If your company is not taking advantage of Telecare Aware, here are 9 ways to make up for lost time...

1) Free one-off postings of items in the run of Telecare Aware news stories

If you have a relevant story, this service is free as it is part of my commitment to keeping Telecare Aware readers informed, which boosts reader loyalty.

Some suppliers use this more effectively than others. Least effective is to wait until we pick up a press release or other story. More effective is if you send your press release to me. It's even better if it's an embargoed copy in advance so that we can plan posting days to align with the release date. You could consider writing some special, reader-friendly copy on your website for Telecare Aware, to which I can post a link. Although the news item postings are one-off, and therefore disappear into the archives within a few days as fresh stories are added, anything which helps readers remember it, and which helps me give them a better service, is to your advantage. Effective ways to do that are, for example, to offer video links or to create a special offer for Telecare Aware readers.

Remember, Telecare Aware has a highly focused, loyal readership - people who are often at the heart of their local telecare/telehealth decision-making process. Telecare Aware is the only independent source of telecare news for UK readers and one of the few media to reach them in which you can pay to advertise. The international readership is also growing, particularly amongst supplier companies who are using it as a source of market intelligence.

2) Free links and paid website pages and links

Free links are likely to arise from the news item postings described in 1) above. However, the 'Useful Sites' section is, in effect, a directory of companies and organisations, split into different categories. Charities and other not-for-profit organisations have a free live (clickable) link, but suppliers and consultancies have a non-live listing.

Now that readers (and search engines) are regarding Telecare Aware as an 'authority site' (a good source of information and therefore ranking high for telecare-related searches) then live links have an intrinsic search engine value, which I currently place at GB£100 (US$160) per annum or, to save the transaction costs of yearly billing, £250 ($400) for as long as the site exists - it has been going since 2005, by the way.

More importantly, suppliers have not only a live link, but a highlighted listing and their own page on the site which they can modify whenever they wish. See this example.

Reciprocal links from sites to Telecare Aware are appreciated, but there is no obligation on anyone to do that. For a graphic and some preferred text for the link, see this page, which also explains how to add a feed of the Telecare Aware news items to your site.

3) Free publicity through Telecare Aware ‘Soapbox’ or by posting comments on news items

By contributing a suitable 'thought piece' on a topic with an element of controversy to the 'Soapbox', suppliers can add to their presence on the 'telecare scene'. I reserve the right to exert some editorial control here, to ensure that the right balance between information/opinion and self-publicity is maintained. (Besides, heavy-handed attempts at self publicity will be spotted and resented by readers.) Also, please note that I don't approve comment postings that report rumours that I cannot substantiate from other sources. It is better to email me if you want to tip me off about something.

4) Paid advertising in the sidebar

The site supports .GIF, .JPG or .PNG images for adverts with click-through links to whatever landing page you desire. To improve loading times and bandwidth usage it is good practice to keep the file size as low as possible. Adverts that look like text also work well.

The prices below are per week, in pounds Sterling, depending on size and placement. Value Added Tax is not applicable. Initial design and/or production help is available if required.

	£/$ per week
Size	3 main pages	Site-wide
160 x 40	£7/$11	£9/$15
160 x 80	£9/$15	£11/$17
160 x 120	£14/$22	£17/$27
160 x 160	£17/$27	£21/$33
160 x 240	£25/$40	£32/$51
320 x 80	£21/$33	£25/$40
320 x 120	£30/$48	£35/$56

3 main pages = 'Telecare Aware Latest' and 'What is Telecare' plus one other to be agreed. Alternatively, costs can be based on the numbers of clicks or impressions.

5) Paid advertising in the email update alerts

A simple text advert, with a link to your landing page, can be placed at the top of the alert email, before people read the update body. The number of click-throughs on these can be quite high. You can decide the number of mailings and whether the advertising appears in every mailing, alternating mailings or irregularly. It could be particularly good tied to a launch campaign. £30 ($48) per mailing, or five mailings for the price of four.

6) Sponsored Telecare Aware conference blog

This special and highly visible form of sponsorship advertising now has its own page. Click here.

7) Mailings to the 'Email Alerts' list

Many regular readers like to be alerted to new content and sign up to receive an email on Tuesdays and Fridays which lists new postings. There is one monthly slot available to email your own content to people on the list. The cost is £0.70 ($1.12) per delivered email. (At December 2009 there are 900 people on the list.) The content is yours to decide, but it is preceded by this note to readers:

"To help with the cost of sending you the Telecare Aware alerts emails, you will occasionally (and no more than once a month) receive sponsored messages, such as the following. If you wish not to receive these sponsored messages, please let me know. Steve"

8) Sponsorship banners

Sponsorship banner advertising is limited to four companies at any one time and costs GB£150 (US$240) per calendar month. Two spots currently available

From January 2010 a conventional form of rotating multi-banner advertising operates in preference to the single sponsor month-by-month model previously used. The advantages to the advertiser are a) in sharing the space the monthly cost is reduced (however, with growing numbers of visits and page views the exposure is very similar) and b) readers are likely to notice the banners more when they change with each page view.

The website software rotates adverts at random and, over time, different sponsors' banners are seen with equal frequency. Statistics on numbers of impressions and click-throughs can be provided. The banner size is a non-standard 500x96 pixels and should be either .jpg or .gif formats - the latter if animated.

9) Recruitment Advertising"I have used and found Telecare Aware to be a useful resource for recruitment of telecare professionals. It offers a professional and cost effective service and are able to reach the very skilled people one is looking for. I would recommend it"

Mike Orton MSc. Consultant Telecare and Assistive Technologist

See Jobs Page

Payment methods

Payments can be made by electronic bank transfer (preferred) by PayPal or by UK cheque.

Telecare Aware visitor profile

Between 1st and 30th November 2009 there were 6,008 visits from 63 different countries, visits made by 3,437 different people, 53% of which visited twice or more in the month and 20% visited between 9 and 100 times. Between them they created a total of 14,123 page views. 36% of the visits were direct, meaning that they were probably generated from the news alert emails. 52% of visits were from the UK, 22% from the US, and 26% from the rest of the world, predominantly Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands.

We run Google Analytics on the site and are happy to give access to them to advertisers if they wish.

Email update alerts profile

Whilst many visitors come from search results and some monitor Telecare Aware through their newsfeed readers and Twitter, there is a constant trickle of people signing up to receive the email update alerts. As at 14 December 2009 the number is 892 19 February 2010 the number is 953. An analysis of the readership profile (sectors and countries) is available on request.

P.S. Some other services that may interest you

North American story editor Donna Cusano is an expert marketer currently available for employment or consutancy. Founding editor Steve Hards prefers to work from home but can provide online help with drafting and distributing press releases, creating PowerPoint presentations, proof reading/rewriting, etc.

Queries or questions, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it