This before and after full color graphic illustrates a completed logo next to the separated components. The effect was created in vector graphics using Xara Xtreme. Study the sample to see how bevels, transparency, and cloned elements may be combined for a professional look.



Bonus Tip for Your Website: Artwork for print always prints darker than what you view on your pc monitor. To have matching graphics on your website when creating artwork in Xara Xtreme, change your view in the menu under "window" to "show printer colors/simulate print colors". Graphics will appear darker now. Next, export your graphic in jpg or gif and your website color scheme will match your printed materials.

You may download a 30 day free trial of Xara Xtreme here (affiliate link). Unlike other more expensive vector graphics programs, Xara is easy for beginners to use and costs less than $100.

Please email suggestions for any Xara design tutorial you would like featured here.



TAGS: design tutorial logo design advice xara xtreme

Labels: artwork, tutorials

                       

You can have a real estate website with valid code to worldwide standards from W3C, the WorldWideWeb Consortium. The technique requires coding in XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and the example website recently launched for Latin Connection Realty, Inc. meets those standards with zero errors.



In addition to XHTML and CSS, the design meets accessiblity standards, also, as evidenced in the following links.

XHTML: W3C XHTML Validation Results
CSS: W3C CSS Validation Results
Accessibility: HiSoftware Accessibility Results

In addition the pages stretch to fill the screen no matter what the visitor's pc monitor size. The technical combination assures pages will display well today and into the future. This forward looking concept was part of the reasoning behind the worldwide standards recommendation for using XHTML with CSS. This explains why I refer to my advanced techniques as websites "designed for the future".

Finally, the email links are all cloaked so the info@ email and all the other real estate agent email addresses cannot be harvested by spam bots. The combined technique provides benefits to visitors and search engines.

Visit my main site and the page for website design for more details, features, and advice. Still wonder why this is important for any website, not just real estate? Email me for details.



TAGS: website design w3c standards design advice xhtml css accessibility

Labels: launch, websites

                       

You may be like many small business owners, and learning to type was not a priority in high school. I'm glad I did, and often see others struggle with email because typing wasn't an important part of their education. Invest in a typing course. It will be worth your time.

Here's a free typing test online that you may want to try. I clocked in just under 70 words per minute.

There are great software programs available now, and taking daily lessons for 15-30 minutes could enhance your skills in a surprisingly short time. Experienced typists could benefit as well.

Learn at a steady pace in your spare time. Email, reports, and just taking notes will be so much easier. Comments or questions are welcome.



TAGS: advice typing small business advice

Labels: advice, general

                       

At times my small business clients for custom website design have reported receiving very official looking documents in the mail concerning their www domain, and I get them, too. Some are designed like an invoice, or others warn about pending domain expiration.

Be careful of scams. Small business owners are especially susceptible to these offers because many lose track of who originally helped them register their www domain.

Often these are not from your original registrar because your domain expiration date is public information which others try to use to their advantage. Usually the notices are an attempt to convert you to a competitor's service at a higher fee. My previous blog post about WhoIs, and the article about Why You Need to Visit WhoIs on my main site will provide more details about what to do.

Email me for advice if you ever have doubts about offers involving the www domain for your website, or you think it's a scam.



TAGS: domain registration small business advice scam domain expiration

Labels: advice, websites

                       

The lastest addition to the Small Business Resource Center includes pricing for custom website design and prices for custom artwork for printed marketing materials.

In addition, when providing text content there's an important tip for helping your designer and making your job easier:

"Often text content is one of the most difficult aspects of helping your designer. Many small business owners know their business inside and out, but have trouble documenting this information. Writing skills and perfect content or spelling are NOT necessary."

For each section of your project it will often be enough to write a list of bullets or phrases that describe what you do and the benefit to your customers. I'll do the rest. You may view website and custom artwork prices here.



TAGS: custom website design custom artwork design price list price pricing small business advice

Labels: artwork, general, websites

                       

Here's a summary list of 7 sales tips for small business owners from a recently published advice article. You know the value of what you offer, so how do you convince a prospective customer? Understanding the psychology of what happens during the sales process requires empathy. Read the full article with sales tips here. Details are given on each of the following:

Tip #1: People buy based on emotion more often than reason.

Tip #2: People will buy from someone they trust.

Tip #3: People are not looking just at you.

Tip #4: People will open up if given a chance.

Tip #5: People are usually sold before you ask for the order.

Tip #6: People will forgive mistakes if you remain honest.

Tip #7: People will not forgive a dishonest salesperson.

In conclusion, the value of placing what your customer wants, or needs, ahead of your sales quota or personal interests will help you succeed. Repeat sales depend on a business relationship where you care about your customers. Adapt your thinking to solving problems instead of selling something. The best salespersons are still those who are good listeners.



TAGS: small business advice sales techniques selling advice

Labels: advice, general

                       

Consider the value of adding a free business card calendar to your printed marketing materials. Part of my business model includes ways to lower operating costs for small business clients. As a result, I'm offering 300 dpi original artwork for a 2007 business card calendar at no charge.

This $25 value is my way of contributing to the small business community. Here's a jpg graphic in low resolution. The top and bottom text lines (in red) are not in the final art and the business card background will be white, not grey.



What's the catch? There is none. Simply right click the following link and "save target as" to get your high resolution free 2007 calendar artwork.

If you are interested in receiving notices of tutorials or other advice posted here, simply subscribe at my blog from the right column of any page.



TAGS: small business resources graphic artwork business cards free calendar

Labels: artwork, templates

                       

Real estate agents frequently order custom door hangers, and the most popular are 3" x 8" with full color on both sides and a precut door knob hole. Here are some tips and advice to consider before ordering.

The best way to comparison shop is look at total cost for artwork and printing because most printers have minimums including setup costs. Quality is important, also. Some clients have reported problems from other sources because the ink smudged just rubbing the door hanger or streaked from moisture.

Be sure to ask up front about quality, and always ask for the artwork. I create custom designs, and unlike some sources, you keep the artwork, so you are free to shop around for printing. Each month new clients ask about recreating an advertising piece because their designer moved or went out of business. Having your artwork protects you in the future when you need to reorder.

My recommended source for printing has a 5000 piece minimum, so shop around to get your best price. Here's a price guide for custom door hangers, so you may compare sources.

Artwork paid to me is $75 and then printing and die cut paid to the printer is $300 plus tax and freight. You may want pricing from other sources for smaller quantities. Be careful because most printers quote the price of printing PLUS the die cut. My recommended source does that, too; however, the $300 (plus approx. $30 for tax and freight) includes the die cut. Perhaps your total cost makes buying a higher quantity a better choice if you only want 500 or 1000.

I look forward to helping you. View examples of custom door hangers here. Let me know if you have any questions.



TAGS: door hanger printing price real estate

Labels: advice, artwork

                       

This tutorial shows how I created a limousine service business card using layers of photos and graphics. This Florida limo owner specified he wanted a card with 2 palm trees, a towncar, and the sun. The following sequence illustrates how the effect was created with 3 photographs and custom graphics. I substituted a Florida sunset photo instead of the sun to improve the overall layout.

Step 1: The photo of two palm trees cropped 3-1/2" x 2.0":


Step 2: The limousine company logo graphic was added next:


Step 3: A green graphic to simulate grass was used across the bottom:


Step 4: The pink sunset photo overlay blends in to the palm tree photo:


Step 5: Next, the towncar photo hides the floating palm tree effect:


Step 6: The name, phone, and other details completes the look:


If the palm tree photo looks familiar, it was used in a previous post comparing a photo in screen view and printed. When creating custom business cards it is important to give each client a unique look. If doing a card design for your company, consider combining photos to appear as a single scene. Visit the business card gallery on my main site to view more custom card examples.



TAGS: design tutorial business cards custom graphic design limousine business card

Labels: artwork, examples, tutorials

                       

Photographs used for business cards or other printed marketing materials will display differently on your computer screen compared to the actual printed piece. This photograph shows the original screen view (left) of palm trees and the sky, and then a simulation of the same photo when printed (right) in a 4-color professional process.



Colors will be vivid, but the 4 color process will make them appear duller and usually darker than the original.

Graphic artists have tricks to improve the finished work. Begin with a quality photograph. Enhancing brightness to offset the difference from the screen view to your printed business card is another. Questions or comments are welcome.



TAGS: advice business cards photo edits

Labels: artwork, photographs

                       

This tutorial features illustrated tips and tricks for business card design using Xara Xtreme, and a link to download a predesigned template that I created to save you time and money. You may try a free 30-day trial of Xara Xtreme from their site to get started.

The first illustration (not actual size) shows the entire template with two landscape views of a standard (US) 3.5" x 2.0" business card for the front and back, and an alternate vertical portrait view which may be used for either the front or advertising on the card back.



The colored blocks in the upper right set a basic CMYK palette in Xara that I set up to help you get started. The 3 template views with guide lines show the "safe area" in green and the outer "bleed area" in yellow. Both areas may contain background color or photographs, but text must only be used inside the safe area otherwise it could be blurry when printed.

Next is a full size illustration of one landscape view of the business card template. The guide lines are shown in more detail. The artwork dimensions will actually be 3.625" x 2.125" because printers may want some extra bleed area for trimming each side of the card. The outer border is .187" wide on all 4 sides.



The next illustration shows the sequence of menu commands in Xara Xtreme for changing views from screen colors as normally shown on your illuminated computer monitor to simulated print colors as the design will actually appear once printed on card stock. From the menu select window/show print colors/simulate print colors.



The final illustration shows the menu sequence to change to printed view, and if you compare the shade of green here to the screen view above, you can see a significant difference. Keep in mind that printed colors will almost always appear slightly duller and darker than what you see on your monitor.



Dowload the free business card template for Xara Xtreme by right clicking here. Visit my main site to view full color business cards designed with Xara Xtreme. You are welcome to comment or email me if you have any questions, also.



TAGS: design tutorials business card template Xara Xtreme

Labels: artwork, templates

                       

Press releases for small business owners in print or online are another method for promoting your company on a limited budget. Learn how to feature your business in press releases and announce newsworthy events that will benefit the readers. Here's a sample format and some suggested sources to promote your business online.

Advice and tips are given within the press release form.

= = = Beginning of Format for Your Press Release = = =

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
The Contact Person
Your Company Name
Telephone: (insert phone number)
Fax: (insert fax number)
Email: (contact's email eddress)
Website: (company website address)

Headline (Use keywords about this "news")

City, State, Date — (First Paragraph, Use keywords in first sentence, also) Include the 5 W's for news reports: who, what, where, when and why.

(Additional paragraphs)
Focus on facts and the benefits of your unique product or service, and not the features, plus quantify your information with numbers, statistics, or percentages. Examples or testimonials of how your company provided benefits to end users may be appropriate, also.

= = = Ending of Format for Your Press Release = = =

Here are links to 5 sites that distribute press releases on the internet at no charge. View actual releases for ideas as you visit these websites.

www.24-7pressrelease.com/
www.free-press-release.com/
www.i-newswire.com/
www.pr.com/press-releases
www.prfree.com/
www.prleap.com/

With experience, you may want to investigate paid services, also. Let me know how this works for you.



TAGS: small business advice small business resources press releases

Labels: advice, general

                       

It's time for some feedback based on small business client comments about Google, and search engines in general. After 10 years designing custom websites, I realize that most customers still wonder about getting noticed by Google.

Here are 4 things that can make a difference:

1. Aging: Any new site must endure a probationary period before being taken seriously by search engines. Do not expect your new website to achieve instant fame in days, or weeks. It usually takes months because many sites are here and gone quickly, so only time proves your website is online for the long haul.

2. Domain Term: Having a www domain registration for one year is less than ideal considering today's pricing at less than $10 a year for a domain name. My recommendation is 2-5 years, or 10 years if it fits your budget. Long term registration confirms your intentions to be online well into the future and taken seriously.

3. Content: Sites should be designed for visitors, not search engines. Yes, there are techniques to improve ranking, but over optimizing a site may ruin the visitor's experience. In most cases, sites less than 5 pages may not be considered adequate coverage for any given subject.

4. Fresh content - Adding new content, and often, gives search engines a reason to return to your site more often. Your value in the internet community will be graded by your ongoing development of information or products for the benefit of your visitors.

Are there more? Certainly more can be done to optimize a site for your prospects which in turn improves your chances for getting noticed by Google.

I am releasing a how-to ebook soon on small business website self-promotion. The guide provides free resources and advice for promoting your website in just 30 minutes a day. Email me from my main site if you have any questions, or want to reserve a free preview copy of the book.



TAGS: small business advice search engines website promotion domain registration

Labels: advice, seo, websites