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.

Bad Photo of Home

ALL of us have seen this photo that is low resolution, highly compressed under exposed with the house on the hill looking like it is a pyramid because the photo was taken with the wrong settings and at a bad angle! I am here to give you some tips on creating photos that will help sell your properties…well at least make them look better and stand out more to your potential buyers!

Here are common problems and the solutions:

Low Resolution photo – a blurry or pixelated photo where you can see the actual square pixels or the photo is blurry from trying to enlarge a smaller photo using Interpolation. You don’t have to know what interpolation is you just have to know how to fix it!

SOLUTION – My teachers always preached “Start with the best original!” Meaning take photos on the highest setting you need for your output (web, print, billboard, flyer, etc), because this saves space and allows you to work with lower file sizes which in turn allows for quicker downloads and uploads. If you don’t know if you are going to make a large photo, but you might, just shoot on your highest setting. Most cameras now days are higher than 6 Megapixels.

The house looks like a pyramid! - This has to do with a combination of lens distortion and angle.

SOLUTION – Try to be level with the house when you take a photo. Many times I have to stand on my truck to get the angle needed. Basically you want the camera level (imagine it sitting on your counter). If the house looks like it is pinched or bulging out, it is most likely a lens distortion issue. Lens distortion usually happens when you zoom your lens all the way out. This can be fixed by using an image program like Adobe Photoshop with it’s “lens correction” filter. If you don’t have access to Photoshop, a practical solution is to back up and zoom in which will minimize the distortion effects.

Underexposed Photo (Really Dark) - Caused by not enough light.

SOLUTION – Take photos with the enough light in the day or mount the camera to a tripod and take the shot a couple hours before dusk. A flash might not be strong enough to give the photo enough light because usually you are more than 15 feet away. You can also fix this in image editing software but it is easier and better to fix it in the original shot.

Overexposed Photo (really light/bright) – caused by taking photo in direct sunlight at noon-2 PM.

SOLUTION -  Wait for the sun to go down in the sky so the shadows aren’t as harsh and the sun isn’t as strong. You can also fix this in image editing software but it is easier and better to fix it in the original shot.

Highly Compression photo – The image, usually a jpeg, looks dirty and pixelated.

SOLUTION – All you have to do to fix this is take your original photo that should be clean and crisp and save it as a jpeg, but pay attention to the Compression/Quality setting in the dialog boxes.

Other helpful info:

WHAT IS THE SIZE OF A PIXEL? Well to give you perspective, screens are usually 72 pixels per inch (ppi) but for output on business cards or professionally-printed flyers, you need images to be 300 pixels per inch. Another way to look at it…my camera creates 8 Megapixel images, and when I bring it onto my computer it says the dimensions are 3456×2304 pixels, You can easily see your output options by dividing those by 72 or 300 pixels per inch. The image would be a 48×32 inch image on screen (72 ppi), which is huge since most screens are 9×12 inches. If we were printing the image and needed it to be 300 ppi, the image would be 11.52×7.68 inches. These are the maximum sizes the image could be without losing quality and detail. You can shrink them to fit your output. If you have Adobe Photoshop or Elements you just go to “Image/image size…” in the menu to shrink the photo.

The best time to take exterior shots depends on the type of photo you want:

Dramatic photo – You want to take the photo in morning or evening (bring the tripod). This gives more harsh shadows but neat colors for the background sky. Turn on some lights on the inside for a warm, homey look.

Evenly lighted photo – Cloudy days are a natural “lightbox” as they spread the sun’s light out evenly.

Sharpen, balance color, add contrast, saturation, adjust shadows/highlights – These all can be done in photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Elements.

THE FIXED PHOTO:

Fixed photo of home

Get these problems under control and you will have awesome looking photos that will draw the eye of your potential buyers! If you have any problems you need me to troubleshoot, drop me a line!

HAPPY SELLING!

CALVIN HANSON
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
WEB – WWW.PGRAPHICS.BIZ
BLOG – WWW.GRAPHICDESIGNGREENVILLE.COM

A checklist of things to include on your business’ gift certificate design:

• Make it simple and professional, if you are printing it out and designing it.
• Make sure the design has the essentials. TO, FROM, AMOUNT, and AUTHORIZED BY. Always include all of your business information and website as with any marketing piece! The recipient might not know where your store is!
• Print it on heavy weight matte or paper so your customer can easily write on it. The weight of paper is for durability and professionalism. The recipient might not redeem the certificate for months so you want it to last.
• You can easily fit 3 certificates per page. A good idea is to make it the size of a dollar bill so it can easily fit in a wallet.
• Security might not be an issue, if you plan on selling 10 to 20 certificates. If you plan on selling hundreds, you might want to put a type of watermark so it is difficult to photocopy (see example below).

Love of Fitness Gift Certificate Design

Love of Fitness has had good success with their personal training gift certificates seen above. If you are interested in a personal training certificate, visit her website and contact her for more information. If you are interested in gift certificate design or need help designing your certificates, contact Calvin at pgraphics.biz.

Happy Holidays!

Logo Sketch

So you are starting a business and need a logo design! Great. The only problem is you’ve spent your start up money on other parts of the business. How can you have a logo designed without taking out another loan?

TIP #1 – BE PREPARED! (this is the most important tip and the other tips fall under this)

Know what you want before you even contact a logo designer. If you have a great idea for your logo design,  sketch it out on a piece of paper. The less work a designer has to do the less money he/she will charge. Here are a few things to think about when brainstorming for your logo design:

#1 goal of a logo is to communicate.  What do you need to communicate? Think about:

• What do you actually do?
• Who you are marketing to?
• What type of logo style goes with your product or service?
• What colors convey the mood you want to go for?

TIP #2 – Ask for the hourly rate

This goes along with being prepared. Many designers have a logo package but also have a set hourly rate anywhere from $40-$100+/hour. As long as you are prepared, you will save money.

TIP #3 – Be specific, but not too specific

What you sketched out your logo, it will be hard to match exactly and unless you have a hidden artistic talent, it will probably look rough on paper. If you envision elegant script-like writing in your logo, designers can accommodate your choice with many script font options and can match what you want pretty closely.

TIP #4 – Bring samples of the style of logo you like.

This is probably one of the better things you can do, because designers can see a visual example of what style you want. Visuals are almost always better for communicating with designers. Instead of saying you want something elegant, you can actually show them just how elegant you want the logo to be.

Check these sites out for logos styles:

www.logopond.com
www.identityarchives.com

TIP #5 – Keep it simple.

Don’t sketch something so complex that the designer is going to spend a day recreating it on the computer. A logo should be simple.

TIP #6 Let the designer design. Give him/her freedom!

Some of the best designs come from when a designer is given the most freedom. Give them freedom to let the creativity flow and you will have a great logo design for a great price!

Screen Printing Step by Step

I created this graphic awhile back to illustrate the screen printing process and help my customers understand the process. Screen printing is one of the simplest printing process, but it is probably the one that requires the most imagination to get to the end result.

I get a few calls a month asking to do one t-shirt with a photo on it. While I would like to help these customers out, it takes a minimum of 4 colors to reproduce an image which means 4 separate screens. Most screen printers charge $15 a screen, making just the set up for the shirt $60. A much more economical method to print just one shirt is direct to garment inkjet printers. These are much like your home inkjet printers but on a larger scale. Although there aren’t any printers in the Greenville SC area yet, you can buy one shirt online for around $20 (from instashirt.com).

For orders over 24 t-shirts, we can help you out!

DESIGNING IT

You first have to start out with a design which is made in a combination of programs. Although Microsoft Publisher can be used to send files to be printed, it is not recommended. Designers like Photo Graphics use professional editions of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Indesign to create the artwork. Creating artwork in these programs ensures quality output (usually at 300 dpi or dots per inch).

FILM, PLATES, OR STRAIGHT TO PRESS!

Once the artwork is ready it can be output to film, plates, or sometimes directly to press! Film is used to expose light sensitive plates. Most large printers today go directly to the printing plates. The plates are mounted to the press. There is material on the plates that attract “water” and others that repel it. This way the ink on the press can only be in the image areas like your logo for instance. Speaking of image areas, images are made up of small dots called halftones that trick the eye into seeing full continuous tone images.

ON PRESS

On press there can be many stations (sometimes 8 colors or more!) with different ink colors. The colors create images, logos, and graphics. The ink is usually pigment based and transparent. An example of how transparent ink works is by adding equal amounts of cyan and yellow together will yield green. Using different sized amounts of ink together yield different shades of colors. Full color in printing terms usually means CMYK. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black ink colors can combine on press to create thousands of colors.

Ink and water are brought to the plate with rollers that make the consistency more even yielding a more uniform ink coverage. When the ink hits the plate and separate image areas and non image areas. Ink and water have to be at the perfect balance or there will be problems on press. The plate hits a blanket(made more of rubber material) which will then hit the paper going by just as the blanket makes it pass. The paper continues on the path through all the colors and to the delivery unit. Once the paper is printed, it is trimmed down to size at the crop marks and doing this takes advantage of the bleeds which make the finished piece look like the ink goes all the way to the edge.

Post press techniques include folding, die cutting, embossing, foil stamping and more!

That is the basics of Offset lithography, I hope it helped your understanding.

I will post my most up to date designs, articles on graphic design and marketing for small business, designs under construction, finished design pieces like logos, business cards, websites, and anything under the realm of graphic design. Feel free to use it for inspiration, critique my work.

Why the name GraphicDesignGreenville.com?

Well, for starters Greenville, South Carolina is the closest largest city near my business. I also needed a simple name that I could point to instead of my current business website pgraphics.biz-hard to say over the phone. “P as in Pickle, graphics, dot, biz…like business with a z” Its easier to say Graphic Design Greenville dot com!

Thanks for viewing and enjoy!

Calvin Hanson, Owner
Photo Graphics
Calvin@pgraphics.biz
www.pgraphics.biz
(864) 423-6240

Logo Design Greenville SC and Website Design Greenville SC