You may have noticed that I have at least one image in every blog post I make. Yes, this is mostly because I’m a graphic artist and wish to promote myself, but it also serves another purpose.

In the online community image is everything. While content is the most important aspect of your web site, the look and feel of your pages, blogs, and ezines also play a part in converting one time visitors into returning visitors.

Images in any web page or blog post act like white space, especially when you have a lot of text. They help to break up the text giving the visitor a break from reading. They also help to make the page look more appealing to the visitor and increase the visibility of your articles.

However, you can’t just slap any old graphic in there and leave it at that. Some important things to consider when adding images to your blog are:

• Does the image relate the topic you are discussing?
• Is the image a convenient physical size?
• Is the image properly optimized for quick online viewing?
• Is the image in a format that is easily viewed by all browsers
• Is the image royalty-free?
• Along the same vein, is the image copyrighted by someone else?

I should explain. Royalty-free images mean that you do not have to pay a fee to someone every time you use that image. It does not however mean that they are not copyrighted. The artist may have specific instructions regarding their artwork such as requiring a link back to their own site and receiving proper credit in each post.

You can use your own photos, find royalty-free photos and images by doing a search on a search engine, or you can commission a graphic artist to create a custom-made image for you.

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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Some VAs will gather together a team of subcontractors to handle the services they can’t. Others will create specific partnerships and work only with those partners. Recently a new type of VA practice has been popping up, multi-VA practices, where there is one team leader and many affiliates doing specific jobs.

A couple bits of advice when forming partnerships, creating a team, or joining a multi-VA practice. It is so important to research prospective partners and protect yourself, whether you are the team leader or one of the associates. Remember, your reputation is on the line and the people you connect your business name with will affect that.
When you enter into a multi-VA practice, or a partnership, you should first of all make sure that the person you are partnering with shares the same ethics and ideals as you. No matter how valid either one of your ideas are, if you can’t agree on how things are done your effectiveness with your clients and your reputation will suffer.

You should protect yourself in the event that something goes wrong with your partner and you are left holding the bag. Things happen. Sometimes emergencies come up or practices close up shop. Each contract you or your team leader comes up with for your client should clearly state who is responsible for what and who is liable for what. One way to do this is to create a joint-venture agreement, where rules, ethics and escape issues as well as liabilities are outlined in full before the partnership forms.

Being responsible and practicing due diligence when creating partnerships is a great way to market your business. It increases your visibility/exposure as well as your reputation.

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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Attendee’s vision of the Purple Moose Lounge. The after hours club of the Work At Home Expo

Business and Learning has just opened registration for the next Work at Home Expo happening on November 13, 14, and 15th, 2007. I can’t wait! I had so much fun and met so many new contacts during the May event. If you’re looking for a great networking experience this is it. Admission is free for all attendees, or you can choose to become an exhibitor like me for $50.00 USD or a sponsor for $300.00 – $1,000.00 USD.

When you become an exhibitor you will receive the following:

• Present one 30 minute seminar/presentation during the expo
• A CD or downloadable copy of the Expo’s recorded seminars, featured speakers and networking opportunities (Valued at $50)
• Your graphic with a live link to your web site on the schedule page
• Exhibitor links will be up from October 1 to March 30

As a Sponsor you will receive the following:

$300.00 Level:

• Your company’s logo on every page of the expo web site including the conference room’s welcome page
• Featured in at least one press release or article
• Mentioned in at least two live podcasts at the expo.
• Sponsor ads will be up from October 1 to March 30

$1,000.00 Level

• Your company’s logo on every page of the expo web site including the conference room’s welcome page and the blog
• Mention in every press release
• Mention via audio and text within the conference room every 1.5 – 3 hours at the expo
• Featured or interviewed in one live podcast during the expo
• Sponsor ads will be up from October 1 to March 30

This is a great marketing opportunity and one I highly recommend. During the May Expo over 300 people were signed up to participate and over 2900 visitors viewed the web site in the first week alone! The attendee mailing list for the upcoming event is now over 500. That’s a lot of exposure for you and your business!

If you wish to attend, exhibit, or sponsor at this popular event, just click on the link provided on the right side of this page.

Hope to see you there!

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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It’s been a fun couple of weeks but the Delaney Imaging site is back up and raring to go. And with a brand new look too! (Swishes the skirting) Doesn’t it look pretty? A special thanks to Will Shepler of Neoweb.net for this wonderful new design. He’s made it so easy for me to use and it shows off my art beautifully.

A lot of changes have been going on around here. Exciting News!

I am officially expanding my services to include Illustrations and cover art. Keep checking back for more information as new pages are constantly being added. Business is booming and requests for illustrations for books and graphic reports, as well as cover art for fiction and non-fiction books have kept me quite busy. As I expand those services, I have decided to discontinue the collage services. If you won a collage, please redeem your prize by February 29, 2008 – after that the offer is no longer valid. To redeem your prize, email me at delaney2@sympatico.ca.

Finally I will be taking a blog a day challenge. I heard about this challenge from Casual Friday Everyday but was too late to participate. The idea is to make a blog post once a day for 30 days. Today I am sending out my own challenge to all bloggers to keep this alive and keep me motivated. If you would like to join in the fun, make a comment to this post with a link to your blog and start blogging!

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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