services
Agencies appoint account executive to liase with the clients. The account executives need to be sufficiently aware of the client's needs and desires that can be instructed to the agency's personnel and should get approval from the clients on the agency's recommendations to the clients. Creativity and marketing acumen are the needed area of the client service people. They work closely with the specialists in each field.
Media services
The media services department may not be so well known, but its employees are the people who have contacts with the suppliers of various creative media. For example, they will be able to advise upon and negotiate with printers if an agency is producing flyers for a client. However, when dealing with the major media (broadcast media, outdoor, and the press), this work is usually outsourced to a media agency which can advise on media planning and is normally large enough to negotiate prices down further than a single agency or client can.
Production
Without the production department, the ads created by the copywriter and art director would be nothing more than words and pictures on paper. The production department, in essence, ensures the TV commercial or print ad, etc, gets produced. They are responsible for contracting external vendors (directors and production companies in the case of TV commercials; photographers and design studios in the case of the print advertising or direct mailers). Producers are involved in every aspect of a project, from the initial creative briefing through execution and delivery. In some agencies, senior producers are known as "executive producers" or "content architects".
Modern agencies might also have a media planning department integrated, which does all the spot's planning and placements.
Personnel; well versed in changing hats
As a small agency; employees may do both creative and account service such as production work, Internet advertising, planning, or research, for example; an often forgotten, but integral, department within an advertising agency is traffic. The traffic department regulates the flow of work in the agency. It is typically headed by a traffic manager (or system administrator). Traffic increases an agency's efficiency and profitability through the reduction of false job starts, inappropriate job initiation, incomplete information sharing, over- and under-cost estimation, and the need for media extensions. In small agencies without a dedicated traffic manager, one employee may be responsible for managing workflow, gathering cost estimates and answering the phone, for example. Large agencies may have a traffic department of five or more employees.
• Research and analysis: Gathering information regarding industry, competition, customer product or service; as well as presenting findings in verbal/written form with recommendations
• Involvement in internal meetings and, when appropriate, client meetings
• Assisting account services in the management of creative projects
Interns often take part in the internal creative process, where they may be charged with creating and managing a website as well as developing an advertising campaign. Hands on projects such as these help interns learn how strategy and well-developed marketing are essential to a sound advertising and communications plan.
During their internship, the intern will experience the development of an ad, brochure and broadcast or communications project from beginning to end. During the internship, the intern should be exposed to as much as possible within the agency and advertising process.
1) Northwest Photo and Video - HD Video and Stock Photography services,
2) The Web Masters - technically advanced & highly visual web design services,
3) System Interactive Communications - search engine marketing services
4) Avondale Studio - voice over recording and commercial music composition services and
5) Systemic, Inc - organizational development and related business consulting services..
When the client chooses to use limited-service advertising agencies, it must assume some of the advertising planning and coordination activities that are routinely handled by the full-service advertising agency. Thus, the advertiser who uses limited-service agencies usually takes greater responsibility for the strategic planning function, gives greater strategic direction to specialist creative or media agencies, and exercises greater control over the product of these specialized agencies, ensuring that their separate activities are well-ordered and -coordinated.
Specialist Advertising Services
In addition to the full-service, general-line advertising agencies, there are also agencies that specialize in particular kinds of advertising: recruitment, help-wanted, medical, classified, industrial, financial, direct-response, retail, yellow pages, theatrical/entertainment, investment, travel, and so on. As a general rule our agency does not focus a specific industry.
Specialization occurs in such fields for a variety of reasons. Often, as in recruitment advertising, for example, specialized media or media uses are involved that require knowledge and expertise not ordinarily found in a general-line agency. In other cases, such as medical or industrial advertising, the subject is technical and requires that writers and artists have training in order to write meaningful advertising messages about it.
Such specialist advertising agencies are also usually "full-service," in that they offer all the basic advertising agency services in their area of specialization plus other, peripheral advertising services related to their area of specialization.
Interactive services
Interactive services differentiate themselves by offering a mix of web design/development, search engine marketing, internet advertising/marketing, or e-business/e-commerce consulting. Interactive agencies rose to prominence before the traditional advertising agencies fully embraced the Internet. Offering a wide range of services, some of the interactive agencies grew very rapidly, although some have downsized just as rapidly due to changing market conditions. Today, the most successful interactive agencies are defined as companies that provide specialized advertising and marketing services for the digital space.
The digital space is defined as any multimedia-enabled electronic channel that an advertiser's message can be seen or heard from. The 'digital space' translates to the Internet, kiosks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and lifestyle devices (iPod, PSP, and mobile). Interactive agencies function similarly to advertising agencies, although they focus solely on interactive advertising services. They deliver services such as strategy, creative, design, video, development, programming (Flash and otherwise), deployment, management, and fulfillment reporting. Often, interactive agencies provide: digital lead generation, digital brand development, interactive marketing and communications strategy, rich media campaigns, interactive video brand experiences, Web 2.0 website design and development, e-learning Tools, email marketing, SEO/SEM services, PPC campaign management, content management services, web application development, and overall data mining & ROI assessment.
The recent boost in the interactive agencies can also be attributed to the rising popularity of web-based social networking and community sites. The creation of sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube have sparked market interest, as some interactive agencies have started offering personal and corporate community site development as one of their service offerings. It still may be too early to tell how agencies will use this type of marketing to monetize client ROI, but all signs point to online networking as the future of brand marketing and Interactive being the core of Brand's Communication and Marketing Strategy.
Due to the social networking explosion, new types of companies are doing reputation management. This type of agency is especially important if a company needs online damage control. If a customer becomes disgruntled, it is very easy to damage a companies reputation over social networking sites. Because of how rapidly the information spreads, it becomes absolutely necessary to address any rumors, gossip or other negative online press immediately.
Search engine services
Lately, pay per click (PPC) and (SEO) search engine optimization firms have been classified by some as 'agencies' because they create media and implement media purchases of text based (or image based, in some instances of search marketing) ads. This relatively young industry has been slow to adopt the term 'agency', however with the creation of ads (either text or image) and media purchases, they do technically qualify as 'advertising agencies'.
Social media services
Social media agencies specialize in promotion of brands in the various social media platforms like blogs, social networking sites, Q&A sites, discussion forums, microblogs etc. The two key services of social media agencies are:
•social media marketing
•online reputation management
Legal communications services
Legal communications delivered via print, video, web and mobile communications for both marketing services and trail presentations for any business in Law related fields.
Healthcare communications services
Healthcare communications agencies specialize in strategic communications and marketing services for the Healthcare and Life Science industries. These agencies distinguish themselves through an understanding of the strict labeling and marketing guidelines mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and industry group guidelines, most notably ADVAMED and PHARMA.
Notable examples include: Dudnyk
Medical education services
Medical education agencies specialize in creating educational content for the Healthcare and Life Science industries. These agencies typically specialize in one of two areas:
•Promotional education - education and training materials tied to the promotion of a given product or therapy
•Continuing medical education - accredited education and training materials created for continuing physician and medical professional education.
The Left and The Right Brain
Technical services
While not advertising agencies services as such, our enterprise technology services often work in tandem with our advertising services to provide a specialized subset of services such as those offered by Web 2.0 website design and development, Content management systems, web application development, and other intuitive technology solutions for the web, mobile devices and emerging digital platforms.
General Agency Services
Creative services
The people who create the actual ads form the core of an advertising agency. Modern advertising agencies usually form their copywriters and art directors into creative teams. Creative teams may be permanent partnerships or formed on a project-by-project basis. The art director and copywriter report to a creative director, usually a creative employee with several years of experience. Although copywriters have the word "write" in their job title, and art directors have the word "art", one does not necessarily write the words and the other draw the pictures; they both generate creative ideas to represent the proposition (the advertisement or campaign's key message). Creative departments frequently work with outside design or production studios to develop and implement their ideas. Creative departments may employ production artists as entry-level positions, as well as for operations and maintenance. The Creative Process forms the most crucial part of the advertising process.
Account services
Agencies appoint account executive to liase with the clients. The account executives need to be sufficiently aware of the client's needs and desires that can be instructed to the agency's personnel and should get approval from the clients on the agency's recommendations to the clients. Creativity and marketing acumen are the needed area of the client service people. They work closely with the specialists in each field.
Media services
The media services department may not be so well known, but its employees are the people who have contacts with the suppliers of various creative media. For example, they will be able to advise upon and negotiate with printers if an agency is producing flyers for a client. However, when dealing with the major media (broadcast media, outdoor, and the press), this work is usually outsourced to a media agency which can advise on media planning and is normally large enough to negotiate prices down further than a single agency or client can.
Production
Without the production department, the ads created by the copywriter and art director would be nothing more than words and pictures on paper. The production department, in essence, ensures the TV commercial or print ad, etc, gets produced. They are responsible for contracting external vendors (directors and production companies in the case of TV commercials; photographers and design studios in the case of the print advertising or direct mailers). Producers are involved in every aspect of a project, from the initial creative briefing through execution and delivery. In some agencies, senior producers are known as "executive producers" or "content architects".
Modern agencies might also have a media planning department integrated, which does all the spot's planning and placements.
Personnel; well versed in changing hats
As a small agency; employees may do both creative and account service such as production work, Internet advertising, planning, or research, for example; an often forgotten, but integral, department within an advertising agency is traffic. The traffic department regulates the flow of work in the agency. It is typically headed by a traffic manager (or system administrator). Traffic increases an agency's efficiency and profitability through the reduction of false job starts, inappropriate job initiation, incomplete information sharing, over- and under-cost estimation, and the need for media extensions. In small agencies without a dedicated traffic manager, one employee may be responsible for managing workflow, gathering cost estimates and answering the phone, for example. Large agencies may have a traffic department of five or more employees.
• Research and analysis: Gathering information regarding industry, competition, customer product or service; as well as presenting findings in verbal/written form with recommendations
• Involvement in internal meetings and, when appropriate, client meetings
• Assisting account services in the management of creative projects
Interns often take part in the internal creative process, where they may be charged with creating and managing a website as well as developing an advertising campaign. Hands on projects such as these help interns learn how strategy and well-developed marketing are essential to a sound advertising and communications plan.
During their internship, the intern will experience the development of an ad, brochure and broadcast or communications project from beginning to end. During the internship, the intern should be exposed to as much as possible within the agency and advertising process.
Reach Your Market Through Different Advertising Media Formats
Media advertising is a general term which refers to conveying a business marketing message through any form of media. Of course, different media offer different ways to promote your products, services or brand image. Here, we'll take a look at some of the most important media and how they can help you to reach your target markets.
The internet has changed the way the world does business over the last decade, including in the field of advertising. Online advertising is an increasingly important element for companies in nearly every economic sector, starting to overshadow traditional formats such as newspaper and magazine advertising. Online media can be more cost effective than print and is also easy to track, monitor and fine tune as needed.
To learn more about what internet advertising formats such as pay per click can do for your business, have a look at information pages and resources which are dedicated to the topic. Here you'll find an in-depth look at how internet advertising works and more importantly, how they can work for your business.
Every business needs to keep their advertising strategy up to date to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive global business environment. Regular analysis of market trends and consumer behavior as it relates to your target markets are essential for continued growth - and your strategy needs to be carefully planned to ensure effective campaigns which provide an optimal return on investment.
Making accurate cost-benefit analyses of different advertising media is a complex task which should be undertaken with great care; for this reason, many firms prefer to leave it to the experts.
Your business can make the most of its resources by outsourcing media planning and media buying to professional buying media services. These firms have the expertise and the inside track on media across all formats including online advertising and traditional media and can usually find the perfect match for your company. Any agency or marketing firm you work with should be chosen carefully. You'll usually get the best results from agencies who understand your industry and your market.
If your budget allows, your company should look at using TV or radio advertising to really make a splash for your brand. Broadcast media can reach the general public as well as being carefully target to different consumer demographics or even for business-to-business advertising. These media outlets can work with you to determine how to provide you with the best ROI.
Long used in the US, outdoor advertising is an increasingly common medium in the UK and across Europe as well as elsewhere in the world. Roadside billboards, signs on the sides of buildings and other outdoor media offer an effective way to promote events and build brand image at a surprisingly low cost. You can find a lot of outdoor advertising opportunities on a variety of websites and through targeted companies. From roadside and building advertisements to ambient, transports, venues and more, there are many outdoor possibilities to consider.
The internet has changed the way the world does business over the last decade, including in the field of advertising. Online advertising is an increasingly important element for companies in nearly every economic sector, starting to overshadow traditional formats such as newspaper and magazine advertising. Online media can be more cost effective than print and is also easy to track, monitor and fine tune as needed.
To learn more about what internet advertising formats such as pay per click can do for your business, have a look at information pages and resources which are dedicated to the topic. Here you'll find an in-depth look at how internet advertising works and more importantly, how they can work for your business.
Every business needs to keep their advertising strategy up to date to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive global business environment. Regular analysis of market trends and consumer behavior as it relates to your target markets are essential for continued growth - and your strategy needs to be carefully planned to ensure effective campaigns which provide an optimal return on investment.
Making accurate cost-benefit analyses of different advertising media is a complex task which should be undertaken with great care; for this reason, many firms prefer to leave it to the experts.
Your business can make the most of its resources by outsourcing media planning and media buying to professional buying media services. These firms have the expertise and the inside track on media across all formats including online advertising and traditional media and can usually find the perfect match for your company. Any agency or marketing firm you work with should be chosen carefully. You'll usually get the best results from agencies who understand your industry and your market.
If your budget allows, your company should look at using TV or radio advertising to really make a splash for your brand. Broadcast media can reach the general public as well as being carefully target to different consumer demographics or even for business-to-business advertising. These media outlets can work with you to determine how to provide you with the best ROI.
Long used in the US, outdoor advertising is an increasingly common medium in the UK and across Europe as well as elsewhere in the world. Roadside billboards, signs on the sides of buildings and other outdoor media offer an effective way to promote events and build brand image at a surprisingly low cost. You can find a lot of outdoor advertising opportunities on a variety of websites and through targeted companies. From roadside and building advertisements to ambient, transports, venues and more, there are many outdoor possibilities to consider.
Media Buying Agencies
If you are unhappy with the performance of an advertising company and want improved revenue earnings, you need to try an experienced media buying agency. This form of agency gives you innovative solutions and helps you achieve your long-term goals easily. If you want to refrain from paying additional advertising costs, choosing a good media buying agency would be great for your needs.
Here are a few important of getting services from media buying agency:
Free Consultation:
The company usually offers free consultation to most interested parties. It will further assist you in examining the exact type of advertising for particular business needs. You can also contact to experts to know about your concerns and exact business needs.
Free Production:
These professionals can easily create a professional radio commercial or classified for newspapers without charging anything in return, in case you agreed to register your placement.
Evaluation of Current Business Profits:
Much before you actually start the main advertising, media buying agency can actually help in assessing needs and create desired solutions for matching requirements.
Defining a Feasible Revenue Structure:
With the help of an experienced agency, you can actually plan your initial course of actions to commence your assessment process. A formula or goal is defined with the purpose of increasing sales for deciding the most beneficial campaign process.
Assessment of customer's needs:
Identify your customers. Do you know them? Why they are buying your product? What are their main socio-demographic traits? Media Buying Agency thoroughly provides an accepted way to classifying the customers and helping them to fulfill their exact requirements.
Here are a few important of getting services from media buying agency:
Free Consultation:
The company usually offers free consultation to most interested parties. It will further assist you in examining the exact type of advertising for particular business needs. You can also contact to experts to know about your concerns and exact business needs.
Free Production:
These professionals can easily create a professional radio commercial or classified for newspapers without charging anything in return, in case you agreed to register your placement.
Evaluation of Current Business Profits:
Much before you actually start the main advertising, media buying agency can actually help in assessing needs and create desired solutions for matching requirements.
Defining a Feasible Revenue Structure:
With the help of an experienced agency, you can actually plan your initial course of actions to commence your assessment process. A formula or goal is defined with the purpose of increasing sales for deciding the most beneficial campaign process.
Assessment of customer's needs:
Identify your customers. Do you know them? Why they are buying your product? What are their main socio-demographic traits? Media Buying Agency thoroughly provides an accepted way to classifying the customers and helping them to fulfill their exact requirements.
Using Your Media List, a Press Release Service, and Buying Mailing Lists
As with most forms of marketing and publicity, it's best to do your prep work well before you will need it. Start way ahead and you'll reap the benefits. Leave it to the last minute and you'll be shocked at how ineffective your efforts are.
Your Media List:
Having your own media list that you develop over time is priceless because you can build relationships with the people who have the power to help you.
Start with a spreadsheet, set up some columns for the contact info and list each publication down the left side as you gather them. Start with the obvious, like your local papers and TV stations, and fill in more as you think of them. Select publications that attract your audience and add those.
* DO check their website for instructions on how to submit press releases, and follow them to the letter (or risk having yours put in the trash bin).
* DO take the time to find out the name of the person in charge of receiving press releases so you can send directly to them. Over time make the effort to get to know that person so they will know YOU when they see your information.
* DO review their "editorial calendar" so you'll know what they'll be writing about in the upcoming year, and time your press releases to best advantage.
* Don't forget to makes notes about all of this on your spreadsheet.
Yes, it's work and it takes time. But truly, it will pay off for you handsomely in the long run. Artists have gotten more press releases included in publications than I can count because they took the time to call and speak to their contact person. They keep notes about them, and each time they speak with them they build on the relationship.
Press Release Services:
There are a lot of them out there, from free to quite expensive. Do your homework, find out if they are legit and how they do their job. Talk to other artists who have used a press release service and see how it worked for them. Look for reviews online. Lots of services can broadcast your press release for you, but you want the ones that the editors of the publications you want to be in are actually reading.
If you're thinking of hiring a PR firm, again, do your homework, get references, check the BBB, talk to other artists and their clients. Make sure the firm handles other artists and knows the art world. Hiring a PR firm is expensive, and worth it if they get results.
Buying/Renting Mailing Lists:
Sometimes buying a mailing list can be very helpful in getting the word out via snail mail (postcards, for example, but not lists with email addresses - you'll end up tagged as a spammer). There are hundreds of thousands of people on legitimate mailing lists (snail mail). Make sure the company you rent the list from keeps their lists updated. Again, do your homework.
One artist I know was having a show locally, the gallery had their own list but it wasn't huge. He rented a mailing list that was highly targeted: Households within a 45-minute drive of the gallery, who had incomes over $100,000 and who had expressed an interest in fine art. The show, his first one, was packed and he sold quite a bit of art and added significantly to his mailing list.
Be sure to follow the rules. Lists are rented or purchased for one time use, or multiple uses. Never, ever, use a one time list more than once. They'll know (the list is seeded with addresses they use to check).
I hope this is helpful to you. Do start now, learn and build over time. You'll be glad you did.
Your Media List:
Having your own media list that you develop over time is priceless because you can build relationships with the people who have the power to help you.
Start with a spreadsheet, set up some columns for the contact info and list each publication down the left side as you gather them. Start with the obvious, like your local papers and TV stations, and fill in more as you think of them. Select publications that attract your audience and add those.
* DO check their website for instructions on how to submit press releases, and follow them to the letter (or risk having yours put in the trash bin).
* DO take the time to find out the name of the person in charge of receiving press releases so you can send directly to them. Over time make the effort to get to know that person so they will know YOU when they see your information.
* DO review their "editorial calendar" so you'll know what they'll be writing about in the upcoming year, and time your press releases to best advantage.
* Don't forget to makes notes about all of this on your spreadsheet.
Yes, it's work and it takes time. But truly, it will pay off for you handsomely in the long run. Artists have gotten more press releases included in publications than I can count because they took the time to call and speak to their contact person. They keep notes about them, and each time they speak with them they build on the relationship.
Press Release Services:
There are a lot of them out there, from free to quite expensive. Do your homework, find out if they are legit and how they do their job. Talk to other artists who have used a press release service and see how it worked for them. Look for reviews online. Lots of services can broadcast your press release for you, but you want the ones that the editors of the publications you want to be in are actually reading.
If you're thinking of hiring a PR firm, again, do your homework, get references, check the BBB, talk to other artists and their clients. Make sure the firm handles other artists and knows the art world. Hiring a PR firm is expensive, and worth it if they get results.
Buying/Renting Mailing Lists:
Sometimes buying a mailing list can be very helpful in getting the word out via snail mail (postcards, for example, but not lists with email addresses - you'll end up tagged as a spammer). There are hundreds of thousands of people on legitimate mailing lists (snail mail). Make sure the company you rent the list from keeps their lists updated. Again, do your homework.
One artist I know was having a show locally, the gallery had their own list but it wasn't huge. He rented a mailing list that was highly targeted: Households within a 45-minute drive of the gallery, who had incomes over $100,000 and who had expressed an interest in fine art. The show, his first one, was packed and he sold quite a bit of art and added significantly to his mailing list.
Be sure to follow the rules. Lists are rented or purchased for one time use, or multiple uses. Never, ever, use a one time list more than once. They'll know (the list is seeded with addresses they use to check).
I hope this is helpful to you. Do start now, learn and build over time. You'll be glad you did.
6 Ways to Choose a Media Buying Company
Choosing a media buying services firm can be a difficult and confusing task. This report offers guidance in choosing the buyer that is right for your company.
1. Cost
As a general rule, established media buyers and advertising agencies get a 15% discount from television and radio stations. This means that an ad you would buy for $100 will cost the buyer only $85, the difference being retained by the buyer as payment for services. For this reason, using a media buyer shouldn't cost your company any more than doing all of the work yourself.
Depending on the size of your budget, some buyers may rebate a portion of their discount back to you. While this may seem attractive, it may not be the best strategy - as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. As you'll see from the other five ways to choose a media buying services company, additional services are important, and will often increase the percentage that the buyer will charge. With large placement budgets, these services are well worth the investment.
2. Media Strategy vs. Media Placement
Of the many companies for which we buy media, some of our clients are very educated and some, quite frankly, are not. That's okay, but you need to make sure you know where you fall in that category. If you are experienced in buying media, you might find yourself more comfortable with a buying agency that merely places your buy. On the other hand, if media buying isn't your strong suit, you will get much better results with someone who has the ability to help you develop your media strategy.
As you begin the process of choosing your media buying agency, first identify where you need the most assistance. In reality, anyone with money can buy media. It takes someone who is good at it to do it well. Make sure that your buyer knows that you expect him or her to conduct the research and verify that the buy will yield the best results.
3. Experience
As stated above, anyone can buy media. Obviously, you want someone who will get you the best placements at the best possible price. Unfortunately, it's difficult to gauge a good buyer from a bad buyer, and although the media sales reps know, they aren't likely to tell you. When you explore your media buying services agency, ask about the staff that do the actual buying and negotiating. Our agency, as well as many others out there, choose to hire people who have sold media before. Why? It often yields better results.
In negotiating a media buy, it's all about give and take - both sides have to win. If the buyer "wins" too much, the result is often pre-empts (when your advertisement is pulled and replaced by something else) and less than optimal schedules. If the media outlet wins too much, you end up paying more than you should for advertising. Inside experience is extremely helpful in a buying negotiation. An experienced buyer will understand both sides of the equation. He or she will know where there is wiggle room and how to get the most out of a budget while keeping the integrity of the buy intact.
4. Posting
Perhaps one of the most important services that a media buying agency can offer is posting. Many buyers won't talk to you about posting because, unfortunately, they don't do it. As a matter of fact, few people even know what posting is or understand how it works. Here's a quick explanation.
When you buy media, you are charged based on the number of people that the station predicts will be watching a particular show. Of course, like weather predictions, media companies can easily miss the mark. Sometimes more people watch than were expected; sometimes less people watch. If more people watch, you made a lucky buy and got more than your money's worth. On the other hand, if a placement falls short, the media outlet owes you those eyeballs. Of course, the station doesn't tell you when they under-perform; you have to tell them that you want ads to compensate for their shortfall.
Posting is done on a weekly, monthly or quarterly schedule where the buy is compared to the actual viewers or listeners. When you are short, the station owes you. If you get more than you paid for, nothing happens. If you aren't posting, you could be throwing large sums of money away. As a matter of fact, in 2008, as a result of the writer's strike and the election, our agency found an average of 25% under-performance on TV for our clients buying in North Carolina. In other words, the majority of television advertisers in North Carolina completely lost 25% of their advertising investment. 25%!
As you might guess, posting takes a great deal of time which is why many buyers don't offer it as a service (or they offer it, but don't promote it). Often, when one buyer is much less expensive than another buyer, the less expensive buyer is not posting. In most instances, it's a better idea to pay the higher percentage because you will get back that money - and more - through the gains you get from posting.
5. Tracking
The best way to know if your advertising is working is to track it. There are many ways to track advertising - some that cost time and some that cost money. Either way, tracking is an important part to any media campaign.
For some buyers, the only tracking that is done is tracking the buying schedule. While this is very important (see Posting above), tracking the success of your advertising is also important, as it will help you determine future media buys. Many media buying agencies use creative methods to track success. Sometimes, this might be as simple as setting up a series of unique phone numbers for each ad. In some cases, however, tracking can be very involved.
When you sit down with possible media buying agencies, make sure to discuss their experience with ad tracking. Often, they will be hesitant to offer their best ideas before you sign a contract, but you should be able to get a feel on their tracking skills.
6. Other Services
As you know, many media buying companies are self-contained agencies that offer no other services. On the other hand, there are also buyers that are part of agencies offering a wide range of marketing services. There are benefits to both models.
"Pure" media buying companies focus on that one aspect of their business, and couldn't care less where you get your creative or other services. Depending on your specific circumstances, this could be a good thing.
On the other hand, there are also benefits to working with an agency that offers a wide range services including advertising production. First and foremost, integrated agencies are often able to suggest ideas that go beyond just your buy. Further, producing and buying the media helps streamline the process for you, and in most cases, makes for a stronger buy since the buyer has an intimate understanding of what the advertising is hoping to accomplish.
In the end, it's important to know as much about your media buyer as possible so you can choose which services might be of best use to you. Also, if you are already working with an advertising agency, discuss this with your buyer so that he or she can make sure that you have the best experience possible.
1. Cost
As a general rule, established media buyers and advertising agencies get a 15% discount from television and radio stations. This means that an ad you would buy for $100 will cost the buyer only $85, the difference being retained by the buyer as payment for services. For this reason, using a media buyer shouldn't cost your company any more than doing all of the work yourself.
Depending on the size of your budget, some buyers may rebate a portion of their discount back to you. While this may seem attractive, it may not be the best strategy - as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. As you'll see from the other five ways to choose a media buying services company, additional services are important, and will often increase the percentage that the buyer will charge. With large placement budgets, these services are well worth the investment.
2. Media Strategy vs. Media Placement
Of the many companies for which we buy media, some of our clients are very educated and some, quite frankly, are not. That's okay, but you need to make sure you know where you fall in that category. If you are experienced in buying media, you might find yourself more comfortable with a buying agency that merely places your buy. On the other hand, if media buying isn't your strong suit, you will get much better results with someone who has the ability to help you develop your media strategy.
As you begin the process of choosing your media buying agency, first identify where you need the most assistance. In reality, anyone with money can buy media. It takes someone who is good at it to do it well. Make sure that your buyer knows that you expect him or her to conduct the research and verify that the buy will yield the best results.
3. Experience
As stated above, anyone can buy media. Obviously, you want someone who will get you the best placements at the best possible price. Unfortunately, it's difficult to gauge a good buyer from a bad buyer, and although the media sales reps know, they aren't likely to tell you. When you explore your media buying services agency, ask about the staff that do the actual buying and negotiating. Our agency, as well as many others out there, choose to hire people who have sold media before. Why? It often yields better results.
In negotiating a media buy, it's all about give and take - both sides have to win. If the buyer "wins" too much, the result is often pre-empts (when your advertisement is pulled and replaced by something else) and less than optimal schedules. If the media outlet wins too much, you end up paying more than you should for advertising. Inside experience is extremely helpful in a buying negotiation. An experienced buyer will understand both sides of the equation. He or she will know where there is wiggle room and how to get the most out of a budget while keeping the integrity of the buy intact.
4. Posting
Perhaps one of the most important services that a media buying agency can offer is posting. Many buyers won't talk to you about posting because, unfortunately, they don't do it. As a matter of fact, few people even know what posting is or understand how it works. Here's a quick explanation.
When you buy media, you are charged based on the number of people that the station predicts will be watching a particular show. Of course, like weather predictions, media companies can easily miss the mark. Sometimes more people watch than were expected; sometimes less people watch. If more people watch, you made a lucky buy and got more than your money's worth. On the other hand, if a placement falls short, the media outlet owes you those eyeballs. Of course, the station doesn't tell you when they under-perform; you have to tell them that you want ads to compensate for their shortfall.
Posting is done on a weekly, monthly or quarterly schedule where the buy is compared to the actual viewers or listeners. When you are short, the station owes you. If you get more than you paid for, nothing happens. If you aren't posting, you could be throwing large sums of money away. As a matter of fact, in 2008, as a result of the writer's strike and the election, our agency found an average of 25% under-performance on TV for our clients buying in North Carolina. In other words, the majority of television advertisers in North Carolina completely lost 25% of their advertising investment. 25%!
As you might guess, posting takes a great deal of time which is why many buyers don't offer it as a service (or they offer it, but don't promote it). Often, when one buyer is much less expensive than another buyer, the less expensive buyer is not posting. In most instances, it's a better idea to pay the higher percentage because you will get back that money - and more - through the gains you get from posting.
5. Tracking
The best way to know if your advertising is working is to track it. There are many ways to track advertising - some that cost time and some that cost money. Either way, tracking is an important part to any media campaign.
For some buyers, the only tracking that is done is tracking the buying schedule. While this is very important (see Posting above), tracking the success of your advertising is also important, as it will help you determine future media buys. Many media buying agencies use creative methods to track success. Sometimes, this might be as simple as setting up a series of unique phone numbers for each ad. In some cases, however, tracking can be very involved.
When you sit down with possible media buying agencies, make sure to discuss their experience with ad tracking. Often, they will be hesitant to offer their best ideas before you sign a contract, but you should be able to get a feel on their tracking skills.
6. Other Services
As you know, many media buying companies are self-contained agencies that offer no other services. On the other hand, there are also buyers that are part of agencies offering a wide range of marketing services. There are benefits to both models.
"Pure" media buying companies focus on that one aspect of their business, and couldn't care less where you get your creative or other services. Depending on your specific circumstances, this could be a good thing.
On the other hand, there are also benefits to working with an agency that offers a wide range services including advertising production. First and foremost, integrated agencies are often able to suggest ideas that go beyond just your buy. Further, producing and buying the media helps streamline the process for you, and in most cases, makes for a stronger buy since the buyer has an intimate understanding of what the advertising is hoping to accomplish.
In the end, it's important to know as much about your media buyer as possible so you can choose which services might be of best use to you. Also, if you are already working with an advertising agency, discuss this with your buyer so that he or she can make sure that you have the best experience possible.
Top 3 Reasons Why You Need a Media Buying Service
There is no doubt that buying media ads is critical in promoting your business but do you really need a media buying service to do it for you? Wouldn't it be more practical to do all the media buying decisions yourself?
Well, taking all points into consideration, using a media buying service is the better way to go. Why? Here are some of the most important reasons that you may want to consider:
Professional help without additional costs. By doing business with a professional media buying agency, you get professional help without incurring any additional costs. Sounds too good to be true? Well, you better believe it!
How can this be possible? Media stations usually offer exclusive discounts (usually about 15% of the total package price) to such buying agencies. So, essentially, the media stations are the ones paying for the services these media buying companies are offering you. This also means that whether you opt to use their service or purchase the ad spots yourself directly from the media networks, you'll still be paying the exact same amount.
Better leverage. Media buying agencies can negotiate for better time slots and lower prices far better than any individual company can due to the sheer amount of business they bring to the media networks. And because they have such an extensive experience in the trade, they can safely avoid the most common problems that may come up along the way.
Let's take the "bumping" of ad spots as an example. Bumping, or the removal of ad spots from their original schedule, is one of the common problems that often crops up in most television stations. And who gets hit the most? Well, your guess is as good as mine. The most common victims are advertisers whose negotiated contract price is below a specific amount. However, if you're using a media buying service, you can be sure that you'll never get yourself in the midst of this annoying situation.
You get your money's worth. The cost of radio and television advertising is usually based on a "tonnage" basis or the number of people who view your ads. Since this may be quite expensive, your goal would be to get the lowest "cost-per-thousand" (CPM) for your target market. Having that satisfied, you now need to be sure that you are getting your money's worth and not being short-changed. And here is where your chosen agency gets more useful. They can provide accurate tracking to make sure your ads reach the target number of views. If not, your media buyer will simply request for "make good" ads (otherwise known as free spots) to make up for the difference.
Using the services of a professional media buying agency is undoubtedly the right way to go. It can prevent your company from losing valuable resources such as time and money, and provide you with more effective marketing results. Now, are you convinced you need professional help you with your media buys?
Well, taking all points into consideration, using a media buying service is the better way to go. Why? Here are some of the most important reasons that you may want to consider:
Professional help without additional costs. By doing business with a professional media buying agency, you get professional help without incurring any additional costs. Sounds too good to be true? Well, you better believe it!
How can this be possible? Media stations usually offer exclusive discounts (usually about 15% of the total package price) to such buying agencies. So, essentially, the media stations are the ones paying for the services these media buying companies are offering you. This also means that whether you opt to use their service or purchase the ad spots yourself directly from the media networks, you'll still be paying the exact same amount.
Better leverage. Media buying agencies can negotiate for better time slots and lower prices far better than any individual company can due to the sheer amount of business they bring to the media networks. And because they have such an extensive experience in the trade, they can safely avoid the most common problems that may come up along the way.
Let's take the "bumping" of ad spots as an example. Bumping, or the removal of ad spots from their original schedule, is one of the common problems that often crops up in most television stations. And who gets hit the most? Well, your guess is as good as mine. The most common victims are advertisers whose negotiated contract price is below a specific amount. However, if you're using a media buying service, you can be sure that you'll never get yourself in the midst of this annoying situation.
You get your money's worth. The cost of radio and television advertising is usually based on a "tonnage" basis or the number of people who view your ads. Since this may be quite expensive, your goal would be to get the lowest "cost-per-thousand" (CPM) for your target market. Having that satisfied, you now need to be sure that you are getting your money's worth and not being short-changed. And here is where your chosen agency gets more useful. They can provide accurate tracking to make sure your ads reach the target number of views. If not, your media buyer will simply request for "make good" ads (otherwise known as free spots) to make up for the difference.
Using the services of a professional media buying agency is undoubtedly the right way to go. It can prevent your company from losing valuable resources such as time and money, and provide you with more effective marketing results. Now, are you convinced you need professional help you with your media buys?
The 8 Reasons to Use a Media Buying Services Agency
More often than not, new advertisers will set up their own ad buys and handle the media buying themselves. While this might be a wonderful educational experience, it is usually a big mistake, costing the company time, money and marketing results. Even if your company has experience in buying media, it would be wise to consider the following eight reasons for working with a professional media buying services agency.
1. It Costs Nothing
When you use a media buying services agency to buy your company's radio and television advertising, the agency is paid through an agency-only discount provided by the station. For example, let's say you want to buy an ad spot that costs $1000. If you work directly with the media station sales rep, that spot costs $1000. If you work with a media buying agency, that spot still costs $1000. Why? Because television stations give the media buyer a discount (usually 15%). This discount is not available to your company; only an established media buying agency is eligible to receive it. Your company pays the exact same amount, and your media buying services agency does the work, paid for by the station.
In our example, it might seem like overkill to introduce a buyer into the mix. If you were buying a limited run on a single station, you could probably do it yourself. On the other hand, longer runs or ads running on more than one station are much more complex. As a matter of fact, as you read on, you will find that not only does using a media buyer not cost anything, it actually stretches your ad budget to help you get a lot more for your advertising dollar.
2. Negotiation "Clout"
Media buying services agencies often have quite a bit of buying influence - in both local and national markets. Professional media buying agencies place advertising for several clients, giving them a total spend much larger than a single company might bring to the table. As you might guess, this level of spending gives them some real advantages when negotiating contracts. Your advertising schedule will benefit with lower prices per spot and better timeslots.
3. Negotiation Know-How
Professional media buyers will tell you that negotiating media buys is often more art than science. A really good buyer truly understands the stations being bought, knows how to reach a compromise that helps your company as well as the station and understands the tricks and traps that could cause problems with the buy.
Here's an example: For one reason or another, television stations often "bump" spots (remove them from the schedule). If your negotiated price is below a certain threshold, your spots have a high likelihood of being bumped instead of another advertiser who is paying higher. The professional media buyer understands this and knows how to prevent this problem.
4. Tracking & "Make-Good" Ads
When you buy television advertising, your cost is based on the station's promise that a certain number of people will see your spot. What happens if they don't? Let's say they promise a million viewers but only half that number tune in (something that happens quite often). What then? Think the station will track you down and let you know it happened, then offer some way to make up for it? Not likely.
A professional media buyer tracks the ratings for your advertising to make sure you get everything that you paid for. In the case above, your media buyer will request "make goods," essentially free spots to make up for the ratings difference. This is huge benefit that will save your budget while also increasing delivery of your message. (For example, in 2008, we tracked a more than 20% under-delivery in one of our markets, saving our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars.)
5. No More Sales Hassles
Your media buying services agency becomes the point of contact for all media reps - those working with your company and those who want to. You're never stuck on the phone discussing "special advertising prices" or "one-day deals" again.
For one of our clients, this was by far his top benefit - even more than the money he saves, he enjoys the ability to tell media reps that he has a media agency and they should call us instead of him.
6. No More Accounting Hassles
No matter how hard you plan, television advertising billing fluctuates and is sometimes incorrect. This due to programming changes, scheduling adjustments and numerous other reasons. Within a media buying services company, you have an accountant that is accustomed to working with television stations to make sure that budgets are kept. This helps you avoid surprises in billing, and it gives you piece of mind that your invoices are correct.
7. More Time In Your Day
If you take away all of the accounting hassles, calls from sales reps, research into shows and networks, and all of the other miscellaneous work that goes into good media buying, then you can save lots of time. If you've worked with a media buying services agency, you know that working with one contact and company saves tons of time over placing on multiple media outlets.
8. Big-Picture Strategy
One of the biggest benefits of working with a media buyer is that they can often see the big picture in a way that the individual sales reps cannot. Your professional media buyer knows your target customers as well as all of your placements and all of your marketing goals. Instead of ordering media based on a station's open inventory (what TV stations call their commercial slots), a professional buy is based on getting you what you need at the best prices available.
1. It Costs Nothing
When you use a media buying services agency to buy your company's radio and television advertising, the agency is paid through an agency-only discount provided by the station. For example, let's say you want to buy an ad spot that costs $1000. If you work directly with the media station sales rep, that spot costs $1000. If you work with a media buying agency, that spot still costs $1000. Why? Because television stations give the media buyer a discount (usually 15%). This discount is not available to your company; only an established media buying agency is eligible to receive it. Your company pays the exact same amount, and your media buying services agency does the work, paid for by the station.
In our example, it might seem like overkill to introduce a buyer into the mix. If you were buying a limited run on a single station, you could probably do it yourself. On the other hand, longer runs or ads running on more than one station are much more complex. As a matter of fact, as you read on, you will find that not only does using a media buyer not cost anything, it actually stretches your ad budget to help you get a lot more for your advertising dollar.
2. Negotiation "Clout"
Media buying services agencies often have quite a bit of buying influence - in both local and national markets. Professional media buying agencies place advertising for several clients, giving them a total spend much larger than a single company might bring to the table. As you might guess, this level of spending gives them some real advantages when negotiating contracts. Your advertising schedule will benefit with lower prices per spot and better timeslots.
3. Negotiation Know-How
Professional media buyers will tell you that negotiating media buys is often more art than science. A really good buyer truly understands the stations being bought, knows how to reach a compromise that helps your company as well as the station and understands the tricks and traps that could cause problems with the buy.
Here's an example: For one reason or another, television stations often "bump" spots (remove them from the schedule). If your negotiated price is below a certain threshold, your spots have a high likelihood of being bumped instead of another advertiser who is paying higher. The professional media buyer understands this and knows how to prevent this problem.
4. Tracking & "Make-Good" Ads
When you buy television advertising, your cost is based on the station's promise that a certain number of people will see your spot. What happens if they don't? Let's say they promise a million viewers but only half that number tune in (something that happens quite often). What then? Think the station will track you down and let you know it happened, then offer some way to make up for it? Not likely.
A professional media buyer tracks the ratings for your advertising to make sure you get everything that you paid for. In the case above, your media buyer will request "make goods," essentially free spots to make up for the ratings difference. This is huge benefit that will save your budget while also increasing delivery of your message. (For example, in 2008, we tracked a more than 20% under-delivery in one of our markets, saving our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars.)
5. No More Sales Hassles
Your media buying services agency becomes the point of contact for all media reps - those working with your company and those who want to. You're never stuck on the phone discussing "special advertising prices" or "one-day deals" again.
For one of our clients, this was by far his top benefit - even more than the money he saves, he enjoys the ability to tell media reps that he has a media agency and they should call us instead of him.
6. No More Accounting Hassles
No matter how hard you plan, television advertising billing fluctuates and is sometimes incorrect. This due to programming changes, scheduling adjustments and numerous other reasons. Within a media buying services company, you have an accountant that is accustomed to working with television stations to make sure that budgets are kept. This helps you avoid surprises in billing, and it gives you piece of mind that your invoices are correct.
7. More Time In Your Day
If you take away all of the accounting hassles, calls from sales reps, research into shows and networks, and all of the other miscellaneous work that goes into good media buying, then you can save lots of time. If you've worked with a media buying services agency, you know that working with one contact and company saves tons of time over placing on multiple media outlets.
8. Big-Picture Strategy
One of the biggest benefits of working with a media buyer is that they can often see the big picture in a way that the individual sales reps cannot. Your professional media buyer knows your target customers as well as all of your placements and all of your marketing goals. Instead of ordering media based on a station's open inventory (what TV stations call their commercial slots), a professional buy is based on getting you what you need at the best prices available.
Props For Web Hosting Activity: Inside Story Unfurled
Planning to sell ideas, services or products through a well-designed website? Do you need proselytise visitors or customers of other websites into your website? Then, you must need a website hosting server that could efficiently enhance the speed of uploading and downloading of web-pages. Again, before choosing a host server, you need to know that programming languages have deciding authority over whether Linux hosting server will be the best suited or the Windows hosting server.
Props For Choosing A Server: Only the new entrepreneurs may muddle up the nuances between a Linux Hosting Server and a Windows Hosting Server. One should know that a Linux hosting server will be the best choice for those websites which are designed with the programming languages such as PHP, MY SQL, etc., when a Windows hosting server will be the best suited for websites which are generated with the programming languages such as ASP, ASP.NET, MS SQL, or MS Access. A web hosting server should have the offer of the facility of tracking visitors to a website, chatting facility, email accounts opening facility, highly secured check out facility with due authorization of secured payment gateway support.
Props For Linux Server: There are a number of Linux server providers worldwide. Their offers vary from one to another or sometimes vie among themselves feigning for offering the best services. As there are no dearth of providers across the world, so choosers about here must not be the beggars. One needs to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the packages, if any, and bargain with the service providers so as to let them accede to one's demands.
Anyway, the priority should be given while choosing the best Linux Server provider to the features as to how much strong public bandwidth is being provided so that host of visitors can see a particular website open at a go as soon as they try, or how much data security (File Transfer Protocol) on part of website owners and also of website customers is being provided, or how much space is being provided. For instance, the standard public bandwidth and registered ECC RAM should be 1500GB and 1GB respectively. It is also to be noted that Linux server can provide ultimate data protection against any kind of hacking.
Props For A Windows Web Hosting Server: Hosting a website on Windows Server will be a good idea for those websites whose HTML or formatting codes such as Java Script, CSS, PHP, Perl allow them only corroborate with Windows Server. Here also, everyone needs to look for the best website data transfer security, the quality speed for letting a website open in no time however number of traffic is trying to log in at the same moment, or the space the server is providing for a website.
Kinds Of Websites: Activity defines the classification of a website. There are two kinds of websites in general. They are Personal Website and Company Website. As the very names of the types signify, their activity also differs accordingly. It is seen that Personal Websites generally consist of 8 (variable) web pages with customized look and proper W3C validation when Commercial Websites may have 20 (variable) web pages with customized look and due W3C validation and sometimes with a flash header. Whatever class of a website may be, it must need a quality server with due file transfer protocol.
Props For Choosing Extension: One may have seen domain name with extension that we call URL. Domain names with proper extension help visitors recognize the motto of a website, country of a website and its activity area, global presence, or in short help to classify a website whether it is personal website or commercial one. To be more precise, when one uses dot com extension with one's domain name, one aims at propagating the facts that the website is solely for business purposes. Again, when dot org is being used with the domain name of a website, that website has an organizational purpose in it without any advantage of doing business. A website which has a domain name with dot co dot UK extension can be easily recognized its location of operational origin. So, choosing an extension should be very careful although the task is very jejune and web hosting companies are ready to extend help in this case. The best one must be chosen to reap maximum response.
Valid SSL Certificate: SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is deemed to be a computing shield protecting the data sent by medium of Internet by using encryption. Due to a widespread apprehensions regarding possibilities of personal and banking data leaks, visitors shy away from entering any details provided they are much and solely convinced that their details are top secured. This top security can only be provided with SSL validation. One of such SSL digital certificate providers is Thawate, a Verisign Company which is also the oldest one in this world. A website that has SSL security can earn the trust of users. So, a company website or any personal venture can expect realize objectives gradually and smoothly.
Props For Choosing A Server: Only the new entrepreneurs may muddle up the nuances between a Linux Hosting Server and a Windows Hosting Server. One should know that a Linux hosting server will be the best choice for those websites which are designed with the programming languages such as PHP, MY SQL, etc., when a Windows hosting server will be the best suited for websites which are generated with the programming languages such as ASP, ASP.NET, MS SQL, or MS Access. A web hosting server should have the offer of the facility of tracking visitors to a website, chatting facility, email accounts opening facility, highly secured check out facility with due authorization of secured payment gateway support.
Props For Linux Server: There are a number of Linux server providers worldwide. Their offers vary from one to another or sometimes vie among themselves feigning for offering the best services. As there are no dearth of providers across the world, so choosers about here must not be the beggars. One needs to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the packages, if any, and bargain with the service providers so as to let them accede to one's demands.
Anyway, the priority should be given while choosing the best Linux Server provider to the features as to how much strong public bandwidth is being provided so that host of visitors can see a particular website open at a go as soon as they try, or how much data security (File Transfer Protocol) on part of website owners and also of website customers is being provided, or how much space is being provided. For instance, the standard public bandwidth and registered ECC RAM should be 1500GB and 1GB respectively. It is also to be noted that Linux server can provide ultimate data protection against any kind of hacking.
Props For A Windows Web Hosting Server: Hosting a website on Windows Server will be a good idea for those websites whose HTML or formatting codes such as Java Script, CSS, PHP, Perl allow them only corroborate with Windows Server. Here also, everyone needs to look for the best website data transfer security, the quality speed for letting a website open in no time however number of traffic is trying to log in at the same moment, or the space the server is providing for a website.
Kinds Of Websites: Activity defines the classification of a website. There are two kinds of websites in general. They are Personal Website and Company Website. As the very names of the types signify, their activity also differs accordingly. It is seen that Personal Websites generally consist of 8 (variable) web pages with customized look and proper W3C validation when Commercial Websites may have 20 (variable) web pages with customized look and due W3C validation and sometimes with a flash header. Whatever class of a website may be, it must need a quality server with due file transfer protocol.
Props For Choosing Extension: One may have seen domain name with extension that we call URL. Domain names with proper extension help visitors recognize the motto of a website, country of a website and its activity area, global presence, or in short help to classify a website whether it is personal website or commercial one. To be more precise, when one uses dot com extension with one's domain name, one aims at propagating the facts that the website is solely for business purposes. Again, when dot org is being used with the domain name of a website, that website has an organizational purpose in it without any advantage of doing business. A website which has a domain name with dot co dot UK extension can be easily recognized its location of operational origin. So, choosing an extension should be very careful although the task is very jejune and web hosting companies are ready to extend help in this case. The best one must be chosen to reap maximum response.
Valid SSL Certificate: SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is deemed to be a computing shield protecting the data sent by medium of Internet by using encryption. Due to a widespread apprehensions regarding possibilities of personal and banking data leaks, visitors shy away from entering any details provided they are much and solely convinced that their details are top secured. This top security can only be provided with SSL validation. One of such SSL digital certificate providers is Thawate, a Verisign Company which is also the oldest one in this world. A website that has SSL security can earn the trust of users. So, a company website or any personal venture can expect realize objectives gradually and smoothly.
How to Choose Windows Web Hosting
There is one area of computing where Microsoft does not dominate, and that's the web. Sure, Microsoft managed to outmuscle Netscape in the early browser wars, but by and large, the web has always been, and remains, a thorny venue for Microsoft, one where the boys from Redmond are routinely outfoxed and outmaneuvered by smaller, nimbler and more innovative companies. That said, Microsoft, of course, remains the biggest and most important software company in the world, and it almost totally owns the corporate market. So while there are millions of websites running on open-source Apache, Microsoft's ASP.NET web application development framework is used by a larger developer community to build dynamic websites. Which means that Windows web hosting is an issue for anyone working with ASP.NET.
The generic problem is that it isn't always easy for Windows developers to find a reliable, cost-competitive outfit that supports asp.net web hosting and actually knows something about it. Same for smsql hosting. Everyone supports MySQL, PERL and PHP, but far fewer are equipped to properly handle ASP.NET 1.1, 2.0 and 3.5. Maybe that's because open source is free whereas Microsoft products are quite expensive, or maybe it's because it's generally more difficult to find support staff trained in Microsoft's web application model. Be that as it may, it can be hugely frustrating to sign up with a company that claims to support Microsoft's web application framework when they're really just a Perl web hosting outfit.
What separates a company specializing in Windows web hosting from run-of-the-mill hosts? Well, they support, of course, the components common to all web development (like PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.). However, in addition they must support all major ASP.NET revs as well as provide MS-SQL hosting, with MS-SQL being Microsoft's version of an SQL-based relational database. They offer MS-AJAX support on ASP.NET, and they let you create web directories with unique permissions and authentication levels, and generate application directories from the control panel.
As far as open database connectivity goes, you want to be able to set up DSN-less connections via ODBC use in addition to file-based DSNs. This means a Windows web hosting company should support Paradox, Visual FoxPro, Excel, the Access JET OLEDB, the Microsoft Database and SQL driver, and PostgreSQL on top of the standard MySQL ODBC drivers. You also want to be sure that all of this is not only available, but that tech support is able to assist if you have questions or encounter a problem. There's nothing more frustrating than playing email ping-pong with clueless tech support folks when you have a client project deadline.
Many ASP.NET programmers are still using ASP or manage ASP-based client projects. This means they need specific server object, and the host must support those as well. It gets right back to picking someone familiar with Microsoft's way of doing web business.
What else do you need for good Windows web hosting? The same as you'd look for in any web host: decent equipment, quick tech support response, competitive pricing, and hosting packages that address your needs. Picking the right web host is really like selecting application software - it's got to be right for the job.
The generic problem is that it isn't always easy for Windows developers to find a reliable, cost-competitive outfit that supports asp.net web hosting and actually knows something about it. Same for smsql hosting. Everyone supports MySQL, PERL and PHP, but far fewer are equipped to properly handle ASP.NET 1.1, 2.0 and 3.5. Maybe that's because open source is free whereas Microsoft products are quite expensive, or maybe it's because it's generally more difficult to find support staff trained in Microsoft's web application model. Be that as it may, it can be hugely frustrating to sign up with a company that claims to support Microsoft's web application framework when they're really just a Perl web hosting outfit.
What separates a company specializing in Windows web hosting from run-of-the-mill hosts? Well, they support, of course, the components common to all web development (like PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.). However, in addition they must support all major ASP.NET revs as well as provide MS-SQL hosting, with MS-SQL being Microsoft's version of an SQL-based relational database. They offer MS-AJAX support on ASP.NET, and they let you create web directories with unique permissions and authentication levels, and generate application directories from the control panel.
As far as open database connectivity goes, you want to be able to set up DSN-less connections via ODBC use in addition to file-based DSNs. This means a Windows web hosting company should support Paradox, Visual FoxPro, Excel, the Access JET OLEDB, the Microsoft Database and SQL driver, and PostgreSQL on top of the standard MySQL ODBC drivers. You also want to be sure that all of this is not only available, but that tech support is able to assist if you have questions or encounter a problem. There's nothing more frustrating than playing email ping-pong with clueless tech support folks when you have a client project deadline.
Many ASP.NET programmers are still using ASP or manage ASP-based client projects. This means they need specific server object, and the host must support those as well. It gets right back to picking someone familiar with Microsoft's way of doing web business.
What else do you need for good Windows web hosting? The same as you'd look for in any web host: decent equipment, quick tech support response, competitive pricing, and hosting packages that address your needs. Picking the right web host is really like selecting application software - it's got to be right for the job.
Using Silverlight With Windows Web Hosting
As you probably know, Microsoft's Windows web hosting solutions have provided individuals with large amount of valuable tools in regards to internet technology. Some of the most popular technologies that Microsoft has released, under its large umbrella of web hosting tools, include MS SQL, ASP and Front Page. With this being said, Windows newest web hosting technology, known as Silverlight, has now been released. Let's take a look at the features of Silverlight and Windows web hosting services.
Silverlight Explained
Silverlight is a feature, which comes in various Windows web hosting packages, that is very similar to Adobe's Flash feature. If you are not familiar with the Adobe Flash feature, it basically allows individuals to experience media, including music and videos, through online streaming. Silverlight is a plugin that exists within the browser of your choice, including Safari, IE and Firefox. Silverlight is so popular among Windows hosting users because of its compatibility with various operating systems, like Unix, Linux and Mac OS X.
Silverlight has risen to the top of media applications because it can effectively run on a variety of programming languages. It tramples Adobe's flash application because it can effectively run on the.Net framework, which Adobe's plug-in fails to do.
Best Features of Silverlight
Windows packages now include the latest version of Silverlight, which is Silverlight 4. This plug-in has a variety of new features that make Windows web hosting services even better. There are multiple new tools featured in Silverlight 4 that make it easier to design and develop applications, like a design surface than can be fully edited.
Microsoft has taken this feature even further in regard to providing the most interactive experience possible. Silverlight 4 features even smoother streaming when it comes to videos and music. User can also import other data into applications by using copy and paste or even the drag and drop feature.
Silverlight 4 also allows users to take their SEO efforts to the next level. Silverlight takes ASP.NET controls along with site maps and indexes them with search engines. This can significantly increase your sites page ranking within popular search engines.
Silverlight and Windows Web Hosting
This Silverlight technology is obviously owned and created by Microsoft, meaning that it is only available to users that have subscribed to the windows platform. This technology, among all of Microsoft's other popular internet technologies, has the ability to take your website to the next level.
Silverlight Explained
Silverlight is a feature, which comes in various Windows web hosting packages, that is very similar to Adobe's Flash feature. If you are not familiar with the Adobe Flash feature, it basically allows individuals to experience media, including music and videos, through online streaming. Silverlight is a plugin that exists within the browser of your choice, including Safari, IE and Firefox. Silverlight is so popular among Windows hosting users because of its compatibility with various operating systems, like Unix, Linux and Mac OS X.
Silverlight has risen to the top of media applications because it can effectively run on a variety of programming languages. It tramples Adobe's flash application because it can effectively run on the.Net framework, which Adobe's plug-in fails to do.
Best Features of Silverlight
Windows packages now include the latest version of Silverlight, which is Silverlight 4. This plug-in has a variety of new features that make Windows web hosting services even better. There are multiple new tools featured in Silverlight 4 that make it easier to design and develop applications, like a design surface than can be fully edited.
Microsoft has taken this feature even further in regard to providing the most interactive experience possible. Silverlight 4 features even smoother streaming when it comes to videos and music. User can also import other data into applications by using copy and paste or even the drag and drop feature.
Silverlight 4 also allows users to take their SEO efforts to the next level. Silverlight takes ASP.NET controls along with site maps and indexes them with search engines. This can significantly increase your sites page ranking within popular search engines.
Silverlight and Windows Web Hosting
This Silverlight technology is obviously owned and created by Microsoft, meaning that it is only available to users that have subscribed to the windows platform. This technology, among all of Microsoft's other popular internet technologies, has the ability to take your website to the next level.
Advantages and Disadvantages to Using MySQL Vs MS SQL
Two of the most popular database systems used by web developers today are MySQL and Microsoft's MS SQL server. Both are similar in regards to being storage and retrieval systems. The two systems support primary keys, along with key indices which allow you to speed up queries and constrain input. Furthermore, both systems offer some form of support for XML.
Apart from price, which is the obvious difference, what distinguishes these two systems, and which one is right for you? We'll overview both products, point out the major differences and explain the advantages and disadvantages of using them for your business.
Open-source vs. Proprietary
When it comes to these two databases, the differences begin with the open-source nature of MySQL vs. the closed, proprietary structure of the SQL Server. MySQL is an extensible, open storage database engine, offering multiple variations such as Berkeley DB, InnoDB, Heap and MyISAM. On the other hand, with the Microsoft product, you are limited to a Sybase-derived engine through both the good and bad times.
When considering how MySQL integrates seamlessly with a number of programming languages and other web-based technologies, it certainly has the advantage over MS SQL in the way of compatibility, as the SQL Server is known to work better with other Microsoft products.
Licensing
Contrary to popular belief, the MySQL system isn't always free. On the other hand, it is always more affordable. In regard to both products, licensing fees are based on a two-tiered scheme. With MS SQL, the best way to obtain a developer's license is to buy a license for the Microsoft Developer or Microsoft Visual Studio suite. Both provide you with a free SQL Server license for development use. If you want to use the product in a commercial environment, you need to at least purchase the SQL Server Standard Edition - which could set you back over $1,000 for a few client connections.
Because MySQL is an open-source system under the GNU General Public License, developers can use it at no cost as long as the associated projects are also open-source. However, if you intend to sell your software as a proprietary product, you would need to purchase a commercial license, which costs about $400 for up to nine clients. Depending on the project and your funds, MySQL may have the advantage here.
Technical Differences
The open-source vs. proprietary battle alone is a leading cause why some users choose one system over the other. However, there are a few differences from a technical aspect as well.
For instance, MySQL doesn't offer full support for foreign keys, meaning it doesn't have all the relational features of MS SQL, which is considered a complete relational database. Some versions of MySQL also lack full support for stored procedures - the biggest disadvantage being the MyISAM system, which doesn't support transactions.
Performance
In the way of performance, MySQL is the clear leader, mainly due to the format of its default table, MyISAM. MyISAM databases leave a small footprint using little disk space, memory and CPU. While the system runs on the Windows platform without flaw, it tends to perform better on Linux and other UNIX-like systems. Because of its stability, many internet powerhouses such as Yahoo! use MySQL as their back-end database.
When it comes to performance, MS SQL's strength of being packed with more features than other systems is perhaps its biggest disadvantage. Although most of these features are designed for performance tuning, they tend to sacrifice other essential elements. The cost here is complexity and the hogging of resources in the way of storage and memory, which leads to poorer performance. If you lack the knowledge and sufficient hardware to support an SQL server, you would be better off with another database management system.
Security
These two database systems are pretty much deadlocked in regards to security. Both come with adequate security mechanisms by default, bearing you follow the directions and keep the software updated with security patches. Both operate over known IP ports which unfortunately attracts a wealth of intruders, a downside that can be attributed to both products. The good thing is that MySQL and MS SQL allow you to change ports just in case the default becomes too vulnerable.
Recovery
As far as recovery goes, the SQL Server has a definite advantage over MySQL, which tends to fall a little short with its MyISAM configuration. A UPS system is mandatory with MyISAM as it assumes uninterrupted operation. If a power outage should occur, it could result in the corruption and loss of critical data. With the SQL Server, data corruption is more unlikely. The data travels through various checkpoints while passing from your keyboard to the hard disk and through the monitor. Additionally, the SQL Server keeps track of the process, even if the system unexpectedly shuts down.
The Best Choice
As you can see, both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. From our perspective, any product that allows you to be efficient is a good database; anything other than that isn't worthy of your time and frustration. When it comes to MySQL and MS SQL, the decision all boils down to the situation and most importantly, what you're looking to accomplish.
Apart from price, which is the obvious difference, what distinguishes these two systems, and which one is right for you? We'll overview both products, point out the major differences and explain the advantages and disadvantages of using them for your business.
Open-source vs. Proprietary
When it comes to these two databases, the differences begin with the open-source nature of MySQL vs. the closed, proprietary structure of the SQL Server. MySQL is an extensible, open storage database engine, offering multiple variations such as Berkeley DB, InnoDB, Heap and MyISAM. On the other hand, with the Microsoft product, you are limited to a Sybase-derived engine through both the good and bad times.
When considering how MySQL integrates seamlessly with a number of programming languages and other web-based technologies, it certainly has the advantage over MS SQL in the way of compatibility, as the SQL Server is known to work better with other Microsoft products.
Licensing
Contrary to popular belief, the MySQL system isn't always free. On the other hand, it is always more affordable. In regard to both products, licensing fees are based on a two-tiered scheme. With MS SQL, the best way to obtain a developer's license is to buy a license for the Microsoft Developer or Microsoft Visual Studio suite. Both provide you with a free SQL Server license for development use. If you want to use the product in a commercial environment, you need to at least purchase the SQL Server Standard Edition - which could set you back over $1,000 for a few client connections.
Because MySQL is an open-source system under the GNU General Public License, developers can use it at no cost as long as the associated projects are also open-source. However, if you intend to sell your software as a proprietary product, you would need to purchase a commercial license, which costs about $400 for up to nine clients. Depending on the project and your funds, MySQL may have the advantage here.
Technical Differences
The open-source vs. proprietary battle alone is a leading cause why some users choose one system over the other. However, there are a few differences from a technical aspect as well.
For instance, MySQL doesn't offer full support for foreign keys, meaning it doesn't have all the relational features of MS SQL, which is considered a complete relational database. Some versions of MySQL also lack full support for stored procedures - the biggest disadvantage being the MyISAM system, which doesn't support transactions.
Performance
In the way of performance, MySQL is the clear leader, mainly due to the format of its default table, MyISAM. MyISAM databases leave a small footprint using little disk space, memory and CPU. While the system runs on the Windows platform without flaw, it tends to perform better on Linux and other UNIX-like systems. Because of its stability, many internet powerhouses such as Yahoo! use MySQL as their back-end database.
When it comes to performance, MS SQL's strength of being packed with more features than other systems is perhaps its biggest disadvantage. Although most of these features are designed for performance tuning, they tend to sacrifice other essential elements. The cost here is complexity and the hogging of resources in the way of storage and memory, which leads to poorer performance. If you lack the knowledge and sufficient hardware to support an SQL server, you would be better off with another database management system.
Security
These two database systems are pretty much deadlocked in regards to security. Both come with adequate security mechanisms by default, bearing you follow the directions and keep the software updated with security patches. Both operate over known IP ports which unfortunately attracts a wealth of intruders, a downside that can be attributed to both products. The good thing is that MySQL and MS SQL allow you to change ports just in case the default becomes too vulnerable.
Recovery
As far as recovery goes, the SQL Server has a definite advantage over MySQL, which tends to fall a little short with its MyISAM configuration. A UPS system is mandatory with MyISAM as it assumes uninterrupted operation. If a power outage should occur, it could result in the corruption and loss of critical data. With the SQL Server, data corruption is more unlikely. The data travels through various checkpoints while passing from your keyboard to the hard disk and through the monitor. Additionally, the SQL Server keeps track of the process, even if the system unexpectedly shuts down.
The Best Choice
As you can see, both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. From our perspective, any product that allows you to be efficient is a good database; anything other than that isn't worthy of your time and frustration. When it comes to MySQL and MS SQL, the decision all boils down to the situation and most importantly, what you're looking to accomplish.
Connect to MSSQL Database Using Enterprise Manager on Windows Dedicated Server
To understand what is Enterprise Manager, you will have to understand what is Microsoft Management Console (also known as MMC). With the help of Microsoft Management Console it will be possible for you to manage different Applications of the Server in a Network of Microsoft Windows. A component which is known as MMC snap-in i.e. Microsoft Management Console snap-in is provided by different Server Applications. You will get an User Interface which will allow you to Manage Server Applications if you get MMC snap-in.
Microsoft Windows Dedicated Server Hosting
Now, comes the role of Enterprise Manager. Enterprise Manager is the MMC snap-in of Microsoft SQL Server. Enterprise Manager is the Tool which will allow you to Perform Administrative tasks for SQL Server. Now to perform the Administrative tasks, you will have to connnect to MSSQL Database through Enterprise Manager on your Windows Dedicated server. You can do this by following the simple steps given below :-
Windows Server 2003
1. Open Enterprise Manager on your Windows Dedicated server.
2. Then, to reach Local you will have to expand the list on the Panel which is on the Left side.
3. Find this option, '(local) (Windows NT)' and finally select 'New SQL Server Registration'.
4. Now, you will have to Enter the IP address of your Windows Dedicated server.
Note :- Make sure that you Enter the Primary IP address of your Windows Dedicated server, otherwise, it may cause problems.
5. Select the 2nd option now when asked to select an Authentication mode.
6. Now, for the Connection options, select 'Login Automatically' and provide the login information i.e. ID and password when you are asked for it.
7. You will be asked to select a Connection Group now. It is also possible to create a new one.
Note :- This is basically done to keep things functioning in a proper manner. If you choose another inspite of having one, it won't affect your Connection.
8. Once you are done with the 7th step above, simply click on the Finish option and you are done.
Now, you will be provided with an MMC-compliant user which is an Interface which will allow you to perform the following tasks :-
1) Bring together Individual servers and make a group of servers.
2) Determine and form Groups of SQL server instances.
3) Create different SQL Servers for each Registered Server.
4) Administration of all the SQL Server databases of different Registered Servers and manage all SQL server databases, Logins, Permissions, Users, Objects etc.
5. Determine and work on all SQL server tasks on each separate server.
Microsoft Windows Dedicated Server Hosting
Now, comes the role of Enterprise Manager. Enterprise Manager is the MMC snap-in of Microsoft SQL Server. Enterprise Manager is the Tool which will allow you to Perform Administrative tasks for SQL Server. Now to perform the Administrative tasks, you will have to connnect to MSSQL Database through Enterprise Manager on your Windows Dedicated server. You can do this by following the simple steps given below :-
Windows Server 2003
1. Open Enterprise Manager on your Windows Dedicated server.
2. Then, to reach Local you will have to expand the list on the Panel which is on the Left side.
3. Find this option, '(local) (Windows NT)' and finally select 'New SQL Server Registration'.
4. Now, you will have to Enter the IP address of your Windows Dedicated server.
Note :- Make sure that you Enter the Primary IP address of your Windows Dedicated server, otherwise, it may cause problems.
5. Select the 2nd option now when asked to select an Authentication mode.
6. Now, for the Connection options, select 'Login Automatically' and provide the login information i.e. ID and password when you are asked for it.
7. You will be asked to select a Connection Group now. It is also possible to create a new one.
Note :- This is basically done to keep things functioning in a proper manner. If you choose another inspite of having one, it won't affect your Connection.
8. Once you are done with the 7th step above, simply click on the Finish option and you are done.
Now, you will be provided with an MMC-compliant user which is an Interface which will allow you to perform the following tasks :-
1) Bring together Individual servers and make a group of servers.
2) Determine and form Groups of SQL server instances.
3) Create different SQL Servers for each Registered Server.
4) Administration of all the SQL Server databases of different Registered Servers and manage all SQL server databases, Logins, Permissions, Users, Objects etc.
5. Determine and work on all SQL server tasks on each separate server.
MS SQL / MySQL - A Case Study
The release of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 on November 7th 2005 created a buzz around the office for IT professionals. The use of SQL server by businesses as in an in house data server has become increasingly more popular, this same popularity is now beginning to shift to the web hosting industry.
With the release of MS SQL 2005 Microsoft had this to say
"Microsoft SQL Server 2005 provides an integrated data management and analysis platform that helps organizations reliably manage mission-critical information and confidently run complex business applications. With embedded reporting and data analysis tools included with SQL Server 2005, companies can gain greater insight from their business information."
The norm for hosting companies has forever been mySQL. mySQL is a free license database server which has an easy to use php based interface called phpmyadmin.
The difference in these two database platforms has become more apparent since the release of MS SQL 2005. We will look at two website hosting companies one of which offers only mySQL on a windows server and one which offers both a mySQL and MS SQL 2005 database to its customers
It is very difficult to make a performance comparison between SQL Server 2005 and MySQL version 4.1. The performance of your databases depends upon the experience of the database developers and database administrator rather than the database's provider. You can use both of these RDBMS to build stable and efficient systems. It is also possible to define typical transactions used in inventory control systems such as airline reservation systems and banking systems. After defining these typical transactions, it is possible to run them under the different database management systems working with different hardware and software platforms.
The comparison aspect being looked at here is how the two web hosting companies sell their hosting packages and which company in turn produced a greater number of sales based on its database offerings. Fivecubed.com who offers MSSQL anteed up a large amount of money to host MSSQL for its customers in the hopes that more customers would use the service solely for the MSSQL. The break-even point for Fivecubed.com was $8,000 because they purchased the MSSQL 2005 standard edition processor specific. This puts 6squared.com at a huge advantage over fivecubed.com.
Both companies offer hosting for all price levels and incorporate a large array of features, which puts them on a somewhat even playing field if marketing is ignored. Fivecubed.com and 6squared.com were studied over a period of 1 month. The results of their sales from the period beginning November 7th, and Ending December 7th were as follows: Fivecubed.com had new sales of only database additions (not including hosting packages without database access) totaling 189 sales which translates into $2,632. The databases are sold based on two criteria size and quantity. 6squared.com offered its databases free during this one-month period and generated no additional revenue from database sales. This puts 6squared.com ahead of fivecubed.com by $5,368 at the end of one month by not purchasing MS SQL server.
Now for a projection of sales by fivecubed.com's finance department. They determined a growth rate of 10% per month for the next 24 months. At the end of this time the total number of databases sold will equal 1,692.36, which translates into $13,538.88. As long as these forecasts hold fivecubed.com will reach its break even point by the 18th month and will turn a profit on the 19th month.
With the release of MS SQL 2005 Microsoft had this to say
"Microsoft SQL Server 2005 provides an integrated data management and analysis platform that helps organizations reliably manage mission-critical information and confidently run complex business applications. With embedded reporting and data analysis tools included with SQL Server 2005, companies can gain greater insight from their business information."
The norm for hosting companies has forever been mySQL. mySQL is a free license database server which has an easy to use php based interface called phpmyadmin.
The difference in these two database platforms has become more apparent since the release of MS SQL 2005. We will look at two website hosting companies one of which offers only mySQL on a windows server and one which offers both a mySQL and MS SQL 2005 database to its customers
It is very difficult to make a performance comparison between SQL Server 2005 and MySQL version 4.1. The performance of your databases depends upon the experience of the database developers and database administrator rather than the database's provider. You can use both of these RDBMS to build stable and efficient systems. It is also possible to define typical transactions used in inventory control systems such as airline reservation systems and banking systems. After defining these typical transactions, it is possible to run them under the different database management systems working with different hardware and software platforms.
The comparison aspect being looked at here is how the two web hosting companies sell their hosting packages and which company in turn produced a greater number of sales based on its database offerings. Fivecubed.com who offers MSSQL anteed up a large amount of money to host MSSQL for its customers in the hopes that more customers would use the service solely for the MSSQL. The break-even point for Fivecubed.com was $8,000 because they purchased the MSSQL 2005 standard edition processor specific. This puts 6squared.com at a huge advantage over fivecubed.com.
Both companies offer hosting for all price levels and incorporate a large array of features, which puts them on a somewhat even playing field if marketing is ignored. Fivecubed.com and 6squared.com were studied over a period of 1 month. The results of their sales from the period beginning November 7th, and Ending December 7th were as follows: Fivecubed.com had new sales of only database additions (not including hosting packages without database access) totaling 189 sales which translates into $2,632. The databases are sold based on two criteria size and quantity. 6squared.com offered its databases free during this one-month period and generated no additional revenue from database sales. This puts 6squared.com ahead of fivecubed.com by $5,368 at the end of one month by not purchasing MS SQL server.
Now for a projection of sales by fivecubed.com's finance department. They determined a growth rate of 10% per month for the next 24 months. At the end of this time the total number of databases sold will equal 1,692.36, which translates into $13,538.88. As long as these forecasts hold fivecubed.com will reach its break even point by the 18th month and will turn a profit on the 19th month.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web
Databases and Licensing.
Databases are the backbone of even basic Internet applications these days. Generally hidden away as the final layer in all software architecture, the database is the heart of any web application that needs to store and access information.
Microsoft's SQL Server is one of the top of the line databases that can be used for Enterprise or web related applications. It's fast, powerful, and has excellent integration with all Microsoft products. Unfortunately, it's adoption as a database for small web applications has been restricted till now due to a tiny stumbling block known as Licensing.
For normal SQL databases, Microsoft imposes a fee for each entity connected with the database. This was called a Client Access License (CAL) and could be processor based, user based, or device based. Essentially, it means that, if you purchased a user based CAL, you would have to pay a fee for each user accessing the database and for device based CAL's, a license fee would have to be paid for each device accessing the database irrespective of the user.
This is reasonable in Enterprise applications within a company, but is a killer for small web applications.
Web applications and database licensing problems.
When a database is accessed by a web application, there is generally no limit on how many users can access the database. Thus, user based CAL's are out of the question. The same goes for device based CAL's since you can't pay for each computer out there on the Internet. Therefore, that leaves us with Processor based CAL's where you pay for each processor (physical or virtual) that Microsoft's SQL server runs on.
However, we learned in the article on the Microsoft Application Request Routing Module, that web applications need to be scalable. This means that it should be easy and cost effective to add or remove resources from a web based system at will. And that includes processor power.
Processor driven CAL's turn out to be expensive in the long run as your web site grows more and more demanding as you begin to pay for each additional CPU that is added. A normal quad core CPU can end up costing you a lot in Licensing fees.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web Edition.
Microsoft's new SQL server 2008 web edition has been specially made for small business that need to economize in cost. Essentially, it allows you to run a SQL server database on up to 4 CPU's at a very low cost with unlimited database size and memory.
This database license can only be used for web based applications and has special technological features that optimize it for this purpose such as administration tools and tight integration with .NET technologies.
Since there are no limitations on it's growth apart from 4 CPU's, the standard CAL scheme of licensing does not apply to the SQL server web edition. Since the overall cost is low, even small start-ups can afford to use this powerful database.
Currently, what usually happens is that businesses on a budget start off with a free RDBMS like MySQL as a proof of concept and suffer later when they need a more professional database like MSSQL due to the fact that migration is not easy (no matter how abstracted the database is).
With the web edition, they can start using MSSQL immediately and reap the benefits of the ease of use and programming integration right from day one.
Databases are the backbone of even basic Internet applications these days. Generally hidden away as the final layer in all software architecture, the database is the heart of any web application that needs to store and access information.
Microsoft's SQL Server is one of the top of the line databases that can be used for Enterprise or web related applications. It's fast, powerful, and has excellent integration with all Microsoft products. Unfortunately, it's adoption as a database for small web applications has been restricted till now due to a tiny stumbling block known as Licensing.
For normal SQL databases, Microsoft imposes a fee for each entity connected with the database. This was called a Client Access License (CAL) and could be processor based, user based, or device based. Essentially, it means that, if you purchased a user based CAL, you would have to pay a fee for each user accessing the database and for device based CAL's, a license fee would have to be paid for each device accessing the database irrespective of the user.
This is reasonable in Enterprise applications within a company, but is a killer for small web applications.
Web applications and database licensing problems.
When a database is accessed by a web application, there is generally no limit on how many users can access the database. Thus, user based CAL's are out of the question. The same goes for device based CAL's since you can't pay for each computer out there on the Internet. Therefore, that leaves us with Processor based CAL's where you pay for each processor (physical or virtual) that Microsoft's SQL server runs on.
However, we learned in the article on the Microsoft Application Request Routing Module, that web applications need to be scalable. This means that it should be easy and cost effective to add or remove resources from a web based system at will. And that includes processor power.
Processor driven CAL's turn out to be expensive in the long run as your web site grows more and more demanding as you begin to pay for each additional CPU that is added. A normal quad core CPU can end up costing you a lot in Licensing fees.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web Edition.
Microsoft's new SQL server 2008 web edition has been specially made for small business that need to economize in cost. Essentially, it allows you to run a SQL server database on up to 4 CPU's at a very low cost with unlimited database size and memory.
This database license can only be used for web based applications and has special technological features that optimize it for this purpose such as administration tools and tight integration with .NET technologies.
Since there are no limitations on it's growth apart from 4 CPU's, the standard CAL scheme of licensing does not apply to the SQL server web edition. Since the overall cost is low, even small start-ups can afford to use this powerful database.
Currently, what usually happens is that businesses on a budget start off with a free RDBMS like MySQL as a proof of concept and suffer later when they need a more professional database like MSSQL due to the fact that migration is not easy (no matter how abstracted the database is).
With the web edition, they can start using MSSQL immediately and reap the benefits of the ease of use and programming integration right from day one.
MySQL Vs MsSQL
The best among all data management solutions available today are the MySQL and MsSQL. Although, that both of those solutions are working really good, there are a lot of differences between them and when it comes to choosing, which is the best among them, there are a lot of things that you should know.
First, I would like to focus on the flexibility that is offered by those 2 types of data management solutions, because that is one of the main things that you will be looking for when using them. If you take a brief look at both solutions, you will notice that they support all the major protocols, which are required to access the databases. However, after a close examination, you will notice that the MySQL do not follows the ANSI SQL standards. Although that this is not a large issue, when the data that you are storing, starts to grow, the need for upgrade to MsSQL will grow. Mainly, you will notice the difference if you are using those data management solutions for an e-commerce website.
When you are storing data using those data management solutions, the main thing that you will have to do is to secure it. Both MySQL and MsSQL are supporting very good security measures, but they are doing that in a different way. The MySQL uses SQL Grant command, which is limited to table level of security granting. On the other hand MsSQL, supports column level of security, which will allow you to secure only specific portions of the data to be secured, which means that the other part of the table will be viewable, unlike the security of offered by MySQL.
After you had chosen to use data management solutions, you should learn what the options that you can use for the support are. Here comes the good part - both data management solutions are offering great support for their customers, which includes both free and paid plans. However, here comes another slight difference and that is in the number of people, who are employed to give live support. If you are using MySQL, there are only 100 people worldwide, who are offering support, but with the MsSQL, there are a lot more, because as you know there are so many Microsoft employees all over the world that is really hard to give an exact number.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the choice between MySQL and MsSQL, depends only on the purpose of the system you will be creating. Therefore, when you set your goals you can easily find the most suitable data management solution and put it to use. However, remember that the fact that both solutions look pretty the same on the surface, if you do a good research, you will notice that the MsSQL offers better support, flexibility and security, so keep that in your mind when making the choice between those 2 solutions.
First, I would like to focus on the flexibility that is offered by those 2 types of data management solutions, because that is one of the main things that you will be looking for when using them. If you take a brief look at both solutions, you will notice that they support all the major protocols, which are required to access the databases. However, after a close examination, you will notice that the MySQL do not follows the ANSI SQL standards. Although that this is not a large issue, when the data that you are storing, starts to grow, the need for upgrade to MsSQL will grow. Mainly, you will notice the difference if you are using those data management solutions for an e-commerce website.
When you are storing data using those data management solutions, the main thing that you will have to do is to secure it. Both MySQL and MsSQL are supporting very good security measures, but they are doing that in a different way. The MySQL uses SQL Grant command, which is limited to table level of security granting. On the other hand MsSQL, supports column level of security, which will allow you to secure only specific portions of the data to be secured, which means that the other part of the table will be viewable, unlike the security of offered by MySQL.
After you had chosen to use data management solutions, you should learn what the options that you can use for the support are. Here comes the good part - both data management solutions are offering great support for their customers, which includes both free and paid plans. However, here comes another slight difference and that is in the number of people, who are employed to give live support. If you are using MySQL, there are only 100 people worldwide, who are offering support, but with the MsSQL, there are a lot more, because as you know there are so many Microsoft employees all over the world that is really hard to give an exact number.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the choice between MySQL and MsSQL, depends only on the purpose of the system you will be creating. Therefore, when you set your goals you can easily find the most suitable data management solution and put it to use. However, remember that the fact that both solutions look pretty the same on the surface, if you do a good research, you will notice that the MsSQL offers better support, flexibility and security, so keep that in your mind when making the choice between those 2 solutions.
SQL Server 2008 Hosting - MS SQL 2008 Database Affects on Business Activities
SQL Server 2008 can help developers to receive queries against data, using a managed programming language, instead of database statements. Developers are enabled to use strongly typed, set-oriented queries to run against ADO.NET DataSets, ADO.NET (LINQ to SQL), the ADO.NET Entity Framework, also to the Entity Data Service Mapping provider. A LINQ to SQL provider allows developers to utilize LINQ directly on SQL Server 2008.
SQL Server 2008 releases brand new time and date types. The new data types enable all applications to have individual time and data types. Spatial capabilities are handled by the Special Data Types which support spatial data and related types. Clients can utilize Round Earth resolutions with the geography type. Using basic latitude and longitude coordinates. Integrated Full Text Search or FTS makes going from Text Searches and related data effortless. NULL data consumes no actual physical space and has the user in mind. MS SQL 08 eliminates the limited 8KB for user defined types, allowing users to expand their UDT size. Customers are enabled to manage their own database remotely with and SQL client.
Clients can manage their SQL 2008 databases with a web-based SQL manager. It is easy to improve your effect-ability in the workforce. It is unimaginable how a company does business without have the least of SQL's abilities. SQL servers are able to successfully handle millions of transactions a day and provide an excellent backbone for high-traffic Web sites and add an added bonus to on line business. Intermediate suggests Microsoft SQL Server as a solution for data-intensive, e-commerce Web sites, or other sites that require high availability and performance. In addition to enhanced dependability and function, SQL Server 2008 offers several in-depth features which attract the developer clientele in the areas of data compression, date/time data and user-defined types. Hosting for SQL is plenty.
Many MS SQL 2008 hosting sites offer nominal fees which attribute directly to your web hosting needs. The Object Service layer of ADO.NET allows the materialization, change tracking, and continuation of data as CLR objects. Developers may use the ADO.NET framework program against a database, using CLR objects that are managed strictly by ADO.NET. It also offers far better support and will actually improve the performance as well as making development easy. SQL Services (BETA) is a suite of cloud-based SQL Server abilities. The first of these is SQL Data Services which give Internet-facing database and advanced query processing services for customers in search of building new applications or the integration of existing investments giving versatility as well as flexibility.
SQL Server 2008 releases brand new time and date types. The new data types enable all applications to have individual time and data types. Spatial capabilities are handled by the Special Data Types which support spatial data and related types. Clients can utilize Round Earth resolutions with the geography type. Using basic latitude and longitude coordinates. Integrated Full Text Search or FTS makes going from Text Searches and related data effortless. NULL data consumes no actual physical space and has the user in mind. MS SQL 08 eliminates the limited 8KB for user defined types, allowing users to expand their UDT size. Customers are enabled to manage their own database remotely with and SQL client.
Clients can manage their SQL 2008 databases with a web-based SQL manager. It is easy to improve your effect-ability in the workforce. It is unimaginable how a company does business without have the least of SQL's abilities. SQL servers are able to successfully handle millions of transactions a day and provide an excellent backbone for high-traffic Web sites and add an added bonus to on line business. Intermediate suggests Microsoft SQL Server as a solution for data-intensive, e-commerce Web sites, or other sites that require high availability and performance. In addition to enhanced dependability and function, SQL Server 2008 offers several in-depth features which attract the developer clientele in the areas of data compression, date/time data and user-defined types. Hosting for SQL is plenty.
Many MS SQL 2008 hosting sites offer nominal fees which attribute directly to your web hosting needs. The Object Service layer of ADO.NET allows the materialization, change tracking, and continuation of data as CLR objects. Developers may use the ADO.NET framework program against a database, using CLR objects that are managed strictly by ADO.NET. It also offers far better support and will actually improve the performance as well as making development easy. SQL Services (BETA) is a suite of cloud-based SQL Server abilities. The first of these is SQL Data Services which give Internet-facing database and advanced query processing services for customers in search of building new applications or the integration of existing investments giving versatility as well as flexibility.
SQL Server Hosting - MSSQL Vs MySQL
I know it is hard to decide between SQL Server Hosting and MySQL hosting. Which is better? Which is more reliable? Which offers more features? These are just a few questions when it comes to SQL Server versus MySQL. The answer to all these questions is...SQL Server. While both of them are very good at keeping your data organized and make it available through an easy to use user interface (UI), there are huge differences between them!
A major concern when it comes to database development is the ability to access the data through standard based protocols. Don't worry, both SQL Server and MySQL support all major protocols. The most common protocol is the "programming language" and is used to communicate with the database. It is called Transact SQL, or short tSQL. You can Insert, Delete, or Update records in the database by using the tSQL. This protocol follows the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines and one of the biggest concerns regarding MySQL is that it does not fully respect the ANSI SQL standard.
There are also major differences between the two database development tools when it comes to their best uses. MySQL is geared more toward selecting, displaying, updating, and saving data and is weak when it comes to deleting or inserting data. If you are looking to just track clients in a database, MySQL is very good at it. However, if you are designing a database for a medium to large company, used for any type of commerce, SQL Server is the best option by far. It has a lot more options and features.
Let's see what the Server has over its competitor. It supports Triggers, User Defined Functions, Stored Procedures, full Import/Export, full Transaction Support, and it has Cursor Support and FULL Join capabilities. You can clearly see why SQL Server is better if you want to have full control over your database. There are also a lot more things you can do in the Server. Administrators can abstract database designs from developers by using the simple SQL VIEWS. Complex code can be stored into simple interfaces by using the User Defined Functions (UDFs). These are just a few examples of what SQL Server has to offer. Please note that this database development tool has all the features of MySQL and that all of the features presented here are extras.
If you still can't decide which is better, we suggest making a one-on-one comparison and study what each platform can do and how it can do it. It is the best way to make up your mind.
A major concern when it comes to database development is the ability to access the data through standard based protocols. Don't worry, both SQL Server and MySQL support all major protocols. The most common protocol is the "programming language" and is used to communicate with the database. It is called Transact SQL, or short tSQL. You can Insert, Delete, or Update records in the database by using the tSQL. This protocol follows the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines and one of the biggest concerns regarding MySQL is that it does not fully respect the ANSI SQL standard.
There are also major differences between the two database development tools when it comes to their best uses. MySQL is geared more toward selecting, displaying, updating, and saving data and is weak when it comes to deleting or inserting data. If you are looking to just track clients in a database, MySQL is very good at it. However, if you are designing a database for a medium to large company, used for any type of commerce, SQL Server is the best option by far. It has a lot more options and features.
Let's see what the Server has over its competitor. It supports Triggers, User Defined Functions, Stored Procedures, full Import/Export, full Transaction Support, and it has Cursor Support and FULL Join capabilities. You can clearly see why SQL Server is better if you want to have full control over your database. There are also a lot more things you can do in the Server. Administrators can abstract database designs from developers by using the simple SQL VIEWS. Complex code can be stored into simple interfaces by using the User Defined Functions (UDFs). These are just a few examples of what SQL Server has to offer. Please note that this database development tool has all the features of MySQL and that all of the features presented here are extras.
If you still can't decide which is better, we suggest making a one-on-one comparison and study what each platform can do and how it can do it. It is the best way to make up your mind.