Site Advertising – What are site stats? Ask Webmaster if you can't find it on site. Check Google page ranking. Check to see if site is updated with new information regularly. Does site target your audience? Does site compliment your product?

Ezine Advertising - Again ask for stats, don't just ask how many subscribers they have. Ask how many are reading their newsletter. Make sure ezine is geared towards your targeted audience.

We keep coming back to check this and check that because you want to make sure that ezine or site is worth your payment, rather it be in money or time; because our time is valuable too.

So be selective in how you spend your time, just as you would in spending your money, when advertising your business.

It also means, of course, that lignin free paper is going to be more expensive, but that is nevertheless what archivist must look for in his supplies. There is no point whatsoever in carefully placing our valuable artifacts in paper or card that is going to hasten their demise. Acid is particularly harmful to photographic materials, causing them to fade and is some cases simply vanish!

So, how do we tell a piece of suitable paper or card from one that is unsuitable? You cannot do it by simply looking, and rather disappointingly, you cannot always rely on label. ‘Acid free’ might be true inasmuch as a test on paper may indicate that it is a neutral material at this time. But lignin can take years before it starts inevitable process of breaking down, and in right conditions it will speed up enormously.

Added to this, as I have indicated earlier, paper may also contain other materials added during manufacture such as bleach, china clay, chemical whiteners and size. This looks like a bleak picture, and it would be but for fact that there are suppliers who will guarantee material that they sell. If you want to be absolutely sure that you are storing in, or printing on, correct material then this is probably only way.

Incidentally, acids can migrate from material to material. Lining old shoe boxes with good quality acid free paper will do little to guard contents. The acid will get there in end.

Paper from Rag. Paper is also commonly made from cotton and rag waste. This has advantage of being lignin free, but because there is much less cotton and rag than trees, it also tends to be much more expensive than wood pulp paper. You will still need to purchase from a reliable source though, since even rag paper and card can contain undesirable additives.

A reliable source for quality rag papers is a recognised art stockist. Many water colour artists insist on using only fine quality rag paper and board.

The main lesson to learn from this information is that you cannot rely on purchasing archival materials from high street. The only safe solution is to purchase from specialist suppliers. It may cost rather more, but in end you will know that your important and valuable data and images have best home possible.