Photobucket is a super way to edit & host images for your social networking sites.  (www.photobucket.com) The free account gives you 1 GB of storage space and includes some fun image editing capabilities, you can make use of in a variety of ways.

Images give greater strength and impact to your message!  Keeping it fresh with new images in your newsletter will inspire your readers to be more responsive.  It’s by tending to your traffic driving tools and using them to make a connection with people that you can grow your business exposure, and track the results  of your efforts online.

The process of using Photobucket to host images is easy:

1. Upload
2. Edit
3. Use it – selecting the desired code from Share this Image section, and copy/paste it to where you need it.

For your newsletter, you will either use the direct link code where URL is requested, or you’ll paste the HTML code into the newsletter template.  For Aweber and Constant Contact its easiest to simply copy and paste in the HTML code that is provided by Photobucket.

If you’re using Facebook and/or Twitter, it’s easy to use these images there as well.  For businesses that need to store and use images for online marketing and social networking sites Photobucket is a handy do-it-yourself solution.

For more information on how we can help you take charge of your marketing, start driving targeted traffic to your sites, and track the results of your efforts visit us at www.catchthis.ca.

In 10 simple steps I’m going to teach you how to add a letterhead image to an existing Word document. (Assuming this is where you create the bulk of your business documentation)

This method will help you keep informational sheets up to date and looking sharp, and gives you the convenience of being able to work on them yourself, as needed without sacrificing style. Initial design for items such as letterhead, brochures, fliers, postcards, etc. should still be referred to a graphic designer.

Adding a letterhead image to a Word Document

1. Go to the View menu and select Header/Footer
2. With your cursor in the header section select Insert > Picture > From File and choose the TIFF, JPG, or PNG file for your letterhead from wherever you have it stored
3. Image will appear in the middle of the page, and push the content down further.  To resolve this you need to format the image
4. Right click on the image, and select Format Picture
5. In the resulting dialogue box, choose the Layout tab and set layout to Behind Text
6. Click OK
7. With image still selected, drag it up and to the left so it lines up with those edges
8. Hold mouse over lower right corner and click and drag to resize until the left edge also aligns.TIP:  If you can’t get it to align exactly as you like, you can gain more control over positioning by making sure your Formatting Palette is open (View > Formatting Palette) and then use the Align & Distribute controls in the Size, Rotation & Ordering section to center the image to the page both vertically and horizontally.  To view a screencap of this in a new window click here.
9. Voila!
10. Select close and work within your document as usual.TIP:  If you want to change the margins for your text, this is done in the formatting palette also, under the Document Margins section.

I always recommend saving your document as a PDF before you distribute it electronically.  You can send it as a Word document but this doesn’t ensure that the recipient will see it as you intend since this can depend on what version of Office they use.  The only time I deliver documents in Word format is when the recipient needs to be able to make changes or additions.

Need a free basic PDF creator?  I suggest Primo PDF – www.primopdf.com If you want more than the basic, their Nitro PDF Professional is competitively priced at $99 and offers you many of the features of Adobe Acrobat at a fraction of the price.

TIP:  Once you’ve installed Primo PDF, to create a PDF from Word click File > Print > and select Primo PDF from the list of printers in the print dialogue.

I hope this information has been helpful to you.  As always I welcome your feedback, and topic suggestions so please feel free to comment or drop me a message.  Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!!!

To find out more about how we can help take the pain out of putting your marketing pieces together or to request assistance with your own digital letterhead, visit our website at www.catchthis.ca  and pop us an email.  We look forward to hearing from you!