Archive for June, 2009

In this crazy economic climate it has become difficult to stay afloat. It has become more and more paramount to be able to make a name for your business. With branding it is easier to keep in touch with your clients. Think about all the times you have put on a pair of shoes and see the Nike emblem. These brands are what stick out in our minds. This helps make your customers become repeat customers and repeat customers are the key for long lasting success in many forms of business.

The Importance of Logo Design

When looking to brand your business it is important to look for quality work. The logo that you are looking to design, if done correctly, could last years on your product. This means it is paramount to not look for a budget solution. Luckily, throughout the internet there are many developers that you can outsource the project to. Sites such as Elance let you find many people that you can outsource the work to. Make sure to check prior reviews and ask for samples of other work that they have accomplished. This way you can find quality work at a budget that is suitable to your business.

Trademark your Logo

Once you have settled on a logo, or a set of logos, for your business it is important to trademark the logo. In the United States it costs $335 to trademark the logo. There are many lawyers that will do the work necessary to get this done. While the costs seem prohibitive for many do not overlook the value of having a trademarked logo.

Also with your logo it is important to include contact information. A contact number or website address is critical for people to get back to you. Don’t forget this step with your logo.

So you have your Logo, What Next?

Now, if you have your logo what do you use it for? Depending on your product the logo should be placed on the product or on the packaging. This way anytime someone looks at the product they see your business in front of them. When other people see the product they instantly know where the product derived from and this becomes a form of free advertising.

Advertising with your Logo

How do you use your new logo in advertising? You can find many ways to use your logo once you start looking outside the box. Before that, look at examples where you have seen other companies’ logos. The logo should be part of your website and any advertisements for that site. Also don’t forget the power of t-shirts, mugs, flyers, banners, bumper stickers etc. All of these options get your business in front of a larger audience of eyes. Again, all of these items can be outsourced for cheaper than you believe.

When looking to build on your business it is important to build up a brand. Over the course of the last 100 years many brand names and logos have lasted the test of time. Could you imagine Coca Cola without their logo? If not, what would your product ever be without a logo?

Popularity: 8% [?]

As the internet keeps getting bigger there are more and more sites on the web. This means that there are more companies competing for your business. This is especially true with web hosting. You will find thousands of web hosting sites on the web to choose from, making it difficult to make the best decision for you and your business. Let’s go over the checklist you need when deciding on a web hosting company.

1. You need to determine the size your website is going to be. The size is determined by the type of content that you plan on providing on your site. If your site is going to revolve around downloads or video you are going to need much more than text. Think of your hosting like a file cabinet. A file cabinet can easily hold thousands of pages of text. When you start placing balls and items in the cabinet it gets filled up quicker.

2. The next question to ask yourself is how much bandwidth you are going to use per month. Bandwidth is determined by traffic and the content on your site. If your site is new the traffic is harder to determine at first. Depending on your sources of traffic you can get a small amount of traffic or a lot. Also the type of site you are promoting will determine this also. Web hosting companies will allow you to upgrade the bandwidth as your needs increase.

3. Ask yourself how many sites you plan to host on this server. With most companies’ starter packages they will limit the domains per account. If you are looking to host only one site this will not be a problem for you. Usually the cost to go to unlimited domains is very cheap.

4. Now you need to make sure your site has a good reputation for uptime. The last thing you want is your site to go down when people are trying to access it. The better companies on the web will allow you to see the history of your uptime.

5. Find reviews of the hosting companies that you are looking to work with. With so many people running websites there is plenty of valuable information on the web on each site. You don’t want to make the wrong decision as it is difficult to transfer sites to new hosting at times.

6. After you get the information above you need to weigh the costs from each site. Only you can determine how much you want to spend on hosting. For many, this cost is one of the lowest parts of their monthly site allowance. Remember higher cost does not always mean better hosting.

Don’t get scared away when looking for web hosting. You can find many resellers offering hosting along with larger companies to choose from. Fortunately web hosting is one of the services on the web you can find plenty of quality candidates. Go out there and find the best hosting to get your site up and running.

Popularity: 44% [?]