Possible to make my own advertisements with only basic computer skills?

[havsulen]

I am soon launching my brand new shop with products for pregnancy, birth and babies. :
I am going to start advertising, and I am planning on starting with a few advertisements with just my logo and some basic information about the shop in a few magazines.

One of the magazines that I am going to put it in want a PDF-document.

And this is where I am completely blank.
I have never made one. Is it something I will be able to learn, do you think?

To give you an idea of my computer skills: I know how to use Word and Excel in a basic way.
With endless hours of help from my brother and Zen Cart Tutorials , I have my Zen Cart webshop up and running. I can manage in the Admin section, but it is not like I understand it all in there...

My brand new logo has been made by a wonderful MDCmember and friend - it is so beautiful! : :
But I don't know anything about tif or eps and things like that.

Is this one of those areas where I just HAVE to buy help, even though I am on the tightest budget possible? Or will I be able to learn how to put my logo and text together in the quality needed for professional print, do you think?

(writing the text is not the problem, as I am a journalist. My problem is the technical putting-it-all-together-part )

[marisa]

I think that you can manage.
Is it a black and white ad? I'm sure you are going to write wonderful text that will highlight the benefits of your products that will meet consumers needs. And that's what makes people interested, more than fancy graphics! (And if you need help converting to .pdf, I can help you out with that!)

[dogmom327]

I'd really recommend having one of the graphic design mama's here on MDC help you design the ad. I have pretty good computer skills and I've tried doing my own and they really just don't look that good. An ad makes an impression on a customer and since you will be paying for ad space, you need to make it count. From what I've gathered, the price to have one made for you is really reasonable.

[PJsmomma]

If you're paying all that money for the ad you really want it to be eye catching.

You also want to use some "rules" of advertising. There really are things that work and that don't work.

When I owned my store, I gave a rough sketch of the ad to the magazine or paper and they created a proof for me that I signed off on. They paid for the stock photography And their designers worked up the ad for me.

You really want to do it right.

A good book to read for ideas is Ogilvy on Advertising. It's an older book but it is full of good stuff that made a difference in my ads. Here's a review. http://www.profitadvisors.com/ogilvy.shtml

[loobop]

For me, I dont have much skills on the computer, but am getting better at making ad type of things/ logo/ banners/ headers etc on adoble illustrator. Then save it as the chosen file type. you have what the printed mag need? ie they told you they want pdf, did they say anything about pixels/ resolution/ dimensions etc?
maybe you coud get a free trial of illustrator, or some other paint program. Also maybe your local community college runs short classes in some of these types of programs?

[havsulen]

Thank you so much for answering! I agree that the best thing to do would be to get some professional help, and I hope that I will be able to hire someone once I get going. But now, there is a deadline for making this add which is on the 10th of March. That is another reason I need to try to do it to the best of my abilities this time around.

Originally Posted by loobop

For you have what the printed mag need? ie they told you they want pdf, did they say anything about pixels/ resolution/ dimensions etc?

Yes, they said that the size has to be 160x600px. and that animated gif is also possibility. Does that explain what program I need, to be able to make it?

Thank you so much for offering to help me making a PDF out of it, marisa! My husband will try for a few days. If he can't manage, I might take you up on it.

[Dylie Love]

I can help you out. Maybe we can make something for this first ad, and then I can save it for you as a sort of template so that you can just go in and modify the text portion for later on. You could go more fancy later on, but it should get you what you need in a pinch. I know how those last minute deadlines can be!

[havsulen]

Originally Posted by Dylie Love

I can help you out. Maybe we can make something for this first ad, and then I can save it for you as a sort of template so that you can just go in and modify the text portion for later on.

I think I love you!
I'll first wipe away a happy tear from my eye, and then I'll PM you! : : :

[slvsquared]

Open Office is great for designing documents and converting to pdf, and it's free to download.

[Dylie Love]

Originally Posted by havsulen

I think I love you!
I'll first wipe away a happy tear from my eye, and then I'll PM you! : : :

OMG, you are too cute!