What is a Website? - How Websites Work
To learn more about how to make your business stand out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
What is a Website - And What is a Web Page?
It's going round and round in your head - What is a website? You think you
know the answer to that one. But then what is a web PAGE? You just can't understand the difference - or if
there even IS a difference. Yes! There is a difference. Let me explain.
A website is a LOCATION
on the World Wide Web. You buy your own ADDRESS from a DOMAIN NAME provider
(Afrihost / GoDaddy) - it will cost you approx. R100+- per annum. Your website
address or Domain Name can also be referred to as a URL (this is your website link).
When someone types your Domain Name into the address bar at the top of the
screen they will arrive at the HOME PAGE of your website. That's all there is
to some websites - just a Home Page. It may not SAY Home Page anywhere on it -
but that's what it is because the page you land on when you type in a domain name is always a home
page.
Now, this is where it gets interesting...
I'm sure you have noticed that a lot of websites consist of more than one page.
When you type in the Domain Name or URL you arrive at the Home Page and you see
links to other pages (About / Services / Products / Contact Us). These additional pages are called Web Pages.
They all belong to the same WEBSITE - but each individual page is called a Web PAGE.
So, now you don't need to keep asking yourself - What
Is a Website? - What Is a Web Page? Now that you have cleared those questions
up in your mind you are ready to proceed with your online business!
To discover how to build your own website today, take a
look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Monday, May 18, 2020
9 Brand Design Elements Your Brand MUST Have for Designers and Entrepreneurs
To learn more about how to make your business stand out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Tips for Creating a Professional Brand Identity for Your Small Business
This doesn't mean you have to use some Brand Design
agency that will cost you a second mortgage. Follow some of these simple steps
to keep you on the right track.
LOGO
As a starting point, one of the most important elements of your new
Corporate identity is your Logo. This is the part of your identity that is
worth investing in. Get a professional Graphic
Designer to create your Logo. Ask your friends and colleagues if they
know any post-graduate designers that are looking to expand their portfolio.
For a low cost, you could get
a newly qualified designer to create a great logo for you.
The best way to get the most out of any Designer is to brief them with as much
information as possible. Give them details about your company and what it aims
to provide. What is your companies unique selling point and what customers are you targeting. Try
to resist creating your draft logo using Word Art and Clip Art. Leave the
Designer free to be as creative as they want to be.
As part of your brief, ask the Designer if he could
provide the following information with your Logo. Most professionals would
include this info. but make sure you get everything
you need or might need in the future. This prevents
a situation where a Printer might be looking for a certain piece of
information and you don't have it, leaving you to dig the email out from that Designer
you used, who you find out has emigrated to Australia.
Colours
-
Ask for a breakdown of any colours that are used in the logo. Ask for a CMYK breakdown for Print and an RGB breakdown for the screen. Ask
for the appropriate Web Colours
and Pantone references. (If you don't know what any of these terms mean, don't
worry the Designer will.)
Fonts
-
If any fonts are used in the design of your logo ask the Designer to provide the names of these fonts
and where to locate them. Sometimes these are free to download, but some need to be purchased. You could
specify at the outset, as part of the brief, which you only want free fonts as part of your design. A lot of
Designers use Macintosh computers. Many Mac fonts are in a different format to
PC fonts. Therefore make sure that the Designer uses a font that is compatible
with both Mac and PC.
Formats
-
Ask the Designer to provide you with all these different formats so that you are covered for all uses.
Original
Logo artwork - This would usually be an Adobe Illustrator.eps file, or
possibly an Indesign.ind file or a Photoshop.psd file. If it is a Photoshop
file ask the Designer to provide you with the original 'layered' file so any
future Designers can make amends to the design if required. This file is what most future Designers or Printers
will ask for if you require any work completed in the future.
JPEGs
-
Ask for a High-Res and Low-Res Jpeg
of your logo. The High-res version can be sent to Printers for high-quality
prints. The Low-Res Jpeg can be inserted into your Powerpoint documents without
creating a massive presentation that you can't email to anybody.
PDF
-
Pdf files are handy to have as everybody
can open a PDF file by downloading Adobe Reader.
One
last thing: If you have a Colour logo then ask the
Designer to create a Black and White
version and provide in all the formats listed above.
NEXT
STEPS
So now you have a Logo and some colours and fonts to
work with. These are the elements that you should keep consistent throughout the rest of your promotional material. Depending on your budget you could request the Designer
to create a Branded stationary set
for you, including Letterhead, compliments slip and business card and possibly
a PowerPoint document template. If your budget doesn't stretch that far then
remember these tips to make your effective stationary.
Always make sure the logo is scaled in proportion. Depending on what program you are
using, this can be an easy mistake to make. If your logo is increased
vertically but not horizontally (or the other way around) the distortion will
look unprofessional. If a clear legible font is used with the Logo then use
this font throughout for your
stationary. As stated above, find out what this font is from your Logo
designer. If the logo uses a more abstract font that won't work in your body
copy then ask the Designer to recommend one. Yes, you could skip all this and
just use Arial. But Arial is what
everybody else in the world uses. Make your stationary unique and professional and decide upon a font
with your Designer.
Choose a dark legible colour from your logo design and
use this throughout the stationary. Again ask your Designer if he can recommend
a Brand colour for all your
body copy. Avoid bright colours such as red and yellow and stick to blues, dark
greens or tones of grey. Once you are finished your document, print it out at
the correct size and make sure
that both the colour and font size are legible. Also, print it in Black and
White and again make sure it's
legible. Not everybody has a colour printer and sometimes people still use fax
machines!
So that's it! Once you have a Logo and design template
pulled together just keep this
consistent throughout. Your stationary, your invoices, your website,
your emails, your Facebook page, your promotional T-Shirts, your tea and coffee
mugs. The list goes on. To learn more about how to make your business stand
out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Sunday, May 17, 2020
How To Design a Brand Identity
To learn more about how to make your business stand out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Logo Design Visually Defines Brand Identity
What
is a logo, really?
If this sounds confusing, it's not. Developing a
long-term, recognizable brand image involves the use of several design elements: font, colour, the spacing between
letters, the relation between all the elements and positive and negative space.
A logo does not need to have a graphic
element, known at a logo mark, to be successful.
Developing a brand image that concisely and accurately
represents a company well over time takes careful
consideration and skill.
L.L. Bean, for instance, has no logo mark but is a very
recognizable logo. Their design simply uses a distinctive font in their special
shade of green. The letters are close together and proportioned in a way that
is unique to their brand identity.
If you look closely at other major brands, they rely
heavily on their choice and use of fonts and colour to capture the essence of
their company and to create a unique
and recognizable brand image. You could say the font captures the
essence of the company while a graphic element complements or completes the
message.
What
is a logo mark?
A logo mark is a graphic
element used in a logo. Brands that have developed strong recognition
in their marketplace can, in time, use only their branded graphic in
advertising and their customers will recognize the brand immediately.
A case in point would be Nike and their now famous
"swoosh." The "swoosh" is an updated
"checkmark" turned into a graphic element and used in the Nike brand
image. The "swoosh" is so associated with the Nike brand that customers instantly recognize the
graphic as the Nike brand: It's become interchangeable with a company name.
So while a logo doesn't need a graphic element, a logo
mark needs the logo type to be complete. To check out this theory, look at the
logo for Panera Bread. Cover up the graphics with your finger, then move your
finger over the words (logo type). Which is more recognizable as the Panera brand? The font or the graphic?
By the way, do
you remember the logo mark Nike used before the "swoosh?"
Neither do I. Nike has done such a great job of promoting their current brand
image that most of us remember only the "swoosh!"
To learn more about how to make your business stand
out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Psychology of Color in Logo Design
To learn more about how to make your business stand out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
What Is the Importance of Logo Design and the Use of Colors?
You can get different types of logos. For example, a web logo can be static or
animated, in other words, they may include some kind of movement and graphics
to make the logo look catchier.
And then you also get print logos as well. A logo can be
anything varying from a simple text to an alphabet, the company's name
or a symbol that clearly explains and identifies the company.
It is believed that a company logo should be simple, easy to read and yet very
effective so that the target audience can easily grasp the meaning behind it.
Moreover, simple logo adds to the brand recall factor.
Since the logo
signifies the identity of the company or the organization, ensure that
you hire a professional logo designing
firm rather than hiring an amateur. It is more so because a logo
denotes the corporate identity of your company and is also used as a strong marketing tool to
advertise and promote the company across all mediums.
Your graphic
logo designers first understand and analyze the company's business-
domain of working, products/services, vision and mission of the company, its
objectives etc. A lot of brainstorming is required to produce the exact logo
that best suits your business. Also, when we talk about the logos we cannot undermine the importance of colours in it. Colours
can easily explain the meaning better. This is because every colour has its own
implication and is used to clarify the text better.
Every colour has a separate meaning and therefore it must be used with caution. Any
kind of mismatch may dilute the objective and the meaning of the logo. For example:- a website meant for selling toys and gift
items for kids generally includes bright and eye-catching colours like red,
yellow etc. Here, the red colour is associated with energy and confidence
whereas yellow signifies joy and happiness.
To learn more about how to make your business stand
out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Friday, May 15, 2020
Why is a Professional Logo Important?
To learn more about how to make your business stand out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Reasons Why Having A Logo Is Important For Your Branding
First
Impression: You'll never get a second chance to make
your very first impression, so, you should grab it. A logo will help you leave
a first as well as the lasting impression of your brand in the customer's mind.
Without this, you won't be able to communicate your ownership because it is the
only thing that helps your clients understand who you are and what benefits you
are trying to offer them.
Distinguishes
You From The Competition: Well, we all know that, it takes
nothing to join the crowd and do what they all are doing, but it takes everything and courage to
stand-alone. And if you want to make yourself a brand in the cut-throat
competition, you need to get off the couch and do something that gives your
clients a reason to choose you over your competitors. Also, it will help them distinguish you from the competitors.
Win
Customer Loyalty: Customer loyalty is very much important for your branding, as
they are your true asset and having them on your list will reflect the growth of your business. A logo will help you
win that faith. It'll help you stay close to your customers, so, you can
understand their needs better and serve them accordingly.
Do you still have any doubt? No, what are you waiting
for? Before your competitors take your customers away, go and design a logo for the branding of
your business. Confused from where to start and how to start? Hire a professional website design company
that can serve your logo design and help you create an identity over the internet or intranet. You need
to do it correctly with care because your brand image is connected to it.
To learn more about how to make your business stand out,
take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Thursday, May 14, 2020
The Importance of Branding in a Noisy Social World
Branding is important for small businesses as well as large companies. If you have a limited budget, smart branding is perhaps the most inexpensive business tool you can create. To learn more about how to make your business stand out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
How To Make Your Brand Memorable To Your Audience
However, there are many things that you can do to give your business the best chance
and to ensure that your brand remains as memorable as possible to your target
audience.
Create
A Good Logo: When people think about certain brands and
companies, the first thing that comes to mind is the logo. This is usually
because some logos are very memorable,
either as a result of being controversial or a result of being amazingly
effective. Work with a good
designer who can help you to create
a great logo, and be prepared to invest that extra cash. Your logo
should include something unique
about your business, as well as the business name so that people can remember
it easier.
Consider
Your Colours: You need a good colour palette if you want
to appeal to the right audience. You might want to concentrate on black and white images, keeping
whatever you have as minimal as possible. However, the use of colour can often
make your brand and logo stand out
more, so think carefully about this. The colours should reflect your business and what
you're trying to sell, advertise or campaign for. Do bear in mind that once
you've decided on your colours and produced the logos and colour scheme that
the public has seen, it can become very
difficult to change further down the line, especially when your
business is new and people are just getting used to your branding.
Create
a Brand Name That Makes Sense: You shouldn't use a brand
name that people find difficult to say, and you shouldn't choose words that are
difficult to spell either. Remember that you want people to be able to find your website and business
details in the search engines. If they can't remember how something is spelt or
they can't convey the website properly to their friends, you'll struggle to
build up your audience as quickly as you might otherwise be able to.
Branding
is important for small businesses as well as large
companies. If you have a limited budget, smart branding is perhaps the most
inexpensive business tool you can create. To learn more about how to make your
business stand out, take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business
further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
7 steps to creating a brand identity
If you think your business is worth shouting about now's the time to start shouting! We'd love to help you make the best of your brand - take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Make Your BRAND Stand Out From the Crowd
Today the internet represents the main source of information for most consumers and as such, a website is a business's principle method of spreading the word and creating its unique character - its BRAND. Clearly, an inadequately designed website, with a poor colour scheme and faulty navigation, sends out all sorts of messages about your business that you really do not want to send. Moreover, in a world of thousands, indeed millions of websites all selling your product (or something equivalent to it), it is easy to get lost in the maelstrom that is the World Wide Web. Good design is the only way to get your business to stand out from the crowd.
Because your Brand is formed by the interaction of your
products and your business's image with your customers; it is vital that your face to face rapport is positive
and the professional impression gained from those everyday business
interactions, generate respect and affection for your Company and its produce.
But you also need to transmit that image instantly. You don't need to read the
words Apple Computers Inc. or Toyota Cars – you can just see their logo and instantly
know who they are and what they stand for in terms of their image for design and quality.
So
another vital part of creating your brand identity is a well designed,
immediately recognisable and memorable logo and colour scheme. The whole brand
personality must permeate everything that the business shows to the world, be
it business cards, letterheads, email stationery, packaging even down to
distribution vans and postal wrappers.
An interesting but unfortunate fact is that it can take
a customer or potential customer, up to 12 exposures to your brand before the
impression if fixed. So it is important to ensure that your brand stands out
from the crowd and is continually repeated in every way possible, hence the website
through business cards to postal wrappers mentioned above. But beyond all of this, if your brand is to succeed,
the customer must be satisfied that beneath the creative logo, the attractive
colour scheme and the snappy straplines, the business is based on quality
products, service excellence and the
confidence that if any grievances do arise, they will be dealt with
fairly and professionally.
If you think your business is worth shouting about
now's the time to start shouting! We'd love to help you make the best of your
brand - take a look at our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
How to STAND OUT on Social Media as a New Entrepreneur | Grow Your Brand with Social Media Marketing
Branding is important for small businesses as well as large companies. To learn more about how to make your business stand out, download our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
7 Steps To Make Your Brand Stand Out
1.
Match Your Branding Throughout
Remember that your brand
should match whether you're online or offline, on Facebook or LinkedIn,
or publishing an article or an eBook. Your branding should be the same no
matter where you are. The colours, fonts, mood, feeling, and thoughts your
audience gets from your work need to match.
2.
Be Active on Social Media
The more people see you sharing, the more they'll get to know you and the
more you can demonstrate what your brand stands for. Each share, comment, or
response is a chance to show what your brand is about and how it's different
from others.
3.
Understand Your Audience
It may seem strange to focus on your audience when branding yourself.
But how your audience sees you is what's important. Doing activities,
publishing content, and responding to people in the way your audience wants you
to, needs you to, and expects you to, is essential to show your distinctive
differences.
4.
Know-How You Solve Problems
Your job for your audience is to solve their problems within the scope of products and
services that you offer. You can solve those problems via your own products and
services or by promoting someone else's. But you should know how to solve their
problems, and that requires knowing what they are.
5.
Use the Right Language
The language you use should match what your brand voice
is, and what your audience uses as well. If they have terms that they use (keywords) to find you, you should be
using those too. Plus, use them in the right way, and the only way to do that
is to know your audience and how they communicate.
6.
Pay Attention to Your Voice
Your brand should have its own voice. That voice often matches your personal voice, and
that's okay. However, do pay attention to that voice, ensuring that it fits in
with what you are trying to project to your audience and that it remains
consistent throughout.
7.
Be Consistent in Your Messaging
Keep every message
you send consistent. If you say something that contradicts something
you said yesterday, you need to have a good reason and explain, otherwise
people get really confused about who you represent and who you are.
Branding
is important for small businesses as well as large
companies. If you have a limited budget, smart branding is perhaps the most
inexpensive business tool you can create. To learn more about how to make your
business stand out, download our FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Monday, May 11, 2020
5 Social Media Marketing Tips to Dominate in 2020
If you are looking for more information about online marketing please download this FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Get to Know Best Internet Marketing Tips
Internet is everything in this era. Who does not use the Internet? Internet is where
everyone converges. Doing business online has been proven successful by many famous entrepreneurs. Nowadays, online business is booming as it
is easy and cost-effective. If you want to start your business online, then you
will want to read this article to get some Internet marketing tips.
The Internet is a very powerful medium to promote or advertise some
products or services. Customers just have to type in the keywords of the products or services that they are
interested in and in a blink of an eye, various results related to the keywords
will appear on the result page. Also, Internet marketing is very affordable for those small
or medium-sized businesses. Promotions and advertisements made on a webpage are
definitely cheaper.
Besides that, you do not have to be an expert in web designing to do
marketing online. There are various sources you can obtain the templates of a
webpage from. Moreover, there are plenty of choices of themes or designs you
can select to suit your business.
Not only designs and templates are important, but the information given is
essential too. The information must be well
written, accurate and up-to-date so that customers will not be confused
or doubtful.
In addition, to increase web traffic, you can seek search engine optimization
services. This is the best way to ensure your webpage be on top of the result
page so that there are higher chances those browsers will click on your site.
More viewers on your site simply mean more potential customers and eventually
more revenue. Furthermore, with the help of search
engine optimization, you can create links directly to your site. By this,
you can further improve the visibility of your webpage and thus luring more
potential customers.
If you are looking for more information about online
marketing please visit our landing page to get a FREE EBOOK to help grow your
business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Building your online presence
If you are looking for more information about online marketing please download this FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
How To Improve Online Presence Of Your Business?
With the availability of the Internet, it is now
possible for entrepreneurs and marketers to reach millions of potential
customers easily. This form of marketing not only extends the reach of
traditional forms of marketing, but is also means that the internet can become
a platform of interacting with customers, giving new meaning to techniques for
business promotion, and allowing customers to complete transactions safely and
quickly.
Here are some tips for you to develop the internet presence of your business:
1.
There is nothing better than having a website
(professionally designed and optimized) that is updated regularly with relevant, fresh, and unique content.
2.
Once you have developed a website, it is ideal to promote it through a wide
range of offline as well as online tools and platforms.
Submitting your website to search
engines such as Google and Yahoo! and eminent web directories are just
the first step ahead.
3. A
business is not just about attracting
customers, it is also about evoking attention of customers and keeping them coming back to make
future purchases. Likewise, the online
presence of a website should always be complemented with regular
newsletters, emails notifying customers of new products/sales/discounts etc.
4. A
big majority of today's tech-savvy customers are using social media to interact with people of similar interests.
This obviously means entrepreneurs
who want to attract customers and highlight the unique selling proposition of
their business should make use of social media platforms to extend their reach to explore new
customers and markets.
5.
One of the biggest mistakes committed by most website owners and marketers is
that they give so much thought to the customers or the search engine spiders
that they neglect the other. A good website emphasizes keeping in view the
expectations of its visitors and search engines to prosper in the short as well
as the long run.
To sum up, a smart
entrepreneur plays the multiple roles of an owner, manager, and
marketer who has the expertise on how to connect with existing and potential
customers of his business. The stakes are surely high but creating the right marketing strategies and
investing time in the right channels can surely have a positive effect on the
growth and developmental prospects of his or her business.
If you are looking for more information about online
marketing please visit our landing page to get a FREE EBOOK to help grow your
business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
Saturday, May 9, 2020
How Social Media Marketing Can Help Your Business
If you are looking for more information about online marketing please download this FREE EBOOK to help grow your business further.
Advantages of Using Social Media Marketing for Your Business
At this time, there are basically six kinds of social media.
Social
Networks: These sites allow people to build personal web pages
and then connect with friends to share content and communication. The biggest social networks are
Twitter, Facebook...
Blogs: Perhaps
the best known form of social media, blogs is online journals, with entries appearing with the most recent
first.
Wikis: These
websites allow people to add content
to or edit the information on them, acting as a communal document or database.
The best-known wiki is wikipedia,
the online encyclopedia which has over 2 million English language articles.
Podcasts: Audio
and video files that are available by subscription, through services like apple itunes.
Forums: Areas
for online discussion, often
around specific topics and interests. Forums came about before the term
"social media" and are a powerful and popular element of online communities.
Content
Communities: Communities which organize and share
particular kinds of content. The most popular content communities tend to form around photos (flickr),
bookmarked links (del.icio.us) and videos (Youtube).
Microblogging: Social
networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of content
('updates') are distributed online
and through the mobile phone network. Twitter
is the clear leader in this field.
How does Social Media Marketing will help you to grow your
business?
Social
media marketing is believed to have revolutionizes the
process of marketing in a big way. The strategies are more popular because of
their technological base and is based on social networks like LinkedIN, Twitter and Facebook.
This strategy is gaining popularity with every passing
day. In fact, social media marketing is one discipline of marketing which has
proved its worth to the maximum during the most difficult economic times.
You can reach at the top by using various Facebook marketing methods, on
the internet that will produce lot of traffic and will benefit your business in
long term. These will help you to extend to more traffic and people, you will
be able to get immediate response,
Will enhance immediate sales, can build
loyal customers and also measure return on investment.
As a result of this - and the direct or indirect
control of social media marketers - today, customers are as likely - or more
likely - to make business choices based on what they read and see in platforms
we call "social" but only
if presented by someone they have come to trust. That is why a purposeful and carefully designed social media strategy
has become an essential part of any absolute and directed marketing plan but
must also be designed using newer "authority building" techniques.
If you are looking for more information about online
marketing please visit our landing page to get a FREE EBOOK to help grow your
business further.
Article Source: EzineArticles
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