With a few years of building websites for small-to-medium size business behind me, I’ve made some observations regarding critical thought process gone awry, severely hampering the project and the resulting satisfaction of the client.

1. Having the position that your website is an all-inclusive marketing strategy.

Sometimes I feel like clients starting a website project think it’s going to ‘rain customers’ once they get their site up, and they won’t have to do any other marketing. The internet is a great tool in your marketing and promotional toolbox. But it should not be your only tool.

Sure, there’s Google. And there’s people out their searching for your products and services at this very moment. Part of your strategy should be to isolate and attract those people. But it shouldn’t be your entire strategy. (more…)

A few days after I had launched my website, my wife rattled off some search terms in Google and she commented on how my website couldn’t be found. My response, was one of mild contempt: “Yeah, you won’t find it in Google, because my site hasn’t been indexed yet.” I quickly realized that she didn’t know what ‘indexing’ was, and figured that probably most people (outside website design, development, and marketing) don’t understand what indexing is, or how Google works.

And why should they? People type in what they need to find in Google, and what comes up is proof enough that the system is working. But if you’re a business owner with a website or you have your own personal site and you’d like to get listed into Google, the concept of ‘indexing’ is one you should understand. Perhaps you might just be curious what the magic is behind your searches that return the list of sites you get to choose from.

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To say that it’s momentous to me, would be an understatement.

The A.Fruit Design website has been in some stage of development for almost two years, incurring numerous format changes, tons of content re-writes, and one complete redesign all behind the scenes. Intermittent months of latency, caused by prioritizing client work over my own marketing efforts had at times dragged my progress down to a halt. When at a stand-still there were times it’d stay frozen for weeks, even months on end. But like a glacier, the terrain of my prioritization could only slow my progress, and sooner or later the slow progression forward prevailed. (more…)

Making Your Mark: The Psychology of your Company’s Identity

In the previous installment of this series, (Part 1 of 3), I talked about the different individual parts of a business identity. When those parts are used effectively, they can form a strong basis of the visual part of your company’s branding.

Consider the inset diagram. (A) Represents the chosen name for your company. (B) Is the visual representation of your company, including the Logo-Type and the Logo-Mark. (C) Represents something we’re not going to go into much in this article: The overall perception of your products and/or services - which is the heart of your company’s brand. (In this article we’re specifically focusing on the Visual Identity of a company, so we’ll steer clear of the bigger subject that is your company’s comprehensive brand.) (more…)

What you call your “Logo”, is probably much more than that.

When talking about a company or organization’s identity business owners, graphic designers, marketing professionals (and non-professionals alike) use words such as “Logo”, “Trademark”, “Font” and “Brand”. Often, these terms are used interchangeably and inaccurately. In this article, I plan to outline my understanding of a corporate identity dissection, and offer clarification on the anatomy of a business identity, using industry-professional vocabulary. After reading this article, you’ll be spouting proper design and marketing rhetoric when talking about the graphical look of your company.

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