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 Many New Zealand Mac-related businesses have asked for an opportunity to provide more information about their services to Mac users in New Zealand via the NZMac.com website. Currently businesses are able to promote their services through exceptionally low cost advertising, free advertising and promotion for competition sponsorship (http://www.nzmac.com/advertise.html) and via a free listing in the site's Mac Business Directory.
From today, the opportunity to provide information is expanded, with NZMac.com's new "Focus On..." feature. It's a way for New Zealand based Mac-related businesses to provide greater detail on their Mac-related services and/or products whilst also supporting NZMac.com and its users.
Who would write the story and what should be included?
You will need to provide the draft story to NZMac.com because you know about your business more than anyone. This is an opportunity for you to get better promotion and publicise your services.
Starting writing
You must take the time to consider your audience and appreciate that we are wanting to hear about what your business offers, rather than how great you feel it is. The article should be seen as informative as opposed to competitive.
- Text for the article must be between 400-1000 words
- Your article could give site users an indication of the services you provide, some historical background and perhaps some detail as to who you are
- Up to 5 images (including a business logo) can be submitted for inclusion with the story but may not all be used (logos will be used by default if provided)
- Your main website URL is the only URL to be listed if available
- Contact details will not be listed. Instead, your entry in the NZMac.com Mac Business Directory will be linked to.
- You must be submit your text and images at least two weeks prior to the intended publishing date, at which point payment is also expected
Writing style
- Superlatives and evaluations of your business will not be accepted
- Write in the third person - For example, "Mac-able Demo Company is a dedicated Mac repair and.." as opposed to "We are a dedicated..."
- Avoid 'Business speak' and abbreviations - Remember this is a public site, so understand your audience
- Avoid comments that are open for debate. For example, a quote from your manager saying "We provide the best Mac repair in Auckland" will not be accepted, whereas "We aim to provide the best Mac repair in Auckland" would
- Comments from customers will not be accepted as these can be added into the Mac Business Directory section by your clients themselves (in fact, you should encourage it!!). Significant local business awards that your business have won can be mentioned (at the discretion of NZMac.com)
- Prices, service fees etc should not be mentioned...these will fluctuate over time
- Details of things such as a newsletter that users can sign up to may be mentioned, but in order to carry out these activities users will be directed to your site
Publishing and use of the feature story
- Once submitted the story will be edited and published under the name of the NZMac.com website owner, Philip Roy. Editorial control will remain with NZMac.com, but as the article is in its final stages, there will be an opportunity to review drafts before publishing. Note that the publishing under the website owner's name is simply for technical reasons (all articles on the site and within the content management system are required to have an author) and does not imply any endorsement or fact-checking. Information is provided by the business involved who, by their submission, indemnify NZMac.com in respects to any litigation.
- Publishing does not mean exclusivity on NZMac.com - Other advertising will continue to operate and promotion of companies supporting contests will still continue to occur
- You are welcome to link to the story from your own site, however you should not copy the content onto any other site
- The story can be used for promotional purposes by providing others with a link to the story (ie, emailing customers saying "NZmac.com is running a feature on us") but you should not indicate that there is any endorsement, favouritism or opinion being expressed because of this by NZMac.com.
- Any implication that (other than for your paid promotion) NZMac.com is running the story will see it removed from the site
- You are welcome to promote NZMac.com on your website by using a NZMac.com Web badge. These should not be modified in any way and no additional text should be added that implies endorsement, sponsorship, contribution to or reciprocal agreements between your site and NZMac.com
- Every promotional story will feature a disclaimer at the bottom of the story - "Substantial portions of this promotional article have been provided to NZMac.com by the business involved. NZMac.com does not warrant the accuracy of any information provided. Trademarks/servicemarks mentioned remain the property of their respective owners. The content of this article does not and should not be used to imply endorsement, sponsorship, contribution to or reciprocal agreements between the business, NZMac.com and readers of this site."
Types of companies to be included
- Virtually all companies listed in NZMac.com's Mac Business Directory, that provide a New Zealand based Mac-related service or have a substantial portion of product that is Mac related. Exceptions will include businesses such as...
- Multimedia Developers
- Web Site Designers
- Publishing Companies
- General hardware and electrical stores
Types of promotions available
- Only one "Focus On..." promotion will run at any one time
- The types of opportunities for you are listed in the order in which preference will be given by NZMac.com.
- In the case of more than one business wanting similar promotion, NZMac.com will deal on a "first come, first served" basis and all new inquiries will be added to a queue.
- All businesses that feature in a "Focus On..." article will see their listing in the NZMac.com Business Directory emphasised for a period of 1 year from the date of the publishing of their story. The definition of "emphasised" is (in this context)...
- In the category listing area, "Focus On..." businesses will be listed in their own display area. Each page load will show a new "Focus On..." company.
- Details here will include a brief bio of the company and link to their full story. A link to this page will also be included to encourage other businesses to consider a "Focus On..." article (see the image below)
| A) Low fee, Front page one-month promotion (site user benefits) |
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- Cost is 1x the base advertising fee
- Your business will be promoted via a "Focus On.." feature highlighted on the main page of NZMac.com for one calendar month (in a similar fashion to the image you see here) which will link to the written article.
- The article will also be published as a news item and only come off the front page when more news is added
- This promotion is low cost because in order to be accepted for such a feature, you must be willing to commit to offering an ongoing (6 month minimum) discount/benefit of some sort to NZMac.com users. An example of this is the Orcon Promo Code, which gets users off this site $30 off broadband.
- Your ongoing discount will also be listed on a newly established "Promo Code" page
- Once more companies are added to the "Promo Code" page, it is the intention of NZMac.com to place a permanent link on the main page to the list of Promo Codes. This is the only direct promotion this feature will receive (at the discretion of NZMac.com).
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| B) Higher fee, Front page one-month promotion |
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- Cost is 4x the base advertising fee
- Your business will be promoted via a "Focus On.." feature highlighted on the main page of NZMac.com for one calendar month (as per option A) which will link to the written article.
- The article will also be published as a news item and only come off the front page when more news is added
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| C) Low fee news item promotion |
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- Cost is 2x the base advertising fee
- Your business will be promoted via a news item and only come off the front page when more news is added, but will stay on the front page for two weeks minimum
- During a busy news period, you should expect your item to be removed from the front page shortly after the two weeks have ended. If news is light or there are no other businesses waiting for promotion, your item may remain on the front page longer
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Protecting your feature story
When your story is published on the site, the commenting feature built into NZMac.com will be disabled for your promotional article. Users will not be able to post comments under the story about your business. At the same time, if a forum thread starts up on the site as a direct result of your business article, this thread will be deleted. This is to both protect you from focused complaints and to protect this site from inappropriate targeted user-generated promotion, which the site has experienced from some over-enthusiastic businesses in the past.
Instead, customers should be encouraged to rate and review your service in the Mac Business Directory.
Amending your feature story
In most instances, your feature story is unlikely to change. However, new services that you introduce or services that you stop, can be edited from your story. However this will not mean any repeat promotion of your business by default. Such a decision (new promotion) will be at the discretion of NZMac.com. Fees will once again be required if repeat promotion occurs.
Amendments are not expected regularly (approximately once per year is reasonable) given that your feature should not offer specifics such as prices, special deals or charges etc. Amendments will mostly be for things such as a large expansion of the types of services you offer, perhaps physical relocation or expansion, or new premises or related websites launching.
Companies that are excluded - You can still get involved!
Software companies overseas (for example) cannot be promoted in the "Focus On.." section, however you may like to support users of this site by offering an ongoing promotional code.
An example of a discount is the Orcon Promo Code, which gets users off this site $30 off broadband with Orcon in New Zealand. Your ongoing discount will be listed on a newly established "Promo Code" page. Once more companies are added to the "Promo Code" page, it is the intention of NZMac.com to place a permanent link on the main page to the list of Promo Codes. This is the only direct promotion this feature will receive (at the discretion of NZMac.com). Which companies are listed is also at the discretion of NZMac.com and must not impact on other standing advertising agreements.
Where to from here?
Please use this form to contact NZMac.com if you are interested in having your New Zealand Mac-related business promoted or wish to offer an ongoing discount to NZMac.com users.
Business should check this page for revisions to the "Focus On..." feature of the site. NZMac.com reserves the right to make changes to these specifications without consultation, including display changes to the main page (due to major news stories etc). In all instances, all attempts will be made not to impact on the Focus On feature or to provide alternative promotion at a later date.
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