If you run a web site, it’s easy to sit back and shut your eyes as we start the long downward roller coaster ride. But there are some things you can do to recession-proof your internet marketing:

1.Make every customer happy. It’s easier to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. If something goes wrong, or if someone’s blasting you via e-mail, think before you respond. Of course, you should always do this, but maybe think a little harder this time.

2.Focus on content. Go back over your site. Is every single page a perfect sales letter? If not, go over it again. Edit and re-edit. Post your edits each time. This is an iterative proces. But constant improvement will mean better conversion and better search rankings. 
 
3.Think search engine optimization. Pay attention to the basic principles of search engine optimization. Have great content. Make sure your site is easily ‘crawled’ by the search engines. Don’t engage in any tricky stuff that might get you banned.

4.Measure everything. If you’re spending money on advertising, measure every ad for effectiveness. If it’s not converting sales, dump it. No sense spending money that doesn’t generate a return. Just keep in mind the latency of your customers: If it takes 4 weeks for someone to make a buying decision, don’t delete the ad after 2 weeks.

5.Go back to fundamentals. Some marketing methods have worked for decades: Honesty. Clarity. Research. Don’t get cute – stick to the fundamentals.

6.Find safety in numbers. Seek out your favorite competitors and work with them. Sounds nuts, but think about it. Find the customers you don’t want, but they do. Have them do the same. Refer them back-and-forth. Even do some co-marketing. You’ll both make more money that way.

7.Go wild. This is not a time to get conservative. Your competitors probably will. This is a good time to stand out, not by being silly or overspending, but by making sure you have a particularly effective message, and that you carry that message everywhere. Remember, internet marketing is always cheaper than other media. So expand, don’t shrink, what you’re doing online. OK, I’m biased on this one. But you don’t have to hire me. Just go do it.

8.Expand lines of communication. If you aren’t blogging yet, start. It’s access to ’soft dollar’ marketing that only costs you time. And it gets you access to an entire world of social media. Then get yourself an account on one or more social networks (Facebook, 9Rules, MySpace, etc.). Don’t spam. Just make friends. If something exciting happens in your business, communicate it there. If you have 100 friends, and they each have 100 friends, that’s 10,000 potential listeners.

9.Go deep. Deliver more information than ever on your web site. Be sure that visitors can learn every detail of your product or service online. That means fewer phone calls, and less of your time. Time costs money, so this saves you money in a time when money’s a bigger concern.

10.Be careful about price cuts. All of your competitors are going to cut prices. You may have to – I’m not an idiot – but try talking about value first. Does your product save money in the long run? Talk about that before you slash prices. Or, offer discounts for bigger purchases. Give customers ways to save money that help you earn more, not less.

11.Panic calmly. Trust me, the word ‘recession’ scares the bejesus out of me, too. I’m a small business owner with a family, and I’m the sole wage-earner. But panicking – laying off staff, reducing marketing, shutting down distribution channels – will do irrevocable damage that costs far more to repair than it saves in the short term. So do what I do: Panic, but panic calmly.

Online Marketing is becoming an essential marketing medium for a successful business.  If a business can successfully marketing their product or service online they open many new doors to potential customers and sales leads.  A well structured and organised SEO consultant will suggest two avenues for online marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Paid Online Marketing (like Pay Per Click).  Ideally you would be able to afford both paid and unpaid marketing campaigns but if you are like most businesses you are on a budget and need the proof that online marketing actually works.

The most common phrase I hear is “But everyone knows who we are and what we do” in relation to their business.  This is just not true otherwise every potential customer would already be beating down your door wouldn’t they?  There is always room for growth and if you sell a product or service then there is always online marketing potential.

So, let’s explore why SEO is far superior to paid online marketing.

1. SEO is a long term strategy for your online marketing.  Should you implement pay per click or other paid online marketing then as soon as you stop paying your bills to the advertiser the traffic to your website will stop.  Although you pay for setting up an SEO campaign with a reputable agency often their other client’s results are so impressive it is almost compelling to go with SEO instead.  With SEO, should you stop paying for the refinements a reputable firm might charge at an ongoing rate, you might only see a slight leveling off of website traffic.

2. With pay per click marketing you pay for every visitor delivered to your website whether they like your service or not.  With Search Engine Optimization your website will hopefully appear high in the free search results and this will mean you do not pay for a click through to your website – effectively once your SEO is setup every click or visitor to your website is free.

3. False or fake click throughs.  In a study released in August 2007 it was determined that 18% of click throughs on pay per click links on Google were false.  In other words this could be competitors clicking through to your website just trying to cost you money in advertising.

4. The psychology of clicking on sponsored links.  If you appear in both the paid and unpaid search results then you would see about 80% of your website traffic come from the unpaid free SEO website links.  There is a psychology associated with consumers clicking on paid advertising links especially if they are labeled as such, like in Google “Sponsored Links”.  Searchers see straight through this and know it is a paid advertising link.  Consumer preference is placed on the freely generated results and links at a rate of 4 to 1.

5. Over the period of one year the cost of setting up the initial SEO campaign will have more than bettered the underlying website traffic that an equivalent costing pay per click campaign will have achieved.  From my client examples there is about a 4 times website traffic factor weighted for SEO against pay per click.  I was amazed myself!!

In a recent newspaper article in Melbourne, Australia, it was shown that holding a position in the top 3 spots in the search engine results pages for a competitive term is worth an estimated $1.5 million.  It was also shown that holding the top spot generates 3.5 times the traffic that the number two spot generates.

When it boils down to it a well executed Search Engine Optimization campaign will get your website massive amounts of website traffic.  Of course selling the product or service is then the responsibility of the actual website so make sure you couple your SEO with good design, clear and prevalent calls to action and correct marketing principles like colour schemes and layouts.  In my opinion it is vital to get this SEO campaign mix correct so talk to a reputable SEO firm and gain some information on how they can help you.

The Buyback promotion

We are offering a huge promotion that will last till the end of the year.  That’s right for the rest of 2009 we essentially buying your business. 

There are many people that I talk to that tell me that they paid a lot of money for a website and never got the results that they were promised by the web design company.  Whether it is because of poor design, not finishing the project like they had stated, or it was simply not what they said it was going to be.  People are frustrated because they spend a lot of money on web design but never get what they paid for.  So now they are hesitant to spend more money on web design or any other design service for that matter.  That’s where the buyback promotion comes in.

How does the promotion work?

Let me give you an example so that you will better understand how the promotion works.  Let’s say that you paid $2500 for a custom made website and for some reason were very dissatisfied with the results OR  your project was never  completed. Bring your receipt for the web design service that you paid for by the other company and we’ll give you the amount that you paid for as a credit with OUR Company for our services. You only pay the difference between our cost and your credit.  You might be saying what’s the catch?  No Catch!

You could simply get a custom made high quality website for hundreds of dollars and finally get what you paid for.  Were simply giving you another shot to get that premium website that you’ve been waiting for.
This is an unheard of promotion and people might call us crazy but that’s what sets us apart from these other companies.  We not only want you business now, but we want your business long term and another advantage is that we are a FULL SERVICE design company. We want you to put us in charge of all your design needs. 

How do I apply?

Simply email us at buyback@wired2design.com or call us at 214-938-4294 and simply tell us your story and provide us with your receipt and we’ll get started today.  Consider this your web design bailout plan.

Visit http://www.wired2design.com/buyback-promotion.php to learn more!

Take advantage of this unheard of promotion and redeem your website today!

The logo is the face of any brand — the very first impression — so its design is extremely important.

When executed correctly, a logo is a powerful asset to your client’s brand.

However, creating an effective visual representation of a brand requires much more than just graphic design.

Like any line of work that involves a set of specific skills, logo design requires plenty of practice and experience for it to be successful; knowledge is definitely power for any graphic designer.

For this reason, we have outlined 12 essential rules to follow in order to design an effective logo.

1. Preliminary Work Is a Must
Preliminary sketches are an important first step in designing an effective logo.

These can be as simple as paper and pen drawings or drafts made using a vector program, such as Illustrator.
The bottom line is that you compromise the final result if you rush, or skip, this step.

Start with 20 to 30 sketches or ideas and then branch out to create variations of the original ideas.
If nothing seems to work, start over and begin sketching new ideas.

An effective graphic designer will spend more time on this preliminary work than any other step in the design process.

2. Create Balance
Balance is important in logo design because our minds naturally perceive a balanced design as being pleasing and appealing.

Keep your logo balanced by keeping the “weight” of the graphics, colors, and size equal on each side.

Though the rule of balance can occasionally be broken, remember that your logo will be viewed by the masses, not just those with an eye for great art, so a balanced design is the safest approach.

3. Size Matters
When it comes to logo design, size does matter. A logo has to look good and be legible at all sizes.

A logo is not effective if it loses too much definition when scaled down for letterheads, envelopes, and small promotional items. The logo also has to look good when used for larger formats, such as posters, billboards, and electronic formats such as TV and the Web.

The most reliable way to determine if a logo works at all sizes is to actually test it yourself.

Note that the smallest scale is usually the hardest to get right, so start by printing the logo on a letterhead or envelope and see if it is still legible.

You can also test for large-scale rendering by printing a poster-sized version at a print shop.

4. Clever Use of Color
Color theory is complex, but designers who understand the basics are able to use color to their advantage.

The basic rules to keep in mind are:

colors near to each other on the color wheel (e.g. for a “warm” palette, use red, orange, and yellow hues).

Don’t use colors that are so bright that they are hard on the eyes.

The logo must also look good in black and white, grayscale, and two colors.

Breaking the rules sometimes is okay; just make sure you have a good reason to!

Knowing how colors evoke feelings and moods is also important. For example, red can evoke feelings of aggression, love, passion, and strength.
Keep this in mind as you try out different color combinations, and try to match the color to the overall tone and feel of the brand.

Playing around with individual colors on their own is another good idea. Some brands are recognizable solely by their distinct color.

For example, when you think of John Deere, you think of the “John Deere green” color, and this sets this brand apart from its competitors and, more importantly, makes the brand all the more recognizable.

5. Design Style Should Suit the Company
You can use various design styles when creating a logo, and to pick the right one, you should have some background information about the client and the brand.
A recent trend in logo design is the Web 2.0 style of 3D-looking logos, with “bubbly” graphics, gradients, and drop shadows.

This style may work well for a Web 2.0 website or tech company, but may not be effective for other kinds of brands.

Research your client and its audience before you begin your preliminary work.

This will help you determine the best design style from the start and save you from having to return repeatedly to the drawing board.

6. Typography Matters… a Lot!
Choosing the right font type and size is much more difficult than many beginner designers realize.

If your logo design includes text, either as part of the logo or in the tagline, you will need to spend time sorting through various font types — often, dozens of them — and testing them in your design before making a final decision.

Try both serif fonts and sans-serif fonts as well as script, italics, bold, and custom fonts.

Consider three main points when choosing a font to accompany your logo design:

Avoid the most commonly used fonts, such as Comic Sans, or else your design may come off as amateurish.

Make sure the font is legible when scaled down, especially with script fonts.

One font is ideal, and avoid more than two.

Strongly consider a custom font for your design. The more original the font, the more it will distinguish the brand. Examples of successful logos that have a custom font are Yahoo!, Twitter, and Coca Cola.

7. The Goal IS Recognition
The whole point of creating a logo is to build brand recognition. So, how do you go about doing this?
Well, it varies from case to case, but the goal with the logo is for the average person to instantly call the brand to mind.

A few examples of this are the logos for Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s, and Nike.

Just a glimpse of any of these logos is all you need to recognize the brands.

The key to making a popular and recognizable logo is to combine all of the elements discussed in this article: size, style, color, typography, and originality.

Overlooking any of these during the design process will impair the quality of your final design. Examine your own logo design and see whether it meets all of these criteria.

A quick test to determine if your logo is recognizable enough is to invert it using any graphic design software and see if you can still recognize the brand.

Additionally, you should mirror the logo and see if it’s easily recognizable in this state.

Keep in mind that logos aren’t always seen head-on in real world situations, for example, on the side of a bus or a billboard that you drive by.

Therefore, you should make sure to view your logo design from all angles and ensure that it’s recognizable from any direction before submitting it to your client.

8. Dare to be Different
To stand out from the competition, you must distinguish yourself as a designer with a distinct style. Rather than copy another design or style, be innovative and stand out from the crowd.

So, how can you be different? Try breaking the rules of design and taking risks.

Try a variety of styles to find the one that works best for your client. Try different color combinations until you find one that makes your design truly original.

Have fun with the design program you use, and keep tweaking the design until you feel you’ve got it right.

9. K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple, Stupid)
The simpler the logo, the more recognizable it will be.
For example, the Nike swoosh is an extremely simple logo and is also one of the most recognizable in the world.

Follow the K.I.S.S. rule right from the start of the design process, when you are brainstorming ideas and doodling sketches.

Often, you’ll find that you start with a relatively complicated design and end up with a simpler version of it in the end.

Work the design down to its essentials and leave out all unnecessary elements.

10. Go Easy on Effects
Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, Photoshop, and other graphic design programs are extremely powerful tools and have many filters and effects that you can apply to your logo, but don’t get carried away!

There’s a time and place for these powerful tools, but it is not necessarily to design a logo.

Of course, playing around and seeing whether they enhance a logo is fine, but just remember that simplicity is key.

11. Develop a Design “Assembly Line”
To produce consistently high-quality logos, you need to develop your own design process, or “assembly line.”

This should include the following steps:

Research

Brainstorm and generate ideas

Preliminary sketches

Develop vector designs

Send to client

Add or remove anything the client wants

Finalize the design and resubmit to client

Although you may want to tweak the order slightly, you should follow these basic steps with each logo design.
This will help you streamline your work, stay organized, maintain focus, and deliver better quality and more consistent results with each job.

12. Use Other Designs for Inspiration Only!
The last rule for designing an effective logo is quite simple: don’t copy other designers’ work! While there’s nothing wrong with being inspired by other designers, copying another person’s ideas or work is morally and legally wrong.

Gallery websites exist that let you use vector art images free of charge, with proper attribution under the Creative Commons License, but I strongly recommend not going this route.

These websites can be helpful for getting ideas during the brainstorming stage, but you’re better off starting your design from scratch and making it 100% original.

When comparing social media traffic to other forms of traffic, such as search engine, the numbers typically are going to look rather bleak. While you’ll hopefully see a spike in number of visitors and pageviews, that will often be accompanied by higher bounce rates, lower pageviews per visitor, and a lower average time on the site. With stats like this many bloggers wonder if social media traffic is even worth the time and effort.

Despite the tendency of many social media visitors to quickly exit your site and move on to the next one, there are still some very convincing reasons why you should care about social media and why it is worth your time.

1. It’s Free
Unless you’re paying for a consultant or a link bait specialist (both can be good options), marketing your website with social media is free. It will cost you some time, but that pales in comparison to the value of the traffic that you can get in return. There are countless ways to market a website or blog. Just about all of them involve spending money (which isn’t a bad thing), and of the ones that don’t involve money, the vast majority of them are a complete waste of time. I’ve never tried any other type of free marketing that brought even 1% of the results I’ve gotten with social media at my primary blog. Most bloggers are on a tight, or non-existent, budget when it comes to marketing. If this is the case, social media is for you.

2. Quick Results
Building a successful website takes a considerable amount of time and effort. Search engine rankings, for instance, can take years to build in a competitive niche. On the other hand, with social media you can develop content and be seen by thousands of visitors within the same day. For this reason, social media is a great option for getting a new website or blog noticed right away .

3. It’s Flexible
There are so many different social media websites that just about every imaginable niche is covered in one way or another. There are social news sites, bookmarking sites, and general networking sites. Whatever your needs and your audience, there should be an option to use social media for your benefit.

Also, you’re not stuck to using the same social media sites over and over. If you’re not getting results in one place there’s usually other options that you can try out.

4. It Gets Easier with Time
If you’re new to blogging and social media and you feel like everyone else is getting traffic but you, understand that it takes some time and effort, but it will get easier. Once you have established a bit of a reader base and you’ve hopefully attracted some social media users to your blog, it will be much easier for you to get votes and ultimately get more exposure. The more you use social media the more you will understand about how it works and how users will respond.

5. It Will Lead to Other Valuable Sources of Traffic
Although visitors from social media sites may be less responsive than other types of visitors, success with social media will likely increase the number of inbound links you receive. Links will boost your search engine rankings and they’ll also drive click-through traffic your way. Both are generally high quality traffic sources.

6. Building Links with Social Media is Safer than Buying Links
If you plan to cut out the need for social media by purchasing links from other sites, you’re running the risk of being penalized or banned by Google. For some, this is a risk worth taking, but in most cases I would strongly discourage taking this chance. Personally, I focus on building links for my primary blog through the combination of content and social media.

7. Social Media Users are Predictable
The whole concept or link bait or Digg bait wouldn’t even be possible if social media users were unpredictable. But the truth is you can usually have a good idea of what is likely to draw a response and what is not. This will come with time, and of course there is no 100% guarantee. However, once you know a social media audience pretty well, you can cater content to their preferences with a pretty high success rate. What you learn about social media can easily be duplicated to your other blogs or to serving clients.

8. It Doesn’t Require as Much Time as You Might Think
Personally, I use social media every day, but on a very limited basis. If you think that you have to spend all day on Digg or Stumbling pages to get some results of your own, you may be surprised. With the right approach you can get fantastic results with just a few hours per week on social media sites. To be a top Digg user you’ll need more time than that, but being a top Digg user isn’t necessary to draw social media traffic.

9. Branding Through Social Media is Possible
One of the great benefits to the exposure that you can get through social media is the result it has on the branding of your blog. Branding is key to building a success blog in the long-term, and social media is an excellent, free option for helping visitors to see your blog in a particular light. (For more, see my post at ProBlogger A Blogger’s Guide to Branding with Social Media.)

10. Links Can Help Your Search Engine Rankings Rise Quickly
Earlier I mentioned to social media can provide instant results. Well, in addition to sending loads of traffic directly, the links that result from social media success can get your new posts ranking very well with search engines almost immediately. It’s not uncommon for me to see a very respectable number of visitors from Google searches to a brand new post that just drew a lot of links through social media. While it will take a while to build search engine rankings as a whole, it is possible to create specific posts to rank well right away.

11. It Allows You to Leverage Your Existing Traffic
Do you already have a solid blog with a steady flow of traffic? If so, chances are you could leverage that traffic to draw even more visitors with social media. You may want to use voting buttons on your posts or ask some of your readers and friends to give you a vote occasionally.

12. Some Visitors Will Be Targeted
The biggest knock on social media traffic is that it’s not targeted, and that is typically true. However, visitors from niche social media sites can be very highly targeted, and on top of that, a portion of visitors from general news sites will be targeted as well. For example, if you get 25,000 visitors from a post on the Digg front page, maybe only 5,000 of them will have much of an interest in your site. Still, that’s a quick 5,000 visitors that you wouldn’t have had without social media. Just because a smaller percentage of the visitors will stick doesn’t mean that they are irrelevant.

13. The Future of the Internet is Social
Social media and social networking aren’t going away any time soon. The major players and the types of social sites may change of the course of time, but this is a trend that online marketers need to adjust to. Without finding ways to build a website or blog through social media you could be left behind by your competitors.