We have a winner!
I’m very pleased to announce that Karen is the winner of the Holiday Alphabetography contest PsPrint sponsored over at PhotographyCorner.com. Karen is a Premier Member of the forums and has won a $200 Gift Certificate for any PsPrint products or services!
Way to go Karen! What a lovely submission!
Read MoreMeet Me at Affiliate Summit West 2009!
Holy smokes, I leave in a week for Affliate Summit West 2009! Once again at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, I’m looking forward to a trip to the Carnival World Buffet and some networking madness! This will be my 4th summit, so I’ve begun to know what to expect – at least enough to once again take on a conference newbie through the Affiliate Summit Mentor Program to help them to know what to expect.
I’ll be arriving the afternoon of January 9th with a bag or two and some tentative dinner plans under my arm! I’ve been anxiously loading sessions I want to be sure to attend and other auxiliary events into my Tripit account to keep track of everything. If you want to chat with me I’m sure I won’t be hard to find, but you can always drop me a line too.
If you want to go and haven’t registered for the conference yet, DO IT NOW! They’re close to a sell out, as usual, by about Monday the 5th with only a couple hundred registration spots left.
See you there!
Read MoreGenius Level… Is it such a bad thing?
In catching up with my Google Reader subscriptions I see a post on Writing Forward about the reading level of one’s blog. This little widget allows for a nice bridge into writing for the broadest audience possible. In my infinite curiosity, I went and had this blog analyzed.
Is this really a bad thing? Blog author Melissa Donovan seems to think so:
Writers who use big words and fancy phrases will not reach the broadest audience possible, and in fact, will turn many potential readers away. Who wants to expend a whole lot of energy to decipher a short story or understand a blog post? When a writer tries to come off as brilliant by using complex language, the effort usually outshines the material.
Personally I’m not so sure it’s a bad thing to exhibit my intelligence. I wouldn’t say that I write in a manner that excludes people… I’m pretty sure that anyone I know could chime in and join the conversation. And I don’t know many geniuses. So what is it about a post that makes the reading a genius level read? I’m very curious what standards this particular website is using on making that assessment.
Thoughts? Do I need to dumb this down, so to speak?
Read MoreAnother Suitcase in Another Hall
It’s the end of a 2 year streak for me here running our Mailing Services at PsPrint. I’m passing it on to an able-bodied lieutenant and the Customer Service department… probably where it should have been the whole time. At this point the majority of the day to day stuff has been passed on and it is a bit strange to come in and not have to do these things.
But what will I do with my days? More of the same, really, just with more time to focus. We’re still transitioning our current affiliate program into a reseller program and have begun our true affiliate program over at Commission Junction. I’ll have more time to properly manage both programs and follow up with affiliates and resellers alike.
There will also be more time to focus on our email marketing campaigns, trade shows, advertising opportunities, blogging, social network marketing, reputation management, new media, and our green printing initiative.
So the end of an era has come and 2008 will be a fresh year for me here. I’m excited, and yet, anxious. Bring it on!
Read More7. Give Stuff Away for Free
7. Give stuff away for free. (I don’t think this contradicts the previous point but maybe?) People love free. Offer a free version of your product, provide coupon codes, etc. Whenever we include a coupon code in a newsletter, there’s a big uptick in upgrades.
Over at 37 Signals, they have a great post today on 10 Ways to Get Ink. While we’re not giving something away outright for free, we are sponsoring another contest with PhotographyCorner.com. This time we’re providing some prizes for their 2007 Photograph of the Year Contest. I joined the forums over there myself last week when I got word we were sponsoring Contest Corner Challenge #43: Holiday Alphabetography. It’s a great little community over there, being a hobby photographer myself. Room for professionals and amateurs alike!
So go on over, join the forums, get to postin’, and enter to win!
25 Death-Defying Design Principles for Direct Marketing … in 25 Minutes
Anyone interested in a free webcast to pick up some marketing tips, come on down! Sandra J. Blum brings experience in direct marketing, advertising and marketing communications to her highly rated sessions. Register for free at the Dynamic Graphics website.
From the Dynamic Graphics website:
In this fast-paced webcast, sponsored by PsPrint, you’ll see the visual elements of persuasion and moments of truth that trigger response. You’ll learn about specific changes (often minor) you can make to improve response significantly. And you’ll hear the latest research on design approaches that work. This is one practical session that’s focused on helping you evaluate creative content with innovative insight.
This will be a great session for small businesses, copywriters, and graphic designers everywhere. I’m personally looking forward to catching this one as I missed the last webcast we sponsored, and I hear it was fantastic. For 2008 we’re really looking at some cutting edge new marketing techniques and I’ll be on the supreme lookout for new things to try! New contests, viral marketing, and blogging like crazy! The new year is going to be exciting here at PsPrint!
