Are you a business owner or looking into getting into business? or do you want to improve your business with great tax advice? Attend this FREE convention! Here are the details:

Community Commerce Convention - Logo Design by Design Smart Graphics

Event Details:
When: June 25th, 2009, 8:00am – 4:30pm
Where: Marriott of Greenville, 1 Parkway East
Price of Admission:
Community Commerce Convention = FREE (includes all 5 break-out sessions & Exhibit Hall viewing)
Small Business Awards Luncheon Ticket = $30 for Chamber members, $35 for non-members*

*The Annual Small Business Awards Luncheon will be held in conjunction with the convention and will feature keynote speaker, David Wilkins, former US Ambassador to Canada, and the presentation of two awards: 2009 Small Business of the Year and Professional Woman of the Year award.

Convention Break-out Sessions & Speakers:
• How to Start your Own Business (Presented by Martin & Davis, LLC)
Speakers: Reno Deaton, Greer Development Corporation
Brian Martin, Martin & Davis, LLC
Mark King, King Consulting
• How to Advertise and Market your Business
Speakers: Geoff Wasserman, ShowCase Marketing, Inc.
Missy Johnson, All About Seniors
Bill Sweezy, All About Seniors
• HR for Dummies
Speakers: Jill Vales, HR Experts on Demand
Deborah Loftis, City of Greer
Cory Ezzell, Gallivan, White & Boyd, P.A.
Debbie Brown, Gallivan, White & Boyd, P.A.
• Documents You Can’t Live Without
Speakers:  Chris Davis, Martin & Davis, LLC
• E-Business: Connecting your Business to the Web
Speakers: Scott Stevens, YourMark.com, Inc.
Laura MacPherson, Northstar Creative
• Sales and Business Development
Speakers: Richard Hardaway, Integral Solutions Group
• Tax Advantages for Small Businesses
Speakers: John Allen, Edward Jones & Company
Steven M. Bateman, CPA
Bryan Jeter, Lister & Jeter, CPAS, LLC
• Business Financing– Surviving the Current Economy
Speakers: Rudy Painter, Countybanc Insurance Inc.
Vic Grout, Greer State Bank
Mark King, King Consulting
Bill Roughton, CapitalBank
• Having your Business Heard by Government
Speakers: John DeWorken, Upstate Chamber Lobbyist
Donna Smith, Prudential C. Dan Joyner
Roy Chamlee, Michelin North America
• Community Involvement
Speakers: Caroline Robertson, Greer Relief & Resources Agency
Amanda Somers, Sports Spine & Industrial
John Kimbrell, Greer Chamber of Commerce

The convention also features an exhibit area for local businesses to showcase their products or services. For more information please visit www.greerchamber.com or contact Mark Owens at 864-877-3131 or by email at mark@greerchamber.com.

The Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce is a voluntary, non-profit organization that represents approximately 590 businesses in the Greer area. The mission of the Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce is “To Champion Economic Prosperity for our members and the greater Greer community.”  For more information on the Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce, call 864-877-3131 or visit www.greerchamber.com.

Filed under: Logo Design, Small Business Marketing on June 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

I just finished up the logo design for Alpha Fire and Safety this week. We explored many different areas for the logo with the goal to set themselves apart from the other Fire and Safety equipment companies in the Greenville SC area and, more personally for them, add symbolism to their faith. We went away from using the normal red and yellow flame themed logo designs found on 95% of the Fire and Safety Companies.

We settled on using a lion because of it’s symbolism to what the company is founded on. The company name “Alpha” is a reference to Jesus’ words in Rev 22:13 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”  Lions are used to symbolize Kings, powerfulness, and God (think Narnia). The Jesus fish is also one of the most recognizable symbols of Christianity. The flame in the “fi” Ligature hints at the industry Alpha Fire is involved with and plays off the word “FIRE”. I customized a font from a italicized serif to a script for a different modern look that flows well with the other design elements.

The final logo is one of my favorites because of its simple visual elements that have a big impact.

Alpha Fire Logo Design

Alpha Fire and Safety Inc installs fire extinguishing and safety products in commercial and industrial businesses such as restaurants or computer labs. They are located in Mauldin SC. You can visit their website here: www.alphafiresafety.com

Filed under: Logo Design on April 14th, 2009 | No Comments »

BEFORE YOU READ THEM, HERE ARE SOME KEY TERMS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Targeted/Strategic keywords-The keywords you want your customer search to find your company. An example is “web design greenville sc” or “restaurants greer sc”

Content-What’s on your page-everything from images to text.

Sitemap-Includes all the pages you want indexed in search engines. Usually written in XML language.

Index-In this context it means all the pages that the search engine searches.

Tag-Html (or other coding language) element that surrounds specific content. Tags tell the browser, a header is a header and an image is an image. Ex. <h1>Logo Design Greenville SC</h1> Would tell the browser this is the most important header.

This is an image from my previous post on Search engine optimization. It gives you an idea of the Google Search layout:

The Google Layout Explained

1. Put Keywords in your domain name

Example: www.graphicdesigngreenville.com

2. Clip the .html off page names and use keywords in page names.

Example: www.pgraphics.biz/website-design

3. Put main site navigation as close to the top of the page as possible and don’t use images for your navigation!

It’s kind of common sense to make navigation one of the first things you see and most websites have this right because it makes design sense, but there are the exceptions-don’t be one.  Images shouldn’t be in navigation because google can’t read them.

4. Image ALT tags and URL TITLE tags

These are very important not only for adding keywords to but for user accessibility. If the viewer is visually impaired, these tags are read to them though a screen reader program.

5. Don’t create a completely FLASH-based site. Google can’t read it (yet).

An easy way to tell if the site is flash is by right clicking on the page. Flash is great for image slide shows and videos, interactive displays, but not for the complete site.

6. Get into the free local searches in Yahoo and Google

The local search usually is shown before the organic search.  See image below.
GOOGLE LOCAL - www.google.com/local/add
YAHOO! LOCAL  - listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.php

7. Write content relevant to the keywords you want people to search for.

Google is trying to give the searcher the most relevant content to their search query. By having pages of content about the most searched keywords you want people to find you with will bring you higher and higher in google.

8. Use stragetic keywords in the TITLE tag of your page.

The title shows up on the very top bar of your browser window and usually is the second item in the code making it the first chance to give Google Search some keywords.

9. Use h1 (header) tags and include keywords in them

Don’t be afraid of a little html—the h1 header tags go around the most important headers on the page. Usually it looks like this: <h1>Logo Design in Greenville SC</h1>

10. Create a blog and comment on other blogs

Blogs are easy for anyone to update once they are set up. You can set up a blog on a blog site like blogger.com, on a separate domain, or on your current domain in a sub-directory. When you comment on someone’s blog, they usually let you include your domain, making it a good way to do tip #11.

11. Find sites that will link to you

It could be a site that targets the same customers, but is not in direct competition with you. The larger the site the better and the more relevant to your targeted keywords the better. Include your site on the obvious sites like Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn. Switch it up and include pages other than your index page (like a product or service page).

12. Create and submit a Sitemap to Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft

Sitemaps guarantee (99.9% of the time) you will be in the index, so people can actually find you.
Here’s a site that creates the sitemap for you: www.xml-sitemaps.com
You just have to download the file they give you to your computer and then upload it to your site.
Here’s where you submit your sitemap URLs:
www.google.com/webmasters
siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com
webmaster.live.com

These tactics produce the best results in local searches
These tactics work great for local searches. Most people search on a local level when searching for many services and products. When I search, I usually search “restaurants greer sc” or something similar.

Want more on the subject of Search Engine Optimization? Here’s a blog entry I wrote on that subject: http://www.graphicdesigngreenville.com/small-business-marketing/search-engine-optimization-myths-revealed/

Disclaimer: These are meant to help designers and business owners alike in creating the most effective websites. The information came from personal trial and error and reading SEO articles.

If you need help with your website, feel free to contact Design Smart.

Filed under: Graphic Design Articles, Small Business Marketing, Website Design on April 1st, 2009 | No Comments »

Why the change?

I recently decided to become an LLC and thought it was the perfect time to shed my old name for a new more focused name. Design Smart is more than a name but a personal motto to, well…design smart. It is extremely important motto to remember, because I’m dealing with small businesses that can’t afford to brand, market, advertise ineffectively.  My goal is to design smart-websites, logos, brochures, postcards, business cards and marketing for my customers.

Design Smart Brand

A Website is a-comin’, but for now I’ll keep my www.pgraphics.biz website up-to-date.

Filed under: Design Smart Company News, Logo Design on March 28th, 2009 | No Comments »

Bluestone Cottages Website Design

The Craftsman styling and colors of this community were the inspiration for the Bluestone Cottages Condo Community website design.

Bluestone Cottages Condo Community is a maintenence free community in Washougal, Washington. Visit the live website at www.washougalcondos.com

Filed under: Website Design on March 24th, 2009 | No Comments »

This logo design project had me getting in touch with my feminine side! After discussing the goals of the company with owner, Laura Wheelock, we decided the Cool Wicking PJ’s logo design needed to appeal to her main target market, women suffering from night sweats, a common occurrence during menopause. We wanted to communicate comfort, woman, sleep (sleeping until morning), coolness, and pajamas.

Cool Wicking PJs Logo Design

Cool Wicking PJs offers innovative products that wick away night sweats including moisture wicking sleepwear,  men’s moisture wicking t-shirts, sheet sets that stay cool, and cooling mist spray.  Visit them online for more information on all their moisture wicking product offerings and to buy products: www.coolwickingpjs.com.

Filed under: Logo Design, Print Design on March 5th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

GAP Baseball League needs to attract ball players above the age of 28 for his for-fun Great American Pastime Baseball League.  GAPBL decided to have an advertisement designed to be printed in the Greenville News. The ad is meant to catch the eye and draw people to call GAP Baseball or visit their website.

GAP Baseball Advertisement Design

GAP Baseball League is a 28 and older for-fun baseball league in Greenville SC. Visit their website for more information on his upcoming spring season www.gapbaseball.com.

Why not use the publication’s design staff?

Jack from GAP Baseball decided to use an outside designer (me) for his small ad he is placing in the Greenville News. Most magazines and newspapers will design your ad for free or cheap, which may sound great. The only problem is many of these publications are under a great deal of pressure from deadlines and can not give your design the time needed to think up an effective ad. This is a generalization, but nevertheless usually a true one. Some publications have great designers on staff that create great ads. Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing, advises small business owners to hire a graphic designer or go to the publication with your specific layout idea already on your mind in order to get an effective ad design.

Filed under: Print Design, Small Business Marketing on March 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Rosewood Communities needed a billboard designed to promote their maintenance-free community Bluestone Cottages in Greer, SC. The design stays consistent with the other marketing materials for Bluestone Cottages. The main message is that Bluestone Cottages isn’t your ordinary maintenance-free community, but one with style, quality and a good location.

The billboard will be strategically placed on Wade Hampton Blvd in March 2009 to allow people to see the ad and know how to get to Bluestone Communities.

Rosewood Communities Bluestone Billboard Design

Bluestone Cottages is a maintenance-free, new home community in Greer, SC. For more information, visit Rosewood Communities website.

Filed under: Print Design, Small Business Marketing on March 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Many businesses are starting blogs nowadays and you may be looking into creating a blog for your business. I am writing this blog entry, to give you some advantages and disadvantages of blogs so you can make the right decision on whether to start a blog or not. I’ll also give you advice on how to create a blog on the cheap and how to get traffic to it!

Note: There are quite a few blog software creators. My favorite is Wordpress.org because of it’s ease of use, clean code and vast amount of FREE templates. Any reference to the blog interface is talking about wordpress.

Advantages of Business Blogs

• Naturally search engine friendly - Blogs help you create great site structure with tools like tags, categories, and links. The tools give you an excuse to add keywords all over your site as well as structure the site in a search engine friendly manner. For example, this page’s url, is graphicdesigngreenville.com/website-design/whats-all-the-fuss-about-blogs. You can see quite a few relevant keywords like “website design” and “blogs” as well as my domain which has “graphic design” and “greenville” in it. In my URL, “website-design” is the category. If you want to see all posts under this category just simply go to graphicdesigngreenville.com/website-design/. Google and other search engines like this structure.
• Gives your business a personal side - Blogs aren’t corporate and they shouldn’t be. It’s a chance to let some personality out! Your business website is professional, gives people facts, and sells to them. Your blog allows you to let customers know about your latest news in your business, give customers advice, and wish them a happy new year (or other holiday)! You have a chance to help  them out for FREE with your information and because of that they will have a positive memory in their mind about your company.
• Drives traffic to your business website - Your blog can drive traffic to your website, so when people are ready to buy, they can visit your site with more confidence in your products and your knowledge about them.
• You might become a blog star - If your blog catches fire, people can subscribe to your feed-that’s blog talk for you get lots more traffic to your blog and business website!
• You control the content - You can write freely, post images or videos and not have to pay someone to add it to the site. Once you complete your entry you just simply hit PUBLISH and it is live on the internet!
• Easy and Quick setup - If you need to get content up fast, you can purchase a domain name and hosting, install the blog, and have your first post up in 1 day!

Disadvantages of Business Blogs

• You control the content - Don’t get drunk on all that freedom! Keep your blog focused on a topic you decided on from the start. Keep the look consistent, your content relevant to your chosen topic and your posts spelling and grammar free.
• It needs your time and commitment - Are you ready to commit 1-3 hours a week to a blog. blogs that don’t get updated often are looked over quickly and forgotten (no rhyming intended)! If you start one, set an alarm in your calendar to write a quality post at least once a week.
• Popularity isn’t necessarily a good thing - Because blogs are great tools, many people have them and create them every day! (no one has an accurate number but technorani is tracking 133 million Blogs). The difference between you and them is you know how to use them to benefit your business!

My tips for a success blog

Create your blog on a separate domain from your business website that includes keywords you want people to find you with.  The main tip to keep in mind is to create content that viewers will read and make the content relevant to what you are selling. Also, strategically place your keywords into your blog by including them in your posts through tags and categories.

The cheapest way to start a blog is using blogger.com or wordpress.com (FREE). The only disadvantage is you will have their name in your domain name. For example, mine would be “graphicdesigngreenville.wordpress.com”.  An advantage of using these services is you can network with the other bloggers on those sites and drive traffic to your business website that way.

The thumbnail below is an example of a blog I set up for a real estate and business owner, Steven Sarkela who wanted to give people information on his Condo and Beach home rentals in Charleston, SC and the Folly Beach area. With a 10 minute conversation over the phone, he had his first blog entry up.  He picked out a theme, I modified it a little and had his site up in a day. Visit Steven Sarkela’s website at www.stevensarkela.com.

Steven Sarkela's Blog set up by Photo Graphics

Setting up a blog for you or your business can be more affordable than an actual website. Blogs are also a great addition to your marketing materials and existing website. Please contact me through my website www.pgraphics.biz, if you are interested in setting up a blog or need any of my design services.

HAPPY BLOGGING, Calvin

Filed under: Small Business Marketing, Website Design on February 16th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Heart of Texas Logo Design

Kimberly Fowler of Heart of Texas Real Estate Group wanted a logo that set her real estate company apart from all the other logos that featured the state of texas and a heart in various forms. After talking with her, we decided including the elements of the horse and the state flag of texas. I created a one color design as well for use on business cards as a foil stamp or metallic ink.

Heart of Texas Logo Design One Color

Kimberly Fowler is a realtor near Waco and Temple, Texas. If you are interested in real estate in this area, visit her website: www.heartoftexasgroup.com

Filed under: Logo Design on February 6th, 2009 | 1 Comment »