COACHING - Photoshop Actions Hello and welcome to this weeks coaching. A special welcome to all our new members.  This month we look at automating your graphics. After our last coaching session on using Vegas lots of people asked about making graphics. There are hundreds of software programs around that will let you create great graphics but if you're serious about making your own then using Photoshop is essential.   There are plenty of ways to get a cheap copy of Photoshop like auctions, academic versions for your children or just get an older copy. The reason I like Photoshop so much is they use a thing called Actions which are like automated macros that do all the work for you. We have two things to look at. One is record your own action and then load one of the thousand of free actions available. Record your own Actions It's fairly easy to record your own Action. To start off, go to the Action's palette and click on the folder icon. This will create your own set. Give it a name in the pop up window. Now you can press the New Action icon. Enter a name for your new Action (ie. scanned in image size, color balance adjustment, etc.) Now all you have to do is record your Action by pressing Play. When you have completed all of your Actions (going through your process as you would normally) you can press the Red circle Stop button. You can take your time when recording an Action; it only remembers specific commands, not how much time it took you between steps. Remember that an Action is just a set of commands or steps that you would take within Photoshop (it can record about anything you can do). You could record an Action to make a simple 2 step image adjustment. By having it as an Action in your Action's palette, you can just open the other files and instead of having to go through the actual steps it would take to end up with the same result (same process) you can just press one button: Play (on your new action). An Action is basically an automation step to simplify your workflow (for example if there's a single process you find yourself doing on many of images); it saves lots of time. Also by recording Actions, you can later automate and batch files - many files all at once with the same Action or sequence/process. This can save you HOURS of work. Here I am just recording a simple Action as I'm doing the work. I'm creating an Action called imageweb. Once I press record I'm going to the Image: Image Size and changing the resolution to 72 for the web.   Once I press OK the step will be recorded (and anything else I do in the dialog box such as change the image width) in the action step. When recording an Action you are actually doing the steps you would take on an actual open document and using that as your the  master. Once you have completed your steps, just press stop. Actions can be as simple as a one-step process but can still save you time (press one button). Now open another image. With your Actions palette open, select your Action (just the name of it) which should already be there; and press PLAY. This will run the Action on the document you're working on. Instant automation.  You can see it's applied the same step that you recorded simply by pressing play. As a Photoshop user, be aware of this tremendous power.  Actions can get really advanced with stops, etc.  You can even create and run entire batches to create templates out of a folder of files. Download other Peoples Free Actions   The Outline Action resembles a technique that I see in many magazine titles.  It uses a stroked channel to create the three dimensional outline.  It also uses the Lighting Effects Filter to help bring it to life and give it a photo realistic quality. Both Actions use layers to create objects that interact with one another as if they were actual objects by revealing the object in the layer below and casting shadows on the lower layer. You can click on the original black and whites to view and download the full size versions.  Try the Action on these first and make sure you get the same results as in my finals. Be sure to experiment with different words, different sizes, different shapes and see how it works.  We hope you enjoy these Actions. Here is a bunch of Action sites. http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tools/actions.html http://www.actionfx.com/ http://www.indigoproductions.com/free_stuff/actions/fifteen_originals.htm http://www.webteknique.net/photoshop_actions.asp Have fun, Expect Success Quentin Brown Streaming Media Made Easy http://www.gisystemsgroup.com     TIPS AND TRICKS - Embedding public videos in your blog   Embedded Video Made Easy This nifty plug-in promises to greatly simplify video integration. It supports BBCode tags and (in the 3.1.0 beta) provides the ability to launch external video players from a link. Once configured, Viper provides several buttons in the WordPress administration screen when writing a new post that allow bloggers to instantly place video blocks from YouTube, Google Video and IFILM. Using the Plug-In Viper Video Quicktags by Viper007Bond Version 3.0.0 [download] Version 3.1.0 Beta 1 [download] More information… You can use the plug-in with or without the WYSIWYG (rich text) editor option, but you may want to enable it if you’re having trouble (the beta worked ok for me). With the Viper enabled, new editor buttons allow you to past videos using the clip ID or file URL. (screenshot: Viper Video Quicktags Interface)     FEATURE ARTICLE - 10 Traffic Building Tips   10 Quick Traffic Building Tips For Any Web Site Copyright © 2007 Terry Dean The question most often asked on the Internet is, "How do I get more traffic to my site?" You would think that an answer for this question would be extremely simple, but it really isn't. It isn't that it is so hard to get traffic to web sites. The problem is that there are so many different avenues of traffic generation you can choose from for any site. In this short report, we are going to cover 10 different low or no cost ways you can get traffic to any web site. This isn't even an extensive list. I could easily name off 5 - 10 more ways you could be getting traffic to your site, but I don't want to overwhelm you with too many options. The reason that most people don't get traffic is that they "Try" something, and then they give up. The key to any marketing is testing and then improving. If a method doesn't work for you on your first try, second try, or even your twelfth try, it doesn't matter. Keep going anyway. Read everything you can about that subject and keep trying different things. If you have chosen to use classified ads for your products and services, try different ezines. Use AOL classifieds. Try Yahoo's classifieds. Create new headlines for your ads. Create new sales letters to follow-up. Classified ads can work if you figure out how to work them for your product or service. The same aspects are true of many different types of Internet advertising. They work, but only if you are willing to keep on going even if you fail a dozen times trying. You keep learning and you keep testing. So, without further ado, here are your ten killer Internet Traffic Building Techniques: 1. Search Engine Submissions Almost everyone starts right here. They know that search engines bring 84% of the traffic to most web sites, so they know they have to submit to them. To achieve the top rankings in the search engines will take some serious work. You have millions of competitors, but you have an advantage. You are willing to learn and do what it takes to get to the top. To achieve the top traffic building positions, you will need to study everything you can on search engine positioning and meta tags. Then, you will have to test. Use a tool such as Web Position to check your rankings, examine your competitors who are beating you, and then edit your pages. If you are willing to keep going through this process and learning each step along the rise of your rankings, you too could soon be generating 100s of hits daily from top search engine positions. 2. Classifieds in Ezines The biggest bang for your marketing buck will come from ezine advertising. For $10 - $50 per classified ad, you can reach thousands of potential customers in your targeted market. With thousands of different ezines available, you can expand into hundreds of them once you find a classified ad and follow-up system that works for your product or service. By testing your little classified ads and expanding into more and more ezines every week, you could quickly start reaching millions of people weekly and earning an income to match. 3. AOL Classifieds AOL currently has over 15 million members. If I could only place one classified ad for any web site or product, it would probably be here. For $12.50, you can have your ad placed in view of people on a service where the ads are actually read. I know several people earn a couple of hundred dollars weekly by placing little classified ads just using AOL's system. The key on AOL is to create a killer headline for your ad so it stands out above the hundreds of other ads in every category. 4. Yahoo Classifieds There are very few free classified ad sites that actually work. Yahoo is one of the shining lights that stands out above the crowd of mediocre free ad sites. Yahoo has more traffic than any other Internet site and it definitely shows when you place your ads here. On Yahoo, you are allowed to place 10 ads at a time, so do so. A little key to creating effective ads here is to delete your ads every few days and replace them. Then, you will be able to keep your ads towards the top of the list and receive more free readers. 5. Trade Links If you develop a strong content oriented site you can persuade thousands of other webmasters to link to you or to trade links with you. There are even a few consultants online who have developed linking campaigns and have achieved a million hits a month or more for their customers within 90 days by linking with the right sites. You can do this yourself. The key is to develop content people want to link to and then get out there and make the contacts by visiting people's sites, sending out personalized emails to webmasters you have visited, and networking in discussion groups. 6. Participate in Leveraged Banner Exchanges Regular banner exchanges don't work that well. Although they can produce a few extra hits a month for your site, they never seem to give you the kind of traffic building leverage you need to grow to hundreds of thousands of hits a month. A new wave of banner exchanges is growing though at unprecedented rates. What they do that separates them apart is that they will give you a 5% to 20% credit of banner impressions of anyone's site that you refer. If you refer a site which gets a million hits a month, you would get 200,000 free impressions a month extra. 7. Start Your Own Mailing List If you want to make money online, start your own mailing list. It is the best way to keep contact with your prospects and your customers. It is also the best way to build the credibility you need to make sales to your targeted market. A little less talked about advantage to having your own mailing list is that you can use it to trade ads with other ezines out there. If you trade ads with 10 other ezines out there, you could easily be saving yourself $100 - $500 in advertising expense every week! 8. Banner Ads on Individual Sites When people think of banner ads they almost always think of the major search engines or major sites online. Well, I have been advertising lately with banners, and I can tell you something. Making money using banner ads on these high traffic high cost sites is extremely difficult and risky. These sites will charge you $20 per 1,000 impressions to general audiences and $50 per 1,000 impressions to targeted markets. By seeking out individual sites who get high traffic (50,000 hits to 1,000,000 hits a month), you can actually get rates of $1 - $10 per 1,000 impressions of your banner ads. By finding 10 - 20 of these sites, you can quickly build yourself an overwhelming river of traffic to your site for a much lower cost than the major search engines. 9. Advertise on Goto.com Goto has come up with a great advertising plan for businesses. You can actually go to http://www.goto.com/ and bid on traffic for your site. You pick keywords for your site and then place a bid of whatever price you are willing to pay for traffic from that keyword...generally you would bid .01 to .10 per keyword. Then, Goto will only charge you for the actual hits you receive from them. If you bid one penny for the keyword and you receive 10 hits from it today, you only owe 10 cents for the day. This low cost traffic building method cannot be beat anywhere. The key to making it work for you is to come up with hundreds of possible keywords for your site and then bid low amounts such as a few cents on each. Then, check your stats continually and find out what kind of traffic you are getting. 10. Free Stuff The KING of traffic is free stuff. If you want to get real traffic to your site, provide the kind of free content and services that your market is hunting desperately for. Provide free articles to other web sites. Provide free downloads. Give away free CGI programs. Provide hundreds of links to needed tools. Provide links to downloadable software. Give your visitors what they want and they will keep coming back and referring their friends. Terry Dean, a 5 year veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More: http://www.netbreakthroughs.com     WHAT'S New - Free stuff     JOKE OF THE WEEK -  Old Man   After dozens of very expensive tests and weeks of hospitalization, the rich old man was told he had only 24 hours to live. He immediately called his doctor and his lawyer to his room. He asked the doctor to stand by one side of his bed and his lawyer to stand by the other. After standing for some time, the doctor asked "What do you want me to do?" "Nothing. Just stand there." A while later, the lawyer asked "What do you want me to do?" "Nothing. Just stand there." As the hours wore on, the doctor and the lawyer watched the man weaken. When his time had almost arrived, the doctor and the lawyer again asked "Why are we standing here?" "Well," said the old man, "Christ died between two thieves, so I thought I'd do the same!     COPYRIGHT   MP3 Sound Stream - Sound Bites a division of MSIncome.com only search Soundbites Newsletter   Published: Brisbane Australia ABN: 22 230 452 354 Subscriber base: 11,000 (25-Jan-07) Copyright: MSIncome.com 2006 Sites: http://www.beststreamingmedia.com  http://www.mp3soundstream.com http://www.msijukebox.com http://www.msiwebvideo.com http://www.hifiaudiostream.com http://www.msiprompt.com http://www.mywebsitemanual.com http://www.msivideotraining.com http://www.msifoundation.com http://videohomelighting.com   ATTENTION: You are receiving this Newsletter because you requested a subscription or purchased one of our products. If you don't wish to receive any further issues please see the bottom of your email for removal instructions. Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. 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