How to choose digital or offset printing…
Print This Post
When embarking on your next print project, you will be faced with choosing either digital or offset printing. See the pros and cons of each process.
The Offset Printing Process
Offset lithography is the most commonly trusted, high volume commercial printing technology. In offset printing, the image is first burned onto a plate, and is then transferred (or offset) from the plate to a rubber sheet, and finally to the printing surface. The lithographic process is based on the repulsion of oil and water. The image to be printed gets ink from ink rollers, while the non printing area attracts a film of water, keeping the non printing areas ink-free. It often takes an hour or more to print a single page. Once up and running however, the economies and speed of offset printing for print runs over 750 pages typically will be better than digital processes.
The Digital Printing Process
If you have a desktop printer at home, you’re already familiar with the process of digital printing. Many of the steps required for offset printing are eliminated (ie, making films and color proofs, manually stripping the pieces together, and making plates), which results in a much more affordable print solution. Digital printing uses a different technology altogether. Images are produced with very fine toner. The time it takes to print the first page is usually well under a minute. This technology makes short runs, or runs from 1 to about 750 impressions less expensive, as well as quicker to produce than offset printing. Color digital presses use four-color process (CMYK) printing.
How to choose between digital or offset printing?
Quantity, timeframe, and quality are the deciding factors in whether to use offset printing or digital printing. Digital printing is used primarily when you need something very quickly or in very small quantities, but other factors, such as color, the need for variable printing, or sheet size may come into play as well.
Here is a table of comparisons between digital and offset printing that may help you make your decision…
| OFFSET | DIGITAL | |
| Quantity | High quantities, 750+ | Low quantities (short runs) less than 750 |
| Color | Pantone® (PMS) or CMYK | CMYK |
| Turnaround | Not needed quickly | Need it quickly, short turnaround |
| Price | Prints higher quantities at much less cost | Prints lower quantities at much less cost |
| Quality | Higher image quality, higher resolution and no streaks/spots | High image quality not a factor |
| Consistency | Prints can vary from run to run | Every print is the same. More accurate counts, less waste and fewer variations, due to not having to balance ink and water during press run. |
| Sheet Size | Better options of printing larger sheets as long as you are doing more than a few of any item | Most digital presses only print up to a 14×20 sheet although 12 x18 is the most common sheet size |
| Variable Text | No | Can print variable text or images where each sheet off the press is unique in some personalized way (database driven, e.g. mailing lists, marketing materials, direct mail pieces, letters, etc. with a different name/address or number/code on each printed piece) |
| Finishing | Must dry or be coated before handling | Once a sheet is off a digital press it can be cut, folded or finished very quickly |
| Special Inks | Yes | No special inks (metallics, overglosses, fluorescents) since all colors will have to fall within a CMYK gamut |
| Stock/Printing Surfaces | Works on a wide range of printing surfaces including thick paper, wood, cloth, metal, leather, rough paper and plastic | Limited weights (thicknesses) and types of paper they’re able to print on |
| Proofing | If you need hard copy proofs, very accurate color proofing can become expensive | Offers more accurate proofs, since what you see is an actual sample of the printed piece, printed using the exact process as the intended run |
How can I increase my Web site rank?
Print This Post
Through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Building a web site is the easy part. Building a presence on the web is the time consuming part. There is no such thing as being done with SEO & SEM. It’s an ongoing process.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. It is an inexact science. The higher a web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.
Typically, a search engine works by sending out an automated “spider” to fetch as many documents (Web pages) as possible. Another program, called an indexer, then reads these documents and creates an index based on multiple factors. Each search engine uses a proprietary algorithm to create its indices such that, ideally, only meaningful results are returned for each query. Google, for example, has over 300 ranking factors.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Can Google Index Your Web Site?
Meta Tags
These are special HTML tags that provide information about a Web page. Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed. Instead, they provide information such as who created the page, how often it is updated, what the page is about, and which keywords represent the page’s content. Many search engines use this information when building their indices, so it is vital you have each of the following elements incorporated into your web site code…
Meta Page Titles
Unique title tags should be added to each Web page on your site. A title tag is HTML used to define the text in the top line of a Web browser, also used by many search engines as the title of search results.
Meta Page Descriptions
Unique page descriptions should be added to each Web page on your site. A page description is HTML that is used by many search engines as the description of your page in the search results.
Anchor Text
One of the factors that search engines have been analyzing and factoring into their ranking algorithms is the anchor text - that is, the text used between the anchor tags.
The text here is the anchor text.
Search engines have come to understand that the anchor text often more indicative of a page’s content than the meta data of the page itself. So much so, in fact, that some pages are ranked in the top ten for highly competitive keywords simply because many other pages link to that page using the keyword as the anchor text of the link.
Keywords
Ten unique sets of keywords/keyphrases should be added to each web page in a meta tag. Keywords are used by a search engine in its search for relevant Web pages. You should be saturating your meta tags (title, description), page content, anchor text, and web page addresses with your most important keywords/phrases.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - Does Google Like Your Web Site?
Manual Submissions
Can Google, Bing, and Yahoo even find your Web site? - Submit your URL (yoursite.com) to a search engine in an attempt to make a search engine aware of a site or page. Each search engine has it’s own process for submitting, and some (like Yahoo!) will charge you to submit your site.
Inbound Links (Are people linking to your Web site?)
The top search engines view a link to your web page as a vote for your page. It is not only the volume of links to your page that is important but the quality and relevance of the pages that link to your page.
***The more quality, relevant incoming links to your page, the higher the major search engines will rank your page.***
A growing number of search engines use link popularity in their ranking algorithms. Google uses it as its most important factor in ranking sites. HotBot, AltaVista, MSN, and others also use link popularity in their formulas. Eventually every major engine will use link popularity, so developing and maintaining it are essential to your search engine placement.
“But I Want to Rank Number One in Google NOW!”
If time is a factor, break out your wallet and call a company that specializes in SEM. They may use one or more of the following tactics in addition to those above.
Search Engine Visibility (SEV)
Search Engine Visibility automates the search engine submission process, and provides insight into search engine optimization to help you achieve better ranking in the top search engines.
Web Site Link Visibility
Link Visibility programs are dedicated to improving your web site’s visibility among targeted, complimentary web properties. It helps to boost your web site promotion efforts by adding text rich links to a network of highly regarded (by the search engines) web sites.
Optimized Press Release Service
An optimized press release service can help your storefront get crawled by the search engines and viewed by great news sources. Includes Yahoo!® News inclusion and Google™ News image!
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Advertisers bid on “keywords” that they believe their target market would type in the search bar when they are looking for their type of product or service. For example, if an advertiser sells red widgets, he/she would bid on the keyword “red widgets”, hoping a user would type those words in the search bar, see their ad, click on it and buy. These ads are called “sponsored links” or “sponsored ads” and appear next to and sometimes above the natural or organic results on the page. The advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad.
While many companies exist in this space, Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing are the largest network operators as of 2006. MSN has started beta testing with their own PPC services MSN adCenter. Depending on the search engine, minimum prices per click start at US$0.01 (up to US$0.50). Very popular search terms can cost much more on popular engines.
The primary benefit of pay per click is the immediate results and complete control it offers the advertiser. You can commit $50, or $50,000. You may target one set of keywords today, and if they don’t work out you may target an entirely different set of keywords tomorrow.
As a short term strategy, pay per click is ideal. The drawback of PPC is the cost. A top position for some search terms can cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars each day. Over the long term, organic search engine optimization is much more cost effective.
Pay per click advertising or PPC advertising is an arrangement in which webmasters (operators of web sites), acting as publishers, display clickable links from advertisers, in exchange for a charge per click. As this industry evolved, a number of advertising networks developed which acted as middlemen between these two groups (publishers and advertisers). Each time a (believed to be) valid web user clicks on an ad, the advertiser pays the advertising network, who in turn pays the publisher a share of this money. This revenue sharing system is seen as an incentive for click fraud.
What is the difference between RGB, CMYK and PMS colors?
Print This Post
When developing color for your print project or Web site, it’s important for you to know some of the ins and outs of these 3 color models.
RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
If you are reading this, you are reading an RGB display via your computer. RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue. The three colors that create every other tone of color that is visible on your screen. There is no black or white ‘color’. Neither is there yellow or purple. They are all combinations of red, green and blue. White is the sum of all three colors while black is the absence of all three colors. While each monitor is capable of displaying a wide range of colors, there are still inconsistencies between computers.
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black)
In four-color process (CMYK) printing, primary colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) are mixed together to produce most of the colors that you see in normal magazines and color books. While there are six-color color spaces, these are much less common and are used for specific printing techniques.
CYMK is what the vast majority of commercial printers do, although there is a wide range of options. Images and artwork targeted for reproduction in a CMYK color space must be properly formulated to print correctly. If you’ve had the misfortune of trying to get an accurate print from an RGB image, you’ve just had a glimpse into the technical realm of 4CP (four color process) printing. To further confuse the issue, printers will often refer to their presses as 4, 5, or 6 color presses. While this makes sense to print designers, it is often lost on other customers. These numbers refer to the maximum numbers of colors that can be run in a single pass. For example, a tri-fold brochure could be designed to be printed in CMYK, plus a spot varnish, plus a metallic spot color. This ‘job’ is known as a six-color job since there are six colors of inks that will be run in a single pass.
PMS (Pantone Matching System)
Spot colors, also known as PMS colors, and officially as Pantone Matching System colors. Are specific color formulas that will reproduce accurately in print. Instead of simulating colors by combining primary colors, spot (PMS) colors are pre-mixed with existing and published color formulas. Because of this, you are nearly guaranteed that your PMS 186 from one printer will be matched by a PMS 186 from another printer. Better yet, often these PMS colors are pre-mixed by the ink factory, leaving even less to chance. “Spot” colors refer to the actual printing process by which they are applied.
