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Initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a small business to put off designing a logo and marketing materials professionally "until [they] got a few clients" or "until [they] get started." Designing their own marketing materials when they launch their business, instead of having them professionally created, will make getting those initial clients more difficult, and may result in a business that will not succeed.Many entrepreneurs choose to design their own marketing materials when they launch their business, especially by creating their first business card. Or, they will have an amateur designer, friend or relative create the design. There are several reasons why this is not the best idea. An amateur logo design and business card can make your business more likely to fail because:
Your business won't look stable. It will appear to be more likely to fold or to fail. Clients won't have confidence in doing business with you. Would you do business with someone that seems to be on unstable footing - who might not be in business by the end of your project, or after you've purchased an item?
 HAVE A LOGO? SPRUCE IT UP We are all familiar with logos of large corporations and companies throughout the year and they have one major thing in common... THEY CHANGED. General Electric, Shell, IBM and others have all developed over the years. Nothing produces a feel of progress and of success as a logo "upgrade" every so many years. Want to discuss the possibilities of upgrading your logo while retaining a familiar "feel", then contact us today.
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You'll look unpolished and rough. Not having a professional look and feel can make it look as though your business does not matter to you. Customers may get the impression that you don't care about the way your business presents itself, which might indicate that you wouldn't care about the quality of your work, or the way that your work reflects upon their business.
You'll look unfocused. Unprofessional, uncoordinated marketing materials can make your business look "jumbled" or confused. If you have a business card with one look and feel and a website with another, this creates a confused - and confusing - look and feel for your business. This can also cause an identity crisis for a small business. When looking at your differently designed materials, potential clients may be fooled into thinking that they are looking at materials that represent different companies.
About half of all businesses fail within their first few years. One source of failure that's commonly cited by experts is sloppy or ineffective marketing - if your marketing materials don't stand out from your competitors', your sales will suffer.
When you start a business, you need to create the quickest possible route to business success. A logo helps to create this by contributing to your business's visibility, credibility, and memorability - three factors that will help your business to grow and achieve success. So, while putting off your logo development may seem like a prudent idea from a cash-flow point of view, it could result in your business never getting "off the ground". It can also lead to your business folding when it would otherwise succeed - if you don't invest in your business, who will?
If you think that you can't afford to design a logo when starting your business, consider the outcomes - how can you afford not to?
By Erin Ferree
Copyright 2005, elf design. All Rights Reserved
SPRING MADNESS - Spring has sprung and so has a fun community art exhibit at River Region Art Gallery in The Cajun Village at Sorrento, LA. "CATS, HATS, & BASEBALL BATS!" is the theme challenge for artworks of all mediums. Take in for this art show is March 26 thru April Fool's Day , April 1st at RRAA Gallery. Each person is limited to 3 entries and it is free to enter. All ages accepted. The show will be judged and ribbons awarded. Show will remain on display April 3- May 1. Gallery hours are 10 am- 5 pm Tuesday thru Sunday. (Closed on Mondays)
Let your imagination run wild....take liberty with this title...use all or any part and run with it! Just what can artists dream up??? Crazy hats! Cool Cats! and that favorite spring thing...Baseball! These community exhibits offer opportunity for all ages to express their creativity through ART. Hop in and give it a try. It is free and fun! Paintings, drawings, Photography, and 3-dimensional art all accepted. All 2 dimensional art must be framed and have wire for hanging. Call 675-6485 for info or email Donna Braud at donnadidit@cox.net.
A FORMAL AFFAIR HAS A NEW OWNER - A Formal Affair is under new ownership and she is none other than DEBBIE TRAYLOR. Debbie brings with her a fire and an energy unparalleled with a career in beauty and entertainment that supports this new move. If you haven't gone by yet, you need to. The new collection of HOT formal wear and bridal choices are amazing. I know I was impressed and you will be too! Plans are in the works to update the website to reflect this bold new energy. www.aformalaffairweddings.com
THERE'S A NEW STAR IN THE AREA - It is a pleasure and very exciting to announce the opening of a second location in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for Starlite Espresso Café. Located at 5713 Essen Lane, near the corner of Perkins Road, this second location celebrates the same warm atmosphere, beautiful surroundings and delicious delicacies found no where else. AND THERE'S MORE.... The new location isn't the only thing that's new. If you haven't been to www.starliteespressocafe.com in a while, it's time. In keeping the site fresh and exciting look for the new newsletter, coupons and recipes now available. While there, join the mailing list and stay informed.
GATOR NEWS - There's lots of new stuff happening at Alligator Bayou's GATOR GAZETTE. It, like dezinSOURCE, has it's own web address now... www.gatorgazette.net. AND There's a new walkway and observation deck in the Alligator Eco-Habitat as well as an update on the Gator Babies. We have a winner for the Alligator Bayou Coloring Contest and see if you find our Snake Facts challenging. More at www.gatorgazette.net
SWAMP CELTS FESTIVAL - A festive display of Louisiana's Celtic heritage, tradition and athletic games with traditional music, history, crafts and culture! Activites to include Celtic Wrestling, Piping Competition, Caber Toss, Stone Put, Weight Toss And More! Get more information at www.ascensiontourism.com/events.html.
DEBBIE PELTIER IS RUNNING FOR DONALDSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL - Do you live in Donaldsonville? Are you in District 5? Then you will want to read what Debbie Peltier has to say. As a life-long resident of Donaldsonville, Debbie's love for the city is evident through all the things that she does. Click here (side 1) (side 2) to download a pdf file of her election card. You'll definitely want to see the TOP 10 REASONS TO VOTE FOR DEBBIE PELTIER.
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How To Build Link Popularity
Link popularity is very important with regards to search engine placement or ranking. Most Search Engines including Google, place much importance in a Website's link popularity. They use the number of outgoing and incoming links to a Website to determine the importance ( relevance ) of the Website for a particular keyword or keyword phrase. However, incoming links are more important than outgoing links.
The search engine Google, uses its PagerRank (PR) as a measure of the link popularly of a Website. If you have the Google tool bar installed on your browser, you can easily see the PR of any site you visit on the Web. You can download it at: http://toolbar.google.com. The PR of a site ranges from 0 to 10. The higher the number, the better. A grey PR bar means the site has not been indexed, been dropped or has been banned.
Why Link Popularity
Search Engine builders, continuously research ways to make their search engine result pages (SERPs) relevant to users. Different methods have been employed to determine the most relevant pages. Methods such as keywords in title, keywords in metatags, keywords in filename, keywords in headings, keywords in links, keywords in content of pages, etc.
Webmasters have found ways to manipulate these, thereby improving their ranking in the Serps. The latest method is link popularity. Obtaining quality links from good Websites is not easy. A good Website will only link to you if there is some benefit to that site or that site's visitors. However, Webmasters have again found a way of beating this latest hurdle. They do this through reciprocal linking. I see search engines rejecting reciprocal linking in future because this is an artificial way of boosting link popularity. The only sure way for search engines to ascertain link popularity will have to be one way incoming links.
Do's And Don'ts Of Site Linking
1. Don't do reciprocal linking with sites that sp@m. Your outgoing links to unethical sites could get you into trouble with search engines.
2. Don't link to FFA link farms. You might be penalized by the search engines.
3. Keep a close watch on your link partners always. Link to relevant and complementary sites. The higher the PR of the site, the better.
4. Obtain one-way incoming links when possible. It's the best. Use anchor text in links.
5. Most important of all, create good, original and unique content and one way incoming links will come naturally.
Reciprocal Linking
Reciprocal linking is simply exchanging links with other webmasters in order to boost link popularity. It involves sending e-mails to webmasters of sites with relevant and complementary content.
How To Do Reciprocal Linking
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1. Visit the sites you want to exchange links with so that you have an idea of what the site is about.
2. Before visiting the sites, download the Google and Alexa tool bars. The Google tool bar gives you the PR of the sites. The Alexa tool bar gives you an approximation of the site's traffïc and sites that are linking to it. Download the Alexa tool bar from: http://www.alexa.com.
3. Mention one or two things about the site in your e-mail. Explain how beneficial a link exchange will be for both sites and site visitors. You can put a link to the site before sending your e-mail. Tell the Webmaster where to locate the link. Provide the keywords or keyword phrase with which you want to be linked.
4. Make it known on your site that you are willing to exchange links. You can use a "link to us" or "reciprocal linking" link. You can also use a web-form so that potential link partners can fill in their details.
Points To Note
Most sites do not have their contact email on their sites because of spammers or email harvester software. You can contact webmasters through their "contact us" form or use www.whois.com to obtain information on how to contact the webmaster. You can run your link popularity campaign through third parties such as LinkExchange.com but their prices seem a little bit on the high side. You can also use software such as Zeus and Arelis. These software apps automate most of the manual tasks that go into building link popularity. However, care must be taken when using them. One could be labeled a spammer, if they are used incorrectly.
One Way Incoming Linking
One way incoming links, are the best type of links to have for your site. They increase your PR and link popularity. They indicate to the search engines that your site is an authority on the keyword or keyword phrase used to link to you. However, incoming links are the most difficult to acquire. You can build your one way incoming links using the following strategies.
1. Build good quality websites or web pages with original, unique content. With great content, other webmasters will naturally refer visitors through links to your site.
2. Provide a frëe, useful service or tool on your site. For example, a link popularity chëck tool. This will bring repeat visitors and other webmasters will refer visitors to your site.
3. Give away something for frëe at your site. It could be a quality e-book, a useful program, software trial download, or a gift in exchange for links. You may give out the gifts after ascertaining that they have linked to your site. Some webmasters might bring down the links after collecting the gift, but many sites will still retain your links. Although you might not get many high PR sites linking to you, lots of low PR sites will still enhance your link popularity.
4. You can organize an award so that winners will link to you before claiming their prizes. Be sure to make your policy on this clear enough.
5. Pay to be listed in niche directories. Provide good topical articles on your site with links to your home page. Give permission to other webmasters to use at their sites.
To Cap It
As you go through the web, running your e-business everyday, you will discover that the most successful sites are those that give something away for frëe. Sites that are an authority in their segment of the market are those that provide useful content, or frëe tools, service, and/or software. Building such sites takes a lot of patience and perseverance, but, in the end, the reward is immense.
By Salihu Ibrahim
http://www.sitepronews.com
EMAIL THAT WILL DEMAND ATTENTION - Tired of regular boring email? Want something that represents you better? Use Outlook or Outlook Express? Dezins is offering email backgrounds. They give a professional look to your emails. Contact us if interested.
UNDERWRITING WORKS - By now you are all aware of the new television show on Cox Channel 21, Ascension On The Move... Well, if you weren't sure about underwriting let me assure you... IT WORKS and WORKS GREAT. I am proud to say that I made two new clients, coming in the next issue, from my ad on Ascension On The Move. Check them out at www.ascensiononthemove.com.
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