This is a news release about our Web site that exemplifies how to approach item #6 in the article, "Establishing An Internet Presence". The release was written to show how small businesses can benefit from the Web. Using this approach we able to get the business editors of both Salt Lake City metro newspapers to call us for interviews within two week after sending out the release.

I include a very short cover letter on our business stationary, with two sentences designed to invoke curiosity:

"Few of these markets existed for us a few months ago before we connected to the Internet and the World Wide Web. Recently, we supplied a cloud photograph to a sultan in Kuwait for the cover of a book he had written; and a photo of a couple in a canoe for an advertising executive in Santiago, Chile was used on a 'highway poster' (their term for an outdoor billboard). All images were delivered digitally."

NEWS RELEASE:

A Photography Library On The Internet's World Wide Web.

The Stock Solution (TSS), a stock photo agency in Salt Lake City, Utah that licenses copyrighted images, has a new site on the World Wide Web that showcases photography from its library of over 200,000 images. The collection represents the work of over 100 independent, professional photographers. The online library makes it possible for businesses, publishers, and advertisers to find and license copyrighted photos for newsletters, brochures, magazines, multi-media, and even for use on other Web pages.

The Web site has helped TSS reach markets that would have been impossible without this new form of communication. "We are a small business with only five employees that must compete with large New York stock photo agencies," says agency director, Royce Bair. "Larger agencies have the budgets to print glossy, 4-color catalogs, often costing over $1 million. For an initial design cost of only a few thousand dollars and a $40/month service connection, we were able to have a comparable number of images published over the Internet. The Internet allows us to electronically publish a catalog that is seen by millions of people all over the world. In fact, about a third of our e-mail orders come from businesses residing in foreign countries."

Web publishing allows small business owners like TSS to receive almost instantaneous marketing feedback, and to respond in a similar manner. Through special software on their Internet provider's server, TSS can learn which images are actually being viewed (called "hits") by users who visit their Web site. These statistics can be updated daily to determine which images should stay in the online catalog and which images should leave to make room for new images that might have greater sales potential. "Web publishing makes it easy for us to quickly test the tastes and trends of a market," reports Mr. Bair. "Before the advent of the Web, we were stuck with what we had printed in our catalogs. Now we can digitally cut and splice in changes without having to scrap an entire printed catalog."

The Stock Solution has discovered that just because one builds a site on the World Wide Web does not mean that people will visit it. "The Internet community abhors blatant advertising," says Royce. "They are looking for a greater depth of information than can be given in a 30-second TV spot or a yellow page ad. Although you have to capture their attention in your initial Web 'home page', you must go on to provide information that will be of value to the user."

It is this generous use of valuable information on TSS's site that has helped them to receive important links (the way a user is transported from one Web site to another) from other sites on the Internet. One recent link from the Netscape Communication's site (producers of the Web's most popular browser software) sent over 60,000 visitors to The Stock Solution site, and resulted in over two million hits during a three-week period!

A sampling of over 500 digital versions of TSS's photographs are available in 10 online subject categories. The balance of their collection is accessible through a free custom search and delivery service called, the Off-line Photo Search (OPS). Through OPS, a person can e-mail a request for a custom photo search on any subject from the agency's complete library. Upon request, TSS digitally scans up to 12 image previews and uploads them to the requesting person's e-mail address. These small, preview images are delivered without obligation and can be used for preliminary design or mock-up presentations. If a preview image from an OPS fits the needs of the recipient, a high-resolution digital image or the actual photograph can be ordered and licensed. Thousands of preview images can also be viewed online in a searchable OPS database compiled from previous custom photo search requests.

Using the OPS service, businesses can save time and shipping costs. They also avoid traditional stock photo agency "research fees" (costing $50 to $75 per search), and the lessen the liability for loss or damage to original photographs.

Note the contact information that is supplied at the end of the release. You'll also notice that I have offered quotes and "how to" experiences that would be useful to other small business people. Unless you can give information that others can apply or relate to, you will never receive more than a passing mention in a group area of a newspaper or magazine which is set aside for the zillions of news release that these publications receive every week.