How to build an effective showcase:

• Vary the format. Since users are more inclined to read copy that’s brief and visually appealing, feel free to use headlines, subheads and bullet points.
  
• Be bold. Write your text in a way that matches your brand’s “personality.” Don’t be shy!
  
• Sell. List the benefits of your products or services – not just the features. What are the top few reasons someone would buy your product?
  
• Google-ize your copy. Make sure to include search-friendly keywords for your company or product descriptions (keywords are common words that potential customers might type into Google).
  
• Don’t steal. Use plenty of high-quality graphics, but be careful about grabbing images you find in an online search. You are liable for any copyright and usage fees that result from image “poaching.” We do our best to protect against rights infringement, but Networld is not held liable for clients’ use of third-party graphics.
  
• Leverage your brand. To get the best response from your advertising, we recommend promoting a consistent message throughout your entire presence on the site. Your showcases, products, banners, and all copy and graphics should reinforce and resemble each other.
  
• Change it up. It’s important to keep your showcase current. We recommend you review and refresh the copy and graphics every three months.
  
• Keep contact info up to date. Don’t let old e-mail addresses, urls or phone numbers keep prospective customers from contacting you. Ensure the e-mail address you use for receiving leads is monitored regularly.
  
• Communicate internally. Make sure your staff is aware of the marketing campaign you have on our site.

Content checklist for your showcase:

• A logo that’s at least 300 pixels wide and high resolution (you’ll upload this image through the Upload Creative tab at the top of this page)

• Short company description (approximately 240 characters, including spaces)

• Longer company description – This will appear at the top of your showcase and should still be brief (no longer than 150 words)
  
• Social links – To maximize your showcase, please be sure to upload Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn URLs. You may also upload Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram links.
  

See what other advertisers are doing here.

Tips for your product & service listings:

• Use search-friendly product titles. Don’t assume everyone will know model XYG-41 is a kiosk! Think of the product name as more of a description – for example, you could use “XYG-41: The low-cost self-checkout kiosk” to better catch users’ (and Google’s) attention.

• Project the best image. One image for each product in png, gif or jpg format.

• Short description - come up with 30 words or up to 240 characters with spaces or less that are keyword-rich.
  
• Product description - make it more detailed but not too long. The key is NOT to recreate your Web site or sales brochure here. Users who click on the product will get this longer description. To ensure they read the whole thing, be brief and employ bullet points. You can add more images in this section by going to the Upload Creative tab.

Get started! Create or edit your listings in the Product Showcase Editor.

Banner Ad Specifications

Wallpaper Banner Guide Specs:

Ad Sizes:
Billboard: 970x250
Mobile Fallback:320x50
File Types: HTML 5

Please note that we use Google ad services and you will need to source the video within the banner on youtube. Please provide youtube url.

Please see examples below and click to view on site.

E-mail is still one of the most effective means of reaching Networld’s various audiences online or through mobile. When you sponsor one of our newsletters, remember:

Keep your messaging current. Rather than running the same copy and graphics for months at a time, we recommend you update your ad after it’s been featured in two newsletter editions.

Send us your content early. We request that you send your copy and graphics to our marketing services department at least four working days prior to the newsletter publication date. Otherwise you could forfeit your slot. The publication dates for your sponsored messages are listed in your contract.

View a sample newsletter:

Based on the kind of sponsorship you’ve purchased, we’ll need the following:

Leaderboard - 600 x 250 Image
Static image (600 x 250).

Hybrid Leaderboard - 300 x 250 Image and Text

Image: One static 300 x 250 image
Headline: 50 characters (including spaces), bolded and with URL
Body copy: 240 characters (including spaces)

Primary 1, 2 or 3
Image: One static 120 x 120 image/logo (jpg or png)
Headline: 50 characters (including spaces), bolded and with URL
Body copy: 240 characters (including spaces)

Secondary – up to 8 slots, no graphic
Headline:50 characters (including spaces), bolded and with URL
Body copy:140 characters (including spaces)

E-blasts are graphical html e-mails that are 100% dedicated to your message and reach the Networld audiences of your choice.

Want to design your own e-mail? The following tips will help your message retain its proper layout across various e-mail clients, including Gmail and Outlook.

Design for a 600-800 pixel width – Many e-mail clients comfortably display text and images that are 600 pixels wide. However, wider emails may be "chopped off" in some e-mail client preview windows.

Use “http://” in all links – When embedding links for images and text, make sure you include the full link, rather than starting with “www.”

Correct: http://www.google.com
Incorrect: www.google.com

Put background colors inside tables – Several web-based e-mail clients specify a background color on the web page that displays the e-mail. As a result, background colors specified in the body tag of an e-mail may be ignored.

Avoid heavy use of CSS – Many email clients will have a difficult time displaying e-mails with style sheets. If you use CSS, it should be written inline and should primarily relate to text styling. Also make sure to use tables, as CSS formatting can cause issues with many e-mail clients.

Use center tags – Center tags help ensure your e-mails display consistently across web-based email clients.

Use only JPEG, PNG and GIF(static) images - All images must be served on your company's servers.

Don’t use JavaScript or style tags

Limit the use of non-standard languages – Many e-mail clients are not able to properly render Microsoft's Rich Text Format (RTF). This is because the subscriber's email client requires Microsoft software to properly interpret it. Look for (MSO) tags in the body of your HTML to identify Microsoft RTF.

The top five e-blasts in recent history

1. DigitalSignageToday.com- Intel - Intel® NUC – Your Digital Signage Solution
2. ATMmarketplace.com - Wincor - Eight steps to successful cash recycling
3. FastCasual.com - HotSchedules - We all know it's the small stuff that makes a big difference...
4. RetailCustomerExperience.com - Redpoint - Changing the Retail Paradigm
5. ATMmarketplace.com - GRG Banking - New Branch Transformation Infographic

The “speedbump” is an ad that inserts into the middle of a story. As the reader cruises on down the page, they encounter your message.
Here’s what it looks like:

When creating your speedbump, you’ll need to provide the following:

Headline (50 characters or less)
URL (where you want readers to go when they click on your ad)
Body Copy (240 characters or less)
Image (120x120 image)

Assets are white papers, case studies, infographics and other downloadable content you’ve created for the industry. These pieces are generally informational vs. promotional – in fact, the more informational they are the more downloads they’ll get!

Since everyone who downloads one of your assets or views one of your webinars is captured as a lead for you, it pays to produce content the industry wants.

Examples of assets:

Special Publication		White Paper		Webinar		Infographic
Orange Leaf partnered with InMoment to launch a store-wide Voice of Customer feedback program and social advocacy initiative.		Frank Mayer's five basic stages of the path to purchase and the connected consumer.		Video walls are growing in popularity by the day. They inspire imagination, and deliver the "wow" factor, whether trying to convey an image of cutting-edge technology or elevating a brand.		Presented by Mobile Payments Today and mobile payment provider Cellum, this infographic shows some of the myriad ways mobile payments are already being used.

View a live directory with many more examples of what other companies have produced.

Your checklist:

• Upload PDF files only – White papers and case studies should be saved as optimized PDFs, so they can be downloaded faster. If you need help with pdf's, learn more from Adobe here and here.
• Create a search-friendly title – Users will find them on our sites and in Google using common keywords.
• Short synopsis – Again, make it brief, descriptive and search-friendly – just one or two sentences describing why someone would want to read your document or view your webinar.
• Brief overview – Go into a little more detail than the synopsis. Make sure to include some data points, a list of topics and a summary of the kinds of must-have information included in your report.
• Cover/White paper image – We’ll create a cover for your document; or if you have your own image, you can upload it under the "Upload Creative" tab. The image should be a .png file (150 x 195 pixels).

Much of the content on our sites (including our clients’ assets) shows up at the top of Google search results. To increase the chances your own content will be found, we offer the following tips.

• Use the following tools to find out which phrases related to your products and services are Googled most frequently:
  1. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
  2. http://www.wordstream.com/keywords

• When you’ve identified the best keywords, feature them prominently in your showcases and assets. Including these keywords in titles is particularly important. Also use them in synopses and descriptions, but don’t overdo it. Above all else, your copy must read well to a potential buyer.
• Unless your product is already well-known in the industry, avoid using its technical name in the showcase title. Instead, use terms that a potential buyer would use to describe your product. For example, “Lightweight Compound Bow” is better than “Browning Verado™ Bow RTS Package.” If you absolutely must put the model name in the showcase title, follow this example: “Lightweight Compound Bow | Browning Verado™ Bow RTS Package.”

Link from your site to your showcases and assets listed on our sites. Also feel free to link to articles, press releases, topic centers and home pages.

Twitter

Tweets must be 140 characters or less, including the URL, spaces, @mentions and hashtags. We will use shortened URLs to conserve space, but the link will still use a portion of the 140 characters. Hashtags can be included within the message or at the end. No more than three (3) hashtags should be used in a message.

When creating a Twitter message, you will need to provide the following:

Tweet:140 characters or less, including URL, hashtags, @mentions and spaces
Image: Image should be have a horizontal orientation and be at least 300 pixels wide.

Facebook and LinkedIn

Your message will also be sent via our Facebook and LinkedIn pages.