A website is not an island. It needs help and support from your marketing efforts. Just because you’ve built it doesn’t mean people will automatically come. So you need to promote your website via print ads, marketing materials, business cards, email signatures, phone messages, word-of-mouth, etc. Below are a few examples of how a top-selling magazine draws readers to its website:

1. Make the Most of QR Codes.

Sometimes an ad doesn’t and shouldn’t say it all. It should leave the reader (potential customer) wanting more. A well-placed QR Code can be the door leading to more information. Next to the code, say something like: “For more warning signs, scan this code with your smartphone.”

2. Be Specific.

Sending people to your homepage is great, but sending contest participants to a specialized landing page all about the contest is better. Continue the excitement by sending them specifically where their interest lies. The URL should be short and sweet — just your domain.com/keyword if possible. Or send people to your Facebook, Google+, or Twitter page to get a conversation going.

3. Get Subscribers, Not Just Visitors.

At the end of an article, intentionally leave out some information. Save that privileged information for members, subscribers. Send it to them in a newsletter that also features other helpful tips and product or service suggestions. A subscriber looks forward to receiving something of value from you. And they are that much closer to becoming a customer. Say something like: “Find 9 more ways to get website visitors at domain.com/newsletter”

These are just three ways to direct people to your website from printed materials. What ways have you found to work for you? Share!

Your letterhead is going out to potential and current customers, potential and current partners, vendors, employees, and others. It represents your organization, and so it’s important that it reflects your public image while conveying essential information.

What Company Letterhead Should Include

Make sure you prominently place your company logo, name, address, phone number, fax number, email address and website address. Other items to possibly include are your tagline and/or brief promotion.

Paper Quality is Most Important

The first thing your readers will notice even before reading (or not reading) your letters is the quality of your paper. So your envelope and letterhead should represent your image. And your choice may be dictated by whether or not you are printing your own letterhead and letters. Common choices for paper are 50# or 60# text, or 20# or 24# bond or writing papers.

Other Considerations

You may also want to consider including a watermark, using exact (Pantone or other) color matching for your logo, graphics bleeding off the page (costs more), paper colors, or custom sizing. Look online for inspiration, but stay true to your own brand.

Check, double check, and triple check your phone numbers and other details. You don’t want thousands of copies of useless letterhead because of a careless error.

“Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” — Claude Monet
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words for.” — Georgia O’Keeffe

Who makes your business’ color choices and how are these choices made? (Is your logo blue because that’s your favorite color? Does your graphic designer choose colors because they are popular?) What are the colors in your advertising and collateral actually saying about you? And why is it so important?

According to recent research, people are 55% more likely to pick up a piece printed in color. The use of color increases retention by an average of 65%. Using color in printed material increases readership by up to 80%. And color can increase the likelihood of a purchase by 80% or more. (Taken from Color Your Business: Develop a Color Marketing Scheme)

The colors in your marketing materials involve the emotions and senses in a way that cannot easily be explained. Colors can convey information about your brand, visually engage potential clients, and involve their senses, memories, and responses. So it’s important to choose a website or graphic designer who makes adept use of color combinations to help you achieve your marketing goals.

Before I briefly list basic color connotations, please remember: Everyone’s reactions to color will differ slightly based on their personal experiences. Western color connotations will differ from those of Eastern cultures. Almost every color has warm and cool shades. The temperature of the color will also dictate usage.

Red. Strength, passion, excitement, stimulation, energy, attention, danger.

Pink. Youthfulness, romance, energy, fun, sentimental.

Orange. Warmth, energy, whimsy, friendly, vibrant, cheerful, youthful, fun.

Yellow. Happiness, sunshine, energy, optimism, warmth, alertness, enlightenment, creativity.

Green. Freshness, nature, energy, growth, refreshment, healing, tranquility, wealth.

Blue. Trust, loyalty, peace, coolness, dependability, security, serenity, stability, trustworthiness.

Purple. Royalty, wisdom, mystery, spirituality, nostalgia.

Brown. Old-fashioned, earthy, stability, upscale.

Black. Power, mystery, sorrow, strength, elegance.

White. Purity, cleanness, innocence, simplicity, youth, sterile.

Book Recommendation:  A Pantone Color Resource. COLOR: messages & meanings.

For a color consultation or analysis of your current marketing materials and website, call Mindspring Design at (856) 393-0385.

Don’t scare away potential customers because they don’t trust you. An SSL certificate says: “We’re legit.” “We value your privacy.” “Your online transaction is safe and secure.” When customers see that little golden padlock in their browser, they know they are protected.

What is an SSL Certificate?

It’s a certificate that verifies your online identity and encrypts sensitive information that is sent through your website. It should contain information like: your domain name, certificate holder’s name, issue date, issuer name, and possibly details about your business like organization name and location.

Check out this video for an explanation:

Why would you need an SSL Certificate?

You have an online store
Your website has a login to a confidential area
You need to transmit sensitive customer/business information
You need to ensure privacy
You want to gain trust

There are countless companies offering SSL certificates. Verisign claims up to an 87% increase in transactions when businesses use Verisign Extended Validation SSL. GoDaddy is another option. Shop around and see what is best for your small business needs and budget.

Are you a bit intimidated when speaking with your local printer? Do you get befuddled when he throws out terms like ‘saddle-stitch’, ‘full bleed’, or ‘Postscript’? Don’t leave the quality of your printed materials to chance. And don’t be afraid to ask questions!

I’ve compiled a short list of resources to get your feet wet. These are not intended to make you a printing expert (the list is hardly exhaustive), they’re meant to help you understand ‘printer-speak’, and if you’re designing your materials in-house, to plan your designs with the limits and capabilities of your printer in mind.

Glossary of Paper Terms (some are even illustrated)

Small Business Printing Advice: Four Success Factors for Dealing with Printers

Preparing Your Design Files

5 Greener Printing Tips

5 Ways to Save Money on Low-Cost Brochure Printing

Demystifying Turnaround Time

Have you found any other resources or articles to be especially helpful? Share your finds with the small-business community!

Do you have a logo for your small business? Great! Have you crafted a logo style guide? Sometimes people outside your company need to use your logo. And a style guide is a brief document that will help to protect the use of your logo. After you’ve paid all that money for a well-designed logo, you don’t want somebody changing up the colors, stretching it, or putting their own initials on it!

I’ve listed some important elements that should be included in your logo style guide below. If you think of others, please share them with our community!

• Size: such as smallest size it can be printed at
• Surrounding white space: least amount of white space around the logo — usually determined in proportion to your logo
• Colors: for example, specific Pantone colors you use
• Background: provide examples of the logo on permitted background colors, or specify what is allowed
• Fonts: permitted fonts that can be used in conjunction with logo
• Options: give optional logos for people to choose from

Are you a small business owner or marketing manager seeking to hire a website designer or graphic designer? Before you do, you must read this great article by Andy Rutledge entitled Don’t Walk; Run.

He discusses how to save yourself time and money, and to get what you want out of your company’s creative projects. Too many designers simply don’t ask questions or ask the wrong questions, and are more concerned with where a pixel should go rather than meeting your business needs. Rutledge’s article is frank and to the point, and will help you identify a designer who is just as passionate about achieving your business goals as you are.

When choosing a printing company to produce your marketing materials, you want the best quality for your money. Here are a few tips to help you find the best printer for your marketing needs.

Get multiple price quotes from reputable printers. Make sure to send each printer the same project description so that you can compare apples to apples. Include the size of the paper, whether or not the artwork bleeds off the paper, number of ink colors, number of pages, type of paper, file type, etc. Be as descriptive as possible, a good printer will often follow up your enquiry with additional questions and suggestions.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Price Quote Request [PDF Example]
And check out this glossary of printing terms so that you’re not left in the dark!

Aside from your graphic designer, ask your printer any questions you have. They are knowledgeable about design layout, paper weights, ink colors, and more. Once you find a printer you like, try to build a relationship. You may even be able to visit the press facilities for a tour. This has been very helpful to me in the past.

Local Printers

I’ve had good experience with these local south Jersey printers. What printers have you used? Have you had good or bad experiences?

• Alphagraphics
• Kiva Printing & Graphics
• Minuteman Press
• Pirolli Printing
• FedEx Kinkos (the Cherry Hill branch is open 24-hours — I’m listing it only for if you’re in a bind, but don’t expect miracles at this location, let alone a good print job)

I’ve also had good experiences using online printing services for pop-up banners, tablecovers, t-shirts, and direct mail postcards. Just make sure you use a reputable company that gives you a proof (so you can see what your final will look like) and has a good return policy. And make sure to call their customer service reps for any guidance and practical suggestions.

Ways to Save Money

• Design with only 1 ink color.
• Don’t let your design bleed off the paper.
• Choose standard paper sizes.
• Avoid folds, special cuts (die-cuts), special colors (like metallic inks).

Have you found a creative way to save money in your business printing endeavors? Let us know.

So you’ve spent lots of time and money designing your small business website, and you’ve just launched it for the public to see. But wait! Do you know you could be ignoring a large percentage of the population and thus reducing the market audience you are targeting?

You might take for granted that some users cannot use a mouse.

When designing your website, you should design web content in an accessible format (not as an afterthought), keeping in mind people who have:

• Visual impairments (Blind, Color blind, Senior citizens)
• Hearing impairments
• Physically disabilities
• Learning disabilities
• English as a second language
• Slower internet connections
• Access to Internet content on multiple platforms (mobile phones, etc)

You will reap several business benefits by following web site accessibility standards:

• Improve the searchability of your website.
• Increase usability and help to improve web conversions.
• Increase information access to more people using assistive technologies and adaptive technologies.
• Accessibile web design is required by law in some places, so your business brand will benefit by complying with accessibility standards.

9 Accessibility Mistakes to Avoid When Designing a Website:

1. All your links read: “Click Here.” This could be confusing to visitors using screen readers and other assistive technologies. Instead, use a descriptive link that gives useful clues about where you’ll take them once they click.
2. You use tables to layout your web pages. Instead, use tables for organizing ‘tabular data’ (for charts and such) to eliminate confusing and repetitive table tags. Opt for CSS to layout and style your web content.
3. Your pages use extremely small type (because “it looks cool”) that can’t be resized in the browser. People with sight disabilities may need larger text in their browser. If your design breaks or doesn’t allow that, they will have to leave your website.
4. Color is used as an integral design or navigation element. That would confuse those who are color blind (take the color blind test). And remember some monitors don’t display colors accurately.
5. You’ve got light grey text on a white background or dark grey type on a black background (because it’s “so Web 2.0″). This makes reading a difficult and painstaking process. You need to use a bit more contrast for users with challenged vision. You don’t have to completely sacrifice design for functionality, but do keep this in mind. And do allow users to make their own decisions about how they browse your page.
6. All description, title and alt tags have been left blank so people must guess what your page and images are all about. Make sure your web designer goes that extra step, labeling and describing the contents of your page. This may mean that you, the business owner, must provide content for the designer to input.
7. There are no captions on any video or audio recordings, and no transcripts are provided for the deaf. Physically challenged users might miss out on this quality web content. So don’t leave anyone out, and make sure to offer alternative versions of your audio/visual content.
8. There are no descriptive tags in web forms explaining how to fill them out. Close your eyes and imagine filling out an online form. Where do you start, what should you type, in what format? To ensure that you recieve high quality form submissions (or recieve submissions at all), try including descriptive form tags. You web designer should also insert any instructions (like “enter year with four digits: 2010″) before the form fields, not after.
9. You used an online validator, but didn’t do any web content accessibility testing on actual users with disabilities. An online validator is a good place to start. But it is not a good substitute for a person. Testing your page on a group of people who have disabilities will give you most invaluable feedback about your site.

Recommended Reading:

• Website Accessibility Under Title II of the ADA
• Understanding Disabilities When Designing a Website
• Beyond ALT Text: Making the Web Easy to Use for Users With Disabilities: 75 Best Practices for Design of Websites and Intranets, Based on Usability Studies with People Who Use Assistive Technology
• Web Usability Accessibility and Usability Resources

Resources:

• Web Site Accessibility Tools, Checklist & Guidelines
• Test URL in Online Checker
• List of Screen Readers

If you’re on a limited budget, or just need a quick photo, try some of these sites.  I tried to post sites that allow commercial as well as personal use, but make sure you read their terms of use and give photo credit where it’s due.

• Stock.Xchng
  
• MorgueFile
• FreeDigitalPhotos.net
• BigFoto.com
• FreeImages.com
• Wikipedia Public Domain Image Resources (scroll down)
• 123rf.com
• TurboPhoto.com
• ImageAfter.com
• Dreamstime.com

Be sure to choose quality images with good contrast, color balance, sharp focus, etc. At full size, web images should be 72 dpi, and printed images should be at least 300 dpi. (Learn how to check this here.)

Of course, nothing beats an original, commisioned photo for your website or printed material. But if you need quick, free visuals, I hope this list is helpful.

Remember, if it looks free, that’s because it is! So use good judgment and make sure the photo reflects well on you!