Dear Sarah, I am doing my first trade show in a few months.  I wondered if you know the best way to set up the lights in order to showcase my products.
Thanks so much – Jon Margalit Towelmate.com

Dear John,

I reached out to my friend Emily at Pegasus Lighting as she is a real expert in booth lighting. You’re smart to consider your lighting needs ahead of time! Trade show lights are crucial to make your product stand out to attendees in a sea of options. Your goal should be for the lighting in your booth to naturally attract people – that way, it’s doing some of the promotional work for you.

The lighting setup does depend on how large your booth is, and what effect you are going for. Most are designed with an adjustable clamp-on installation, so you can easily attach them to pop up booths, poster stands, banner stands, and signs. Consider the area that you are lighting.

First and foremost, your trade show display lights should serve as spotlights on your product. This way, if an attendee strolls by your booth, they’ll see what you’re selling in an instant. Spotlight display lights add focus and drama to your booth. If you are showcasing just a few items, it might be a good idea to use one display light per item. Otherwise, you will probably want to bathe your entire product selection with light. In this case, use one display light for every two to three feet of horizontal space. If you main focal point is the wall that serves as the backdrop to your booth, use multiple display lights to call attention to that wall!

It’s also important to be sure you have enough general lighting so that the spotlights will serve as accents and points of focus – not as the sole sources of light. Normally, the exhibit hall’s ceiling lights will cover this. However, you may want to pack a couple of flood lights to be sure your general lighting is adequate, particularly if you have a very large booth.

Finally, consider adding special effects to make your booth even more eye-catching! If you have a sign, graphic display, or poster, you may want to place it in a light box. The bright backlighting will help it stand out. Colored lights can add a dramatic effect as well. You can attach colored glass light filters to your display lights to give your exhibit a pop of color.

If you’re on a budget, here’s a money-saving tip: Many lighting retailers offer “open box items” at a discount. Check the product description to be sure, but this almost always means the light fixture is in unused and perfect condition but is simply no longer in its original packaging. You can save a lot of money by opting for open-box display lights. Good luck with your first trade show!

Emily Widle is a marketing specialist and lighting blogger at Pegasus Lighting, an online retailer that sells a wide selection of display lights and trade show lighting.

Condenast.com Select magazine and media kit – most have editorial calendars

Hearst.com  Select magazine on left and then select media kit. You cannot get it for Oprah. Some have editorial calendars and others you have to look at the advertising calendar.

Timeinc.com Most have editorial calendars

 

 

 

1) Make sure that the keywords you’re targeting for each page are focused. In other words, don’t try to focus on more than a couple per page. I see many people try to have each page rank for every single keyword on their (target) list and it tends to backfire.  Don’t overload the keywords on each page, and make sure that you separate them out so that each page is only trying to rank for 2-3 keywords.

2) Put keywords in prime locations. There are a few mandatory places for keywords, and these are the page title tag, the heading 1 (H1) tag, and in the image title and alt description of any images you have. After that, you want a couple of mentions of the keyword in the body text. After all, if the entire page is centered around the keyword, it makes sense to write about it. You also want to see if you can fit one or two mentions of the keyword in bold or strong tags. Wherever you put it, keep in mind that Google puts preference on keywords that appear towards the beginning of lines and paragraphs, so try to make your title and headings start with appropriate targeted keywords.

3) Make your content relevant to users. This is the most important rule of all, and one that is all too often ignored by amateur SEO DIY’ers and many professional SEO consultants as well. Remember, you’re writing for people, not for robots! Don’t try to stuff keywords, and don’t let your keywords dictate the direction of your content. Instead, write the kind of content that your users want to read. If you make it relevant to what you’re trying to sell, and to the customers you want to attract, then your keywords should fit naturally and organically. Google has made huge efforts to make their search engine intelligent enough to look at websites from a human user point of view, and they’re getting better with every update. If you’re not sure exactly which keywords to target, you can search for them on Google Keyword Search Tool – it’s a huge help in finding your niche keywords.

Dear Sarah,

 

We currently sell mostly through Amazon and SkyMall, but have recently launched our own website. How do we increase our own website visibility?  I have heard various tips on search engine optimization, but I am unclear as to what SEO really means and what I can do to have more of a presence on the web.

 

Thanks so much,

Jennifer  The GLO Bag

 

 

 

I reached out to my friend Lauren to answer this as she is really the specialist!  This is her simple DIY first baby step!

 

SEO is easier than you think and easier than many SEO professionals want you to believe. You'll hear a lot of talk about keywords, but so long as the content on your site makes sense and is appropriate for your topic, you should have all the keywords you need.

The first, and most important step is getting links to your website. Google's search algorithm works like a big popularity contest. Each link to your site from someone else is a vote of confidence. The more votes you get, the more relevant Google thinks your site is, and the higher up you appear in search engines. The kinds of sites that link to you matter too (of course). Sites that are similar to yours in subject matter count “more” than sites that are unrelated. Likewise, links from sites that are poplar and have lot of links coming in to their website, are more valuable than links from obscure sites that no one visits.

So how do you get links? That’s where your inner salesman comes in. The best way, in the eyes of Google, is to do it entirely naturally and “organically” by putting out content that others want to link to. Unfortunately, if your site doesn’t get a lot of traffic, the odds of someone willing to give you a link are slim. Instead, you may need to find websites and communities that you want to link exchange with, and reach out to them.  Reach out via Twitter, Facebook, or by email, whichever feels more genuine to you. Remember, you’re essentially asking them for an endorsement of you, your brand and your website, so take the time to build a relationship with them, and see what you can do to entice them. Do this enough and you’ll be on top of Google in no-time.

Lauren Fairbanks is partner at Stunt & Gimmick's – a digital marketing firm that specializes in content and SEO.

I would really appreciate some advice. I received an inquiry from the editor of a magazine to have my jewelry included in an editorial. I have a couple of questions:

 

1. My understanding is that this is not akin to an 'advertorial', which I would have to pay for – true?
2. Should I send all the jewelry they asked for, although they indicated it would not be returned?

 

I would truly appreciate your feedback as I am not sure what the standard procedure is for such magazines.

Thank you,

Dear Lisa,

 

Congratulations on being contacted by a magazine. I love that you use recycled metals – so press worthy – I am not surprised you have received multiple inquiries.

 

You are correct, editorial is free and advertorials and other forms of advertising are paid. I am a big advocate of free editorial. Magazines need designers as much as the designers need the magazines so it ends up working well for everyone.

 

As far as the samples go, I’d go back to them and let them know that you cannot afford to send out (all) the samples they requested (as you are a small business) unless they can return them – and let them know you’d be happy to include a return-shipping label. If they seem to squirm at that, then I’d ask why they don’t return samples. I believe in being honest and upfront about samples and if they are going to be returned or not, so you can make the best decision for your business. Sometimes for the “right” magazine placement, it doesn’t matter if the samples come back, and other times it does. Go with your instinct on this one after you speak to them again.

 

Just FYI, most magazines (even the major ones) don’t have the budget to pay to return samples any longer. That said, they will return them if you pay for the freight – sometimes you even have to pay both ways – but when it’s a big hit it all seems worth it.

 

Good luck!!

xoxox

Sarah