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Library: ‘Startup & Branding Advice’

The 7 Principles of Choosing a Great Domain Name

31 Mar

Choosing a domain name for your business website, especially if you are still working to find a name for your business, can seem overwhelming.  Below is a thorough breakdown of the elements that go into making this decision correctly, and finding a name that will work extremely well for the market that you are targeting.

  1. CHOOSING THE TYPE OF NAME
    • KEYWORDS & LOCALITY – If you sell widgets locally, it’s ideal to have a name that includes at least a part of what you do/your location in the domain, to make it easy to remember: think http://WestCoastWeb.com for example – our Web design company located on the West Coast of Canada. Having your keywords in the domain, also may help a bit for Google ranking, although how much benefit you see from this, depends on how heavily everyone else in the same market is optimized.
    • MESSAGE – Another way of choosing a domain name, is by choosing the core value of message of your company, and naming your company and your website for that: for instance Read the rest of this entry »
 
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Posted in Setting up your Website, Startup & Branding Advice

 

The 8 Steps to Starting a Successful Small Business

15 Mar

The core elements of starting up a successful small business are:

  • Make sure you know your product, and have defined your target market.
  • Do your market research.  This is more than talking to friends and relatives and getting them to function as a cheering squad… they are not going to pay your rent if your idea bombs.  Market research means researching your competition, learning what they do that works and does not work, and calling potential clients on the phone, and doing informational interviews, to find out WHAT they need, WHY they need it, and WHAT does not work about their current solution).
  • Price properly.  Charging market rate is ideal.  However if you are not making sales at market rate because you don’t have the work portfolio to back you up, try pricing at 70% – 80% Read the rest of this entry »
 
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Posted in Startup & Branding Advice

 

Does my business need a logo?

22 Feb

Needing a logo completely depends on what market you are pursuing.

If you want to charge as though you are a freelancer, to be hired by clients that are looking for a “cheaper solution” than hiring an established company, a logo may work against you. A logo makes you look like a company, which will make people to expect a higher level of service and market rate prices.

If you want to charge as a company, you WILL need a logo. A logo is an investment into image, which usually represents a commitment to build a long term presence.  Prospective clients respond to your illustrated confidence in your long term presence, by a greater confidence in purchase, and a higher valuation of the work provided.

So the long and the short of it is this: if you want to charge below market rate, don’t get a logo. If you want to charge market rate, you need a proper brand, including a properly designed logo and web design.

 
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Posted in Startup & Branding Advice

 

Video interview on Branding

16 Feb

This interview is with Britta Bennett from West Coast Web, on how to choose the right designer.

 
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Posted in Startup & Branding Advice

 

Defining your Business Style

15 Feb

Each design we create, expresses the unique spirit of each client’s business, and evokes the corresponding emotions in the viewer.  It is therefore important before your design consultation, to focus your attention on the most important aspects of the image creation process – the definition of the visual, emotional, and environmental style that you want your website to express.

Here at West Coast Web, we define this as your Identity Design Key. (IDK)

What CAN One Design Do?
A design can express a single emotion or concept, or a range of closely connected emotions.   Lay the foundation of your brand, by following the instructions below: Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Startup & Branding Advice

 

Should I build my website myself?

15 Feb

Choosing to build a website yourself, or have a qualified professional build your site, is all about ROI.

Picture the following:

  • X = the number of people who will buy from you, just because you have a website, home-made or not.
  • Q = the number of people who will only buy from a business they perceive to be the best quality. Potential clients that find you online, equate the quality of your business brand with the quality of your product or service. If you have a topnoch site, they will assume that’s the quality of your product or service as well.

If you get a website built by a company that outputs top quality work for a reasonable price, your sales will be X+Q.

If you do the job yourself, you will loose Q sales on an ongoing basis until you rectify the problem. And then, you’ll still have to pay to have it done by a professional.

It’s best for your bottom line to pay to have it done right to begin with, and start collecting those Q sales from the start.

Contact us for a free website quote!

 
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Posted in Startup & Branding Advice

 

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