For the last week or so I have been thinking a lot about the idea of graphic design, and the image your company gives to the world.  What is clear is that SO MUCH of what is out there simply does not work and is very bad, there is plenty of room for improvement.

One thing is that the world has changed and people are hit with much more, but better targeted advertising.  But because there is so much more, so many people ignore it, so you really need to get right to the point.  I can not figure out what they are selling on at least half of the online ads that I see.  If you are a small company you don’t have the time to do this huge ad campaign where you spend a ton of time talking about something that is unrelated to your product.   Just simply tell people what you do, and what make you DIFFERENT from your competition.

The different thing is key, open up any phone book and almost all of the ads say the same things.  Like under plumbing they all have basically the same list of what they fix.  As a small business with a limited budget you need to look at what your competition is doing and basically say we do everything they do plus this and this that they don’t.  Focus on the differences.  Never say things that can’t be proved, or are total cliché like “Fastest Service” “Friendliest techs” or “Cheapest Prices”, everyone has heard this 1000’s of times and they just don’t get it.  You need to PROVE it.  Say “We are at your house in 20 minutes after you call” or “Our hourly rate is $45 while the average of our competition is $85”.  This will bring people to you.  If you don’t have any differences then maybe you need to change your business so you do.

If you are starting a company it is important to pick a name that is EASY for people to understand what you are doing.  Our new company we are in the process of making is called World Sales Team, because we are a team of sales people that will be located all over the world.  You chance at success is MUCH higher with a good name.  Also think about the future, you don’t want to be called a regional name if you plan to grow larger.  In most cases you also don’t want to have your personal name in the company name, it causes problems if you want to start over, or sell the company.  Also someone may have the same name and work for your competitor and that can cause issues.  Before you  name your new company make sure you can get the domain name, because people often look for you online.

Just as important as a name you want a good slogan, probably show your major benefit or your major difference.  If you make a product that has packaging you also need to be very clear and direct.  When you item is on the shelf you will only have a second or two to get someone attention and they will be far away, so make your text large, bold and to the point.

So I wrote all of this because I have been thinking about how to make my web sites more effective.  What I have seen that seems to work VERY well for the companies that use it is to create a video, talking about the company or the product.  I have seen VERY few companies actually do this, but every one that has is doing much better than their still counterparts.  To this effect I am learning video editing.  So far I am very bad at it, but I have just created some new videos and posted then on my youtube.

The next thing is that most web sites are either too much stuff or too little stuff.  I think the best website is one that has only a small amount of stuff, but that all the details are there somewhere, in an organized easy to find way.  That is what I have tried to do with my Emerald Computers website.  I don’t think I am there yet but it is getting better.  One of my biggest peeves is when I find something that I am interested in and the companies web site has almost no information.  I then search Google or somewhere and half the time I find negative stuff about that company, and they just lost my sale.  Please, if you want to make money, keep people there, tell them the whole story, let them go as deep as they want to.  Also put photos on the site, of people using your product.  I too need to follow this one much more.   If you have enough active customers then consider creating a forum for your customers to interact.

So here are my resolutions, make things much more to the point.  Have a clean website, but have more info there somewhere, remember content is king.  Put video online.  Put more graphics online.

I hope this helps you, please leave a comment.