Just “making the logo bigger” because the client says so may destroy the quality of the marketing when the client’s concerns could have been met without wrecking the design.  Here’s some things to keep in mind:

• Some “solutions” just don’t fit.  It’s better so avoid those “square peg, round hole” situations take take time/money and give you poor results.
• Clients don’t know everything that could be done.  We’ve been in business since 1998, perhaps we’ve done some professional layouts before?
• There may be a good reason for an element the the client is unaware of.
• Designers are experts at what they do, so let us find the best way to move forward.
• Designers can try a bunch of solutions without having to present each one and wrack up hours of billable time presenting solutions that don’t work.
• Would you tell your doctor, mechanic, or plumber how to fix a problem, or would you tell them what the problem is?
• We just want the project to run smoothly and give you the best product we can.

I respect client’s input and always remember who really owns the project.  That’s why I want to know what needs to be fixed, not just how you think I should fix it…Not that we don’t nail everything on the first shot.

Contact us if you have any questions.

Graphic Design Chicago

Graphic design firm Chicago.  Marketing firm Chicago. Why repeat “keywords” online? It’s called search engine optimization or SEO for short. Chicago graphic design firms and chicago marketing firms are keyed into these terms as the will drive business to your site. As you can see, I’m repeated the terms design firm chicago, graphic design firm chicago, and marketing firm chicago several times in this blog.

Other variations I might consider are graphic design firms chicago, graphic design firm chicago, marketing chicago, marketing firm chicago, marketing firms chicago, web design chicago, web designer chicago and web design firm chicago.

Google and Yahoo send out their robots to index the internet. When they come across a phrase like graphic design chicago, they log that as a term important to the site it is linked to. When someone does a search for graphic design chicago, my site may come up sooner due to my “inbound” links.

I got a pretty good bump from the last post, so I thought I’d try it again.  Maybe I’m gaming the system a bit here, but marketing is about getting the word out.  That’s hard to do on page 10 of results.

OK, this is totally over the top…But I think this communicates a simple activity to build traffic and something to think about when you are writing your blogs. One final one… chicago graphic design!

When it comes to design, people feel it’s perfectly fine to get your mom’s opinion.  Sure, graphic design in not brain surgery, but IT’S NOT JUST A MATTER OF TASTE.  REALLY.  I know the size of type in magazines and newspapers (it’s not 12 pt), if know what colors read better together, and I’ve done thousands of professional layouts that  I’ve been paid for.  You could say that I’m an expert.

I’ve never had a client say that they’ve paid another designer for a second opinion before having me make their logo way too big.

Just remember that you have the right to disregard the opinion of your graphic designer, your auto mechanic, your lawyer, and your doctor, but you are dismissing the advice of experts.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect my clients and their personal expertise of their industry and audience, but I just want some respect for my profession.  I may just start wearing a lab coat to meetings.

The answer is simple…The page is for potential clients, not really for job seekers.  I want to work with a company that is hiring.  They must be doing something right if they are hiring.  You can tell visitors to your site that you are successful without having to say “we are successful.”

Beyond just having the page, you can write to content with clients in mind.
“We hire only highly skilled people who are self-motivated.”
“We do a thorough background check to ensure applicants are qualified and skilled.”
“We look for employees that will focus on our client’s goal.”

Obviously, you tailor this content for your company.  A bankruptcy law firm may say “All our staff must be experts in the current laws, including…blah…blah…”

The downside of course is that this may be a tease to job seekers out there.  I’ll admit that it’s not the nicest thing to do for an unemployed person, but it’s not about them, it’s about you and your clients.  Make sure not to say “We are hiring now” or “we are looking for…”

You can automate the responses to job seekers.  Put a contact link or form on the careers page to jobs@”yourwebiste”.com and set up an auto response that you are not hiring.  Again, write the email as if it will be read by your clients.  “Our team is currently complete with skilled, talented individuals…”  It may be a good thing to have a mailbox full of job seekers if you do need to hire.

It’s so easy to just copy and paste.  Of course, it’s just as easy to discover the plagiarism.

Businesses cannot act like lazy high school students.  Write your own content.

It’s amazing that a business will pull the same crap.  I know it’s easy to cut and paste, but it’s also easy to do a Google search to see who’s stealing my content.  A professional doesn’t commit plagiarism.  I’m not a lawyer, but I do know that it against the law to steal your content from another website.

• Put your message in your own words.
• Hire a writer if you have trouble.
• Tailor your message for your customers.
• Don’t steal.

I could have just copied this from another blogger…Wow, that would have saved me some time!

The trick is to design pieces that fit into existing, standard products like business cards, postcards, 8.5 X 11 fliers, pocket folders, standard envelopes, and so on. There are fine printers that bundle jobs together and print everything 4-color (full color). Check out ammericasprinter.com and vistaprint.com. Look at those prices! I’ve gotten quotes that were triple those prices for a “custom” job. You can get the same quality stock and 4-color look that can be pretty pricey. Do you can that you job is printed in California if it is 1/3 the cost?

Law Firm Brochure

Working within an existing size, paper stock, and finish, you can still push the envelope with graphic design. You can get a 4-color brochure in high-quantity for a fraction of the price of a local printer. You don’t have to look cheap because you paid less for the printing…Sometimes you can look even higher end because you’re not limited to 2-color, digital printing, or flimsy stock.

Some things to avoid when going to one of these online guys…

Custom spot color. If you are really picky about your logo color, you have to realize that the color will be converted to CMYK and not your spot PMS color. Of course, you never get the same color due to difference in paper stock printing processes anyway. If you need 5 or 6-color printing every time, saving money is not your cup of tea in the first place.

Custom sizes. If you really want that 9X14 brochure, you may have a hard time ordering that online for a standard, flat fee. You can always call those guys and see what they charge for custom sizes because you will still get a cost savings since they run several jobs together.

Designs with solid blocks of color. Of course, I don’t totally avoid doing this. It’s a general concern with 4-color printing. When you print in 4-color, the blue, for instance is converted to tiny dots of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, so it’s not at solid as a spot color.

Your printing could be affected by the other random job it is run with on the same sheet. Maybe there’s a job with heavy red that causes you colors to shift. You could get weird streaks or inconsistencies due to other jobs.  That might make solid areas of color something to be avoided.

Other downsides…

You can’t press check a job and see a real proof. Really important jobs should be overseen by the designer and the client at the printer to see that they are done to your satisfaction. You get what you get from the online guy.

It’s good to support your local vendors. There are some great printers here in Chicago and we consider them creative partners. They can not only help the production of the job but help the design of the job with printing options.

Having said that…

We’ve created some really great work with a small printing cost. We’ve been lucky with the results as well. You get a lot of bang for the buck with good design and cheap printing. Just don’t skimp on the design please.

I was going to say low quantities and full-bleed envelopes, but recently we’ve worked with online suppliers that offer those things and saved us a lot of money from the local suppliers.

Submitting to search engines

The first step is submitting your site to the major search engines like Google.  Adding a site to Google is very simple, but you can also submit your site under Google maps.  You can set up a description on Google maps with photos and contact information.  If your competitors have not done this, you can get a big advantage by doing so…for free.

Put yourself in your potential client’s seat

Do a search as if you were looking for a business like yours.  If you see you’re listing number #1, there’s no need to read further.  For the rest of us, we’ll see our competitors, but also directories listing companies that do what you do!  You need to be listed and you need that listing to link to your site.  Inbound links will increase your site’s relevance according to the search engines.

General Directories

Make sure that you are listed correctly (if at all) on all those “online yellow pages” like Superpages.com, hellolocal.com, zoominfo.com…and whatever you can find.  If you are an existing business, search your name.  If your website isn’t coming up, you have a problem.  If someone is specifically looking for you, it should be easy to be found on the Internet.  Make sure your address and phone numbers are correct, but most importantly make sure your website is linked to your listing.  Some sites might charge of an enhanced listing, so upgrading depends on your budget.

Niche Directories

If you are looking for a landscaper, for instance…
You get several directories like this:

Go to each of these websites and make sure your company is listed and can be linked to from those listings.  They all are pretty much the same, so have a short description and some images ready to upload.

Each industry has their own directory sites that you “must” be on, but really, just do a normal search like your customers would and sign up on those sites.  These sites want to offer relevant information, so they want you to list your business.  Avoid sites that require you to put a link on your site back to the directory.  That type of action could cause your site to be blacklisted by search engines.

When to stop?

Unfortunately, it’s an ongoing process and you have to just keep up on it.  It gets easier once your name is on a listing out there, but new sites are showing up all the time.  I won’t dwell too much on the social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, but you should be listed on those sites as well.

One final step…

Most of these directories ask for reviews.  Have your customers post positive reviews of your business.  A glowing testimonial from a client on the Internet is more effective that a testimonial in a traditional ad…There’s some chance that the person wasn’t paid to give the testimonial.  Also, an unhappy client could have posted something, so beat them to the punch with positive reviews.

I just did a search for “brad miller chicago” and my site came up #1 in Google.  That’s only impressive because there are about 50 Brad Millers here and one of them is on the Chicago Bulls.  I think it’s the directories I’m listed on.