HarborCountry.com
Advertising Specifications & Tips

In order to maintain a balance between compelling advertisements and server speed, we have established the following guidelines for advertising graphics at HarborCountry.com.

“Advertisers” can change their “Hot Spot” advertising graphic up to 2 times per month. Please e-mail all advertising graphics to stc@harborcountry.com.


Production Specifications

Ad Icons and Ad Bars for placement on HarborCountry.com must be delivered in the following format:

• Option 1 maximum Ad Icon art size: 120 x 60 pixels.
• Option 2 maximum Ad Bar art size: 275 x 60 pixels.
• Set the computer monitor at 640 x 480 to create digital art.
• Ad artwork must be created in 8-bit, 256 colors.
• Ad artwork resolution must be 72 pixels per inch.
• Ad artwork must be saved in a .GIF format.
• Ad artwork must be delivered four weeks prior to live start date.

• Have something to say
• Say it with style
• Stick your URL wherever you can
• Get your site listed in Internet directories
• Advertise your Web site in other media

• Content
  As you do when working with an advertising agency to launch an ad campaign, you’ll first need to figure out what you want your pages to communicate and how you want to express that message through words, pictures, and audio & video clips. It’s a good idea to meet with your Web designer and possibly a graphic artist at the project’s outset and rough out a story board that will tell your company’s story on the Web.

• Design
  Typically, you can take text and artwork that you’ve used in your print ads and use them as the foundation of your Web site; you can also scan pictures from your mail order catalog. However, it’s also important to create content that’s compelling enough to keep Internet users coming back to your site again and again. This can mean creating hyperlinks to related information resources on the Net. Companies with bigger budgets can hire a team of writers, graphic designers, and programmers to create a content-rich site such as HotWired or Virtual Vineyards, complete with message boards, online tours, and interactive games.

• Programming
  You may also need to hire a programmer to create the back-end scripts to create searchable databases, and to activate your site’s online order forms. Hiring a programmer to write Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts generally will run $15 to $100 an hour depending on the complexity of the job and the programmer’s experience. If you want to save some money, try to find pre-written scripts by searching through Internet catalogs. One good place to look is the Yahoo directory’s Computers/World Wide Web section (www.yahoo.com).