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Marketing to Laserists with www.LaserFX.com

   www.LaserFX.com is the premier web site for industry professionals, laserists, laser owners and operators, laser experimenters and hobbyists, students and the general public seeking information about laser light shows.

    We offer a host of laser show information; to the general public through the LaserFX.com domain, and to laser show professionals, laser experimenters and hobbyists through the Backstage area at Backstage.LaserFX.com. We offer you an opportunity to market your products and services directly to this global multi-million dollar industry - including show producers seeking laser companies for their events.
    We are currently averaging 900+ hits a day and 720+ request a day; with the average visitor in the main section requesting 2.15 pages and the average visitor to the Backstage area requesting 3.6 pages.  Our most recent server statistics are available on-line.

Marketing Plans

   We offer 4 types of marketing plans to advertise your products and services:

• 1]  Basic Random Banner Ads - select this option to have one or two banners randomly displayed on pages throughout the site for either a 6 month or 1 year term.

• 2]  Sponsor Packages  - select this option if your marketing needs are more extensive and to get "package deals" on a number of random banners, plus specific page sponsorship and other benefits.

• 3]  Member Packages - select this option if your are a laserist and want to market your services to potential clients who visit our site.

• 4]  Non-Profit - select this option if you are an industry association or non-profit organization.

Basic Random Banner Ads

   We have simplified our Banner Ad rates and policy so as to make it affordable to anyone who has any products or services of interest to the laser community.

Note 1: A random banner is placed in a pool of banners and picked at random by the server for display each time a visitor loads a page.  Your chances of having the banner displayed are number-of-your-banners-in-pool/total-number-of-banners-in-pool.  Random banner ads are displayed in the top center of each page EXCEPT the Home Page and Backstage Home Page.
    NO tracking is provided for basic banners - if you require click-through tracking, select one of the sponsor packages.
    To increase your advertising impressions, purchase 2 or more banners, or one of the sponsor packages below.

Note 2: Banners are standard 468 X 60 pixel .gif files - see Banner Specifications for complete details.

Note 3:  Banners may be changed at any time during your term provided that they have the exact same file name as your original banner and will use exactly the same text and click-though to the same URL.
      If programming changes are required due to a banner name change, text change or URL change, there will be a $50.00 US$ fee payable in advance of the change.

Sponsor Packages

    Sponsor packages are best suited to vendors of products or services that want extensive exposure for their marketing message and who may wish to change that message on a regular basis.  Sponsor packages are "deals" in that they provide more exposure than simply purchasing the equivalent number of banner ads.
    There are three levels of Sponsor Packages available at this time, Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Gold Sponsor

   Choose the Gold sponsor package for cost effective advertising with more exposure at less cost than using basic random banners plus additional exposure on specific pages and in the random sponsor button pool.  Gold sponsor package includes 10 banners, two large button placements on the pages of your choice, two large buttons in the sponsors random button pool, and click-through tracking (see Click-Through Tracking Notes) as follows:

• Four animated banners in the random banner pool  - see Banner Specifications for complete details.

• Four static banners in the random banner pool - see Banner Specifications for complete details.

• Two "super" animated banners in the random banner pool - these banners may be up to 15 KB in file size for extra eye-catching effects but must otherwise follow the Banner Specifications.

• Four free banner changes during the year, for seasonal specials or at your convenience, without additional programming charges.

• Change banners whenever you wish PROVIDED that they have the exact same file name as your original banner and will use exactly the same text and click-though to the same URL.
        If programming changes are required due to a banner name change, text change or URL change, there will be a $50.00 US$ fee payable in advance of the change (after the 4 free changes provide in this package).

• Click-through tracking is provided with one re-direct page for each banner that points to a different URL (10 banner click-through re-direct pages maximum - we recommend keeping tracking pages to a minimum as our stats only show the top 50 pages requested - see Click-Through Tracking Notes).

• Page sponsorship with one 125 X 90 pixel large button (static .jpg or animated .gif) on the left of the page below the navigation area on one page of your choice in the main area, and one page of your choice in the Backstage area (2 buttons - subject to availability - Home Page and Backstage Home Page excluded); "alt" text only (no text below the button). These buttons replace the random buttons displayed on other pages and remain fixed on the sponsored page(s).

• Two 125 X 90 pixel large buttons (static .jpg or animated. gif) in the sponsors random button pool to double your exposure.  These buttons appear randomly on the left of the page below the navigation buttons on pages that are not requested by a Gold sponsor - button file size must not exceed 12KB; "alt" text only (no text below the button).  See example below the navigation area at the top left of this page.

• All large buttons must follow the Sbtn-??????.ext naming convention with a maximum of 32 character in the file name - large button file size must not exceed 12KB.

• One click-through tracking page to track your buttons in the Virtual trade Show areas, on sponsored pages, and in the random button pool (see Click-Through Tracking Notes).  NOTE: All button clicks will be directed to the same URL.

Billing: $ 1,000.00 US$/year payable in advance - OR - $ 1,250.00 US$/year with one installment of $350.00 US$ at time of order and three installments of $300.00 US$ quarterly thereafter - unpaid gold sponsors will have their banners replaced with black banners/buttons when payment is more than 30 days overdue.

Silver Sponsor

    Choose the Silver sponsor package for cost effective advertising with more exposure at less cost than using basic random banners and with basic click-through tracking.  Silver sponsor package includes 6 banner ads and two button placements in the sponsors random button pool:

• Three animated banners in the random banner pool

• Three static banners in the random banner pool

• Banners are standard 468 X 60 pixel .gif files - see Banner Specifications for complete details.

• Change banners whenever you wish PROVIDED that they have the exact same file name as your original banner and will use exactly the same text and click-though to the same URL.
        If programming changes are required due to a banner name change, text change or URL change, there will be a $50.00 US$ fee payable in advance of the change.

• Basic click-through tracking is provided with one re-direct page for all your banners (1 tracking page - see Click-Through Tracking Notes).

• Two 120 X 60 pixel buttons (static or animated) in the Sponsors random button pool.  These buttons appear randomly on the left of the page below the navigation area on pages where Gold sponsors have not specifically requested advertising placements - see Button Specifications for complete details; "alt" text only (no text below the button).  See example below the navigation area at the top left of this page.

• One click-through tracking page to track your buttons in the Virtual Trade Show areas and in the random button pool (see Click-Through Tracking Notes). NOTE: All button clicks will be directed to the same URL.

Billing: $ 500.00 US$/year payable with one installment of $250.00 US$ at time of order and one installment of $250.00 US$ after 6 months - unpaid silver sponsors will have their banners replaced with black banners/buttons when payment is more than 30 days overdue.

Bronze Sponsor

    Choose the Bronze sponsor package for cost effective advertising with more exposure at less cost than using basic random banners.  Bronze sponsor package includes four banners and one button as follows:

• Two animated banners in the random banner pool

• Two static banners in the random banner pool

• Banners are standard 468 X 60 pixel .gif files - see Banner Specifications for complete details.

• Change banners whenever you wish PROVIDED that they have the exact same file name as your original banner and will use exactly the same text and click-though to the same URL.
        If programming changes are required due to a banner name change, text change or URL change, there will be a $50.00 US$ fee payable in advance of the change.

• One 120 X 60 pixel static button in the Sponsors random button pool.  These buttons appear randomly on the left of the page below the navigation area on pages where Gold sponsors have not specifically requested advertising placements - see Button Specifications for complete details; "alt" text only (no text below the button).

• NO click-through tracking is provided.

Billing: $ 300.00 US$/year payable in advance.

Member Packages

    Member Packages are ideal for laserists and laser companies who wish to promote their products and services to the laser community as well as the general public.  They provide better exposure than purchasing an equivalent value of banner ads.
    There are two Member Packages available at this time; Silver Membership and Gold Membership.   

Note 1: A random button is placed in a pool of buttons and picked at random by the server for display at the top right corner of the page each time a user loads a page.  Your chances of having the button displayed are 1/number-of-buttons-in-pool.  Button ads are displayed in the top right  of each page except the Home Page and Backstage Home Page.
    NO tracking is provided for member buttons - if you require click-through tracking, select one of the sponsor packages.
    

Note 2: Buttons are standard 120 X 60 pixel .gif files - see Button Specifications for complete details.

Banner Specifications

• 1/    Banner ads are standard 468 X 60 pixels in size, .gif format files, in accordance with the Internet Advertising Bureau guidelines

• 2/    Static .gif banner ad file size may not exceed 5 KB and must have NO animated content (see example below) - Static banners may be in .jpg format but may not exceed 10 KB in file size.

• 3/    Animated banner file size may not exceed 10 KB in size [except for "super banners" as outlined in the Gold Sponsor section] and may have animated content (see example below).

• 4/    Along with each banner, you should supply the following information;

  • [a]  A "text line" that will appear below the banner (see example below) that usually ends in CLICK HERE.  The text is displayed in Ariel size1 regular/plain font - we reserve the right to edit the length of the text so that it will fit under the banner.  This text also appears as the "alt tag" (the box that pops up when you point your mouse at an image - see example below).

  • [b]  A URL that the banner should point to when someone clicks the banner or the text below the banner - click-through opens the requested page in a new window.  Each banner can point to a specific page on your site (different URL) so you can provide product specific advertising on click-through.

  • [c]  The file name must be in the format Banner-???????.gif (or .jpg) and may not exceed 32 characters in length (you have 25 characters available for the name after the 7 characters for "Banner-" are deducted  - the extension does not count). Example: Banner-LFXmarketing.gif

• 5/    Banner ads are displayed randomly in the top center of each page EXCEPT the Home Page and Backstage Home Page.

Example Banners

   This is an example of a static banner.  The file name is Banner-468X60.gif and the file size is 3 KB (static banners may be up to 5 KB .gif files or 10 KB .jpg files).  Put the cursor over the image to see the "alt tag" - click the image or the text line to see the click-through.

Advertise on www.LaserFX.com - CLICK HERE

  This is an example of an animated banner.  The file name is Banner-LFXmarketing.gif and the file size is 7 KB (animated banners may be up to 10 KB). Put the cursor over the image to see the "alt tag" - click the image or the text line to see the click-through.

Your animated banner should be here! - CLICK HERE for info

Button Specifications

• 1/    Member button ads are standard 120 X 60 pixels in size, .gif format files in accordance with the Internet Advertising Bureau guidelines.  Member buttons are displayed in the top right corner of each page (except the Home Page and backstage Home Page); 
  Sponsor buttons are displayed at the left below the navigation area and are also 120 X 60 pixels in size except for Gold Sponsor buttons which are 120 X 90 pixels in size..

• 2/    Static button file size may not exceed 3 KB and must have NO animated content (see example below) - static buttons may be in .jpg format provided they do not exceed a 4 KB file size.

• 3/    Animated button file size may not exceed 6 KB and may have animated content (see example below) - Gold Sponsor 120 X 90 animated buttons may be up to 12 KB.

• 4/    Along with each button, you should supply the following information;

  • [a]  Your company name or the URL the button connects to. The text is displayed in Ariel size1 regular/plain font below the button.  We reserve the right to edit the length of the text so that it will fit under the button.  This text also appears as the "alt tag" (the box that pops up when you point your mouse at an image - see example below).

  • [b]  A URL that the button should point to when someone clicks on the button or the text below the button - click-through opens the requested page in a new window.  Each button can point to a specific page on your site so you can provide product specific advertising on click-through.

  • [c]  The file name must be in the format Btn-???????.gif (or .jpg) and may not exceed 32 characters in length (you have 28 characters available for the name after the 4 characters for "Btn-" are deducted - the .gif does not count).  Example: Btn-YrAdHere.gif

Example Buttons

     This is an example of a static button.  The file name is Btn-SilverMember.gif and the file size is 2 KB (static buttons may be up to 3 KB in .gif format and 4 KB in .jpg format).  Put the cursor over the image to see the "alt tag" - click the image or the text line to see the click-through.

Silver member info

     This is an example of an animated button.  The file name is Btn-GoldMember.gif and the file size is 3 KB (animated buttons may be up to 6 KB). Put the cursor over the image to see the "alt tag" - click the image or the text line to see the click-through.

Gold Member INFO

Click-Through Tracking Notes

   We do our click-through tracking by means of forwarding pages.  When a visitor clicks on a banner or button that has tracking, it calls a forwarding page that appears briefly on the visitors screen before forwarding them to your URL.  This allows our server to count the click-through by counting the number of times a forwarding page is requested.
    This also puts some limitations on click-through tracking.  If you are a Gold or Silver sponsor and want your buttons and banners to click-through to different URLs this can be done, BUT we can only track click-through on buttons and banners that use the forwarding page.  The forwarding page generally points at a single URL.  There is a limit to the number of forwarding pages we provide in each package:

• Gold Sponsors can have up to 10 banner tracking pages and 1 button tracking page

• Silver sponsors get 1 banner tracking page and 1 button tracking page

    Our site presently has over 1,000 pages and new pages are added every month.  Our server statistics package only shows the top 50 pages requested.  If your forwarding page is not shown in that list, it does not mean that people aren't clicking your ads, it means that they did not click them enough times for your forward page to be one of the top 50 requested pages.
    We recommend that you keep the click-through forward pages to the minimum number you need so they (or it) will appear in the top 50 pages.  We can provide only one forward page if you wish so that all your click-throughs go to one URL (via a single forwarding page), improving your chances of seeing the page in the top 50.
    NOTE: Our forwarding page is a generic page with minimal graphics designed for fast loading and automatic forwarding to your URL.  You can, if you wish, provide us with a custom forwarding page with your logo and artwork.  You can also put a product summary on the page with links to different products or areas on your site.  This gives you the opportunity to display your logo and allows the visitor to select the product of interest to them from a single page, and then go directly to that product or page on your site.  Your custom forwarding page resides on our server so that it can be counted for tracking purposes.
    We will be working on this issue over the next few months to improve our tracking services and will advise sponsors when we have made improvements.

Non-Profit

   We offer FREE advertising buttons for industry associations and non-profit groups on a link exchange basis.  Buttons must follow the Button Specifications shown above.  Typically we will exchange one or two buttons (either animated or static) in our random button pool with non-profit groups, and in return you place one or two of our buttons on your site (or in your random button/banner pool if you have one).  If you supply static buttons, we supply static buttons; if your buttons are animated, ours will be animated.  In some circumstances we will consider banner ad exchanges.
    Please contact us by E-mail to make arrangements.  We reserve the right to reject requests from non-profit groups who's message is not in keeping with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or not relevant to users of this web site.

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