Technology has changed the world, though not always for the better. Logo design, a once time honored craft that used to belong exclusively to designers who had first earned the necessary skills and then honed them over time, is now ostensibly within the domain of anyone with photoshop.

But is this a good thing?

The value of the logo, that single image that broadcasts corporate impression has been reduced to the lowest common denominator. Today, people no longer seem to understand that the consideration they place into their logo design is potentially more important than any other design factor, and is certainly worth more than the trifling cost of a cheeseburger.

A proper logo design imbues a business with immediate brand recognition. This instant image can help inspire trust, admiration, loyalty, or even an implied superiority within the minds of targeted consumers. The logo is a single limb of an overall corporate body. Usage of proper colors, fonts, and vision are what brand a business with distinction, both separating and elevating them from their competitors.

A logo has a one time charge for its design, but it’s impact stays with in the public mind forever. A cheeseburger is gone forever in five minutes. If a logo is responsible for so much, then why is it sometimes afforded so little respect? Before we continue, let’s discuss the basics of what makes a good logo.

A logo must be memorable, easy to describe, effective with or without color, and completely scalable (still effective even when only one inch in size). If you think of classic logos that are recognized the world over, you will find they adhere to these principles almost without exception. Take for example the classic Nike Swoosh. This logo is now nearly forty years old and yet is recognized around the world and has lost none of its impact.

One thing people often fail to consider is that a professionally designed logo involves a process that starts well before your software is ever double clicked. Professional designers have a detailed process that includes extensive research, various sketches, conceptualizing, and honest reflection.

Any one of these stages takes a lot longer than it takes to cook a value meal, fries included. A cheeseburger is fried and swallowed, often in less than ten minutes. Five dollars or so is perfectly fair for something trivial, but let’s take a look at the involved process that takes a logo from vision to finished product.

Design Brief: The designer must draft a series of questions to gain a full understanding of the client’s needs. What is their business about and what message are they trying to convey in that single instant image?

Research: After the design brief is complete, the designer must conduct research on the client’s industry, including history, past successes and failures across a wide array of allies and competitors.

Reference: Once the research into the industry is finished, a second phase of fact finding must be implemented. The designer must investigate other logo designs within the industry to see which have been successful and which have not. This will include the latest and greatest in successful styles.

Sketching and Conceptualizing: After a plan is mapped and research conducted, the designers are then able to use the full breadth of their creativity. It is at this stage where they can begin to map the basic rough designs that they will then narrow down to the final choices.

Reflection: You never see a fry cook take a break from making the cheeseburger, but designers must step away from their creations all the time. Only by turning their back on the design can they have the perspective needed to foster their ideas to their fullest potential.

Presentation: Once the options are narrowed to a select few, the designer can take these highlights and reveal the strongest to the client.

Celebration: Time to party. The client is happy and another classic image is added to the corporate cannon.

Sounds a lot more complicated than fry, pay, eat, right?

We’ve discussed what a logo is, what it’s supposed to do, and the time involved to design something that isn’t disposable.

Here are 7 reasons why a logo should cost more than a cheeseburger: -

1. A logo is the launch pad for a corporate image. The colors, fonts, style, and mood of a corporate logo most often evolve into the template for all corporate branding. Brochures, web presence, advertising – all will eventually orbit around the central body of the logo. Fries and a drink may share the lunchbox, but they’re all in the belly or forgotten by the ending of the meal.
2. A corporate logo should look as professional as the company. You wouldn’t roll down the car window to order lunch for a client you were trying to impress, why would anyone ever consider spending a cheeseburger’s worth of pennies on a cheeseburger’s worth of logo. A logo’s purpose is to provide a company with a professionally branded image, designed to fit its needs.
3. The best logos are entirely original. Cheeseburgers may taste relatively the same no matter where you get them, but a logo should be 100% unique to the company it represents. A generic logo does absolutely nothing to reflect the goods, services, or value a company provides. Further, a cheap logo makes a corporate brand look weak, especially if they are employing the same clipart found in many other second rate companies.
4. Logos should reflect the incredible amount of thought, consideration, and hours that are put into their individual design. Because logos are most often a small, single image it is easy to discount their worth. Many people fail to realize the inordinate amount of care that goes into their craftsmanship. Much like a cheeseburger, a logo’s value should be directly linked to the time it takes to prepare.
5. A logo is the first (and often most lasting) impression of corporate image. Before a potential client or customer, picks up the phone, makes their purchase, or considers their exchange, they see the logo – the visual representation of the company. The logo tells the consumer whether the company is large, small, serious, fun, professional, unprofessional, etc. A cheeseburger’s job is to curb temporary hunger and most people start to forget them as soon as they are heading toward their car. Isn’t a logo worth a lot more than that?
6. A logo lasts a long, long time. There is no wide range of time needed to make a cheeseburger. Even the best cheeseburgers are prepared and consumed in under an hour, but a professional logo is prepared over days if not weeks, and consumed over a lifetime, and thus, should be priced accordingly.
7. A serious business needs a serious logo. There is a lot to consider and a long lasting image to evaluate. A cheap cheeseburger can give you indigestion, don’t let a low-priced logo do the same to your business.

Color is one of the key elements of graphic design

Color is an added dimension that can evoke moods and make powerful statements when used wisely. The symbolism of color and theories of its effect is important in graphic design.

Normally, colors are categorized in two elements: hot and cool. Cool colors tend to have a calming effect. At one end of the spectrum they are cold, impersonal, antiseptic colors. At the other end the cool colors are comforting and nurturing. Green, blue and the neutrals white, gray and sliver are some of the examples of cool colors.

In nature blue is water and green is plant life – a natural, life-sustaining duo. Combine blues and greens for natural, watery color palettes. Heat up a too cool color palette with a dash of warm colors such as red or orange. If you want warmth with just a blue palette, choose deeper blues with a touch of red but not quite purple or almost black deep navy blues.

Cool colors appear smaller than warm colors and they visually recede on the page so red can visually overpower and stand out over blue even if used in equal amounts.

A great design is the clever combination of cool and hot colors. However, it is not the only thing to consider. Combining shades of red and orange with Blue and white can create a most balanced effect. Consider using red and yellow for highlighting key points while use cool colors to supplement them by using blue as the background and white as the background for text.

Consider the following colors and their effects to understand the nature of widely used colors:

1. Blue – Perhaps, the most calming color in a palette of cool colors, blue is strong, steadfast, light and friendly. Human eye loves blue and shades of blue. The soothing effect evokes respect and trust in the mind of the viewer. Pantone has selected the color Blue Iris (PANTONE 18-3943) as the 2008 Color of the year. It tells us: “Combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple, Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.”
2. Green – Green is life! This color is abundant in nature, therefore, green signifies growth, renewal, health and environment. On the negative side, green is jealously or envy (green-eyed monster) and also denotes inexperience.
3. Grey – Grey is a neutral and balanced color. It is conservative, cool and seldom evokes strong emotion although it can be seen as a cloudy or moody color. The lighter side of black, grey is a cool color with a resonance – it signifies calm and quiet environment
4. Silver - Silver, especially shiny, metallic silver, is cool like gray but livelier, more playful. Silver can be sleek and modern or impart a feeling of ornate riches. Silver is a precious metal and other metals are often described as silver in color. Silver doesn’t have the warmth of gold. It’s a cool metal.
5. White – White is ultimate light. It denotes purity, cleanliness, and innocence. Like black, white goes with almost any color since it highlights the color and lessens its intensity if any. To the human eye, white is a brilliant color that can cause headaches for some. Too much bright white can be blinding.

The story is a powerful tool when it is repeated frequently. It can pass through a community and as people connect with it they will also share and remember this story.

Building brands and how the use of stories can benefit the process.

You will find that all the great stories demonstrate a method for resolving challenges that people face. They reveal how people’s lives change and how they manage to beat adversity. They contain themes that we can all identify with such as; desire, weakness, fear, strength, and hope.

A great story can leave us with many feelings and emotions. It can bring up feelings of compassion, empathy, optimism, admiration, and happiness. These stories can really impact us greatly and encourage us to pass on the story to other people.  The stories stay in our minds and when we pass them on we share the feelings as well as the story.

When it comes to deciding on your brands story it is vital that you really understand your brand. This means knowing the values and benefits that it possesses that you would like other people to know about. You must decide on the type of story that you would like to tell.

If you have a really clear idea about what your brand involves then you will be in a position to create a story that will really capture people’s interest. Your customer will be able to turn themselves into the main character in your brand’s story.

The story with the NIKE brand – If you examine the NIKE story you will observe that it is all about beating the odds and to maximize bravery, stamina, strength, and performance. This is a story about personal reward. When the brand speaks to the audience it tells them to challenge themselves and be the best at what they do. They send the message that you are competing against yourself, but if you have guts and determination that you will fight until you reach your goal.

The value of a brand is not just to do with the product or service on offer. Another important element is the meaning and connection the brand has with the customer. Customers can be willing to adopt the values and meanings of a brand and use it as a means to express themselves if they believe that the brand says a lot about who they are. For this reason the meaning that a brand creates can be just as valuable as the product or service itself.

When choosing a brand, the customer will take be greatly influenced by its look, values, and message.

The customer is concerned here about what the purchase says about them as a person. How will other people perceive them because of it?  This is why customers choose brands that are associated with things they want to be aligned with. Customers will use these brands as a means of expressing their identity. In fact a lot of our identity comes from the type of purchases we make.

Customers judge companies on what the brand stands for and the beliefs associated with this. It is not just the benefits that can be obtained from the product or services but also how the brand can benefit their life. They want to know how purchasing the brand will benefit their identity.

When choosing a product or service the customer is not only looking for the cheapest deal with the most extra functions. They are also greatly influenced by what they believe the brand stands for. This is why any company needs to be upfront and honest. The internet means that information can be passed freely and quickly and any bad behavior by a company can become common knowledge rapidly. If a company goes against the beliefs and values that their brand claims then the customer can quickly find out about this.  An example of this was NIKE and how their use of cheap overseas labor damaged the brand.

This will probably be a very subjective topic and everyone will and should have a different opinion, but I really love to hear what you believe is the best website ever (for you).

For example if you are a blogger, the best website ever to you, could be ProBlogger by Darren Rouse or Entrepreneurs Journey by Yaro Starak, as you are wanting to learn about how to make money online, or if you want to be a top logo designer then a site like David Airey could be your best website ever, either way its your opinion, your views that really count here.

What I want to know is – What is the best website ever & why?

I ask this question following on from a previous post – The Single Biggest Website Mistake Ever – Now the main thing I want to get across here is that what’s good for one person is not necessarily good for the next person. But if we can get a list of the best websites around it will be a great future reference.

I urge you to share this with your friends and together we can develop a list of the best and most useful websites on the interent.

It is often the case that design is the last thing companies are thinking about during and economic downturn; even though this is something that could really benefit a company in the long-run.  Those companies who fail to see themselves as a brand miss a really chance to bring a lot of benefit to their company.

If a company wants to connect with an audience then it must excite and inspire them. These days the customers are part of a global market and then get their products from practically anywhere in the world. In order to add value to your product or service you must have a brand that educates, builds, drives, informs, grows, and creates demand.

If a company has a good design it can give them a strategic edge over rivals. A design can influence the value you give your customer and determine the position of your brand. It can help you to rise above the competition by adding value and weight to your brand. Design must be an important part of your business strategy no matter what the size of your company.

How does design benefit a company?

Studies have demonstrated that all the most successful companies understand the importance of good design and give it an important role in the continued growth and development of their company. These companies can see how design can benefit every aspect of their company from product design to branding. Other studies have found that as much as two-thirds of companies witnessed a direct link between their increased sales and focus on design.

During difficult economic times design can work well to create opportunities for businesses by increasing their market share, and opening up new markets. They are able to set themselves apart from other companies and add value to their price. They can even reintroduce outdated products by repackaging them and giving them a new branding.

Developing credibility and gaining loyalty is really imported for the success of a company. It takes a long time to build these qualities but it is these that help a company make it through rough economic times.  When customers are worried about money they are less willing to take a chance and will tend to choose a reputable company that they can trust.  Large companies are able to do this by investing large amounts of money into advertising. The way the small company does this is by telling the customer the story behind their brand, and by building a strong relationship with the customer through communication.

Is your brand strong?

The unfavorable economic climate that we currently live in means that it is vital that your brand remains strong.  When a brand is weak companies will need to offer price reductions and offer promotions in order to create interest; price is the only value where they can compete.  On the other hand, a strong brand is able to weather the storm. The competition may be afraid to invest money in branding so this is a great opportunity to reinforce your brand, and increase its strength and recognition.  You should really seize this opportunity to get ahead of the competition.

The different elements that will distinguish you as a strong brand

Personality of your brand

If your brand is strong it will have its own clearly defined unique personality. You need to decide how you want your customer to think and feel about the brand and you then need capture this. This personality will determine how your company expresses itself. Your personality will be the thing that causes people to remember your brand and it will be your means of connecting with the customer.

Creating desire for your product

Connecting with your audience is what a strong brand is all about. In you want to increase the demand for your product then you need to connect with the customer’s hopes and aspirations. The way that companies do this is through their branding.

Differentiating yourself from the competition

If your brand is strong it will stand out from the competition. You will add value to your brand if you can demonstrate what makes your product special or unique.

Authentic brands

A strong brand represents itself honestly. Your brand should never promise things that it can’t deliver and that it sounds believable. If you are honest you will gain trust from the customer.

Consistency within your brand

For your brand to be strong it needs to consistently be represented in the same manner. This means not swapping and changing styles, so that people fail to recognize your company’s personality; things like tone, typefaces, and colors. You can still be creative, but you need to do this within the company’s framework.

Repetition of the brand

You brand should be seen constantly by any customer or potential customer.  You must continually reinforce your brand through whatever means possible using things like newsletters, brochures and questionnaires.  You need to ensure that any communication from your company to the world is branded.

What should you do next?

In order to build the strength of your brand you should use the information provided above and examine which areas you can improve upon. If your brand is strong then it will mean that you will not only compete well now, but also in the years to come. Your brand needs to transform and grow along with your company as it transforms and grows. This is something that needs to be evaluated regularly.

It is very important to have a website so as to communicate effectively with the world. A good website ordinarily does the job, so to speak. While a great website really surpasses all the expectations and has a far better return. Well, the important question now is: what does a great website consist of?

Now, I ask you. What does a great website consist of?

Many people try to relate this important question to such justifying factors. Well, for me, a great website should meet the following rules:

CONTENT

The website content should be easy to find. This is simple. If a certain user cannot find information that they are looking for, then they have no reason at all to be on your site or even stay longer on your site. Just make sure that your content is variably easy to locate in different ways. For instance, on Cheb 2.0, a web design blog, you may be able to search for any keyword within the site which in turn will list matching posts and articles. You may even click on the Archives menu of a blog so as to show the articles posted that is sorted according to its date. Moreover, a tag cloud may also be present to search for a keyword or even a direct link for every month with the number of posts published during that month.

These methods are another form of search for posts and there are moments for visitors when such monthly archives really come in handy. For instance, if one of your website regular visitors went on a vacation for one week or so and then he returns back to your website the next month, your regular visitor just wants to see the posts they missed out on. This is the purpose of monthly archiving. Well my statistics shows that I have more than enough unique visitors, so definitely I am on the right track regarding my method of archiving, right?

Overall, better make sure that you take each step that is possible so as to ensure that the experience of the user will be a good one; permitting them to easily search for content will really help the said attempt.

Fresh and original written content brings people back to your website. RSS feeds are very useful to get more subscribers and I am a huge RSS feed supporter myself. Having RSS feeds on your site means that people may stay connected with your blog or website or any online event that you may have and they do not have to worry of reloading constantly for such new content. On the other side, new content on your site keeps people to come back. Even if they do physically click on your site to see or read through it or do not click on it, they are still considered a visitor and every visitor needs to be tracked.

A new link is considered by Google itself of big importance upon the determination of PageRank and its relevance. Better ensure that you set upon yourself a posting, blogging, editing regular schedule and try to follow it religiously. In relation with SEO, ensure also that you always keep your homepage updated and always with new content, and more so, do not afford to neglect your inner pages also.

Inner pages definitely do not refer to your old blog post dated many months ago. Better update your ‘About’ page for instance. Make them fresh and ensure that these essential pages are free, and they do not fall into minor results in the search engines, and make sure as well that the search engines including Google prioritize you as well.

THE LOOK AND FEEL OF YOUR WEBSITE

Make your website physically attractive to look at. If your site does not have a tremendous user base already that will never decrease and is not an online giant like Google, you have to ensure that the design of your website is appealing. It need not be glowing or shiny at all. Of course, you want your visitors to come back repeatedly to your site. That is why you need to make your site or blog physically appealing and attractive as people may look at your screen longer than five minutes or so. But they will not be able to stay longer if your site looks laid back. I have seen many websites that have such great written content and very good concept, but their websites are just so badly designed.

The user expects things to be the way it is. Let us say you cannot have your website to look really amazing and appealing, maybe it is better to meet your user or visitor half way. Maybe you can at least show off a sense of conformity and structure. This is an important aspect; you need to ensure that you make your page elements to be where the user or visitor expects them to see. If you aim for a look or a theme that is extravagant and ‘shiny’ or any which way you like to be noticed, consider first the layout called ’6 section grid model for website’.

As you can see on the figure, most web users are more relaxed with the said grid on many websites. Your logo is advisable to be set up on the top-most left section of the website; the same condition goes for your site search, if you have one, and even your top-level navigation. The navigation may also be placed on the top right section of the page or any place where it is easily recognizable. The grids serve just to be a guide and not meant to be followed religiously.

If the content is easy to find, the website sections are divided into groups of similar informational aspects. Remember that your content area is the most well known section of your website layout.

Be consistent in your scheme and colors. Ensure that your headings, colors, plug-ins and other aspects like the Google ads are consistent. Take note also of your font and link styles. You certainly do not want your link to be underlined, and other links do not have one. Consistency really signifies that it is easier to interrelate with your website. The visitors will also feel of how everything is working and what a link stands for.

CENTER AROUND THE USER

Practice accessibility and usability within the site. This one is also vital for such reasons. Check if you have enhanced your websites’ usability and accessibility. Ensure that you have checked how your website links and have someone check it out especially one who is suffering from color blindness. You may say to yourself that checking these things are all so minor, but no, I disagree. If you will be able to spell the difference between someone with color blindness, then you will be able to distinguish between your contents whether in linked or non-linked format.

It is better to give everyone the same chance of viewing your website and most especially your content. You will do everything to achieve such a purpose.

The user has every chance to correct the mistakes. Always ensure that your user always has a way out like side navigation, or a top navigation, search and even links back home. These are great players in this matter. Even if your site is very good, there will always be times when your users will get lost while surfing through your site. You may want to try the so-called Hansel and Gretel tactical method, that is, depending on the site type you have at the moment. Whatsoever you choose, the user really has different methods to correct any mistakes that they may make in the process. As a result, they will have the tendency to get off track.

Make significant file names. Creating great and such meaningful file names really is advantageous for the SEO and will work amazing wonders for the experience of the user. Ensure your URL is easy to follow. Hiding the information in a strange URL will kill the user experience and the user confidence in your website.

ARCHITECTURAL SITE

Site structure should be logical. Better make sure the structure of your website makes logical sense. There should be a logical flow within your site, e.g. top-down. The first should be the header then followed by navigation (that is, if not yet part of the header section), and then content with the sidebars or what is called the side navigation and followed by the page footer.

The footer is also important; a good one will help the user check if the page has loaded fully. If the user obviously doesn’t see yet the end of the page, then the page has not yet fully loaded.

Let us talk about taxonomy and folksonomy. It is better to put tags into your content as content that is tagged definitely means related content. Related articles are better for your site. Try to link the user to relevant articles or web pages that is based on the current page content. Just remember: do not link and link just for enjoyment or just to get more hits.

Classifying and connecting your information content is as equally important with the information itself. Always remember that whenever you are writing an article post for your site or designing a new website.

Have a purpose. If your website has no purpose at all, then it would not be able to survive in the end. Better find a niche first and foremost and be sure to tackle it with ease. Your niche may be about web design or some get rich fast schemes. Just look for a reason to have your visitors come back for more of your site. Bring always relevant and fresh content or even an enjoyable flash game that visitors won’t be able to part with your site. Bear in mind that anything you create online should have an ultimate goal in order to succeed.

Track and report. Great websites always learn from their own errors. There are tools like Google Analytic’s used in determining the not so popular and popular sections of your website. You may be able to decipher and analyze why a certain written content is not as popular as the next content.

Some good webmasters who make websites do the comparison between pages that work and do not work. They just remove or they do not publish something that isn’t pulling any visitors as compared before. The great webmasters and great designers will just segregate the page and look for some reason why said page is failing.

This scenario may happen: article content that is written more than 10 months ago may become the near future’s most popular article online. History repeats itself.

Do not unpublish an article or simply remove pages because of the reason that you are running out of memory space or the article is getting old. Well, if you are running out of memory space, better get some additional space then.

It is often the case that web and graphic designers can feel frustrated. It would make sense to believe that having an almost endless number of possibilities would make finding a design that works an easy task. The fact is though, that we can often spend hours on a design without being able to get it to look right. Here are some quality tips that will help you if you get stuck;

Make sure that you get advice and feedback from other people

This can go wrong if you ask the wrong people for advice, but so long as you are asking the right people then constructive criticism can really help you. Asking an inappropriate person to judge your work can really knock your confidence. If people are making vague comments about it,” just not looking right” then you will need to get another opinion. You want people who can give you specific feedback that will not only tell you about the problems, but also how to fix them. Don’t take any criticism personally.

See if you can find inspiration offline

During recent years there has been a rapid growth in the number of CSS galleries and design showcases websites available online. You will find that these are a great source for inspiration, but you can also get great ideas offline as well. Just walking down the street and looking in shops or opening up a magazine can be the source of some great ideas; even television can be a good resource. When you are doing your research, you should try and keep in mind the things that will be important to you later such as; element placement, typography, and color.  Quiz yourself as to what you like about anything that appeals to you. Traditional media can be a great fountain of knowledge and ideas. It is possible to get many new insights from just looking at advertisements from the past.

You need to learn how to let go

Sometimes there will be parts of your design that you really love, but you will just have to get rid of. The fact that you could have spent a lot of time and effort on this part of the project will make letting go hard, but this is something you must do. Don’t consider your time wasted; maybe you will be able to use it in a later project.

Always design from the inside out

This really is good advice. Many designers begin with the header, but it’s usually the case that what is inside the page is what will makes everything look good, and the header is just a bonus. It is a good idea to start with focusing on the body of the page and come back to the header later; once the page looks more solid it will be easier to get everything else right. It is likely trying to fix your tie when you’re not wearing any clothes.

Take a break from the computer

If you are finding things are getting too much, then you need to take a break from the computer. A break is a good way to clear your mind and you will be able to return fresh and ready to go. Sometimes walking away can be an important part of the process and a break from your work can give you a better perspective about it; maybe you will come back and see that it is coming along nicely. Sometimes not taking a break can mean finishing and suddenly realizing that your work is nowhere as good as you believed it to be while working on it.

Absorb as many good things as you can

In order to create good art is important that you get good inspiration. Don’t steal the ideas of others but you can allow them to influence your work. You should start trying to identify why something pleases you; try and take it apart and see how it works. Ask yourself about how the textures work and what makes some items stand out.

Avoid becoming a one hit wonder

Don’t keep on using the same techniques repeatedly; just because these designs have worked well in the past does not mean that you should keep using them over and over again. You need to learn new design habit if you want your work to look fresh and avoid it looking repetitive. You should not only be trying to design great work, but also work unlike what you have done previously.

Try and sketch something

Your whiteboard will often be the thing that can save you, but you might also just use paper and pencil. Making little drawings is a great way of identifying the elements and where they are going to be placed. A bonus with these mockups is that you can get through ideas really rapidly; you can just sketch something and then scribble it out and after a while you will have something you can work with. Wireframe applications can also help with this, but whiteboards can be just as effective.

Being a successful freelancer is difficult. Most freelance designers and also those who are employed in small design studios most often than not encounter challenges of producing much more out of their time and thus getting the much needed maximum efficiency. This may be considered a tremendous work for someone in a regular day job while freelancers tend to be distracted more with several challenges to encounter. Of course, no one will hold them accountable also. To be successful as a freelancer, priority is the key. You should set your priorities in the right direction and be able to find ways that will work for you.

Many people have plenty of tasks for the improvement of our work, and bear in mind that no single process will work for all. Being productive should be a constant goal in life, as well as getting to be interested in looking for new ways to get more things done out of a certain period of time. To do this, you need not be perfect but you may be able to improve yourself consistently. Here are some things that will assist you in being productive in your own work.

Make a list of tasks for a certain day. It is much easier to work throughout the day with a goal of what you need to do. Just make a to-do list so that you will be able to keep track of your tasks. One of the major setbacks of freelancing is that there are many different things to do in a day and all of these things are helpful in your business in some way. But even so, some are not as important and urgent as compared with others. If you go through the day without a task list, you will have the thinking of producing plenty and benefiting your business. But in the end, you will find it hard to focus on doing the right tasks first and not finishing the full tasks for the day.

Emphasize more on finishing the tasks instead of starting new ones. Majority of the freelancers have different projects going on at the same time always. Aside from that, each of the projects has many more various tasks that need to be done. You may also need some time for your own very personal projects. With so many things to do needing your attention all at the same time, it is all very tempting to undertake new tasks before finishing up the other tasks. If this is your regular work pattern, you will be wasting yourself more time and effort in the long run when it comes to finishing all the projects and tasks.

It is vital that a freelancer finish the projects so as to maintain the influx of income. To finish a project will also make you get paid quicker and will make you move on to the next project. It is best when there is a struggle with so much to do, devote your time more to projects and tasks that are near completion. Getting tasks off the list makes you feel good and will reduce stress and eventually make a more productive and conducive environment.

Be aware when you work best during your work day. Some people work best depending on the time of the working day. Some work best during the mornings, while others in the evenings or afternoons. All of us have times of the day that are stronger than others in terms of productivity and focus. So it is advised to do tasks that are less mind-strenuous during the times when your mind is not at its best. You may just check your emails, clean it out and moderate or even respond to your blog comments, or just about anything that needs time requirement but definitely not much need for mental focus. By using this approach, you will be able to be more productive during the least productive time of the day, and thus the best hours will be saved for more demanding tasks like article writing or working on a client’s blog or website. There are always many different things to do that needs to be done that also requires various intensity work and focus levels. You will definitely get more out of your day if you will really have a good combination between your best work times with the most demanding tasks, and your very least productive times with the tasks that are done routinely.

Consider the primary work first. In everyday work life, it is a frustration not to finish everything that you need to do in one day. If you have a task list, it is likely that you will just have a few things that need to be done at the end of the working day. For such reason, it is just as important to prioritize the task items to finish, aside from making a list of tasks. Every task is different every day, and there is a probability that you will have just a few vital things that should be finished. Other tasks vary depending on the urgency and its importance. Set first the tasks that need to be done and then make a list of the other stretch goals for the day. These stretch goals have less urgency than the main to-do tasks. If you finish all of the most important things for a particular day, then you may be able to move forward to the stretch goals.

Get things done in a bulk of time. There are so many different tasks to do and you may divide your working time into short period of time for such specific tasks. It is better to make use of bigger time blocks to get same tasks finished all at the same time. You may just try to check your email two or three times all throughout the day instead of checking your email many times during the whole day. You will be able to save more time if you follow this method. You will be able to get more out of your time as compared with writing a blog post here and there if only there is available time.

Breathe fresh air always. Take a few minutes out from your busy schedule, or out of your house and go for a drive or walk. Seek a place wherein you can have a peaceful breath of fresh air. Going into a different environment for a while will definitely increase your productivity and boost your mind to think positively, especially the treat of fresh air and new surroundings. It will cost you nothing and would only require you a little of your time, but definitely will have an ample effect on your productivity.

Be flexible. It is vital to be flexible with the prioritized tasks on hand so that you will have some room of flexibility for yourself. Understandably, there are days that will go unplanned and also when you do not feel like to do anything in other days. Better to allow yourself some flexibility to make a change according to different circumstances.

Get to know your distractions. In tracking your working time, you will be able to recognize the activities that are found to be distracting in your work. If you remove all the distractions, your efficiency will definitely increase. But to achieve this you should first know and understand the different challenges that you encounter when you work productively.

Always plan ahead the activities for the next day. It is your option to plan your activities to prepare for the next day. Better be more aware of your things to do. Always take note of the things you listed in your to-do list, and you may check your list at the end of the working day to see whether you may have overlooked something. With this process, next day planning will be a quick method for you and you will know where you will start the next day and you will tend not to forget things altogether. No time is wasted since you are always prepared to do your tasks for the next day.

Always be aware of a specified ending working time. One of the tests to be considered by a freelancer is when to end a particular work day. If you are in the employer-employee arrangement, it is easier to break your working day. But it is much difficult for a freelancer because there is always the temptation to continue working onwards. There are so many tasks to do and your income is dependent on the tasks that are finished. It is but normal to produce more by working longer hours in a day. It is but normal for a freelancer to feel that you will get most things done when you have something to work on that force you to end the working day at a specific hour.

If you set an end working time for yourself, it is much easier to produce more out of every hour since the working time is limited. If you do not set up an end working time for yourself, you tend to be become less efficient since there is the feeling that you still have plenty of time.

Monitor your time. It is much better to know how the time is spent during the work week. Time monitoring may help you to look for inefficiencies and methods to improve your productivity. If you hardly know how your time is spent, it is hard to know how you will be able to improve your time usage.

Expectations should be realistic. There are freelancers that are ambitious and they feel the pressure to get more things done that is physically impossible to finish given a certain period of time. It is obvious that there will be an increase stress and pressure, thus resulting to low work quality. Expectations that are realistic will let you finish the things that are scheduled to do.

Always resist the temptation of getting too much work done, and concentrate more on doing the best work that is currently being done. If you focus in this area, your productivity will increase by outsourcing some tasks.

Eat plenty of healthy foods. Foods are the fuel of our body in order for us to keep going. You are what you eat. If you eat junk, it will be detrimental for your body whereas if you eat healthy foods, you will reap the benefits of it eventually.

Strive for a more comfortable working environment. Your work might be tedious as a freelancer, working all day at home and office. This is a good set up because you have the upper hand in arranging your home into the most comfortable place to work and dwell. Make all things you need accessible and easy to walk around and be productive, but at the same time your place should also have the homey look and feel too. Search for some tips and arrangement in the web about making an essential home office that really focus on the subject.

It is advisable to get enough sleep the previous night. This is very important as you are productive if you are well-rested. If you lack sleep, the tendency is you always struggle to keep up on your toes to do all of your tasks for the day.

Visitor’s impression comes natural and as fast as the loading slots into your website. This initial impression is the deciding factor whether a visitor will come back again to your site to explore more. Therefore a first bad impression will be difficult to surmount.

There are various ways in which you can do to make the sudden impact for the first time visitors on your site. I have listed here at least 20 of them hoping to influence the sight and thoughts of the first timers who happen to glance upon your site anxiously hooking them to stay or come back for more.

Influence is the main word. These factors will influence in one way or the other the visitor’s judgment and thinking about your site. Though not that very comprehensive, updating this will be gladly appreciated-please feel free to comment and make some suggestions to include or exclude some points.

Colors - Colors are the first factor that greets your visitors. That is why it is important to greet them in a manner that is pleasing to their eyes. The colors of your site impart huge influence in the overall charisma of your site. If you do not have the knack of a good color combination, you can search online for help. Articles and suggestions are available that might provide you with good information as well as looking at the site of those successful websites and see how they manage to do just that.

Error Messages – The inaccessibility of your site may be hampered by this frequent appearance of error messages. Naturally visitors would have the impression that your site is a broken one and they will scamper around looking for other sites. You can search the internet of the different types of errors that might occur to your site. Blogstorm recently came up with an article about the same topic. Zero in for the obvious problems and errors a visitor might encounter when trying to access your site and repair it immediately.

Loading time – Visitors are quite impatient when it comes to slow loading pages and chances are they will never come back again to that site. Similarly, pages that load pretty fast will encourage them to visit every now and then. Inspect your site using different browsers and see if it loads fast enough to catch up on the visitor’s attention span.

Logo and Branding – It is your identity, businesses big or small are being identified by consumers through their logo and branding. With all the millions upon millions of websites with the same niche as yours, logo and branding will give you distinct identity and will be remembered by it. Of course, you have to have a unique and easy to remember logo and branding scheme, provide one on which visitor’s will remember your site as they see it somewhere else.

Typography and fonts – Just like choosing a book, typography and fonts have a subtle effect on the visitor’s disposition whether to continue on browsing your site. If they found that your site have little fonts that can hurt their eyes while reading or they would need a magnifying glass in order for them to see the tiny fonts-they would scurry away for good.

Navigation - One of the major turn-offs in a site is if you’re trying to find something and you have already wasted too much time and still you can’t find it. Frustration among the visitors will lead them to look for other sites; however, if you provide them with a good navigation, you can lead them to where they should go in an instant without beating around the bush. Create a positive experience to your site through good navigation; this is important if you want to keep them coming back for more.

Layout – If the visitors found that you have a good layout, easy to navigate tabs and pages-definitely they would come back for more and will enjoy browsing through the pages. Good layout will provide them the friendly accommodation that leads them to what they are searching for. Be creative in lay outing your site, even though most website templates have a fixed layout designs, it would be to your advantage if you could tweak it a little to make it flexible.

Advertisements - Naturally, almost all websites have advertisements-visitors often expect it, but not sites that are cluttered with ads wherein it is in every nook and cranny. This is a major turn-off among the visitors; they would think that you establish the site just to put ads and nothing else. Poor ad placement and wrong type of ads can hurt your site more than do well to it. Avoid placing ads that can interfere to your visitor’s purpose, i.e. reading. Study carefully the bad effects of too much ads to your site.

Purpose - The clarity of your website’s purpose should be well defined and identified in the first place by the visitors. Incorporate this through your branding by using a descriptive tag and via your about me/us page. This will also help in effective communication and establishing a good rapport among your visitors.

Associations - As a rule of authority, people always like to be associated with someone popular or powerful. They may not know your site at all but the fact that you know somebody powerful and popular is enough for them to give their confidence in you. If you are using or subscribing to a popular media or services and your visitor is also with the same circle of subscription such as yours, chances are a hidden camaraderie will be created and that will be a good start.

Header Images – Strong impact made by headers gave good first impressions. Strong impact is not synonymous to stuffing your site with big header billboards that takes almost half of your homepage. Provide one with enough size to summarize the character of your site and is visually appealing to the visitor’s eyes.

Accessibility – The common buzzword in the world of internet is accessibility. Visitors come in different demographics and of different status in life. Some are handicapped; others are too young or too old. Others use old browser versions while some possess high-end gadgets. If your website is not accessible to most of these people, chances are you’re just showing up to a limited number of people for quite a time.

Amateurish Items – Unprofessional items inside your site gives off negative impressions to visitors. Items such as low quality hit counters and GIFs generally yields unhelpful notion that your site was designed ten years ago.

Image Quality – There are plenty of high quality images or photo online that gives off good impression for a site. You can avail of low-cost photos with good quality and use it to your advantage. Photos as well as articles convey important messages to your visitors and leaves off good and lasting impression.

Comments and trackbacks – It is inviting for new visitors if they see healthy and lively conversation on your site through comments and trackbacks. It only goes to show that they are in for a lively discussion with lots of people coming in and out. The absence of comments will likely spark a question of whether your site has been visited by many viewers.

The pop-ups and pop-under – Annoying pop-ups and pop-under create bad impression to visitors. If you are planning to have one or the other, just be reminded to have it moderately and as much as possible not too annoyingly. They are still advertisement that serves to entice a visitor but still if not handled well would create a negative effect.

Content Quality – It’s always been the same “content is king” quote running around the internet world for quite some time; but still it’s true until this very day. People will always look up to your site if you have substantial content that would be able to serve visitors in a meaningful way. Quality content is always a big factor to a website; a first time visitor will always remember the positive impact of a good quality content of a website and will always comes back for more.

Tone – Just like content, tone is important in making or breaking a site. Angry, happy, sad or apathy may be felt by your visitors whether you like it or not if you are not fully aware of the tone you are setting out on your site. The rule of the thumb is people don’t really like negative tones in a website. Look deeply in your site and fix necessary flaws.

Audio and Video – If possible, do not let audio and video on your site automatically start. Let your visitor decide whether to push the start button in your video/audio player. Visitors who have multiple tabs open will get annoyed when one of the opened tab suddenly blasts out a sound. Visitors will dash off trying to locate which opened tab is the culprit and hurriedly clicking it off.

Flash Introductions – Flash intros give off impact whether negative or positive. Flash intros serve certain websites, but not all. Music and movie websites are well-off with flash intros while tutorials and formal sites don’t do well with it. If your site doesn’t fall in the category of rock ‘n’ roll, animation or movie sites-avoid it.

Please feel free to add more of your observations and experiences on what factors that influence and gives off the first impression to a website, whether negative or positive.