Category: Blog

The last blog post I wrote was all about three steps to increase your website traffic and it is clear that blogging is of huge importance to any online marketing.

Make your blog titles count!

Something that is very important is the title of the post and also the keyword selection you use within.

Incase you are unaware what a keyword is it is a word that you are targeting the search engines to look for in your page to give it more relevance to a users search.

For instance, my keyword might be ‘twitter profile’ then the website must include this keyword throughout the article without making it look ‘faked’.

Go forth and populate my keyword minions!

You need it in your title, your page url, your heading tags, your paragraphs and even in your alt tags for images! Don’t stress though, search engines are clever, they will look at the rest of your content and see how relevant your content  is to your keyword without actually being your keyword!

So now you have an idea about keywords you might realise why what you title your blogs is so important! If you are still a bit stifled for ideas then here are 9 ideas to help you start those creative cogs turning!

1. What does (fill in service/product) do?

2. An insight into a (your job)’s role

3. 3 things you should always consider when choosing (service/product)

4. What to expect from your (service/product here)

5. Should I buy a (your service/product)

6. Opposing service/product vs your service/product ( start with positive points about the opposing service and where that competition might actually be the answer to the readers problem).

7.  5 problems with your service/product (then turn it around to help people make decisions)

8. Best price for a (your product/service) –  ( make comparisons with others and why you are cheaper or more expensive than the competition or alternatively what you think is important in your/product service.

9. Should I buy product A or product B.

Notice that these headers are all asking questions , questions that your potential customer might have! By blogging about these topics you are educating your customers and that is great way to build trust with your possible customers as it empowers them to be able to make decisions and shows that you care about giving good service and advice to those that need your business.

A great tip I read from the http://www.thesaleslion.com/ is that to take time to consider questions that your customers ask you. Usually they are about pricing or time but there may be some other questions that are not price related, these are fantastic things to blog about and will help you generate new content for your business blog!

Best of luck writing your blogs and remember this is meant to be fun and not a chore!

If you have any tips how to generate new ideas for blog posts please comment in the box below! Or should you need help with a specific topic and want me to help you generate some ideas please get in touch and i will see what i can do 🙂

The majority of potential customers and clients are now online and that is great news for any business owner, it means reaching in to your target market is a lot easier than it once was. The problem is, do you use this online way of living to your advantage and not only to your advantage but to the advantage of your customers.

The internet has made shopping around easier and personalization of service of huge importance and if your business isn’t using its digital marketing tools properly then the company is likely to fail. In this post I will discuss three ways that I GUARRANTEE will help you generate ‘the right traffic’ and leads for your business.

1. Blogging, but the right content

What, you don’t know how to blog? Do you have an opinion? Well then my friend, you CAN blog and I believe that EVERYONE should be blogging! Blogging is actually a really fun way to get your thoughts out of your head and shared with anyone who is interested and willing to read the content you provide. It is so important that your business ( or as individual ) are blogging and for quite a few reasons.

Firstly it breaks down perceived barriers between being a professional corporation to an approachable professional that cares about its customers and becoming seen as an educator not just an informer. Secondly blogging helps boost organic search results and thirdly if you write the right content then you are being a little bit psychic and answering questions that customers have before they even make enquiries empowering your customers! In this era customer truly is king and being a caring compassionate business that really wants to make a difference to people it does business with are the businesses that are going to thrive in the 21st century and beyond.

Write the right content

People get confused about what blogging is. Blogging is not really a tool for spreading gossip and news or discussing the latest news events ( unless it is really appropriate for your business ), the reason you shouldn’t blog about major events and twist it on to your business is because the person who views the content is interested in the ‘news event’ not your services or product! Comprende!?

Instead take just 10 minutes of your time and ask yourself what is the last 20 questions a potential customer or lead asked? Usually cost is top for most businesses but what else is an issue? When you have the questions you have the greatest content creation tools at your disposal and if  you ignore the customers needs you will always be seen as a corporation that are not very approachable.

Remember, its time to be personal and friendly with the customers NOT just provide a service or product. Show the consumers why you are the company to do business with.

2. Getting your employees to blog

If you are small to large-sized employer then this applies to you otherwise one man bands, im sorry ignore this section!

Your employees are the ones who are your point of contact with most of your clients, particularly the sales team so get those guys knowledge and get them putting pen to paper ( or finger to digital ), they are perfect people to try blog content because they know not only the questions that consumers have but usually the answers to their problem too!

Not only the fact they have all the questions and answers of your market but they will also free up your valuable time! A blog post can take anything from 30 minutes to half a day ( should you be interested in creating a good infographic or something else of such liking), if you have 30 sales staff and each one writes just one blog post a week that is 30 pieces of new content for the search engines to feed on and you didn’t have to divert some of your time to writing a post!

Guest blogging both home and away

So your blogging, your workforce is blogging and now your content is mounting but you can add even more content to the fabulous informative blog you are creating for your market! Inviting others in your industry to blog on your website will not only benefit you but it will also benefit the guest by increasing awareness of their ability and creating back links to their own content.

It may not seem a very clever idea, isn’t it like inviting the wolf to the lamb’s dinner? It depends on your viewpoint, personally I believe by building relationships with fellow industry experts you can build mutual respect, share business when your workload is high and also help promote each other; surprisingly you may even learn a few things from the new post too!

Social

Lastly, if you are not on social media then where the heck have you been!?! EVERY and i mean EVERY business has to be on social media, social media is becoming a much more powerful tool for generating traffic than the organic search. I guess the most obvious reason for this is that you will connect to people who you really do have an interest in, particularly on Twitter so getting your message out to the right person is instantly easier.

Every time you create a new piece of content ( not just blog posts, images, infographics, podcasts too) then share it on all social platforms. A lot of marketers might tell you to just use LinkedIn if you are a B2B, others will say to target a few social platforms, I am going to tell you to target as many social media platforms as physically possible! Create networks everywhere, the more you connect to people from every country and continent on the world the easier it is to reach the right people with your product or service but don’t spend all your time on social media and neglect the importance of actually running your business.

How do you drive traffic to your website? What do you feel works best? Please comment in the box below.

When the British coalition government decided it was going to make cuts to the services of  towns and cities across the country a library located in Woolton Village, Liverpool was one of the things marked to be closed. A devastating choice for a village that has a high level of elderly and families living in the locality who relied on the service.

But with Woolton, having such a fantastic community a few of the people living in the village got together to keep this much loved and much needed facility open to the public and is still open today with the help of volunteers and independent funding of the local community. Being born and raised in the village I felt a duty to help in any way I could so offered my logo services to the people of Woolton free of charge. Here is the meaning behind the WCRC Ticket to Read logo.

The new name of the library

With the ending of publicly funded library came an opportunity to rebrand and expand the services of the library. No longer would the library be simply for books but many activities would take place in the library, for this reason they rebranded themselves as a resource centre with a strapline “ticket to read” a play on the Beatles hit “Ticket to ride”.

As the Woolton community are quite a diverse society and the new resource centre would also be a hub of activity it was felt that it was important to make the logo as universal as possible without references of age, gender, sexuality, race or service.

Recording the library heritage in the design

As explained earlier the facility had always been a family library and the main purpose to store and borrow books for the local community. For this reason I wanted to represent that in the logo. The typeface used reflects the san-serif fonts that are usually found within printed reading books.

Communicating symbolism within the WCRC Logo

After observing the activities that take place at the WCRC it became evident that the WCRC allow its users to communicate in different ways. Community building, poetry reading, acting, art, group debates and even reading a book is a form of communication thus the use of speech marks was considered suitable for the design as it also removed gender/sex specific notions.

Strong community represented in logo shape

The Woolton Community are a strong people and this was something I wanted to represent in their design.

Considering shape the circle is considered an unbreakable shape. A shape that has no bends, no kinks, no corners and usually can represents ‘the whole’, in this case the whole community.

By selecting the circle to represent Woolton people it displays that nothing breaks the spirit of the community and they have a unity, friendship and helpfulness to each other that is difficult to find in general.

Colour of communication

Finally the colour that was selected was blue to represent the communication. Blue is the colour of the throat chakra within the human aura and it is believed that blue conveys the ability to communicate well.

Although a simple logo in design the concept and theory behind its appearance is not as simple, similar to the character of this village in Liverpool. Maybe simple in appearance to the onlooking visitor but underneath the surface there is a lot more than meets the eye.

It was a pleasure to work for my boyhood village. Woolton is a place that will always be dear to my heart, I had many fond memories reading books in the library and growing up in this neighbourhood.

It is a very pleasant place that is worth a visit should you ever be visiting the city. It was the home of John Lennon ( which can still be seen on menlove avenue), the place where the Beatles first performed at a school concert ( Bishop Martin School ), the location where the song Strawberry fields was inspired from.

Now the home of a few premiership footballers such as Brazilian Lucas Leiva and also to prehistoric standing stones that are older than those in Stone Henge!

Are you from Woolton or is your community feeling the effects of  the government cuts? What do you think helps build a strong community? Please feel free to leave any comments below.

As human beings of a social world we like to be social and celebrate our events and others as well. These can be events like birthdays, baby showers, weddings and even house warming events. So a good party present can help make the event even better, and you can ensure that your gift stands out from the crowd. So make sure you are not left with gifting the same run of the mill gifts or even recycling the old school gift options.

Sometimes you may also be stuck with having to buy a gift for someone who is too picky. So you may have to come up with something that is truly special that they can appreciate. So what can you do – a nutella box with pears and flowers, a bouquet made with carrots or s’mores on the stick? Well the aim is to not just customising the gift but to take it a step forward and make them truly unique.

Any of these gifts we mentioned are customised but they are also a little bit more as they are a joke between friends, a romantic gift and a joke between colleagues. What is great is that these are gifts which offer a little more than just being customised.

Creating a gourmet gift basket

With this you can go beyond and above than the usual customised gift services. You can take a regular gourmet basket and add items to it, or customize the basket entirely. You can also gift them a basket which does not have any food inside it at all. Instead put together other luxury items or items that the person you are gifting to would like to receive. This is completely up to you, and you can be as thoughtful, quirky or creative as you want.

Creating a DIY gift for the recipient

There are number of items you can create yourself to provide an extra meaning to your gift. Creating drink bucket with their favourite drinks, an album of all their favourite moments, or putting together a tour package with all the favourite haunts in the city they love. You can even bring a store bought gift and add to it, in terms of packaging for that can make it stand out. For e.g. a wine bottle with a personalised message written with a paint pen can add a little extra touch. Take a lantern and add a bunch of small gifts inside the lantern to give it to the recipient. You can even create their favourite drink Popsicle and give them a batch of them frozen to have when they want.

It is more rewarding to gift to someone you loves something that you have especially created for them. The value of the gift far exceeds the sum of the parts as the meaning gets embedded far more than what a mass produced item has vs. what you create for them specifically. It goes beyond customisation as it adds a certain depth of story and meaning to the gift that cannot be added to something merely bought.

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Karen Denver is the author of this delightful post. She is a professional blogger and a romantic at heart who believes in happily ever after. She feels even simple things likes ordering gift hampers online can bring back the romance in your otherwise dull life.

You may be aware of a website called fiver where various people offer their skills and services for a measly $5.00!

For the business owner it may seem like a great way to save some money and if you manage to find the right deal you are saving a great deal of money. As a designer Fiver is a website that could potentially destroy the livelihood of any Western creative but if used correctly could be a good way to gather new leads.

In this post I will discuss the benefits and problems with Fiver from both a business owners point of view and the creative’s livelihood and then will conclude with what to think about when choosing to hire a fiver creative or a freelance creative/designer.

Why Fiver is great for business owners

From logos to websites to posters or video promotions Fiver offers services for all your marketing needs and not at a price that will break your business budget but at such low cut prices it is almost criminal!  $5.00 for a new corporate logo that would usually cost a hundred times more if dealing with a professional designer is something that most business people will be rubbing their hands together in glee with.

Or maybe you need a small video intro or a ‘customer testimonial’ or do you ( but please don’t! ) even try and boost your social media accounts by adding thousands of fake followers and likes? The list of things you can buy for such a small amount of money is limitless ( but also not always worth it )!

Not always amateurs

The people you find on fiver may not always be amateurs with no artistic training or experience, a lot of the guys you will be hiring may have many years experience and knowledge that can do the job you require and do it quite well.

If you are happy with the work that the person created for you and they seem a genuine good guy/girl then it could be the start of a beautiful business relationship. Should you need further services you may return to the person you found on Fiver as you know they will do the job you want and do it well plus they know your brand so it will be easier to communicate ideas with them.

If you do go back to them, please…consider doing business outside of fiver, designers need to make a living too you know! 🙂

The problem with Fiver for business owners

If you can get around the feeling of guilt that you are effectively hiring a designer as slave labour paying them 99% less than what their skills are worth.

If you don’t value others, they won’ value you

When you hire someone for little money you don’t always get the best service. Naturally, all people need and want to feel valued and if you are valuing someone’s talent and ability that they have spent a lot of time learning and honing at $5 then they won’t necessarily be interested in putting a lot of thought and effort into the piece.

Different countries, different economies

For our eastern counterparts in India where $5 has more value than in the west it may not be a problem, they will probably do all they can for you but as a westerner you can’t possibly make the kind of money to have a suitable standard of living through doing deals on fiver, it just isn’t viable.

You may be helping western designers boost their portfolio but it won’t boost their bank balance to make a living and that is what we really want.

Are you a business with ethics to try and help others make a living or are you all about the top line?

Limited service, the logo design example

Designing a logo , a good logo, takes time. When I design a logo I recommend around 2 weeks of research, designs, concepts & constant iterations with slight adjustments to one design so the final concept speaks about your business in a symbolic nature. A logo can be designed very quickly but its not likely to be the best version of itself.

Once the logo design is complete the designer has to save the logo in various formats so they can be used for different platforms and uses. Jpgs, transparent pngs, eps, photoshop, illustrator files etc.

Finally some designers will also create you a style guide on how to use the logo so that it is consistent throughout your business marketing material.

As you can imagine that service isn’t complete in an hour unless you are billy whizz!

If you hire someone on fiver they are probably going to use a logo template and not put as much thinking into the conceptual design as a professional designer would be wanting to.

Risking your time and money on fiver.com

If you don’t get the work you expected from hiring a fiver service then you have wasted your time and money when if you had gone to a professional in the first place you would have got a bespoke luxury and personal service that you will, in the end be extremely content with and you will also be able to sleep easy at night knowing you gave a fellow human being worth.

As a business owner you can choose to go for the cheap option but it will reflect on your business badly, investing your money and time into an experienced, qualified and professional designer will give you the best results.

What do you think is more important? Making an initial design saving or investing in a professional design that adds value, recognition and quality to your company? Please comment in the box below.

Not everyone is a graphic designer and not everyone can create something from nothing other than a reason but we all know image are important in illustrating our work. As a graphic designer I realise stock images have their benefit but can be quite expensive to the newbie blogger or start up company, but there is a solution!

Free images website

When I allowed my first guest blog onto my websites blog I was made aware of smartphotostock. You can use any of the images as long as you provide a link on the blog back to the original source, in effect, adding a new back link to the website and improving the SEO of the free image site.For the new designer/blogger this isn’t a problem, offering this small link is a small price to pay compared to a stock image fee.

Making eye catching images from scratch takes quite some time, and an understanding of a graphic design program such as Photoshop or free product GIMP to name but two is necessary, as well as having to find the right images/photos to put together the perfect aesthetics and if you are not the creative type then this website will be a perfect solution.

An alternative way to gain free images

For a long period of time people have been using Google Images to high jack the hard work of digital and graphic artists saving and copying the perfect image easily. Basically you are being a bit of a naughty boy or girl because this is against copyright, naughty naughty! But you can still use google images to find pictures for ‘commercial use’ by going into an advanced search ( see image below. )

Where else do you get free images? Do you know of any great places to gather resources? Please  comment in the box below.

With technology becoming ever more developed, those devices that were previously reserved for communications – such as computers, mobile smartphones and tablets – are becoming an essential element of the creative process of art. Digital art is the umbrella term for any artistic works or practices that use digital technology as a key part of the creative/presentation process, so what is exactly does this new fangled method of creativity entail?

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A Brief History of Digital Art

Also known as computer art or multimedia art, digital art has been around since the 1970s and is considered a method of new media art. Previously favoured artistic methods, such as painting, drawing, sculpture and audible arts have been transformed and repositioned in a digital environment – something that sparked mass resistance from the more traditional of creative beings.

Once the resistance subsided, artists across the globe started to embrace digital art, with some even pioneering new practices such as net art, digital installation art and virtual reality. In the modern day, the term digital art is applied to works that use some method of digitisation within their creation or, alternatively, art that uses methods of digital mass production when it comes to presentation.

What are the techniques?

There are hundreds of ways to produce digital art, but one of the most used methods is computer-generated art – also known as fractal or algorithmic art. Developed in the 1980s, computer-generated art is created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still images, to produce a larger often abstract work of art.

Some artists however use materials from other sources to produce their work. Often images are scanned into a computer and used as an element within the final work (similar to a mash-up piece), whilst other artists work with vector graphics that are produced using a mouse or graphics tablet.

Digital paintings are also prominent in new media art. Produced in a similar way to traditional paintings, digi-paintings are created with the aid of computer software that produces pixelated brush strokes on screen or in the final print. Digital paintings are often printed as an image on canvas, just like their oil/acrylic/watercolour predecessors, or displayed on an electronic screen.

Prominent pop artist Andy Warhol was one of the first famous artists to incorporate digital art into his portfolio. Using a Commodore Amiga, he manipulated an image of Blondie front woman Debbie Harry, that was originally captured in monochrome using a video camera. He edited the image by adding colour through the method of flood fills, using an early graphics program called ProPaint. This article of Debbie Harry is widely considered one of the earliest and most notable works of digital art.

Andy Warhol’s Debbie Harry Digi-art (1985)

Source: http://images.thevine.com.au/resources/images/000/014/14549_harrydetail_010412034001_591w.png

What can I produce on a computer?

Computer-generated visual media

Visual media generated on a computer can be divided in two categories. The first is the creation of 2D visual information that can be displayed on an electronic monitor, whilst the second is information that is mathematically translated into 3D information. The latter is usually viewed through a perspective projection on an electronic monitor.

Graphics in their simplest 2D form are created via methods that reflect how artists draw using a traditional pen and paper setup. However, digital 2D graphics are drawn electronically, using a graphics tablet with a stylus or a mouse, but the final images still appear as a realistic painting or pencil drawing whilst on display on screen.

Meanwhile 3D imagery is created by using using geometric shapes in the production of three-dimensional objects and other scenes that can be ultimately used in sister media, such as film, game design or print, amongst others.

Computer-generated animated imagery

Animated digital imagery is usually produced using models that are created by specialist 3D artists. Computer-generated animated imagery is known in the film industry as CGI, and is often used in the production of special effects for the likes of the movies in the Harry Potter franchise and in Marvel films such as Iron Man and Avengers Assemble, amongst others. Computer images have been in used in movies since the 1970s, although it wasn’t until the late 90s/early 2000s that CGI became advanced enough to create animated images that looked impressively realistic.

Digital installation art

Digital installation art is often interactive, in that viewers can manipulate the art to put their own personal stamp on the installation. Most digital installations involve the use of projections or live video capture, but there are also many other techniques utilised in the production of installation art. Digital installations are a particularly good method for those artist-imagined pieces that wish to play on the viewer’s senses. Fruin’s (2003) installation at the University of Illinois in Chicago, US – entitled The Cave Automatic Virtual Environment – is a prime example of digital installation art.

With many subtypes beneath the umbrella of digital art – such as motion graphics, music visualisation, pixel art and others – this field will continue to grow alongside the further development of technology. As an already interesting field, creatives and fans of art can only become even more intrigued by the notion of digital art; it will be interesting to see which technology becomes the next virtual canvas.

Vicky works alonside Stuart Morris, a design and print studio. She is a keen illustrator and craft enthusiast who writes a range of art and design history articles as well as how-to tutorials.

Setting up a new venture? You’ll need to get a logo for your project. Even trial businesses need a visual identity, and a logo also benefits the most basic of blogs. Some of the biggest companies in the world are known for their iconic logos.

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If you can’t afford to hire a professional designer for a full branding strategy, there are other ways of getting a logo on the cheap, providing you don’t mind making a few sacrifices. Here are 7 sites to try.

1. Fiverr

Fiverr is a freelancing site where any advertised task is completed for just $5. The low-cost nature of the site means it’s worth giving it a go for a logo, particularly if the final version will appear on a throwaway site or test blog. If the results aren’t great, all is not lost.

Bear in mind that established designers charge much more than beginners, so sites like Fiverr will rarely throw up the most experienced designers in the world. In some cases, you may be really unlucky and get a ‘designer’ who has never worked a day in a design job. But sometimes you’ll stumble across a designer who comes up with the goods for a remarkable price.

2. BrandCrowd

Looking for a logo design that’s ready to use? BrandCrowd is a website selling logos and brand names as a package. If your project isn’t yet titled, BrandCrowd could present the ideal package.

Note that some BrandCrowd logo designs aren’t just design jobs; they’re complete marketing packages, since you also get a domain name. From basic to complete solutions, the sky’s the limit.

3. LogoMaker

LogoMaker’s no substitute for a professional designer, but if you need a basic logo fast, it’s unbeatable because it’s free. Simply browse through the LogoMaker vaults, choose your logo and customise it to fit.
LogoMaker’s logos aren’t the most versatile in the world; the free version restricts the size and format. For the JPG, EPS or GIF at full resolution, you’ll have to pay.

4. Elance

Elance is a freelance marketplace where professionals gather to bid on jobs. Many professional designers use Elance to kick off their freelancing career, or to top up work from bigger designers.

When looking for help on Elance, choose professional designers that have a reasonable portfolio and good testimonials. The cheapest bids may not always be the best. In addition, check that your logo’s not ripped off: feedback is always helpful.

5. DesignMantic

Designing a logo with DesignMantic couldn’t be easier: just type in your business name and submit. The site automatically generates a page of logos. You can then choose your industry to narrow down the results, and add a slogan, if you use one.

Customisation options are plentiful, and the site is really easy to use, making logo design accessible to all. You can download the logo for free in PDF format, or optionally pay for a larger version.

6. LogoYes

Need to gather feedback on your new business logo? LogoYes allows you to gather feedback on your design once it’s finished. It’s not the most modern website in the world, though, but it’s OK for basic tasks.

While its features are nothing to write home about, the collaborative aspect of LogoYes is quite useful when you need to share your ideas.

7. LogoMoose

LogoMoose is a design community where professionals showcase their design work. Designers can create a portfolio of their logo designs, and interested businesses can get in touch and request their own logos.

There’s no established bidding or purchasing platform on LogoMoose – it’s simply a showcase website. However, designers are encouraged to add their contact details so businesses can contact them directly.

Getting a Business Logo

Affordable business logos are easy to come by, particularly now that freelance websites are so popular. If you can’t afford to hire a professional designer, you can always create your own logo in the cloud. The results may not compare to a full branding campaign, but it’s a good way to kick off a new venture with a brand new image.

Featured images:

•  Image source: MyBlogGuest platform

By Sam Wright

Sam Wright is a professional writer working with Brand Republic. Click here to visit the website.

If I see another little 3d white man with a huge spherical head on a website or as a Twitter profile image I think my head will explode with creative madness ! This little man is soooo over used by small businesses that it shows a lack of understanding of just how important branding and graphic design plays in your potential customers decision making.

Why stock images are bad for business

This may sound like I am being extremely harsh on the little white man and please don’t suggest I am bullying him but your business is a unique entity, unlike this little fellow. By using common stock imagery you are : –

1. saying that you are just the same as the next business.
2. you don’t care about your company’s image and marketing message.
3. and worst of all you are also saying that your service is cheap and untrustworthy!

Consistent brand message

Most medium sized to large corporations will have what is called a branding style guide and it must be adhered to at all times. Some of the elements in the guide can include what fonts should be used, their spacing & curning, the exact RGB, CMYK colours of the brand and the typical images and marketing message that should be considered as part of the overall look and feel of any marketing collateral whether digital or offline.

I realise by using stock images that look the same you think you are being consistent but if that image is seen again and again throughout the web on different websites that aren’t your own business then you are damaging the possibility of selling your product or image to the target market.

When I see people using unaltered stock images online it really disheartens me and puts me off using that business service or product, it makes me feel I can’t trust them and I will disregard them from my retail choices.

Alter the stock images

Don’t get me wrong stock images are great in helping graphic and digital designer gather elements you need to create unique graphics but if you use them as the sole way to “picturize” your website you will simply be putting your potential customers off doing business with you as although may you think the images you have chosen look good the majority of people will see an unprofessional website that shows lack of care, does that really reflect your business goal? I doubt it, your business has personality so show it off to the world!

Other stock images to avoid

The little white man doing various activities is my no.1 thing that makes my creative blood boil to see people using on their digital platforms, I mean, why!?!

But it also gets worse, pictures of random actors trying their hardest pretending to be business people standing in line are common place, avoid them or use sparingly and never use them for your main brand image that is simply a big no no!

Hire a designer

It is probably better to have no images at all if you are going to use unaltered stock images that are damaging your online reputation with potential customers. If you need unique images communicate your message verbally through correct use of heading styles, and contextual information and then hire a graphic/digital designer when your business budget can afford it.

It may seem like an extra expense your business doesn’t need and maybe the cost will seem heavy at first but if the graphics communicate your business message in a unique and imaginative way compared to your market rivals then when people are looking for your service/product they will remember you and see that you are indeed a very highly professional business worthy of doing business with as well as increasing the worth of your business.

I am JAWILSONDESIGN a branding, web and graphics specialist that can help you improve your company’s image in a unique and imaginative way if you should need any help updating, improving or creating a new brand image please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I am regular subscriber to several marketing email newsletter from various sorts and one caught my eye. It discussed how businesses fail and half of the points raised relate to the creative industries I am in. In this post I will discuss with you why every business owner shouldn’t see designers as expensive commodities but as creative geniuses that can add real monetary value ( with examples) to your corporation and prodigious intrigue to your potential business leads.

The three creative parts of your business that if not invested in will doom your business to fail

By refusing to pay a designer for a professional logo, they looked amateurish. People don’t trust amateurs.

Before even developing an online presence, website and marketing collateral, probably the number one key element of a brand is its logo.

Without a professionally designed logo that has taken time to develop and evolve by a consummate creative professional you ARE damaging your business. Sure, you can ask your friends kid to have a go, they learn that kind of stuff at school or why not employ someone on the infamous bidding websites like freelance and get someone in India to do it for a cut of the cost a western creative would cost, they look good enough… don’t they?

The best creative professionals will have been trained in the arts by other creatives with many years expereince and taught to think differently than an average person. Everything in a creatives mind is thought about on a deeper level than just whether you like something or not. To a creative everything has a story, a meaning and a message that needs to be communicated with the medium they know best.

A great creative will know that particular symbolism will have strong influence in your business industry as will the colours and composition of your logo.

You really should value the work of the creative not as an expensive commodity but as a product enhancing necessity.

I ask you, consider three brands right now and what comes into your mind? McDonalds? Apple? Nike? Do you see a description of these companies in your minds eye or their logo when you read the above text? That is the power of the corporate logo, we are visual creatures and a logo is the heart in your business monster, without a well designed one your monetary blood simply won’t flow as easily.

By refusing to pay for a professional looking website, they lost sales leads and looked like amateurs.

Every brand or company whether providing a service or product needs a website. I don’t care whether you are an app developer, an alternative therapist or a builder and ‘things simply aren’t done that way in your industry to generate leads’ because basically that is a load of old hat!

Most people now ‘google it’ to find products or services

Most customers and businesses now look online or ‘google’ it to find what it is they need to solve their problem and if you aren’t online targeting these people then you are missing the opportunity to be found and make sales.

Not only this but your website should be generating new content weekly, if not daily so you can share it on social media ON EVERY PLATFORM. A lot of social media organisers may disagree with me and that is fair enough as some social media platforms are used more by different target markets than others but it is in my belief if you generate content and then share it everywhere you are allowing your potential customers a chance to find YOUR BUSINESS regardless of gender, creed, colour or class which surely is a good thing if not just for increasing brand awareness.

Websites are a business asset

Owning a website can seem expensive but again THATS A LOAD OF RUBBISH!!! A website is NOT expensive, the designer might charge you, for example, $2000 to set it up with a domain name, hosting, a designed UI, navigational structure that works, code it with html, css, php, add graphics and functionality, include social media AND show you how easy it is to add new content to the site without worrying you will mess up the design, look and feel of the site and NOT NEEDING TO KNOW ANY CODE!

A website might sound scary but it shouldn’t be, a website designer can sit down with you for a small fee to just show you that a website can be the best and most enjoyable part of your business to manage and you will never look back once you own it.

Website adds value to your customers but also to your business valuation

Plus it really DOES ADD REAL MONETARY VALUE to your business. My website, only 10 months old is worth around $7000…as I designed it myself I had no initial outgoing in terms of design but even if I had paid $2000 for a months work to develop a good website I would still have made made a $5000 increase in my initial investment.

(If you are interested to see what your website is worth type into google ‘what is my website worth’ into google)

By refusing to hire a copywriter for their marketing, their response rates were 100′s of percent lower than they would have been.

As a dyslexic man copy writing is not the skill I write home about ( dya see what i did!? Huh! Huh!? 😀 ) but I still see it as a creative and highly skilled talent. The right words really are the write words and these guys know how to communicate your product verbally like a master word ninja.

Work with a copywriter to get the content ‘write’

Of course, YOU SHOULD EXPLAIN YOUR BUSINESS AND WRITE THE CONTENT FOR YOUR WEBSITE but you should also consult a copywriter to ensure the words you are using are not too complex for your market. It is really important you get your message across in a simplified manner, the best website will give the visitor the information they want and need without having to think too hard. I think the key message is to explain things like you were speaking to your grandma, another words simple words, simple comparisons and simple call to actions.

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Example of a website design cost and breakdown

It may seem  that they charge the earth but if you break down what they are adding into your business then it is actually a cheap service in relative terms. For example lets use the website example again; I suggested that a website designer charges you £2000 for a website that takes a month to make. Wo! You think that is so expensive!

But let me break it down for you : –

That designer is going to spend 40 hours a week on your website, they are going to create a photoshop mockup, design navigational systems, create a backup incase of emergency, improve your website security, improve your web speed performance, help gain a basic seo score for your intial pages, they will design a UI optimised for your customers experience, they then have to create all the graphics and marketing messages, they then have to code it in html, and css as well as possibly php, java, ajax, j-query and other languages that takes a long time to learn. They then will get your approval before making changes you want to happen and they may even show you how to update it and provide you with a user guide too if you are lucky.

Good design takes time