Dear Advertisers:
Let me take this moment to welcome you to the most unique place on the Web for you to be.
Unique because every advertiser is afforded their own web page referred to as
an "anchor page."
Your Advertising Project is Hand-Made.
The webportals are designed exclusively for local, small businesses to provide you with
the opportunity to have a presence on the web in a portal for Las Vegas or Phoenix.
Advertiser's Central -
Intro Discussion
READ ME FIRST
Decision .. to advertise
You can either scroll down through everything we have to say,
or you can be selective by the topic links we provide here.
Web Publishing Secrets
3-Clicks
Guerrilla Marketing THE 800 LBS ..
Never a monthly web-hosting fee @ Shop LV ...
.. facelift * or your own website?
Click here
Proofing
Flash Basic 101
* Facelift service is to take your existing work and raise it to a professional level.
Glen Lerner
- the Heavy Hitter
Banner Advertising
Visuals, Publishing Design
& Font Selection
Advertising is all about "first impressions" and "image." It is our responsibility
to do everything we can to make you look good. Here is an illustration taken
from a catering service, The Keg and Cork dot-com,
and on their homepage is a large horizontal (space hogging, little meaning) image with an
introduction and two testimonials shoved down, primarily out of view. Besides
a half a dozen issues that I do not intend to review, ie, scope of the illustration; you judge
for yourself the
before and
after.
Note: both were captured with 1024 x 768 resolution.
3-in-1 Anchor Plus
Illustrations
"Attorney Corner"
Law Firm Facelift Case Study
Proof Shakedown
Restaurant Services
It's your money ..
How we charge for all our services
Our Three Products/Packages .. further explained
Business Cards
30 / 30
Anchor Illustrations
Anchor Plus
Other Options, etc.
Good Bad Examples .. in publishing
Compare our three products for advertising ..
Each product (and price range) is designed
to meet your advertising needs starting
with our $50 (annually) Business Card,
$75 for your own Anchor Page (Homepage,)
and our "Best Bet" Anchor Plus for $250
and ridiculous renewals* of $100 thereafter!
* Rate Chart
Click here to learn more about your Best Bet!
And, before we gave up on the print media, our
Media Budget Chart
Considering the Review Journal .. here's our story.
As a public service ..
Shop Las Vegas is not affiliated with Stephens Press
or any other print media publication.
Nifty Nickel -- one of the best classifieds in print in the valley for those that
like to budget
for a 2 cpi service directory display ad at the rate of $60 per week.
Neighborhood Distribution Papers
If you feel that most of your customers are local ...
In Las Vegas, we have many small newspapers and one of the primary (small) newspapers
is in the Stephen Press family of the Las Vegas Journal and Sun.
It has a reasonable
distribution and should be
given serious thought for your advertising dollars. Yes, our own
reading behaviors may dictate otherwise. If we are likely to use
such papers for our kitchen garbage, well, we may not want to spend a dime on
same.
The point being: print media advertising is not cheap under any circumstances
and if you are going to advertise your business at all, that you have to make some
decisions that will be costly. I didn't try the View Neighborhood
Newspapers because I ran out of money for advertising Shop Las Vegas before I could.
Yes, I had a relatively small advertising budget too.
Shop Las Vegas advertisers that avail themselves of my advertising design services,
I will often point to a current issue of Nifty Nickel and the View and ask them if
they are in them (advertising.) By the body language they display,
I can determine whether they are pro-advertising, or looking for the best deal in
price which is a dicy game.
Television Advertising
No, Shop Las Vegas does not engage in television advertising and for good reason:
we could hardly offer the priceline we do, if we did.
You can not do everything, or expect everything when our focus is on the
internet media and the search engine environment that really does help our
advertisers having their own page.
Thai Taste Advertising
In 1987, 21 years ago, my wife and I built a Thai food restaurant in Anaheim,
California. Every Friday evening edition, the local Orange County
newspaper, the Register, published a restaurant guide insert and we would run
a $100 1x 3 cpi display ad that worked. Yes, we had to spend money
to make money, but if you are going into business without this basic principle,
you are making a mistake. I still have that (eye appealing) display
ad and when I find it, I will publish it here for your information.
Business Failures
One tv spot basing it advertising on the "horror concept" says that
40,000 businesses go out of business each month. You
need to take that and translate it into local numbers to understand
better that going into business does have some very serious consequences.
In our Las Vegas Valley market, their are two major sources
for business license
information to be had: City of Las Vegas and
Henderson.
Both, on average, have 400 to 45-75 licenses per week, respectively.
Now, it has my experience that some business industries are more volatile than
others when it comes to computing attrition rates, and for the sake of arguement
let's use a conservative attrition rate of 20% which translates into (a) 500 new
business licenses per week in both
Henderson
and Las Vegas (not including North Las Vegas which is dominated with the
Hispanic market.) (b) You
have 100 businesses going under every week in the valley. Some
areas or locations are worse, eg,
Fantastic Indoor Swapmeet on Decatur.
And, for your reading enjoyment, the
"Food Chain".
How to compare Shop Las Vegas
.. results
The Las Vegas Convention Authority has always done a superb job in target marketing for the tourism industry
and the tourist dollar. They have always created attractive webpages.
Click on the Search Options illustration to the right to see "all" their advertisers and/or the type of
businesses that may benefit,eg, Dillard's at the Fashion Show Mall. Please also notice that
the list is alphabetical by business name which in many ways means the potential consumer knows something
about that business or like a tourist visiting here may neither care about valley area or other characteristics
such as a high-end mall retail store, or a major department store; just interested in finding places to
spend some of their vacation budget money.
The LV Leisure Guide has been around longer than Shop Las Vegas and we like to think that we learned from
their mistakes as they apply to infrastructure for local businesses.
For instance, we have designed an infrastructure that maximizes the service or product of a business to
six major sections: business, consumer, dining, recreation (and lodging) and community.
Most websites, or webportals address this aspect with one dimension: category. Our
category infrastructure also relates a group of categories to a group, eg,
automotive services.
Other Casino Property Offerings
Castle Walk, like Ceasar's Forum Shops is a good example of a market niche for tourist that generally
speaking spend 100% of their time in town on the Strip and destinations for tourist dollars.
Most of these outlets are expensive due to their high visibility and overhead inside a casino.
Of all the major tourist market niches that we address, reservations for shows, sports events and
hotel accomodations are competitive areas that we believe detract from the objectives of Shop Las Vegas
to provide a premium outlet for local businesses (off the Strip.) We do service accounts
for local businesses on the Strip, but purely as a minority factor overal to the tourist industry.
Dining is an interesting category because we have seen many restaurant owners literally throw away their
advertising dollars in anticipation that some visiting tourist are going to drive 5 miles off the Strip
and come out to Durango and Twain to enjoy a Chicago-style meal. The bulk of their advertising
dollars goes into the dining guide, a throw-away brochure size versus in the publishing of their table menu and details about the
restaurant online. In fact, we would have to say that we have never seen a repeat (advertising)
customer. *
We certainly understand why such a proposition is tempting, and $700-1,200 for a half page, one run issue,
and a shody online table menu "list" with minimal overall details; nothing about wedding receptions, private
parties and other catering services you may offer.
* Unless the advertising contract was for more than one issue, ie, $$$.
Cox Cable has entered into several major metropolitan markets across the nation including Las Vegas
and their focus is similar to Vegas Only, but has introduced consumer reviews. We do
not have a major complaint about this method, but it is being abused with fraudulent entries of
late and one should be careful in accepting both good and bad reviews.
YellowBook™ and other major (expensive) online directories, eg, CitySearch all use the review
concept. Sometimes we wonder who is paying their bills: the business advertisers
or consumers?
re: Competitive Advertising Banners
In order to provide your consumers with additional information
such as in
Child Care
informative or public service type sources, Shop Las Vegas will accept such
ads that are considered non-competitive. A recent example is
a series of children CDs designed to help parents with reading skills for
their young children, ie,
Your Baby can read.
Such ads augment the local merchants versus detract from their
message. Major Goodman during the past "Cyber-Monday" emphasized
such online advertising messages versus national-type products that literally
take away from local revenues.
Shop Las Vegas Publishng Policy
Our competition wants you, the advertiser, to be sandwiched amongst
disgruntled as well as satisfied customers, emphasis on disgruntled.
It looks like they have learned in their Cox Cable commercials not
to emphasize the benefit to the consumer as the advertisers pay their bills.
Our policy @ Shop Las Vegas
is not to get involved in rating our advertisers because we know
from our business experience you can never satisfy everyone.
Demanding outrageious publishing fees like "Kudzu" just to be listed is
the oldest infrastructure in the world and why Shop Las Vegas engineered
a premium infrastructure that serves both our advertisers and their
potential customers or consumers!
But, don't let us stop you -- it's your money to spend (and waste.)
 *
And, for those with a "sweet" budget, as the tv commercial says .. "Sweet.." Sweet, if you
like the notion of disgruntled customers
rating you, beyond your control, and Cox cable emphasizes this point
in soliciting your advertising dollars??? .. $75 (per month) for "mildly noticed," to
a $2,000 per year ** comittment for "maximum exposure." Cox/Kudzu also offer a "free listing."
Lotsa luck with that one. p.s. Try "City Search" while your throwing away
money; we'll be here when you get thru and are ready for real exposure.
Kudzu "extras" are all "standard" with Shop Las Vegas, the Cadallac of web publishing services.
* Do not compare Kudzu with Shop Las Vegas for service, support and customer satisfaction.
One - we have run businesses ourselves and do not (repeat - do not) integrate consumer reviews, the
basis for position ranking at Kudzu -- huh-choo! Now, that's what I call full disclosure!
It's your money ..
We compare "head on" -- never shy away from competition!
Never @ Shop-Las-Vegas dot-com!
If you are paying a couple of thousand dollars ($2,000)
for decent exposure (on a page - not your own page,) you expect somethings.
One of the things that you don't expect is every "tom, dick'n harry"
judging your (hard working) business because they weren't thrilled with your
services. Unfortunately, that is a "component" built into our
competitor's contract and you agreed to it up front.
At Shop-Las-Vegas dot-com, we know you have worked hard to establish your business
and know that you can not please everyone all of the time. If you could,
you should be writing a book about your accomplishments and get rich versus working
hard sometimes seven days a week. Shop-Las-Vegas dot-com
policy
is
that we understand running a business and will never provide consumers with the
capability of destroying your business with their negative comments.
You can spend a lot of money and have a very poor return, or you can work with
us @ Shop-Las-Vegas dot-com, get your own page, page named in your business name,
and hosted in a traffic area all year, easy to find in the search engines and
our own multi-index approach to your page or pages.
** I remember attending a "workshop" a zillion years ago where the vendor was selling websites like
real estate at the gouging rate of $500 per page. I wonder how long they lasted?
Production Company ..
www.RighteousProductions.com
(858) 566-2800
San Diego Vendor
Contacts
Television Production .. for your information and budget advertising, here is a L.A.-based production
company, Spot Runner, Inc. that has a model for entering your advertising budget plans and
areas you wish to have
exposure.
The model provides for analysis of three fixed weekly campaigns as well as
you can specify just how many weeks you want to run your advertising spot on television.
These advertising budgets start as low as $10,500 for a
4 Week Campaign and up to $31,500 for a
12 Week Campaign; with a moderate plan
for 8 Week Campaign for $21,000.
Weekly Budget
The model exercises a conservative spot ad schedule for each
week where you could actually reduce
the cost to $1,750 versus a conservative $2,625 to a $4,375 budget. Now, the model does not
explain whether we are talking about a 15-second spot, a 30-second spot or a 60-second spot nor the "frequency"
during that weekly period. Irregardless, be prepared for a large budget, eg, $10,500 (minimum)
for one month.
Back to earth @ Shop Las Vegas .. up to $250 per year *
Get us started
- yesterday !
Advertiser's Central
Here you will find everything spelled out for you.
.. our three advertising packages (spelled out)
Options (Explained)
Advertising Philosophy
Advertising Rates **
Packaging Check List
Sample Card
* Others start at $250 just for Set Up Fees before they get to monthly charges.
** Published rates -- fully disclosed; no eForms, ie, "What you see is what you get."
Equal Opportunity Provider ..
Shop Las Vegas, no matter what Southwest Market they are in, wants to provide
the opportunity for folks that have (a) a business license and (b) need to get a phone,
extent a special offer of an Anchor Page Only (Flyer size) for the price of the
Business Card Packge, a $25 savings, plus half hour of
proofing,
plus thru January, 2009 after we have a new president!
That's two (2) end of the year holiday seasons, to boot.
Every week, the City of Las Vegas publishes license information and regretfully, there
are some people that are attempting to run a business without a phone.
There is one major category that comes to mind: swap meet vendors.
They feel that they have a "captive audience" and can do without a phone .. I guess.
Then again, I am sure that these (no phone) entrepreneurs are working on
a "shoe string" budget. "Been there," wondering how I was going to meet
payroll, we think it is proper to offer a special advertising deal.
How can they take advantage of this offer without a phone?
Borrow a phone, borrow a computer and email your order, or the old fashion way,
a stamp and envelope. We will do the rest. No checking
account? No problem. US currency, cash, is always welcomed.
No Phone List This list has some of the
businesses we would like to contact, but of course, is not limited to them only.
Good luck and congratulations on the American spirit of entrepreneurialship.
A word on SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
When we publish your advertisement or prepare your web pages for your own website, we integrate the
fundamental principles for SEO methodology where your page titles, and internal meta tags are set up
for the major search engines.
Our Advertisers ..
We're working at making your job as easy as possible.
Just use your favorite shipper, throw everything you want to use for your web page(s) ad
in a box,
and mail it to us.
Packaging Check List
.. a few words on Proofing
Decision .. to advertise ...
Intro Discussion and the Real Estate Agent *
From 1996 to 2002, at the end of Frank's consulting career in Southern California,
Frank founded a line of wizard products for real estate, auto dealership, and chamber of commerce
with a URL named Listings-Wizards-R-Us dot-com, a spin off on Toys R Us.
Corporate Consulting Projects/Management
It was an application before its time, and today, there are many variations on
tools for auto dealerships as well as real estate, the two leading markets on the web.
Frank has retired, for all practicle purposes, from dp consulting for the desert sunshire
and this biz without the stress of project deadlines .. just advertising.
* Real Estate (Agent) is used in this discussion for illustration purposes only. The same
issues would apply to a pool service manager or a lawn maintenance business.
Recently, my wife brought home a property flyer from a her friend's husband and when I investigated
the (web) site content, I was pleasantly surprised. One - he chose to make a completely
separate URL for the property listing and two - he chose to take a "buck shot" approach to real estate
services (and, I am sure, at an exorbitant price.) So, as a chester of good will, I prepared
a business card page for his business, Realty Executives of Nevada, with links to both that property listing
and his primary website, Ahmad Sharif-Yazdi.
"Please sign up for our
one a kind news letter" .. I think he meant "one [of] a kind [newsletter]" (one word.)
Homepage
Now, this oversight would be understood better as Ahmad first language is not English, but he chose to
use an expensive publishing service by folks that claim to be the best in the industry.
Real Estate Website Design and Hosting Provided By
Advanced Access. Catchy name, but this minor
error that I found on his homepage doesn't make them look very professional.
Also, placement of key contact info on the homepage (at the bottom.) Wrong.
Next, his street address is "Fort Apache Drive" or "Ft Apache Dr," and the vendor spelled it
"Fourth Apache Drive." When I noticed this (major) error, I emailed the correction
to my friend .. it is still there today. Evidently, not an individual that understands
the importance of (a) reading one's email and (b) the integrity of your website.
Next is the introduction of a whole row of menu links where many are to empty pages. Again,
for the real estate agent that uses it, not very professional as to image. In fact, on the web
it has the opposite affect, ie, "one (mouse) click away" from going to another (web) site.
Then, to another marketing term that I believe I can take credit for coining: the "buck shot" approach
to categories such as "Useful Links." Only problem with that is that it makes more work for
the potential client than it is worth to review, each and every link. A better approach, for
a real estate agent wanting to provide relocation tips for buyers is to research local websites and organize
them in a logical manner from (a) turning on utilities to (b) useful places to go for recreation, dining, or
shopping.
re: Testimonials (without the testimonials; only vendor self-serving promo link)
re: Bundled Error
And, of course, the "super real estate" vendor thought of everything for an empty page, one link to loop to buyer info
and one link to loop to seller info. This is their idea of pacifying the web browser with something -- even
if it isn't what they were looking for, ie, testimonials. I think it is a nice (stupid) touch that just
waste the time of your prospect.
And, to really make it work, by valley areas such as Southwest,
Summerlin and key development properties
such as Centennial Hills and
Mountain Edge. Keep in mind, your audience is undoubtedly
viewers from out of town that do not know one area from another and by breaking it down into such key
reference areas, the prospective client may be motivated to contact you and allow you to be his agent.
It has been things less significant that motivate people, believe me.
Find that hard to believe? I got a project from a client that saw that I (simply) renewed
by yellow page advertisement in his directory and that "action" gave me creditability in his eyes.
You see, these veteran agents find it more advantageous to focus on
one area or development in town
versus the "buck shot" approach. It also helps seearch engines too.
Then, the innovative agent that list available properties.
Experienced versus Junior Website
Of course, the difference between a
professional with tons of experience and someone that just got their
business license, ie, real estate or whatever their profession, is "(web) site
content."
A veteran will have testimonials from happy clients and more tips on buying or selling a house.
But, there is no reason that either group could not have (a) buyer information, (b) seller information,
(c) relocation guide separate from the buyer details and (d) useful links. Someone that is
just starting out on the web, irregardless of level of experience, should do searches for
other like sites
and get some ideas for everything from (a)
content, to (b) cosmetic issues such as wallpaper, font, use of
graphics and potential navigation issues.
The Stationary Look™ makes your web pages
online a business-like
stationary.
A Trademark of Shop Las Vegas in publishing your advertisement.
See Bill's About Page
I hope this brief introduction has been useful to you and we look forward to doing business with you.
Legal Disclaimer: many of the veteran sites hi-lighted in this discussion are using some form of bundled
services which range in cost to you from "reasonable" to "exorbitant." If you are working on a
strict budget, or do not want to spend that kind of money for your website right now, arrange an appointment
with Frank for "poor man" alternatives. You may be pleasantly surprised.
The key to your success is to focus on your talents and abilities and to present that image in the most
attractive (straightforward) package possible.
Case Study: The Lace Shop (Las Vegas)
Here is a new case study to illustrate "What not to do" in publishing your website.
It is a local merchant that after 25 years of brick'n mortar storefront has
decided to exclusively build their business on the Web. Congratulations!
Their website came to my attention because of the choice of words in their
URL name that included our dba and/or keywords "Shop Las Vegas," as a The Lace Shop [in]
Las Vegas. For an eye opening examination,
click here, to learn more.
- Coach (25 Years)
Website Facelift
From our Advertising Philosophy -
Clinical vs. Custom Design;
Head to Head with Yellow Book
and latest Blooper
.. Philosophy page
"Content is still King!"
If you ever wonder why we provide public service links for our audience
besides paid advertising, it isn't for "balance." It's for
"content." A website (in our case, portal,) without valuable content
is not bookmarked, or worth returning to.
Faircast dot-com has earned its place in the Internet community beyond Las Vegas
and should be a valuable resource to our viewers both on our
Airlines page and
Lodging page.
To learn more, see their Awards page.
Now, please keep in mind that such valuable tips are non-competitive with our advertisers because
we are not providing airline or lodging info on a commission basis, but it sure is a source of satisfaction
for your potential clients if you are an attorney or accountant.
(Website) content is similar to a brick'n mortar strip shopping center having an "anchor store."
You eventually get traffic based upon being in the same center.
"Name droppers .."
When Frank travels to his old home in Honolulu, he likes to book his airline tickets with
Hawaiian Air (a $50 premium, but the non-stop service ..) and stay at
Sheraton Suites, centerpiece of Waikiki Beach;
next to the Royal Hawaiian and the most beautiful restaurant at the top for those romantic sunset dinners
with spectacular views of Diamond Head and the surf.
Shop Las Vegas is the leading innovator for the Las Vegas valley market -- even the Convention Authority
liked our marketing (registered) name so much, it used it on their so-called "passport" guide for shopping
services at premium outlets. Shop Las Vegas focuses exclusively on the local merchant and
his needs in advertising.
You, Shop Las Vegas
& Guerrilla Marketing
Concept
Shop Las Vegas wants to attempt to define
for you advertising online integrated with
your other marketing efforts offline.
.. but, then again, what do I know
-- I'm only the 800 lbs guerrilla in the room.
|
A word on Demographics from ..
.. if you prefer to think of your demographics
more like this young lady at the computer,
who am I to tell you any different?
The fact is that "buying power," the part of the marketplace that you want to tap into
is online. Las Vegas (out-dated)
demographics for 2000.
Now, I am trying to reach as many new businesses that I can from
Henderson/Boulder City to Blue Diamond and North Las Vegas and everything in between
because I hate to take calls for a pool service, or lawn service, or [fill in the blank]
service when I should be publishing your advertisement -- not for 1x or 6x, but
Statistically speaking, consumers that use shopping webportals fall into demographics that
say "buying power." Generally speaking, they are not under 18 with an average
age of 33, and by their education level, household income, frequency of use and past online purchasing experiences,
the type of consumer our advertisers want to reach.
Legal Disclaimer: one statistic that we as internet professionals find disturbing is that in Q4 2005
that there was still 29% of consumers that do not own a computer. What that statistics doesn't show,
though, is how many go to public places such as local libraries to use for their needs.
As an advertiser, we hope these demographics help you see that the Internet, as an advertising media,
is not only the future, but today.
|
Your anchor page is linked to every listing for your business throughout the directory by this icon, eg,
category,
Biz Name Look-Up;
Contact Name Look-Up which when
augmented by Look-Up Indexes for your Valley Area --
Biz Name /
L ;
Contact /
S (Downtown)
then supplemented by a Valley Area
Sub-Division, ie, Downtown
with Dining Section (click on "Burgers")
and to be thorough, both Group and Category Indeces for the entire Directory
All Valley and
Downtown, as an example for Category indeces.
Finding your particular category too ..
We have added this large "search" by category image to key spots
to facilitate a shopper in finding a particular category
of interest to them.
There is also a Group Index
where the shopper can search based upon a logical grouping of categories.
You will not find this infrastructure anywhere else in the world.
Restaurant Services
A very important group of web publishing for shoppers is the restaurant industry.
We don't want our restaurant managers to get lost in the maze of information
you will find here and therefore, have placed key links for them up front.
Restaurant Menus
Read On
Restaurant Blueprint for Success on the Web ..
"The Art of the Menu"
in fact, we don't even think of it as simply "24/7", but all year!
Advertising is a 52x proposition, 7x a week and 24 hours a day ...
We save our Advertisers $100's of dollars!
Ready to order? Don't understand why we are different?
Why we publish our rates -- even if they are lower than everyone else???
Why we bother explaining to our advertisers what this is all about?
Here are the Order Forms, and for those that like to be informed,
please read on. * Thank you.
* And, if you do have any questions, please call us at (702) 363-3290.
Background on Advertising Options
Select Package:
Business Card
Anchor Page Only
Anchor Plus or Restaurants **
** For complete, fully-explained/illustrated details, please read on.
* One Low Fee covers everything * No Set Up Fee
$$$ Absolutely No Monthly Web-Hosting Fees
Join Shop-Las-Vegas.com today!
Be found; more traffic to your own page!
More phone calls for you to close!
We sell only pages to our Advertisers!
|
.. it's your money
and, how you spend it to advertise your business
is definitely your business.
Consider this, see those ads to the right
for Shop Las Vegas, 2 cpi @ 2x? $500+
Today, you can run 1 cpi; 1x for as little as $140,
weekday. The R/J has dropped the 2x minimum.
See Chart.
Television Spots
Now, we do not want to discourage you from running print ads in either the
R/J media or any other local resource. We just want to point out that
you will save a bundle by advertising with us. You will save so much
money that it becomes ridiculous in any cost/benefit analysis. Example:
our Anchor Page Only is $75 for a year, thru December, we are giving away 2008 and that
means your monthly cost is split right in half, or $3 a month; 10 cents a day. *
And, consider the fact that the "page" will be online 24/7, in a traffic webportal that has
thousands of hits per day; organized for your consumers ease of navigation.
There are competitive websites (may be not in this market) that we still can not figure out
how folks are supposed to find their ad! .. a plumber .. I just want a plumber,
and it may be too much to ask for: that services the
Summerlin area, or
Northwest.
* Renewal discounts second to none, eg, $50/fee = $4.17/month or 14 cents a day.
Legal Disclaimer: herein you will find tons of information never to be seen anywhere else.
There will be references to other vendors (competitors,) illustrations based upon the work of others
and we want to make sure that you understand that we are not affiliated with any of them.
You (seriously) need to see a doctor, if you think otherwise. FYI only.
- Coach (25 Years)
p.s.
Why you need the Web? You need to communicate with your potential customers, to the max.
p.p.s.
My gal, Gertrude, will have a (special) padded room ready for you, if you aren't certain, re:
affiliation disclaimer, or about web marketing and presence.
Search Engine Optimization Tip
Price Gouging: a (pathetic) business practice practiced
only by those that do not wish to be fair and reasonable with their product or service; to
take advantage of a one-sided technical advantage with their clients. In
providing our web publishing (and hosting) services, we strive to make every advertiser a
happy client, one that will return year after year and have no reservation in recommending
our services to another business associate.
Here is the first competitor for the Orange County market that we found and we admire their
spunk, their prices for advertising, but we can not fold to such rates. We prefer
our advertisers to be happy advertisers that have other things they need to purchase as well
as our services. Click on their logo, above, to see for yourself.
Competitive Rates
There aren't any, competitve rates. But, we are open to this issue; here is
a local vendor that we feel offers similar publishing services, less our no fee monthly web-hosting,
that will let you be the judge .. wow! Sign me up!
Their $499.00 Package, twice the cost of our best 3-page package ($250)
Details *
Their 4-page Package, $999, Details
15-Page Details, $2,999
* Design Services
@ $75/hour plus additional pages at an average cost of $150 per (addtl) page! **
Notice: we will (gladly) published any competitor's rates of a professional nature
to provide our advertisers with something to compare our value with.
To learn more about saving @ Shop-Las-Vegas, please
click here.
** Our consulting rate is $50/hour with average (addtl) page cost of $50.
p.s. No monthly fees @ web-hosting!
Compare San Jose infrastructure and
Rates
.. more on Competitors
Who's dropping the ball?
.. dare to compare their website model
.. with our $75 Anchor Page
Case Study - Star Motors, San Juan Capistrano (OC Market)
Clearly, this is an excellent excellent example of what you can accomplish
with one (1) anchor page @ Shop-OC / Shop-Las-Vegas versus your own website with several (frivolous) pages.
A review of the website homepage content indicates that there probably wasn't much
input from the advertiser in that any auto dealership, surely, would have more to say
and offer in a multi-page/website layout. Possibly, it was an attempt to
keep publishing cost down because we're sure that this "package" must have been the vendor's
$499 product -- certainly not more for
those simple coupon-type, add-on pages.
Constructive Critique
The homepage (for the website) follows a common publishing mistake: vertical-orientation
and waste of horizontal space including frivolous page links versus integrated coupons with
"page breaks," in the homepage.
The choice of theme wallpaper, ie, Mercedes logo, and font/font-size is excellent, less a few exceptions.
Now, a "picture is worth a thousand words," and we hope you agree that Star Motors would have
been better served going with Shop-OC * versus their own, independent website and benefit from
traffic to those wanting auto services in San Juan Capistrano and/or South County.
* Illustration for Orange County market.
Before Website
Shop-OC Anchor Page and
Print Version
Note the choice in point-size for fonts, removing all regular point-size; everything bold for wallpaper; black vs. gray
(contrasting) color and the integration of "page-breaks" for the coupon savings with dotted lines.
$499 (Their Website)
vs. $75 (Shop-OC / Shop-Las-Vegas Anchor Page)
.. vs. $50 Business Card Version!
A Word on Dynamic Mapping
Today, you have several dynamic mapping options available: MapQuest, the original leader, Yahoo and Google,
to name the major players in this functionality.
In the initial software engineering, it was programmed for real-time parameters. Today, we store
those parameters, including the selected source, in the database record. This allows us to offer
the advertiser the choice or preference for their page.
The competitor that we selected has some interesting "map images." Scroll down on the following
page link to see an example for Polo Cleaners
in San Juan Capistrano. My eyes are getting a tad poor these days, and I must admit that I am using
a 21" highend monitor, but I can't read it.
Now, you've seen the
worst, try the best ..
31105 Rancho Viejo Rd
Click on your choice:
City Search has an interesting method of mapping for their advertisers, ie, they show your competition too.
In fact, they don't just display your competitors, they are in some (secret) order where you
will (undoubtedly) not be the first or "A" entry.
Click here for a sample map for
the Heavy Hitter, an attorney on Durango at Tropicana on the westside of town.
Note, the map shows listings near the Strip and the I-15 and downtown, with a designated "star"
for who knows what .. evidently, a sponsor link. Notice also above that list of A-B-C listings
in the right margin a reference to the number of pages you have to scroll thru, ie, 1 of 22.
I love their customer rating system too and note a couple of listings with four (4) stars that, as an advertiser
does not benefit your business one bit.
Their "kitchen sink" or our
Advertisers.
Don't know how to get going?
What to do next?
Check List
Rate Chart
Think of it as your resume ..
Yeah, that's right. That'll get it done.
Frank will take your material, and whip it into shape in no time
-- and, at no extra cost! That's right. For those that are getting
started in business, or never took the time to learn about business advertising, Frank has got
you covered. You could pay for professional services (from Frank too,) and get the
same results.
Major Indeces for Shop Las Vegas Webportal
This
icon concept provides an efficient way to cross-link all look-up methods and exposure for all Advertisers to
an optimum level unheard of in Internet or Print for any published business directory using hyperlink connectivity.
Most directory-oriented websites (and for that matter printed publications,) you are lucky to be
able to find your category of service -- let alone multiple methods!
The Listing .. should be patented.
Oops -- two options not utilized:
coupon icon link and website link
(underscore biz name link when advertiser has their own plus ad page on ours.)
Where else? Where else?!
| *** |
 Lenny's Burger Shop |
(602) 978-8959 |
13616 N 35th Ave #1 |
Phoenix |
| *** |
Capital Grille |
(305) 374-4500 |
444 Brickell Ave |
Miami Bch |
| *** |
Rachada Thai Cuisine |
(562) 921-0889 |
13416 E Imperial Hwy |
SanteFeSprg |
| *** |
Pita Place |
(702) 221-9955 |
3429 S Jones Blvd |
SprgValley |
|
Photo shoots are quoted separately;
bolding/style business name in category listing is $25 exta.
Engineered for maximum information from link to Advertisement, to dynamic map and pertinent
information for a potential customer to pick up the phone and call. Valley area indicator is a plus
for potential customers that may not be familiar with the street address and aids someone in finding the business.
And of course, long listing pages are augmented with Valley Area indeces at the top,
see Mexican Cuisine using a four-color bar scheme.
Note: above restaurants illustrate four (4) markets from Phoenix Valley of the Sun to Ft Lauderdale-Miami for "South Coast"
and the Keys of Florida to Las Vegas Valley and Boulder City/North Las Vegas and coming soon for
Orange County/Los Angeles to Hollywood in Southern California.
Frank is a software engineer with 35 years of systems programming experience in the aerospace industry as
well as the auto industry. Retiring to Las Vegas to do something a little easier, designed
software to manage his webportals expanding as we write.
For more on Frank's career, click here for an extensive resume.
Welcome to the (dynamic) Web!
A few words about this dynamic publishing,
click here. And,
compare.
How we charge for all our services ..
One Low Fee that covers set up design, promotion and monthly web-hosting charges
Most sites charge a fee for web-hosting on a monthly basis and many require a one year minimum
on these exorbitant fees starting at $25 per month for a simple address listing to $50 or more a month
for 75 words plus one photo embedded in a web page with your competition listings and banners.
Two unique things that we do is (1) give you your own web page or pages plus (2) reward our clients
with substantially reduced renewal fees from 20-60% off initial enrollment fee.
What we do for this one low fee ..
You can either mail us your material for the advertisement, or schedule an appointment.
Onsite there will be a travel allowance and minimum of one hour for a total service charge of $125.
Appointments at our home-based office in The Lakes (Durango and Desert Inn) are free for
the first twenty minutes and then $50 per hour thereafter in 15 minute increments.
See mail check list whether you are planning a meeting, or
not for more ideas on your advertising material.
Unlike traditional print advertisements, you are not limited or restricted by space.
Your ad copy does not have to be camera-ready. We will take the material, for beginners,
and lay out a professional design for you. Of course, there will be some advertisers that
have their own ideas and we can follow as well as enhance with our publishing skills.
Tnen there are what we will call the "high end" or experienced business person that knows exactly what
they want and how they want it and we will follow to the letter. As a matter of fact, if
an advertiser's demands were such that we felt it would be difficult to transform to a web publication,
we will inform same before beginning and at their option decline proceeding.
Promotion and Marketing
As you will see below, all our advertisers get their own web page whether a simple business card style,
or a lengthy web page, or multiple web pages like having their own website, but we have taken care of
the marketing issues for you by becoming part of the valley's best resource for local businesses and in
the search engines. You will receive a
"Visit Our Homepage @" Plaque suitable for framing and placement
for those that visit your place of business offline.
As both Yahoo! and Google either on a monthly basis, low crawl, or quarterly basis, deep crawl, crawl our
webportal for changes and updates, your web page or pages will have properly coded keyword information for
placement in the search engines so that future Internet users can find your page directly.
That is one of the best features we offer our advertisers: direct page access or an eloquent, easy-to-use
table of contents infrastructure with augmented indeces to find you. We didn't stop there with
a useful valley area indicator that really serves two purposes: makes it easy for your customers to
locate someone local to themselves and enhances your business opportunities. For instance,
a recent advertising lady asked about this, living here in The Lakes and wanting her cliental from Summerlin
and I explained she would be not only listed in her category, but under
Summerlin listings for ease of accessing
her anchor page, a child care provider.
Monthly Web-Hosting is Free
Here, on average, you will save a minimum of $300 a year; the first year,
and with our annual renewal discount
policy,
much more thereafter. Imagine, most such advertising media websites charge $25 per month
for a simple business address listing and upwards of $50 a month, or $600 a year for 75 words (and photo) embedded
in a vertical page with your competitors versus our unique page infrastructure. It is like having
a home in a run-down neighborhood versus an in demand, luxurious neighborhood. You have found a
good neighborhood to advertise in.
Never a Banner Ad on your own page ..
It is our strict
policy
that no other advertiser can take advantage of your space and order a banner on your
page; an attempt to "spring jump" your good will or name recognition.
How can we afford to do this ..
Simple. As a good business practice, we feel that we do not have to over-charge our
advertisers, ie, make our money off of a few. We feel that by providing quality service
as well as good value coupled with a pricing structure that is reasonable, in the long term, we will
be successful. After all, web server host space is very economical today and with our
software engineering expertise, we are in a position to take advantage of volume data processing.
"Accumulative attraction" ultimately provides you with more potential customers and
greater success for us, the provider.
Every advertising project we undertake is given 100% of our artistic inspiration.
Whether you are a white-collar professional, or a
lawn maintenance caretaker, you are a businessman
that deserves our respect and appreciation.
Detail Illustrations: Anchor Page Only -
Lawn Maintenance Provider,
Business Card Package -
Professional Lady,
Professional Man,
and Real Estate Agent .. their own page.
When you are ready for something more
like our Anchor Plus with multiple pages,
we are ready to assist you!
To give you a few ideas of what a couple of pages of space in our Webportal
will do for you, here are some illustrations and ideas:
Anchor #1
Anchor #2
Anchor #3;
green and earth colors make a good theme for lawn maintenance services,
but we do not recommend left-margin menu links because of print truncation.
A review of those same menu links, though, will get you thinking
of how to expand an Anchor Page Only into an Anchor Plus with two or more pages
that include a break-down of
Pricing Chart,
Service Descriptions,
Service Area,
Service Conditions, and
a word or two on Resource Tips.
Your customers and your work, design a portfolio or
Photo Gallery page that has
high quality photos of your services in thumbnail, thumbnails that the viewer
clicks on for a full-size version. All within the publishing services
we provide our advertisers. When you are ready, give us a call at (702) 363-3290.
We will even create a nifty logo, like Dan's, for your Anchor Page!
Reality Check
Unfortunately, everything isn't always this simple.
We want to keep our cost down and many entrepreneurs (new to business functions)
don't have the slightest notion of where to begin. In fact, they
(novices) don't realize how good a deal our mail order pricing is and think nothing
of "asking" us to come across town, sit down and explain advertising to them and
then drawing up a draft of their presentation.
We have not built into our mail order pricing half a day of consulting nor web-hosting fees
and therefore, must charge a nominal travel allowance (if so desired) plus a modest professional
consulting rate, or $125 for the first hour, including travel.
We suggest you put together all your material, see check list,
and mail it to us. At $75, or $250 for our Anchor Plus Package, you really
can't go wrong. We are not looking for "camera ready" material.
We do expect either electronic images or good quality photos to scan from in order to provide
a professional final product. See proof stage.
Questions.
We certainly hope you agree with our premises here and are not offended by our attempts to create
the best advertising deal in the world for you and provide consulting services only on a case by
case basis.
Classified (702) 224-5500 *
Display Ad 224-5558 **
AmericanClassifieds.com/index.cfm?paperid=1489 ***
Published every Friday with a circulation of 72,000 +
Offices next to the Review Journal on
Bonanza Road
Legal Notice:
Shop Las Vegas is not associated with; affiliated with Stephens Press, Review Journal or Nifty Nickel publications.
We provide the above information as a public courtesy. Y'all come back after you
spend some money $$$ with these fine folks, y'hear?!
Complete Story.
We tried several - details.
More on Advertising Budget, fyi ...
We certainly want your business, but prefer our advertisers to learn for themselves that
we offer the best deal on the planet!
More on our Nifty Nickel @
Shop Las Vegas!
Oh, and call us @ (702) 363-3290; ask for Frank, owner/operator of Shop Las Vegas, the webportal
for the LV Valley/Boulder City and the growing Blue Diamond Area!
* Shop Las Vegas doesn't do Classifieds
** Shop Las Vegas doesn't do Display Ads .. we believe in
full-page layouts!
*** Nifty Nickel online is published by AmericanClassifieds dot-com (a conglomerate); paper id is 1489
+ Shop Las Vegas local distribution estimated at 2,000,000 daily/24/7
This legal notice is purposely published in large print .. hate that
small stuff -- don't you?!
|
Advertising Options .. all options include annual web-hosting thru 2007
Our Three Page Packages
(Comparing to yellowpages and/or your own website)
$50 Business Card Page -- half page display ad @ Illustrations
Intro
$75 Anchor Page -- full page display ad (scroll down for illustrations)
$250 Anchor Plus -- homepage plus two linked pages, ie, mini-website
Please turn for a moment to Advertising Philosophy for a good read.
How did we come up
with these three options ..
The simple answer: to aggressively market to the small business owner
which in many cases is either one or two operators in a family-owned business.
As a senior programmer (37 years) and a desktop publisher (25 years,) it only seems
fitting to provide all types of businesses with options from a simple "business card" up to
a "mini-website." And, please, do not misconstrue our $250 "mini-website" (Anchor Plus)
with anything that resembles the most simple web page prevalent on the Internet produced both by
professionals and amateurs.
In fact, we like to paint an image of "building a resume" where we take your information,
some of you may have existing brochures that you want to incorporate, etc. and produce an anchor (page)
plus two linked pages. Here is a website built by a professional. It has
a homepage (anchor) and several linked pages, two of which are completely unnecessary and could have
(should have) been embedded in a combination of the anchor page and one other:
Dolence Pool Plumbing Service,
by YellowPages.com
The testimonial page could have been placed on the service page, at the end, and the
contact page should have been incorporated in the anchor page, two common mistakes amateurs make,
and as you can see, pros too. (a)
"Under Construction" is for offline draft;
not for online and (b) every homepage (anchor) should have visible at the very top key contact
information, including but not limited to phone no., name of business, and hours of operation;
optional would be the business address.
One final note on this illustration, there was no need to have the
web promotion page separate
either. It (the simple coupon) could have been placed at the bottom of the homepage (anchor)
with a page break so that when someone printed same, it would print by itself, on a separate piece of paper
(very professional.)
And, one more for your education,
Anchor Heating & Air Conditioning by "Website Pros," the
Discovery Network. Note the poor page width alignment, the choice of background color, the
choice of headline font color and just general pot pouri look. And, where do they put pertinent
contact info? At the bottom of the page ..
re: Town & Country Mechanical (Anchor Page Only Package Illustration)
As we digress, it is only fitting to show two illustrations of websites that could have been a lot less.
Town & Country Mechanical had three pages that with the
redundancy (and
layout) taken into
consideration, could have easily been integrated into one (1) anchor page (only.)
Website
After
Printer Ready -
Before "as is"
After Business Stationary look ..
Note that our Anchor Page Only Package is approximately 1.5 standard sheets in length and $75; YellowPages .. $$$
re: Al's Pool Service (Business Card Package Illustration)
Unfortunately, Al (evidently) did not have much marketing (traffic) success with his website
and a golden rule I broke (capture images of the illustration pages) because the website is history.
Let me describe it for you. (a) Did not use a water or pool service theme
wallpaper like we did in the makeover, (b) it was a vertical page (versus maximize the page real estate
horizontally) and (c) redundant in the information on the very same page.
SHOP LAS VEGAS BUSINESS CARD PAGE
"It's no business card!"
See for yourself ~
Page Illustration.
(Over 10x the size of a business card)
Flyer ready @ customers to print!
$50 Initial Year; $25 @ Annual Renewals
Limited Time Only (While Stock Available)
The Regatta Pocket Pal Cal w/Notepad
with every order of the Business Card Page
Print business information on
Order Form
and mail or bring with you to our home office;
hours
Check List
Not camera ready? Not sure what you want?
Hire Frank for half an hour @ $25
(We'll Surf-the-Web for ideas, look at graphics for your image & much more!)
|
The Business Card
What we @ Shop Las Vegas
call a "Business Card Page,"
everyone else calls a "half page."
as in a newspaer !
SPECIAL 30/30 OFFER
-- ASK HOW TO GET YOURS
30 Months Hosting included @ Business Card ($50)
Your price: $30. Our Policy: no surprises.
How? Refer two (2) more new advertisers.
Send us your
business card for professional link.
|
|
Ahmad Sharif-Yazdi
Real Estate Pro
|
Shop-Las-Vegas dot-com is always under construction
with new
advertisers' pages
added all the time!
Our Objective:
Make your phone ring
off the hook!
The Internet Market is evolving and the demographics for small business owners
is increasing their share of potential customers; more so with the same people
that used to use the yellow pages now turn to the Internet for product and service
sources! We make cold calls to new business owners, ie, those that
just got their business licenses, or from similar lists, to introduce are special
deals to them like the "30/30" -- the best deal in the universe -- your own splash
business card page for $1 per month for 30 months! And, if you do not
know two (2) other non-competitive businesses that could use our advertising services,
you will be offered an additional year free, a $25 savings, or if you prefer, a
full-size anchor page
(below)
for one year at the $50 rate, still a $25 savings!!!
Ethnic Community Directory Links provided
@ no additional cost to our advertisers!
For example, Hispanic business owners @
Se Habla Espanol
Anchor Plus
- Best Deal in the World!
If you would like to save $50 cash, or for a $100 value
a one (1) year extension, try our best offer!
.. a word, or two
about our "30 / 30" Special Deal
If you took more than 30 seconds
to come to a decesion,
you need to try some print media advertising
and see your budget will be in $100's
- if not $1,000's !
For instance,
Nifty Nickel provides for maximum distribution
for consumer-wise customer
with their quaisi-business card
@ Service Directory
Bottom-Line: $160 x 6 weeks
(Weekly Publication)
Drum roll, wallet in the ready position --
Las Vegas Review Journal
Years ago, you could get 1 cpi, 2x for $252 camera ready.
Economy has dictated a 1x rate, slightly higher, eg, $128
and extra for Saturday and Sundays!!!
We tried it for $500, or 4x with no results.
Now, if Shop-Las-Vegas dot-com "30 / 30" ***
doesn't sound like the greatest deal in advertising
you will ever find |
|
Flyer ready @ customers to print!
(702) 363-3290
Frank Picchione
SHOP LAS VEGAS
