Thursday, November 19, 2009

A Guide in Purchasing Customized Mousepads

The mousepad can be recognized as one of the most handy computer accessories. Custom printed mousepads are even more convenient because apart from its fundamental function, it can also be used as a advertising tool. You may stamp your company name or logo and instantaneously turn it as a part of your advertising campaign.

It was Jack Kelley who conceptualized the first form of a mousepad which was utilized by Douglas Engelbart in'68 during his public presentation of the mouse. During that time it took the form of a console with a keyboard. After a year Jack Kelley conceived the first official mousepad. The rest, as they term, is history. People currently are enjoying the profits of this wonderful computer accessory.

Once customized mousepads are printed with your company name you may confer them to your clients and customers to make your company and publicity message known to them. Since they will be employing them hand in hand with a computer and a mouse, they will always have your logo and advertising message right under their fingertips! You may even confer it to your employees as recognition for a job well done. It may be employed even outside the office. anybody who uses a computer would always have a need for customized mousepads. This makes mousepads the perfect giveaway, they are going to be used and valued!

Here are other benefits of logo imprinted mousepads:

1. Optimum Stamping Space - Promotional mousepads have a wide surface area that can be utilized for your stamping needs. You can take up the whole space if you'd like or maybe just a fraction of it. It's all up to your choice.

2. Chic, Funky Designs - There are numerous eye-catching designs to select from. You may alter it according to your company's preference

3. Additional Features - Some branded mousepads are equipped with extra, practical accessories like a built-in calculator or pen or wrist rest. You save money and time from having to buy these items individually.

4. Lightweight and Convenient - Customized mousepads are very handy so your customers won't have a difficult time carrying it with them in case they just came from your trade show. They can just keep it inside their bags or briefcases.

5. Made to Last - They are tough, high grade goods. You can be guaranteed that your customers will be able to take pleasure in them for a long time.

Before you go ahead and buy your own promotional mousepads, here are some things you have to keep in mind first:

1. Mousepad Price - Scout for the best deals and see which ones suit your budget. You don't want to go over your budget too much. Try to work with the resource plan you have.

2. Type of Mousepad - Promotional mousepads vary in their surface texture. Look around and survey which pads can be generally used by most people. Make sure that the ones you pick are user friendly so more of your customers will benefit from them.

3. Style and Color - Remember that you want to leave a good impression on your customers. Choose a design and color that will best balance your company name and logo. See to it that the final design is attractive to the eye

4. Check the Size - There are a lot of mousepads out there which contrast in sizes. Select the one which is most appropriate for most types of people. Make sure that it's not too big or not too small. You don't want to overwhelm or undervalue your customers.

5. Reflective Area - Be wary of mousepads with shiny surfaces. The newer generation of visual mice can get a bad reading on some of these and make the curser zoom off the screen. The last thing you want is your customer disillusioned in the item you picked.

Sarah Kendra Calister is a marketing expert who writes articles about Custom Logo Mouse Pads and Promotional Products.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

How to Succeed With Local Printable Coupons

Small businesses are looking for cheap advertising, and the Internet has seen nearly a 1000% increase in searches for "printable coupons" over the last three years. Consumer searches for "printable coupons" have by far outpaced previously popular searches like "online deals", creating unprecedented opportunity for local businesses to take back a large fraction of the consumer market share that has been lost to online shopping (source: dealyp.com).

To stay competitive, small businesses need to be found when potential customers begin their search for local deals online. To take advantage of this trend toward online local bargain hunting, brick & mortar shops can keep their edge by utilizing freely available online local printable coupon publishers.

There are a few key differences between printable coupon sites and traditional coupon mailers that the small business will need to consider before getting started:

1. Online coupon publishers tend to focus on coupon quality. They rank the best deals and put the most popular ones more visibly in front of the local consumer. Thus, as a small business owner, it's often in your interest more so than ever before to create an outstanding coupon, which will be given more exposure based on its merit.

2. Keywords matter a lot more for printable coupons. more on keyword usage will be explained below.

3. Printable coupons won't be delivered directly to consumers. This is a con since you can no longer blast consumers with any deal, but a pro since you have the opportunity for free merit-based exposure. Since your business does not have to subsidize the cost of printing tens of thousands of coupons to reach the local market, it can achieve reach through quality and relevance.

As a coupon publisher, the small business's main objective is to attract new customers. When your business creates an printable online coupon, the title and keywords are crucial not only toward ranking well on the coupon search engine, but on general search engines as well. While some of your traffic will come directly from the local coupon publisher on which you list your coupon, potentially a majority of traffic will originate from the major search engines like Google and Yahoo. To ensure a successful printable local coupon across all these search engines, choose keywords relevant to your coupon, but also try to anticipate your target audience's search query. If your potential customers don't know your brand, then you would have much more success by targeting their searches for printable local coupons by category. So, for example, if you are an auto repair shop called "Wreckin Bob's", and are offering printable coupons, then your title might include the phrase "Auto Repair" instead of your name, since searches won't be relevant to your name unless the consumer already knows of your existence.

Finally, regularity and frequency still hold weight in the online coupon world as much as they did offline. If your businesses regularly issues online printable coupons, then local consumers should begin to anticipate your next round of printable coupons and come back for more.

Brian Bien is a co-founder of SaveNextDoor.com, a local printable coupons search site for small businesses looking for free local coupon advertising. Brian can be reached at brian@savenextdoor.com.