I have recommended blogging to many of my clients and others in my network, whether as their principle outreach or as a complement to or destination for their social media strategy. This blog post gives a general outline of what to do to plan and set up a blog.
Most blogs contain posts which are discrete stories or articles that, while they might share common topics, are intended to be read on their own, not as part of a linear progression. For these blogs, unless you have set up some order, the posts are in an unstructured list that your users can either read […]
Lately I’ve had a few projects that were dependent on photos that other people sent me. It has become pretty typical when I request photos that people send stuff that is, well, not so great. You don’t have to be a pro or have a fancy camera to take a photo that can be used in […]
I’ve heard recently from some friends who blog that they are discouraged that they don’t have much engagement with their readers. With no feedback or interaction, they are wondering why they should even bother. This started a conversation that focused on answering just one simple question: Why do you blog?
Batch processing of images in Affinity photo is really easy. A perfect use case for this is to change the size of an entire folder of images for use in your blog.
Whether for a blog or a small business, you usually need to include graphics in what you do. No matter how compelling your words are, that graphic helps you to get attention and set the tone.
Use quality images from stock photography websites to give your blog posts and collateral a more polished look and attract more eyes to your content.
13 tips to help you plan your new blog or newsletter before you launch it to make sure it projects the professional image that you want to portray.
Choose a color for your brand that is meaningful to you and that you love, but take the extra step to choose the most easily reproducible shade of that color that you can.
Repurposing existing design work for another deliverable is a great way not only to make better use of your design budget, it helps you achieve a consistent look and feel across projects. But this means having to do some up-front planning and having to keep your projects organized. Keep your files clean as you work, or plan on time after the deliverable is sent off to clean up the files.
What are the common-sense rules to naming files? Does it really matter? Even though your computer allows you great flexibility in naming files, think ahead to how the file will be used. Take pity on the user that will have to type that name into a web browser, and be mindful of how the name will look once the escape codes are entered in place of spaces.
Sellers and bloggers need your feedback and comments, so take the time to give feedback when you can. For sellers on sites such as Amazon, feedback that “everything was as expected” is better than no feedback at all. Be sure to place blame (and credit) where it belongs, and try to stay constructive and fair.
There are many tools available to help you quickly get a site online. If you want to do the work yourself, then regardless of the tool you choose you will need to invest some time to learn it–so make that investment of your time in a tool that seems to have the most to offer.
You don’t have to call it a “blog” in order to have a spot on your website to say what you want to say. But if you call it a “blog,” you must keep it current or it will be worse than no blog at all.
You don’t have to be a graphics expert with expensive software to get good results. Know the basics and nobody has to know that you’re not a pro.
A style guide is the way that you can make sure that everyone writing content for your company is using tone and vocabulary and presenting your brand in a consistent way–whether it is web copy, brochures, technical papers, or even correspondence.
Comment Spam: I Give Up
I have a spam problem. I get about 20-30 comments every week! The thing is, 99.8% of those comments are from bots or from people posting bogus comments.So I am closing it down. No more comments. But I want to hear from you!