5 Mistakes That Spell Disaster for Your Website

Developing a website should be a great experience: you get to bring your business or passion to life. To give your site’s visitors the best possible experience, avoid these five common mistakes:

Stale Content.

You know how sometimes you get a whiff of staleness from something in the refrigerator, like from a gallon of milk? Afterward, will you eagerly return to that milk? Probably not. The same principal applies to your website: once people sense that your content isn’t changing, they’ll probably stop coming back.

The solution is to add genuinely new content to your site on a regular basis. There is always new information you can add: a special offer, a new feature, tips & tricks, a testimonial from a client, etc. I’ve heard the term “Heroin Content” used to describe content that has extreme appeal. Sites like YouTube and Google have it. What’s the heroin content that will keep your audience coming back?

To help determine your must-have content, try to answer these questions:

What does my site visitor need to know that is time-sensitive or urgent?

What questions can I answer in a unique or candid way?

What about my product or service is controversial?  For example, a pet photography website could refute the claim that pets aren’t worth spending money on.

What’s the icing on the cake? Websites with fresh content get crawled by search engines more often, which increases their rankings in search-engine results.

Content Overload.

While stale content is off-putting, seeing too many words on a page is frustrating for visitors in a different way. Too much text makes it hard for eyes to find a focal point; the eyes don’t know what to focus on. Having too much material crammed onto one page means you need to reorganize your site. Try to spread the content across a greater number of small, focused pages.

Other elements can contribute to clutter, like widgets, flash animation, and fancy graphics. If you suspect you have too much going on, consider a more minimalist design, which is a 2010 web design trend. For more help, check out this Webs blog post on Usability: A Streamlined Experience.

No Photos.

You’ve heard the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and that’s definitely true for websites. Instead of only using words to describe what your business does, use pictures to show what you have to offer. Photos bring your site to life and help sell your products or services.

Photos also break up the text, which makes the site easier on the eyes, thereby enabling people to linger longer on the site.

Looking Illegitimate.

A store located in a dark alley, with no name on the door, doesn’t really inspire confidence. In fact, most people would decide that it doesn’t look like a legitimate business and walk away. Strange as it sounds, websites go through a similar screening process.

Even if you conduct all of your business online, it’s important to include a phone number, and maybe a physical address as well, to reassure customers that your business is real. The Webs Locations App makes it easy to display your business on a map, along with other helpful information like turn-by-turn directions. Offering photos, testimonials, awards, blogs, and having a social media presence can also help prove the validity of your company.

Being Bland.

According to Entrepreneur magazine, one thing customers want to see on a website is personality. This is good for entrepreneurs, because small businesses usually have an edge on large businesses when it comes to having an interesting history or back story. Try using your “About Us” section to tell your story and to explain what makes your company unique.

If appropriate, showcase your creativity on your website using photos, videos, or a blog. You could upload a video of you sculpting, or blog about your latest inspiration for an architectural design. “Small businesses can have more fun with their sites, more so than large corporations,” says Anthony De Fazio, president of Development De Fazio.

5 Must Haves For That About Us Page

Whether you don’t like writing about yourself, you’re not sure what goes there or because the whole thing just makes you feel plain awkward, writing the business About Us page is a task that intimidates many small business owners. You think you know what you want to say, but then you get to that blank WordPress page and you suddenly forget how long you’ve been doing this, why you love it or, sometimes, even the company name. But your About Us page doesn’t have to be something you dread. Instead, craft a page that you’re proud of and that helps communicate exactly who you are and what you represent to your customers. It’s easy!

One lesson we’ve all learned from the social media revolution is that people like doing business with people they know. And that’s the power of crafting a good About Us page. You give your customers a look into who you are, who your company is, and you build the trust they need to move forward with your business.

Below are five best practices to keep in mind when crafting your About Us page.

Tell a story

Take a few moments and think about all the experiences you’ve had running your business. The funny ones, the proud ones, the ones that make you wince looking back at them. Pick a story that you think captures the essence of your business and what it represents and then use your About Us page to tell it to your customers. Maybe it was the day you first opened the business. Maybe it was your third anniversary when you looked around at what you had created. Avoid writing down your whole company history or regurgitating your company mantra. Instead, use your About Us page to tell a story that introduces customers to your business, displays your values and, most importantly, captures their attention and makes them want to learn more.

Share your credentials

Don’t get so caught up in telling a compelling story that you forget to list your credentials. Potential customers want to know why they should trust you with their business. Share how you got started, what your experience is, how long you’ve been doing with this, any awards you’ve won, people you’ve worked with (if possible), associations you’re involved with, industry causes you support, etc. Why should a potential customer trust you with their business?

Introduce yourself with pictures

If someone clicks on the link to your About Us page it’s a pretty clear sign they want to get to know you. Maybe it’s their first time on your site, or they just discovered your blog, or they’re thinking about making a purchase but want to make sure they can trust you first. This is your chance to let them peek behind the curtain and see what your team looks like. Get personal by including pictures of yourself, your real staff (no stock photos), the outside of your establishment, the office dog, etc. These images again build upon that story you’re trying to tell.

Let them know what they can expect from you

No, I don’t mean to list off all the services that you offer or the products that you sell. I mean to convey what kind of a business you are and what they can expect from their experience with you. What are some of your company’s core values? What sets you apart from everyone else? Don’t use this area to sell, but to humanize your company and to put a face on the experience. It may also mean linking to interior content that highlight content or views you think are important.

Tell them how to get to know you better

Provide links to other places you reside on the Web, be it a Twitter account, Facebook account, or a link to another social media forum. By providing these other outposts for people to check out it helps build trust in the company and shows that you’ll be easy to get a hold of if something goes wrong. As consumers, we like checking out how a company responds on Twitter or how they use Facebook to help us make judgments about what type of business they are.

Those are the five things I look for when evaluating a business (or personal) About page. What trust cues do you look for?

How to Craft a Privacy Policy for Your Website

Does your website have a privacy policy?

This article will tell you what you need to know to create a privacy policy for your website.

Why a Privacy Policy?

As online professionals and entrepreneurs, you know that collecting information on visitors to your (or your client’s) website can help tailor goods and services. It offers insight that previously could only be gathered through expensive research. Today, though, data collection can be easy and inexpensive.

But with this type of information, businesses face a daunting task of protecting the data and telling visitors and/or consumers what will be done with the information. Regardless of whether site visitors read the terms and conditions, companies can’t overlook the creation of policies that set out how such information will be used.

Example of a well-placed privacy policy and descriptive link. Disney Muppets website.

Interestingly, except for regulated industries, there is no federal law requiring an online business to have a privacy policy. More importantly, no company has ever been sued for not having a privacy policy. But, for those businesses located in California or those that do business in California (many online companies!), there is a California state law requiring the posting of a privacy policy.

As professionals in the online world, often we’re expected to know all of the rules and regulations when it comes to what a company can and cannot collect or do with the information that is collected. Marketing wants to collect certain information and use it as a competitive advantage, but the company as a whole may want to convey a different sense of privacy, which creates internal conflict.

Privacy and personal data collection are areas where consulting with legal counsel may be necessary if your industry is regulated or if you want to be very aggressive with the data collected. The collection methods also need to be confirmed with the IT professionals who create the back-end tools.

In addition, following the policy set forth is imperative so there is no risk of sanctions. This is why having a policy custom-tailored will always be better than using a stock policy or cutting and pasting from what you find on the Internet.

The Elephant in the Room

It wouldn’t be a complete discussion about online privacy without mentioning Facebook and the recent ruling by the FTC that the social network deceived consumers by telling them their information was private when in fact the data was exploited beyond what was agreed.

While Facebook was not fined, the settlement is quite strict and obligates Facebook to undergo third-party reviews for 20 years.

Sometimes young companies learn the hard way. Facebook.com

For a platform that relies on users sharing information, Facebook turned a blind eye to the disparity between what they agreed to do and what, in fact, they did. But consumers are very savvy and complaints ignored by the company were taken to the FTC.

The social network faced the potential for millions of dollars in fines. Ultimately, though, that may have been a lesser punishment than what was agreed upon because of the length of monitoring.

Unlike for most companies, users of Facebook are highly involved and very vocal. Even though the company is still in its infancy, this big stumble was likely a wake-up call. Not just for the social network, but also for the online business community as a whole. Consumer deception is becoming a bigger concern, and Internet users are savvier with each passing day.

Creating a Great Privacy Policy

When you think of the policies and disclosures that belong on websites, it should come as no surprise that big companies have them drafted by a team of lawyers. If you’ve ever read them, you’d agree.

However, when it comes to a privacy policy, sometimes the best thing to do is write it out yourself first. You know best what you’re doing with the information. When it’s done, run it past an attorney.

What to Include in a Privacy Policy

First, and foremost, write it in plain English (or if your primary language is something else, then that language). Determine what information you would be gathering—email, cookies, subscription information, credit card, login, gender, age, etc.—and make sure there is a legitimate reason for collection. And once you have all this information, identify what you are doing with it.

Next comes putting it together—all it takes is 8 easy steps to an awesome privacy policy!

Write in language that is easy to read and understand.

Explain what information will be collected and whether it will be identifying or anonymous. If it’s both, say so.

Without getting into lengthy detail, explain how it’s collected (such as search terms, sign-up, log files, clicked links, cookies).

If you’ll share information with affiliated, partner or other sites, be clear about this. Most people are concerned with who else is getting their information.

Simply state that if compelled by law to disclose, then you’ll comply with such orders.

Give readers the option of verifying, correcting, changing or removing personal registration information. I suggest having a separate email for this purpose so you know exactly the nature of this communication.

Provide a way for people to opt out of future communication. If someone wants to be removed, make it easy. Having a “privacy policy email” allows for these types of communications to be routed for easy handling.

State that the policy will be updated periodically and how you will communicate such changes.

Privacy Policy Best Practices

Creating, updating, monitoring or managing privacy policies and practices may not be your responsibility. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore possible missteps. More importantly, those who are responsible may not know the rules, regulations or best practices.

For those who are responsible, whether it’s part of your job because you’re an entrepreneur and everything is your responsibility, or you’re hoping to add this area to your book of knowledge, there are best practices to keep in mind.

Don’t ignore the FTC or state laws that provide minimum standards.

Write the policy in plain English. If you have a lawyer draft your policy, ask that it be written so your consumer or visitor will clearly understand.

Don’t cut and paste something you found for free on the Internet. Because the risk of penalties is very real, this is not the time to be cheap. Your policy should be your own and reflect the unique circumstances of your site.

Update your policy regularly to reflect changes in the online environment, what your company actually does with information and clarify areas that may be vague. And once it’s updated, communicate the update!

Follow the policy! If there is only one thing learned from the FTC sanctions of Facebook, it is that you should follow your policy and not engage in deceptive practices.

Allow consumers, readers, forum visitors or others to opt out of having their personal information retained. And then follow through with their wish.

Make your policy easy to find and accessible. One of the biggest complaints I hear is that the policies are buried or inaccessible due to broken links.

Ensure that the stored information is, indeed, secure. Security breaches are not only very costly in terms of having to invest in infrastructure, the potential disclosure or sale of private information can be devastating.

Utilize a well-respected privacy certification program to add credibility.

Do not ask for intrusive or excessively personal information unless it’s absolutely necessary. Consumers are getting savvier and are less willing to provide sensitive information if they don’t feel the situation merits such an intrusion. If you need this information, be clear as to why and include how you will protect the data.

Conclusion

Putting up a sign may work for your garden, but not for your online business. Image: freedigitalphotos.net

Privacy policies are often not given the attention they deserve. Many companies churn them out, not realizing their true importance. While not everyone will read the policy, it’s these types of policies that say a lot about what the company stands for and what it wants to achieve. Information is key to future growth. It provides insight that can’t be replicated in other ways.

Most companies don’t have the resources or reputation that the largest social networking site has, and being singled out for deceptive practices could easily crush them.

Success tomorrow depends on not just doing the right thing today, but doing it every day. Most of us want our information kept secure. And our most valuable asset—our customers, users and community members—do too.

5 Ways to Brand Your New YouTube Profile

Are you wondering what to do with the new YouTube look and feel?

Many people either love or hate YouTube’s platform facelift.

Whatever your preference, in this article I’m going to outline some of the best ways to optimize the new YouTube layout.

Frankly, YouTube’s new design is turning out to be a step in the right direction.

YouTube has managed to add a layer of user experience and brand factor, which are only getting better. This evolution will soon prove highly beneficial to YouTube channel owners.

YouTube’s social home page power.

Here are 5 tweaks you can make to improve branding on your YouTube Channel.

#1: Add Your Custom URLs in the Newly Placed Description Area

This option is now at the top on the right of your video. Talk about brand power. Previously, only partners could take advantage of this prime channel real estate.

However, you don’t have to be a partner to place your URL links in plain sight to the right of the video. Before, your links were drowning below the fold (scroll down) to the left. Now your channel description area is to the right of the video above the fold. That means a higher potential click-through rate to your outside sites.

Plus you can add your social media links in the description area, such as Facebook, Twitter and now Google+.

Brand juice for non-partner channels.

#2: Add Overlays to ALL of Your Videos

This is a huge opportunity! Most people don’t know about this feature. YouTube promotions are a vastly under-used resource for traffic generation (98 of AdAge‘s Top 100 advertisers can’t be wrong).

Previous YouTube guidelines required you to promote your videos in order to take advantage of YouTube’s self-branded overlays.

However, YouTube has changed that requirement. You don’t need to have a running and approved promotion for a specific video to take advantage of overlays.

Now you can simply create the promoted video, pause the campaign and still have the power of the branded overlay.

Create a custom ad for your overlay.

#3: Prevent Other Ads from Showing on Your Video

In order to keep all other ads from showing up on your featured video player, check the box that says, “Prevent ads from showing in my videos on this page.”

This is of course useful and necessary once you add your own branded and clickable overlay to your featured video.

Also, if you opt to have your newest video as the featured video, then you’ll only have to make this selection once and it will apply to all of your featured videos. Simply click on the Edit button found directly over the featured video.

Click the Edit button above your featured video.

From there, you can edit the information. Check the “Prevent ads from showing in my videos on this page.”

While you’re here, I would also suggest making sure the auto-play option is also checked to have your featured video start playing right away when visitors come to your channel. (This is the only way your overlay will actually show right away.)

#4: Check “Always Take Subscribed Users to the Feed Tab”

It allows your existing subscribers to see your latest videos and the comments you make on other channels and videos (as well as any updates that you mention). The “Feed” tab not only brings your subscribers that much closer to seeing your channel comments, but they’re more likely to dive in and start commenting themselves to keep up with the conversations.

This can be found in the Edit Channel feature.

Click the Edit Channel button to begin editing your channel.

From there, go in and click the “Info and Settings” tab, which will show you where you can check the “Always take subscribed users to the feed tab.”

Once in Info and Settings, check the “Always take subscribed users to the feed tab.”

The Goal Here Is Engagement

YouTube is a social network site (many of us forget that). That being said, treating your YouTube Channel as your traffic filter to your external links can only work well if there’s solid engagement on the channel page itself.

From the Feed tab, you can choose to click through to comments only or channel activity.

For instance, if you’re trying to build engagement within YouTube, commenting on other YouTube channels is a great way to get them to come back to yours.

Ask questions. Engage in thoughtful conversation.

Nostalgia Sets in for the Old Layout

As far as the new layout goes, channel commenting is one of the only features that seem a bit lacking from the user experience and engagement point of view. You can still comment; and actually, I like where the comment is structured on the channel (the top to the right of the video).

After leaving a channel post, you can view your post as well as others’ posts.

But it is more of a “submit your comment” box and not a place where you can read the comments that are coming through the channel. (In this regard, I prefer the old layout.)

In fact, the only way to see the comments is from either the feed section or after you’ve submitted a comment.

With the new design layout, new users coming to your channel can certainly watch a series of videos with a more fluid user experience than before. However, from the channel page, the only way to read existing interaction on the channel is by going to the Feed tab and clicking through to “comments only.” (Seems counterintuitive to the flow that YouTube has fine-tuned.)

#5: Prioritize Your Favorite Channels on your Home Page Using the Pinned Subscribers Feature

The recent home page changes mean big things for YouTube. Social is what’s on their mind—and the home page, having more personalization, reflects that.

The channels you’re subscribed to are in list form under your profile on the left.

The middle column shows all the activity of those whom you’ve subscribed to.

And the Pinned feature allows you to take your top 10 YouTube users and have their information fed to you first.

Home page secrets.

So How is this Powerful?

The benefit is that you can scan the activity of those YouTube channels within your same niche to discern if their patterns on YouTube are successful or not. I don’t have to look too far to know what someone I subscribe to is doing. It’s right there in front of me. Not only that person’s upload patterns, but also the frequency of his/her communication—video commenting and channel subscribing—ultimately, how he/she is using YouTube socially to establish relationships.

Closing Thoughts

YouTube will not stop with their changes. They’ll continue to make the platform more social user–based. That, coupled with their push for more original content, may mean that they are not yet out of the social race. They might not win this year. But if you think about Google+ integrating fully with YouTube, you can definitely see a powerhouse to be reckoned with.

What do you think? How do you feel about the changes to YouTube—both from the marketer’s and the viewer’s points of view? Please leave your questions and comments below.

5 Things you Should Include on Your Homepage

Research has shown that the average visitor spends 8 seconds on a site before deciding whether or not to leave. What does this mean for you? This means you only have 8 seconds to impress and inform a potential customer before they ditch your site for good. A good first impression is vital to your business’ site, and you only have one chance, and eight seconds, to make it.

With this being said, you may be wondering what should or should not appear on your website’s homepage. Below we have outlined what to include and how to include it.

Company Description and Featured Products

The key reason a customer is coming to your site is to find out more about your company and the products and/or services it offers. Be sure to include a brief description of what your company actually does, not simply vague fluff. The keyword in the previous sentence, though, is the word “brief.” The home page is not the place to write a long blurb about your company’s history or founders – that information should be left for the “About Us” page.

Also on your homepage you may want to feature a few key services or products that you offer, either your most recent, or your most popular. However, try to limit the number of featured products; you want to get your product out there, not overload visitors with too many items. A short, bullet-point list often works well.

News and Events

Including news and upcoming events on your homepage is a great way to let visitors know that your site is up-to-date. Make sure not to leave items from 2001 under “Recent News.” Also ensure that the news and events section does not take up too much space on your homepage. Simply show teasers of news and events, and link visitors to a page dedicated to news and events. That way, new visitors can click on ones they are interested in and not get overwhelmed by the amount of information presented to them.

Customer Interaction

A great way to lend immediate credibility to your site is to incorporate logos from well-known customers, press, or affiliated companies. You may also want to include “call-to-action” buttons to get immediate responses from your customers. This will direct them to do something on your site (like sign in or sign up), thus ensuring they will stay longer than those 8 seconds.

Homepage Visuals

Your homepage’s overall visual appeal is also key to attracting and retaining customers. To learn more about enhancing your website using graphics, you can read this article. One key thing to take away from the post is making sure your file size is not too large. Simply dragging the image to shrink or stretch it does not change the file size. The file size depends on how large the image is when you initially upload it to your website. Some images may take three or four seconds to load, which means you are throwing away about half of your precious 8 seconds.

Another element relating to the visual appeal of your homepage is making sure that the visitor does not need to scroll left-and-right to access information. This is usually a turn-off to first time visitors since it requires them to exert unnecessary effort. Another thing to keep in mind is “the fold.” The fold is basically the part of the website your visitor can see before having to use the up-and-down scroll bar. This is the most important section of your page, so include the most important info in this portion. At the same time, be sure not to cram too much information here.

Final Tips on Homepages

Having a great homepage is vital to retaining visitors and getting them to explore the rest of the content on your site. Remember that new visitors decide whether or not your site is worthy of their time within 8 seconds. Here are some final tips for optimizing those 8 seconds:

A clear navigation bar – Should the visitor decide that your page is worth their time, you want to make it easy for them to visit the rest of your site. The navigation bar also gives a clear preview of the type of information that your site contains.

Be clear and concise – Include brief descriptions, not long ramblings on your homepage. Try to make sure there are only 100-350 words total. Remember that if you wish to elaborate on anything, you have other pages on your website on which to do so.

Be audience-conscious – Be conscious of your target audience. Remember that you have to attract new customers as well as maintain the loyalty of older ones.

Update often – Update your site often so visitors are kept up to date on your products and/or services.

Preview and test – Make sure to preview your homepage before publishing to ensure it is the image you want to present to your customers. Also test the page to make sure that all links and images work, and also skim for typos.

7 Elements of a Healthy and Vibrant Business Culture

The idea of business culture is a hot topic these days, but the actual concept of culture can be tough to pinpoint or define. However, like so many things that are hard to describe, you know it when you see it.

Many small businesses don’t give the idea of culture much thought, particularly early on, but every business has a culture. It may be strong or weak, positive or negative, or just plain hard to spot, but it’s like a form of internal brand in a way. It’s the collective impression, habits, language, style, communication and practices of the organization.

A healthy and vibrant culture is what attracts and keeps people that are committed to what a business stands for and it’s what ultimately attracts and keeps customers and fosters a strong external community.

My belief is that a healthy culture is a shared culture, one created through shared stories, beliefs, purpose, plans, language, outcomes and ownership. These aren’t little things; these aren’t things that you get right during an annual retreat. These are things molded over time with trust and passion and caring. These are things that evolve because you work very hard at finding them, holding them and making them important.

The following seven elements make up the foundation of a healthybusiness culture.

1. Archived stories

The first step is to begin to develop, archive, curate and tell stories that illustrate what your business stands for. Stories that share why you do what you do, who you it for, why you’re passionate about it, and where the business is headed.

Throughout time, great leaders have used stories to inspire commitment and attract community. The central elements of a strong culture are the stories that employees tell themselves and each other. The ‘why you would want to work here’ story, the orientation story, the ‘here’s how we deal with challenges’ story, the ‘here’s where we are headed’ story.

These illustrations are like oral traditions that allow culture to sustain, thrive and grow, and it’s the job of the leader of the business to make story-building an intentional act.

2. Active beliefs

People want to work for more than a paycheck. Sure, they want to be paid fairly and in some cases the element of salary will be an important aspect of their decision to come to work for an organization, but perhaps more importantly, people want to work on something they believe in and they want to do that work with people who share their passion and beliefs.

This isn’t the same thing as saying that everyone in your organization has to maintain the same beliefs. However, by creating a set of core beliefs that everyone in the organization lives by and supports, you create a set of filters for how decisions are made, how people treat each other, how they treat customers, what’s expected, how to manage and even how to write a sales letter.

3. Demonstrated purpose

In order to bring purpose into the organization you must determine a way to bring it to life and reinforce in every decision the organization makes.

This may take the form of an employee development program, foundation support, benefit package or community program. The key is to bring purpose to life by example. Your actions, or how you treat your staff, will speak far louder about purpose than any page in an employee manual. In order to create a shared purpose the staff must be your first customer.

4. Clear objectives

The strongest, most productive cultures come to life when people know what to do and how to do it—in places where they are trusted to do good work and use their creativity to solve problems.

If you want to grow your organization to the point where it can serve a higher purpose, you’ll need to develop a system that enables people to manage themselves. The key lies in systematic planning, thinking, clear accountability and consistent communication.

5. Mentored leadership

While stories are an important way to attract and inspire people to join you on your journey, they can only take you as far as the leaders you develop.

After payroll is made and your business is generating sufficient cash flow, I believe that the leader’s primary role should shift to developing leaders internally. In fact, as the owner of a business you’ll never succeed in reaching beyond where you are today until you are no longer the person that brings in the most work.

Teaching others to land the big fish, to tell stories, to create shared beliefs, to inspire and attract commitment means you have to invest time and resources in this very thing in a very intentional way.

6. Measured accountability

One of the strongest ways to foster commitment is to get people to commit to a stake in the outcome of their work. The only way I know to do this is to establish benchmarks, goals and indicators and then report and communicate progress religiously. You must create reporting mechanisms that truly measure the most important components of your business. This will include key financial elements, but must strive to go far into measuring success around shared beliefs and culture.

7. Real ownership

The ultimate measure of commitment is achieved when people that work for your organization come to understand that they play a crucial role in creating the kind of company they want to work for—that the company is actually their most important product.

This won’t happen until you help employees free themselves from the typical job descriptions and organizational charts so they can begin to manage themselves. It won’t happen unless they are excited about the journey they are on. It won’t happen until they fully understand how a dollar spent on a new desk equates to profit margin. It won’t happen until they start thinking like an owner when it comes to meeting a customer’s needs. It won’t happen until everyone realizes they can help develop new business, build the community, create innovation, fix problems, right wrongs and make decisions that impact the organization on their own.

Business Idea, check; Website, check; Logo….What logo?

You’ve taken the plunge and decided to work for yourself. Congratulations.

In the midst of doing your business plan and filling out articles of incorporation, you launched a website that you’re pretty proud of. But, did you take the time to create a unique graphic identity?

A graphic identity is a fancy way of saying Logo. Your logo is a symbol of your company. The greatest brands of the world have logos that just about anyone can recognize without even seeing the company’s name.

When you sit down to start thinking about a logo, you should ask yourself these questions:

What do I want my logo to be?

The logo you choose for your business should have a tie into your “brand” or the products/services you provide.

Think about the great logos that are out there right now, how do they symbolize the company that they “work for”?

What shape do I want for my logo?

 Should you use an abstract shape? 

What about the geometry of your logo – round or square? 

Your logo should be memorable and should correlate with what it is you do. 

For example, if you’re a dog walker, your logo might be something as simple as your name but with a collar and leash replacing a “round letter”.  

Keep in mind that your logo does not always have to be a physical shape.

What color should my logo be?

Selecting the right color can make or break your logo. When first designing your logo, start out using gray scale. Once you have settled on the shape you feel passionate about, experiment with colors.

Not sure which color to select?

Do some research: what are your competitors doing, how do your customers feel about certain colors?

Your logo shouldn’t be something that doesn’t connect with your or your customers. Your logo should be simple, recognizable and communicate a message to the public. Additional tips on how to create your own logo.

Not sure about where to start? Check the LogoGizmo App that can help you create and design your own logo.

It’s very important that you invest time into the creation process of deciding upon and designing your logo to make sure that it reaches the audience you want to reach and has the right impact on your business.