When I speak to senior students at art schools, there is one major thing I try to impress upon them: to freelance is to run a small business and a freelance design business has all the needs and headaches of running a bakery, pizza parlor or crack house – although a crack house basically only needs a steady supply of product and doesn’t need advertising, bookkeeping, furniture and their collection methods are a bit different than any other business. Usually, this is when several students run to the president of the school, in tears, to demand their tuition back because no one had told them it would be so hard to be a designer. Welcome to business!
Part of that business is the same thing a competent designer will have to know to sell their services when a client with a new business wants a logo to start their road to success. There are many discussions on a logo vs. a brand. I can assuredly write that the two are intertwined but still two different things. When you start your freelance business, you will need both.
In web design, the learning never stops. Some of us designers see this as an opportunity, others as a hindrance. We have to keep up with the pace of ever-changing technology, techniques and trends in order to be competitive. In this fast-paced environment, we are bound to make mistakes—and mistakes can harm our reputation.
Heavy competition and ceaseless client demands make you susceptible to mistakes that you probably wouldn’t make otherwise. Here’s one possible remedy: put a list of common mistakes on your desk, and watch yourself carefully. Plenty are listed on the Internet, but they’re not organized well, which is the reason I wrote this post.
Facebook fan pages are a great way to promote a business, and an important part of any social media marketing plan. Creating a basic page isn't that complicated, but creating a page that fans will like, share, and engage with is a bit trickier.
Below, we'll cover how to set up your fan page, finding great apps to use, creating custom content, and more, followed by a roundup of some great fan pages created by some leading companies.
By the way, it’s been 3 months since InstantShift’s Facebook fan page launched. Just like on twitter, We have worked hard to providing advance notice of events and giveaways, special freebies, and useful tips not found anywhere else to make the fan page more appealing and engaging.
When launching a new web app, or site, it can help to start marketing early. A "coming soon" page has several different purposes. Firstly, it allows you to show a teaser of your new app to people and to start the ball rolling with building the excitement. Secondly, it allows people to sign-up to email updates about your new app, and this lets you know how popular it might be.
It's also quite motivating - if a lot of people have signed up, then you may find you're more likely to continue working on the app. It can be a warning sign too - if there's very little interest, then it can give you some ideas about whether to continue building the app as you are, or whether you should change the app to be better suited to what people **are** looking for.
In the world of Internet marketing, many students are stepping into a side of social media, Google and other search engines, and web development that they never saw before. Who would have thought that the same tools that you use to communicate and keep in touch with friends are some of the most important factors of Internet marketing?
The world of SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) can be very confusing at first and explaining the concepts of SEO and SEM is like rocket science for first time listeners.
How to Deal With Wild or Obnoxious Blog Commenters
IN COLLEGE, the bulletin board in the student center can be a handy tool for most students looking for what’s happening on campus. If these bulletin boards aren’t well kept, they become a clash of posters all screaming for your attention but none of them getting it. Blogs and news sites that have sprouted up all over the internet are much akin to these bulletin boards. Although blogs can be a great way for people to pool information about one topic in particular for public use, wild or obnoxious commenters looking for attention can make it difficult to sift through content and find valuable information.
For website owners, there are a few steps you can take to make sure the comments on your site are valuable.
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