SAS Graphic Design

Logo or No Logo?

2010-08-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

There are a few areas of your business that should be considered essential such as a good computer, up-to-date accounting software, a logo, business cards and a great web site. If you wouldn't trust an amateur with an important business function such as accounting, why would you trust an amateur with your brand identity, the key to your marketing success? Lack of a logo or having a poor logo creates the possibility that your clients will not respect you or take you seriously.

If you do not establish a clean, high-quality, and consistent look and feel to your materials, you will have a much more difficult time gaining the trust of potential clients. All of the Fortune 500 companies have a logo because it makes them look more professional. If you want to be perceived as offering a high-caliber service, you also have to look the part.

When you have a top-notch brand identity, new customers will contact you because they remember your logo, have held on to your business card, or are impressed by your brochure. Once you have a timeless logo and set of marketing materials designed, you can use them for years to come to bring in new clientele or to bring in return business. Your logo is the first representation of your business that all your clients will see, and if it's done right, will be remembered for years to come.

Using the Mobile Web for Business Growth

2010-07-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

Many experts predict that mobile web usage will overtake PC usage in just a few years. Look around you and it is easy to see that the number of people using multipurpose smartphones such as iPhones, Blackberries, and Droids is definitely skyrocketing.

Here are several important steps you should take to ensure that your business can take advantage of mobile media:

First of all, when designing your web site, make sure that it is mobile-friendly.
Many mobile users are impatient, and they want information to come up quickly. Often, flash design take too long to come up, or are not usable on Apple devices.

Also, make sure your website is optimized for mobile searches. Google and Bing have separate indexes for mobile content. Simple key word usage throughout your site is very important. In other words, make sure you mention your product or service by name on every page.

The next important step is to start a Facebook Fan page. Many mobile device users are active on Facebook, so it helps to encourage your customers and visitors to sign up as Facebook fans so you can use the networking site to share information about your business and retain return customers.

On that same note, you should become active on Twitter. It is easy for people with smartphones to use Twitter for sharing information, and many people like to retweet useful web links.

You should also make sure your business is listed on Google Maps because a lot of mobile users go to Google Maps first when searching for local businesses. You can also sign up for FourSquare. Its members keep each other informed of their whereabouts and write reviews and recommendations for other FourSquare members to help them make good decisions about where to eat or shop.

It seems that the best time to start thinking about this new mobile revolution is at the very beginning when you are setting up your new business and its web site. It is always helpful to make sure that your business is visible where the most potential customers can be found, and in this day and age, that may well be on their iPods and smartphones.

Ten Things to Consider before you Start your New Website

2010-05-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the top 10 things to consider before choosing to design a new website. Thinking about these things ahead of time will help make your site a success.

1. What is your target market? Will your business meet the needs of your clients? Think about the goal of your website. Is it to sell items strictly from your online store or is it just informative?

2. How much money will it take to get your website up and running? Consider how much you will need to maintain your site per month? Will your site make you money rather than costing you more than it brings in?

3. Think about the domain name you will use. It should be short, easy to remember and tell people what to expect from your website. Spend a considerable amount of time choosing the right domain name because you cannot easily change it.

4. Consider where you will find a web host. A good website hosting company will be able to provide your customers with fast and reliable website views at a price that you can afford.

5. Think about who will design your website. You will be performing ongoing work with your website designer, so choose carefully. Make sure that you choose a designer that will povide you with one-on-one service without making you wait weeks.

6. While planning your site, research the keywords that people currently use to find your service or products so that you can provide the necessary optimized content as the website is being built.

7. Think about how you can best make your website easy to use. Remember that different kinds of people have different levels of technical savvy. Make sure your website is designed in such a way that all users will be able to easily get information and navigate your site.

8. How can you make your site visually interesting? Consider using pictures and a color theme throughout. While it is the text that sells your product, if your page is uninteresting to look at, it’s unlikely your text will get read. Make sure that you can supply your designer with all the pictures that you will use such as company or product photos.

9. Decide who will maintain and advertise your website. Will it be you or are you going to pay for your designer to do it? Think about the time involved and the different ways you will market your site.

10. Consider making use of social networking sites to get the word out about your new site, and think about starting a blog. Blogs can tell about the people behind your company and the issues in your industry. You may want to have a blog started just after or even at the same time that you launch your website.

Proper consideration and planning can make all the difference between making your new site a success or a failure, especially if this is your first time out.

Writing Articles for Small Business Marketing

2010-04-17T05:47:00.000-07:00

Marketing through writing articles is one of the best forms of free advertising available for bringing new visitors to your website. Writing articles usually leads to increased website visitors. One goal in writing an article is for people to read and learn about your business and your topic.

After writing an article, you need to get it published in order to drive traffic to your site. You'll need to submit it to ezine publishers such as EzineArticles.com and article directories that will get it ranked in search engines.

Writing articles for ezines uses a basic format that you should become familiar with. You should subscribe to several good, high quality ezines that can be found by doing a basic web search on Google or any other search engine. You want to review the articles in an ezine so that you can get a basic idea of the layout that is expected when you submit your article. Most ezines require a title, the author's name, a catch line or paragraph, the body of the article, and an author's resource box. The resource information is probably the most important tool for getting hits to your website.

So, if you like to write, and you know what your industry and potential customers are interested in, get those articles out there and don't forget to also get a blog like this one started.

If it doesn't have a Copyright Notice, is it still copyrighted?

2010-03-28T05:53:00.000-07:00

Copyright is a protection that covers published and unpublished works as long as they are fixed in material form. Copyright protection begins when this work is actually created and put in any tangible form. For instance, if I write original song lyrics, the copyright begins at the moment the lyrics are put on paper in any form. Further proof can be created by putting the lyrics in an envelope and mailing them, thus using the postmark to establish the date of creation. Next, it is a good idea to register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office if you hope to be able to sue for monetary damages.

However, if it doesn't have a copyright notice, is it still copyrighted? Today almost all major nations follow the Berne Copyright Convention. In the USA, almost everything created privately and originally after April 1, 1989 is copyrighted and protected whether it has a notice or not. This also applies to digital art and graphics.

As long as you are the true author of the work, it is legal to place the copyright © symbol next to your name. Actually, it is your right to do so. The best way to place a copyright notice is as follows: Copyright © (first date of creation) (name of owner) ex.: Copyright © 2010 Sheryl Skutelsky. You can use C in a circle © instead of "Copyright" but "(C)" has never been given legal force. The phrase "All Rights Reserved" used to be required in some nations but is now not legally needed most places. The dates that you see in a copyright statement do not refer to the dates that the owner's material will expire, but rather the dates that the material was created or modified.

When you see more than one date in a copyright, it means that certain things were created in one year and modified in another. It does not refer to the date that a copyright will expire. The Berne Convention establishes a minimum period that lasts the life of the author and fifty years after his or her death.

So, remember that in this digital age almost all things are copyrighted the moment they are written, and no copyright notice is required. Copyright can still be violated whether it is registered or not, but only the amount of damages is affected by that. By the way, posting E-mail is technically a violation, but revealing facts from E-mail you got isn't. The law doesn't do much to protect works with no commercial value. Copyright law was recently amended by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which changed Internet copyright in many ways by making computer programs illegal to copy. It might be a violation just to link to a web page, but it's undecided as of this date.

For more information, I found the following to be of great help: http://www.directlegal.com/learning_center.htm

For actually filing a copyright go to: http://www.copyright.gov/eco/.
Be careful with sites that charge just to help you file a copyright. The advantages of filing electronically include a lower filing fee of $35 for a basic claim and faster processing time. The next best option for registering basic claims is the new fill-in Form. The fee for a basic registration on Form CO is $50.

The fee for a basic registration using one of the government forms is $65 payable by check or money order. Form CON (continuation sheet for applications) is also still available in paper. These paper forms are not accessible on the Copyright Office website; however, staff will send them to you by postal mail upon request if you write to:

U.S. Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20559-6000
(202) 707-3000

Branding and Trust

2010-03-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest things to do when creating a brand is creating trust in your company and its products or services. Gimmicks are good, but a good reputation is even more important.

How do you get the public to trust your business? Treat your customers or clients exactly as you would want to be treated if you were dealing with your business. It comes down to that old adage, "Treat others the way you would want them to treat you."

It won't be long before your honesty and sincerity bring in testimonials and word of mouth referrals making your brand shine.

Trust me on this!

Brand Building Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune

2010-03-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

It isn’t necessary for a small business to have a huge advertising budget, but there are a few must haves to cement your brand identity.

First of all, you really do need a logo to give your business a recognizable face. Consistently using your logo on all printed materials increases brand image and awareness.

A web site is another must have in this digital age, as well as business cards that make use of your logo. These give potential clients a way to easily look up and get information on your business.

It doesn’t require spending a fortune to create a fabulous brand, but it does take planning and consistency. You need to know the image you want others to have of you and your business, and then, most important of all, you must get the word out.

Start using Facebook and Twitter to get people to check out your products or services. Always use your logo on all the social media pages. Also try to write articles which will show you to be an expert in your field. Finally, make sure that you do your homework on search engine optimization to make sure that your website comes up on the first page of the major Internet search engines using appropriate key words for your industry. A web site is useless if no one can find it.

5 Things to Consider before Finding a Logo Design Service

2010-03-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

Your logo is a major element of your business identity. It is the first thing that a potential customer sees, and thus it makes the all important first impression.

Creating a great logo is a crucial responsibility of a graphic design service. Designers are professionally trained in creating simple, yet outstanding concepts that appeal to expressions about a product or service. A good designer will be aware of what colors and styles work best in a particular industry and how to design something unique upon your specified instructions.

Before setting out to have your logo designed, here are 5 basic things to consider:

1. What type of image are you going for? Do you want a descriptive logo with images or just a play on words?
2. What basic color would you like to use to represent your business? Will it fit in with your color scheme that is already in place on your web site or in your business correspondence?
3. What is the most important feature of your business that you would quickly like to convey? Is it a product or a service?
4. Do you want a complex or simple logo design? Large corporations like Nike or Target do well with simple, but a new small business might need more to make it memorable since it won’t have the huge exposure that the big guys can afford.
5. Do you want your business name to be part of your logo? Small businesses may find this feature more important because of their need for exposure without the capital for large scale advertising services.

Should You Invest in Small Business Branding in these Trying Times?

2010-02-18T04:48:00.001-08:00

In general, branding is the look and feel of your business that you are trying to present to your customers. In this day and age, branding is very important if you hope to help your business grow successfully on the Internet. If you are a new business owner, branding your business should be one of your top priorities.

Your potential customers need to know who you are, what you sell, and what your business is about, and they need to know this very quickly in this fast paced environment. This is a vital part of any marketing strategy.

If you look at 10 different websites for the same product, what would stand out as being special about each site that would draw customers to it? Branding helps you to do something unique to make your website stand out and have its own flavor or feel that can be recognized on all types of Internet social sites, blogs, or wherever it is shown.

Many small business owners don't have the time or money to brand their business. The problem that arises when branding is not a priority is that new competition in their selected profession can easily attract their former customers.

Try to remember that if you successfully brand your business, the branding works for you by selling for you behind the scenes. Pay attention to whether or not your web name is too generic. Does it represent the true niche you are selling in? Is your logo one that will give the potential customer a powerful visual of what your company is all about?

Today more than ever, it is critical to have a website, or at the very least, a business page on one of the social or networking sites such as Facebook or Linked In. This is where need to be creative. Don't just use any old website design and think it will attract millions of customers. It is imperative that you research and find out what others are doing in your profession, and figure out what you can do to stand out.

One key element of branding that is often overlooked is your customer service. What can you do to convince your potential customers that they will be in good hands? Remember, if you take good care of your customers, they will take great care of you. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool in bringing that new business in.

Many new small business owners do not take the time to brand their business effectively. Money invested in creating your unique look and feel will always be money well spent. If you can effectively stand out among the rest, you will ensure more customers, more sales, and a successful business that will endure during this trying period in the economy.

So, You have an Idea for a Small Business

2010-01-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you think you have this great idea for a new small business venture. Now what? Well, think of it as your new baby. You need to protect it, nurture it, and then watch it grow.

If your idea is unique, the first thing you need to do is protect it from being stolen. Make sure that anyone that you share your new idea with first signs a standard non-disclosure. If you don't want to invest in a lawyer early on, you can find a standard form on the Internet at sites like www.rocketlawyer.com.

Like any new baby, you want to put your new idea in the hands of a professional that you can trust to help it grow. You'll need to find someone to help you with small business branding. This includes creating a company name, logo, letterhead, business cards, and a web site. Make sure that you file the proper paperwork with your county. This usually means a DBA form (doing business as) which can be done at a site such as www.simplefilings.com. This form will be necessary if you plan to open a bank account under the name of your new business. You'll also need someone to point you in the right direction when it comes to advertising and search engine optimization. Look on the Internet for a good graphic designer, and don't be afraid to check out their references. You don't want to trust your new baby to just any one.

Your logo is a key element. It will be your calling card that will appear on all your printed materials, so choose it wisely. A good graphic designer can help you find the right look and feel for your new business, but keep your original idea at the forefront. Remember, this is your baby. Put all your enthusiasm into this new venture, and you'll be able to feel proud as you watch all your hard work pay off. Good luck.

Automatic Site Map - Increase Your Website Traffic

2009-11-09T03:09:00.000-08:00

Automatic Site Map - Increase Your Website Traffic

Why Use Facebook to Advertise Your Small Business

2009-11-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Facebook is becoming popular for targeted online ad campaigns. Google Adwords and Yahoo Local used to be the most popular online ad campaigns because they targeted users based on their search priorities. Facebook ads are the next generation of these targeted text ads.

Facebook uses targeted online ad campaigns based on age, gender, location, and interests. You’re more likely to get a better response by targeting your ads to the proper users plus you will spend less money.

You can also create a Facebook Fan pageto advertise your business . Once you have a enough fans, you’ll be able to target more hits to your website.

The best way to start is to first decide on a budget. Then, make a list of characteristics your customers probably have in common. What are their interests and where are they located? Once you know your target, write your ad. You will need a title with no more than 25 character, body text with no more than 135 characters, and a photo that is 100 pixels by 80 pixels.

You will need to log into Facebook, and then make your way to the Facebook advertising page by finding the link to ads on the bottom of your profile page. Facebook will ask you to set up your budget, and they will automatically target your ad to run on user pages based on your criteria.

Start with a low budget and you can increase it if you start to see hits to your web page increase as your ad runs. Good luck

SAS Graphic Design: What is this SEO that we keep hearing about?

2009-08-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

SAS Graphic Design: What is this SEO that we keep hearing about?

What is this SEO that we keep hearing about?

2009-08-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. It means optimizing your site so that it can be easily found and properly indexed by the search engines.

This means knowing how to design your site and its content so that search engines will rank it high within the search results. There is a definite basis as to which key words you should use in the title and description of your pages and in the content of your site so that the search engines will rank your site higher. You can use one of several on-line tools to help you find high ranking keywords such as the one from Google Adwords, which can be gound at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal, but you are then asked to pay per click for ads on a Google account. A totally free tool can be found at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/.

You may have also heard the term SEM which is Search Engine Marketing. This is the process of paying search engines so your site appears in the small text ads or sponsored links on a search engine's site based on the words and terms that someone is searching for. For example, you may buy the keywords "designer New York City" so when someone searches for a designer in New York City, your website will appear in the sponsored links section which is often above or beside the other search results.

Internet Directories - How valuable are they?

2009-08-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Many people know that high rankings on Google and other modern search engines can be achieved if a website has both optimized web page content and good inbound links. A relatively easy way to get inbound links is to submit websites to Internet directories. But how valuable are these directories when it comes to search engine rankings?

An internet marketer tested three pages that were created to provide valuable content to search engines.These pages were submitted to some high quality paid directories (Yahoo, BestOfTheWeb, Joe Ant) and free directories. The marketer reported tat about 45 days after the paid directory links went live, the web pages had increased visibility on search engines. Visits and conversions also increased and the tracking of the marketer indicated that at least 50 percent of the results could be attributed to the directory links.

The final results included a lift of traffic to levels that other highly visible site pages receive within 90 days and an increase in monthly conversions for the business line of 45 percent year-over-year
Therefore, getting links from Internet directories should be a fundamental part of any search engine optimization strategy. You should submit your website to all big Internet directories and to Internet directories that cover your niche.

Links from Internet directories are only one way to get links from other sites. If you want to outperform your competitors, you also need links from websites that are related to yours. Links from blogs will also help. Don't forget to optimize your website content before building links. The better your website content has been prepared for search engines, the better the links to your website will work.

Why does a small business need a website?

2009-08-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today, most businesses need an online presence as much as they need a phone or mailbox. Clients simply expect you to have one. For some small businesses, a website is the primary selling tool, and for others it is little more than a directory listing with contact information. From simple to complex, websites have become a requirement for doing business.
Most people begin their search for a product online using a search engine like Google, Yahoo, MSN, or Dogpile (which searches several search engines at once). Having a website that is designed to be an effective Internet marketing tool, can be very valuable for small businesses. Without the right web site, people may not be able to find your business.

Should you hire a graphic designer or do it yourself?
Yourself:Pros: You'll save money by doing it yourself, and you'll have complete control over the look and feel of the site. If you have a working knowledge of basic web design there are free tools that will allow you to create a website on your own. Cons: If you don't know much about computers and/or web design it could take a while to learn enough to get your site up and running. Also, you will have to spend even more time dedicated to making any updates and changes in the future.

A Graphic Designer: Pros: You will get a clean well designed web page in a short amount of time if you hire a web designer. Also, the designer can take care of any changes and updates in the future. Plus, it will give you more time to devote to actually running your business.Cons: You may not always have as much control over the outcome of your site, and very busy designers may take a while to get your site completed. Make sure that the designer is available for one-on-one revisions.

How to Increase Your Internet Ranking for Free

2009-08-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

You can increase your web site's ranking without spending a penny. This can be done by blogging, submitting articles to directories, and creating a company page on Facebook or by posting on Twitter. You may also exchange reciprocal links with many of the free directories that can be found on the Internet.

One article directory that works well when it comes to search engine optimization is http://ezinearticles.com/. Registration is free and the process is very simple. Write about something of interest to your future clients.

You can also create Facebook and Twitter accounts. Registration is free for both these services and Facebook offers you the opportunity to create a company page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. Use these social sites to advertise your business through images, links to your website, and daily posts.

Blogs like the one you are reading can also increase exposure to your website. It’s also completely free. Make sure you include a link to your website in your blog posts and add your blog link to your website and Facebook pages.

The results of using any one of these methods, or even better combining them all, can be more traffic to your site and increased search engine standings for your company without spending a cent.

Sheryl A. Skutelsky http://www.sasgraphicdesign.com/

SAS Graphic Design: What Do All These Graphics File Extensions Mean?

2009-08-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

SAS Graphic Design: What Do All These Graphics File Extensions Mean?

Logos - Simple or More Elaborate?

2009-08-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

Many clients have approached me about how complicated a logo should be. For instance, they ask if something as simple as the Nike check mark or the Target bulls eye will work for the average small business. I've found that such simple logos only work when the company has the revenue to do mass marketing. A simple logo is only recognizable when everyone has seen it over and over again.

Most small businesses are better off when they use an element that is descriptive of their business. A good example of this might be a cleaning service that has a broom or a duster as part of the logo rather than just lettering or a symbol. The key is to envision a simple item that reminds you of your business.

What Do All These Graphics File Extensions Mean?

2009-08-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

I commonly come across clients that seem so confused about all the commonly used file extensions used in the world of design. I hope this brief description will clear up some of the most common confusion.

Vector Files store images as a series of descriptions of simple shapes. They will split an image into lines, rectangles, circles etc. and will describe the positions and colors of all of these shapes on the page, and then reconstruct the image when the file is opened. There are advantages to using vector files, because you have a description of a scene you can increase its size indefinitely and still have enough information to keep a high quality image. Some programs use a vector format by default. All PowerPoint drawings are in a vector format, as is all Microsoft clip art. Vector images are suitable for putting simple images into documents and presentations, but should not be used in web pages.

Bitmap Images are analogous to taking a photograph. The whole image is split into a grid of tiny squares, called pixels, and the color for each pixel in the whole image is recorded. This format allows extremely complex pictures to be described (such as photos), but can produce extremely large file sizes. Unlike vector files, you cannot enlarge a bitmap file without losing resolution. One last point about these two formats is that it is easy to convert a vector file into a bitmap (that’s what happens when you look at it on your screen!), but rarely possible to convert a bitmap into a vector. Typically, BMP files are uncompressed, hence they are large; the advantage is their simplicity, wide acceptance, and use in Windows programs.

JPEG or Joint Photographic Experts Group files (DOS filename extension is JPG) suffer generational degradation when repeatedly edited and saved. The JPEG format also is used as the image compression algorithm in many Adobe PDF files.
Advantages of JPEG images:
• Huge compression ratios mean faster download speeds
• JPEG produces excellent results for most photographs and complex images
• JPEG supports full-color (24-bit, “true color”) images

GIF or Graphics Interchange Format is limited to an 8-bit palette, or 256 colors. This makes the GIF format suitable for storing graphics with relatively few colors such as simple diagrams, shapes, logos and cartoon style images. The GIF format supports animation and is still widely used to provide image animation effects.
Advantages of GIF files:
• GIF is the most widely supported graphics format on the Web
• GIFs of diagrammatic images look better than JPEGs
• GIF supports transparency and interlacing

TIFF or Tagged Image File Format is a flexible format that normally saves 8 bits or 16 bits per color (red, green, blue) for 24-bit and 48-bit totals, respectively, using either the TIFF or the TIF filenames. The TIFF image format is not widely supported by web browsers. TIFF remains widely accepted as a photograph file standard in the printing business.

PNG or Portable Network Graphics file format was created as the free, open-source successor to the GIF. The PNG file format supports true color (16 million colors) while the GIF supports only 256 colors. The PNG file excels when the image has large, uniformly colored areas. JPG files are smaller than PNG files. Many older browsers currently do not support the PNG file format. However, Internet Explorer 7 and all contemporary web browsers fully support the PNG format.

I hope that this clears it up at least a little bit before you try to save your graphics.

http://www.sasgraphicdesign.com/

Does a Small Business Really Need a Web Site?

2009-08-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

Many small business owners have approached me to ask if they already have a successful business, do they really need a web site. In today's struggling economy, the answer is an absolute "yes". For any business to achieve credibility in today's world, consumers expect to be able to go to their favorite search engine, type in the name of the business, and get the low down about that business. Can't find it on the Internet? How good a business could it be?

Even if you don't want to set up a site to specifically sell merchandise, today's consumer wants to be able to "check you out" on the web. A site also give the consumer another way to remember your business and your contact information.

http://www.sasgraphicdesign.com/