The Secret to Saving Money on Printing

Are you the person who buys printing for your company or organization? If so, we want to talk to you! Whether you are ordering business stationery, functional forms and documents, or marketing materials and sales collateral, we’d like to help you get the most from your printing budget. So keep reading to learn our secret that will help you save money on printing. Printing = manufacturing Printing is a custom manufacturing process. When we fill your order, we aren’t taking something off the shelf and shipping it to you. We start from scratch each time, with paper (either blank or preprinted for business card shells or newsletter templates), ink or toner, and a digital file containing the images to be printed (either provided by you or retrieved from our secure file storage). All printing jobs have at least two manufacturing steps: prepress and printing. The prepress step uses a digital file (usually a PDF) to create a raster image or bit map – a grid of x and y coordinates with instructions on which coordinates to illuminate to create monochrome or color values. Printing is the output and reproduction process, which may be done on an offset press or a digital printer. Depending on the requirements of the job, it may also require finishing steps such as trimming, folding, stitching, drilling, binding and assembly. Jobs being printed for the first time may need design and preflight. Like all custom manufacturing jobs, printing requires clear, unambiguous specifications to guide the manufacturing process. These include the type of paper, the ink color(s), the finished size of the printed piece, and whether finishing work is required. For each new printing project, we write the initial specifications based on the choices you make. To eliminate errors that might be caused by rewriting specifications each time the job reprints, we use a computerized print production management system to store the specifications. Custom manufacturing takes time, and haste makes waste. Recognizing this, we have developed production standards that tell us how much time to allow for each step in the manufacturing process. Our production standards aren’t arbitrary; rather, they were developed to allow our production team enough time to read and understand the job specifications, decide the best equipment to use for the job, and operate the equipment in a manner that produces quality results while ensuring operator safety. Can we speed things up when necessary? Can we pull rabbits out of hats and perform minor miracles? Of course. But that’s exceptional work, not our production standard. Actively managing your inventory of business stationery and forms is a great way to avoid the stress of last minute ordering and to stay within your printing budget. • Estimate a 3-6 months supply. We recommend you order enough to last between three and six months. More than a six-month supply could mean that you are tying up money in inventory and, in some cases, running the risk that the printed piece may become obsolete. Less than a three-month supply and you are foregoing cost savings that result from a longer print run. An easy way to estimate is to ask yourself how many of this item you use in a specific interval (per day, per week, per month). • When you order an item, ask to have it included in our reorder reminder system. We’ll check your order history, predict when you might be running low, and notify you when it is time to reorder. • When reordering, ask us to price additional quantities. Our computerized estimating and pricing system makes it easy to recall a job from history and to produce a current quotation using multiple quantities. Then you can evaluate the trade off between storing an item and the cost savings of a longer print run. Printing = partnership You need the products and services we provide, and we need the income from providing those products and services. This is the basis for a mutually beneficial relationship where both of us do our respective parts to ensure success. We learned long ago that being dependable is the most valuable thing we can offer you. Our goal is to deliver your printing on time, as ordered, and at the agreed-upon price. But we need your help to do this. • Tell us the real due date. We will have your job done at the agreed-upon time – period. That means you don’t have to pad the due date because we might be late. If you prefer to have all printed materials in-hand a week before the meeting at which they will be used, we understand and will have the job ready. If you intend to pick up the job on your way to the meeting, we also understand. Either way, we won’t let you down. • Respect the price we give you for the job. We don’t pad our prices. If you find a lower price somewhere else, it is because the specifications changed (even though you may not know it) or the other printer is more efficient at manufacturing that particular item. Can we shave the price a bit to meet your budget? Probably, especially if you are a regular customer. Will you get us to lower our price by announcing you can buy it for half as much somewhere else? Not likely. Instead, we’ll congratulate you on finding a better price for that item and suggest you take the deal. • Provide your inputs on time. Remember our production standards? They are the basis for developing the production timeline. When you are providing inputs – a PDF file, text, photographs, illustrations, mailing list, postage deposit – we will give you an interim due date for each input. The interim due date is when we must receive the input for the job to stay on schedule and be ready on time. If others in your company are responsible for some of the inputs, we suggest you share the interim due date so you won’t be late. You be on time and we’ll be on time. • Provide inputs in industry-standard format. Microsoft Word is an industry standard for a report, but not for a brochure or a mailing list. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are industry standards for drawings and illustration or color correction and photograph manipulation but not for page layout. Some programs can make print- ready PDFs; others cannot. A special word about design, file repair and desktop printing: our job is to make you look good in print, and we take this seriously. We want all your printed materials to represent you well and for your branding to be consistent. That is why we may suggest that you let us design your new printed piece, or redesign an older one that needs refreshing. We may suggest redrawing a pixelated logo or creating a digital file of a document that currently exists only as hard copy. We may also offer to print something that you have previously printed yourself on desktop equipment. We make these suggestions as part of our job as print professionals. We will always provide a cost estimate and will not proceed with work you have not authorized. Most of the time our suggestions are based on a short-term or one-time expense that we can demonstrate will save money in the long run. The secret to saving money on printing So what is the secret to saving money on printing? Simply this: find a printing company whose equipment and capabilities match your needs and develop a relationship based on mutual responsibility and trust. Learn about printing as a manufacturing process so you can provide inputs and evaluate suggestions. Be a key liaison between your company and the printing company and call Kimberly or Dan at 303.320.4855 to learn just why we are that printing company.

Thanksgiving

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. -W.T. Purkiser Thanksgiving is upon us and as we take this time to enjoy friends and family, we count the blessings in which we have received throughout the year. BC Print and Web would like to take a moment to thank you for your loyalty, kindness and continued patronage. We know that it is with your support that we continue to grow and we are grateful for the opportunities to service you. In celebration of Thanksgiving we will be closed Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23. We will return Monday 11/26. Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. -Theodore Roosevelt Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at BC Print and Web

The Long & Short of Search Engine Optimization

The keywords that you use are more important than you think! While short and sweet is sometimes the best answer, a bit more detail can take you a long way. Read more about long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are pretty much what they sound like; they’re longer, more specific keywords which pertain more strongly to your business than other more general – and perhaps more frequently used – keywords. Essentially, the usefulness of long tail keywords lies in its specificity, which greatly increases the chances of the traffic going to your website actually becoming customers. I like to picture a dinosaur here (because, let’s face it, we could all use a little more dinosaur visualization in our lives). The more generic keywords (the dinosaur’s head) have lots of results. As the keywords get more specific, the number of results is going to slowly dwindle down to very few (right to the tip of the tail). The simple truth is that sites like Amazon.com are always going to snap up the majority of super general searches. If you’re trying to get traffic to a small, local, or super-specific website, long tail keywords are essential. When you’re part of a specific niche market, even if someone manages to find your website with a general search, it’s much less likely that they’re searching for exactly what your website offers. In these types of situations, optimizing only for general search terms wastes both you and your potential customers’ time. long tail keywords are all about being found for what your website really is and does. If your website is optimized for these specific keywords, you’re basically guaranteed a website visit and an increased chance of customer conversion. Let’s look at an example. Say you’re a potential customer trying to figure out where to eat in an unfamiliar city. You search for “burger restaurant” and receive a few million search results, the first few pages of which will be filled with mega-chains like Red Robin, McDonalds, ect. People will often start with more generalized searches and refine them if they don’t find satisfactory results. This is where those additional details become critical, if you’re looking for a specific product or service, you won’t find applicable websites unless this criteria is reflected in the website’s keywords. Now, unless you were searching for a massive worldwide burger chain, most search-engine-savvy people will automatically refine their search by adding specific details about what they’re looking for until it looks something like “local burger restaurant in Denver Colorado”. This long tail keyword search will show nothing but locally owned burger joints in one specific area, filtering out the big chains entirely. This is crucial, especially if your website shows up on the first page of results, because you’ve got about a 1 in 10 chance that the searching person will come to your restaurant. As a last note, it’s important to remember that, as useful as long tail keywords can be, they’re only as good as the content they describe. You can bring in all the potential customers you want with specific keywords, but unless your website actually has the information the customer requires, nothing is going to be able to increase your customer conversion. Great content is, in the long run, just as important to the success of a website as any SEO.

Top 10 Reasons Why We Should Be Your Printer!

BC Print and Web is an independent, family owned company; we maintain solid business practices, offer fast service, competitive pricing and a 100% quality guarantee on all of our products. If that wasn't enough to convince you here are the top 10 reasons BC Print and Web should be your printer. 10: We know how to print. We maintain high quality equipment for printing, coping and finishing to which we provide formal training for our operators and enforce production standards for quality and output. These factors ensure that we can set and meet the daily production schedule. 9: We tell you how much your job will cost. We provide a detailed quotation as soon as the job specifications are firm. We want to know before we begin production that the price fits within your budget and meets your expectations. 8: We invoice promptly. We don’t consider the job to be complete until the invoice is written. Jobs are invoiced on the day production is completed and will include your purchase order number, internal reference you provide and any other specifications you require. 7: We commit to a due date and deliver on time. Because of our production control system using interim due dates, we can provide a firm commitment for completing the job. 6: We let you know what’s going on. We confirm receipt of your estimate request, orders and files so you don’t have to follow up to be sure we have them. If we encounter an unexpected problem during production, we let you know right away so together we can develop options. We do this anytime the due date, cost or quality of the job will be impacted by the problem. We also let you know about all the things we do – from Direct Mail Campaigns to QR Codes. We won’t assume you know all that we do – instead, we’ll keep you informed via our newsletter and other means. 5: We tell the truth. We need you to trust us, and we believe that honesty is the most important step in earning your trust. We won’t mislead you, hide things from you or make substitutions without your knowledge and permission. 4: We find out what works for you. The more we know about your business, industry and customers, the better we can evaluate whether the printed piece will serve the purpose you intend. If we understand your company’s purchasing and accounts payable systems, we will comply with those requirements and present invoices that can be processed smoothly and routinely.. 3: We are interested in new media. We understand the changing role of print in business communications. We know our customers and prospects are experimenting with social media, mobile communications and with web-based communications. We are, too! Just like you, we’re testing new media and developing a strategy for combining this with print. 2: We defend print. Despite our commitment to new media, we know for certain that print still has an important role to play. For those who would abandon print based on concerns for the environment – we offer facts, research and statistics to counter claims that print must be eliminated. We can provide objective information about the effectiveness of print, its sustainability, and its overall ROI. 1: You deserve the best. And we’re it! We provide true honest print within a family environment and solidly commit to deliver on time, keep you informed, and produce high quality products that simply cannot be matched. If you would like to get to know us better, take shop tour or schedule an appointment contact Kimberly or Dan at 303.320.4855