Ok, I just finished making an account on dot.tk. But, I am logged in, and I just don't get it. Its not like a website at all. What exactly does .tk do?
Thanks. -Cory.

Try restaurant magicians handbook for good advertising and promotional ideas. If restaurant work is for you, this book covers it all.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say you are 100% wrong

I believe it is much easier when you are a kid - you will be doing kids parties and you will be cheap (get real - whats your rent each month?)

You can not advertise effectively as a magician - unless you are a David Blaine or Copperfield

You must promote

This means (probably) you will need to do 5 hours of free magic for every hour you get paid for (after a while it drops but you still do a lot of free magic)

I suggest you do hospitals (they will take anyone and thus you avoid the "Your to young" thing) - Do shows - GET LOTS OF BUSINESS CARDS MADE - hand out business cards

I just got my business cards yesterday, and they look great. 250 for 15 dollars with embossed ink (i knew the owner of the shop and he wanted to give me a discout). I'm going to start doing more random magic and hand out business cards to everyone possible.

Michael

Congrats on your new cards..... When I was starting out I hade made a prediction on the back of my cards and did a card trick at the end of the trick of course there selected card was on my business card it was a great way to give out my card. ( Maybe I should go back to that )

I agree with an earlier post start doing a lot of free Magic eventually it will come around. With the sumer coming there must be carnivals or fairs in your area you can do some walk around magic at...

I did a show (somewhat show, it was at a thing with a few different booths, so people just walked over for a few tricks and stuff) at the library and passed out a lot of cards. I didn't even hand them to them, I had them on the side of the table, but A LOT of people took some. (plus I got a little bit of money from the library). I also have maybe 3 or 4 shows at other libraries and a performance at my old school's summer camp.

Michael

Michael,

Keep up the good work. That's what it takes. Getting out their and promoting yourself. You'll start seeing the payoffs pretty soon.

So besides promoting yourself, how do you feel about your performance at the library? Did you get a lot of good comments?

Till we appear again,
Kipp Sherry

I got great comments (I always do). I've never had a gig where the people weren't happy about it.

Michael

Michael,

Something that will help with promoting yourself is to send your client a letter first thanking them for hiring you, and secondly asking them for feedback as to how they liked the show and what things you could do to improve their experience. Also indicate that you use the comments from customers in your promotion material and ask if it is alright if you use their comments in your promotional material. Provide a place for them to sign to indicate consent. Make sure to provided a self addressed stamp envelope so that they can send it back to you.


Then you can start using the positive comments in your promotional material and you can learn where you need to improve based upon asking the client.

Speaking of promotional material, is it worth it to make brochures, promo packs, etc?
If so, what do I add to them?

Economy is bad, gigs have been almost rare these days here in the Philippines but the Art of Magic is thriving.

The stock market is not doing so well right now, it seems unstable. Speculations are not good. We are affected with the increase US rates speculations.

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

I get most of my shows from word of mouth..


If I want a show (or need money) I email a short letter to fairboards,, festivals and schools explaining who I am, what I do , where Im from and that Im available..

Im doing 2 illusion shows at a school tomorrow.. both were booked by word of mouth!

If anyone is still wondering about the dot.tk thing, you create a user, and then type in a *.tk adress you'd like to redirect to you page. So if you have http://home.net.hol.jsdpo.asp?=0/home/pe......ndex.htm as your webadress and would likle people to be able to type in Michaelisamazing.tk and get to your page, you type "Michaelisamazing" into a searchbar somewhere on dot.tk, and if the adress is available, you can type in Michaelisamazing.tk to get to http://home.net.hol.jsdpo.asp?=0/home/pe......ndex.htm

This makes it much simpler to remember your website. And it's free. Only thing is; they have a small advertising pop-up coming up. But if you've got pop-up blocker, ad-block plus, RIP or similar, this shouldn't be a problem.

In short: If you have a long web-address, you can have a shorter one redirect to your long one, which makes it easier to remember, and more esthetically pleasing.

(note: when on sub-pages (like your contact page), the *.tk address will remain the same)

I hope this can one day still help someone
Jonta

I would suggest that on any publicity material you need to add your UNIQUE SELLING POINT.

Your USP states what it is that you can do for your client that no one else can, amuse, amaze, anything that is unique to you and your act.

Make it short and sweet, almost a "sound bite" so that it can easily be remembered, and hopefully quoted, by your clients.