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Category: blog

How do we charge for graphic design?

  • Todd Day
  • blog, Graphic Design
  • 13 April 2017
  • Comments Off on How do we charge for graphic design?

Fee schedules for graphic design are a mystery to just about everyone who is not a designer .. and also to a lot of designers themselves! If you go to a major design firm and ask the price for a business logo you may be quoted everything from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars! If you go on a freelance site such as CrowdSpring, Freelancer, or Upwork you may find designers doing logos for less than a hundred dollars! Hmm ... how can those guys charge so little compared to the big firms? Let's look at the way the major design firms work. First of all if they are a well known, established firm they probably have a large number of employees, a brick-and-mortar office (in addition to designers who work from home) and a fair amount of overhead. They most likely advertise their services in major design magazines, newspapers and trade publications. With high costs come high fees. Simple economics. So what about those guys working freelance? Many of these designers have managed to make a living by sitting in front of their computer all day plugging info into design templates and submitting dozens of examples every day of which they know they will not be paid for the majority. They rely on sheer numbers. If a designer of this sort submits 12 - 15 logos a day and manages to sell 4 - 5 a week at $100 a logo they will make a living ...albeit not a plush living. And many (if not most) of these folks are working other full or part time jobs in addition to the money they make from their designs. Now let's be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with either of these two approaches. For the customer you must ask yourself what is the most important aspect of your project... do you need the lowest possible price even if the end result is not exactly what you were looking for, or are you willing to pay whatever it takes for a first class, quality design? At Todd Day Graphics we pride ourselves on finding that often elusive middle ground. We treat every customer like our ONLY customer. Just the way a large design firm would. Be we try and keep our fees more in line with the freelancer. We know that if you are a small business your…

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We don’t just do websites!

Did you know we don't just create websites at Todd Day Graphics? Some of our most valued clients are those who need advertising services. Some even as simple as flyers for posting on bulletin boards, etc. Yep, hard to believe but we will sit down and create a stunning full color flyer or poster (or black and white if that's more your style). We don't ever consider any job too small! Need a new church bulletin? We'll take care of that. Your grandson's band needs some cool flyers for the school bulletin board? We will knock that out of the park! Planning a yard sale and want a corner poster that will attract attention? Yep .. right up our alley (just be sure your HOA approves!). Take a look at the flyer we did below for one of our regular clients. He was so pleased we have now garnered repeat business and a good business relationship we hope goes well into the future!                   Let us help you get your message out to the world ... or the school, neighborhood or break room. We're on it!!  

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Form Options To Help You Get the Most From Your Business Website

  • Todd Day
  • blog, Forms, Website Design
  • 19 January 2017
  • Comments Off on Form Options To Help You Get the Most From Your Business Website

Just about every website has at least one online form. And if you are a business owner chances are you have at least one form on your site as well. But are you getting the most out of your forms? Let's face it .. the little ol' Contact Form is not really something most business owners want to spend too much time on. It would be easier to just put an email link on your site and invite potential clients/customers to email you but we all know that opens up a pandora's box of problems. Every business owner likely has an email inbox that is already overflowing. Inviting people to just email you willy-nilly without any constraints is asking for trouble. That's why when it comes to Contact Forms less is often more. Keep it simple and direct the user to send you just enough information for you to get an idea what they want before you reach out to them. But remember, a Contact Form is not the only type of Form you may need on your website. Forms have endless possibilities and when used correctly and creatively can benefit your business (and your workflow) greatly. Take a look at the example in the image at the top of this blog post. That's a screen shot of a form we did for a client that hosts an annual charity golf tournament. In this instance participants "sign up" for the tournament by entering their team/player information and contact information and T-Shirt size (for a complimentary shirt that all players receive). Seems pretty simple .. but here's what we did that took this form to the next level: We created a database that the form posted to in addition to the normal email that is sent to the form recipient (the tournament director). We then created a page on the website that is hidden and only accessible by the tournament director and planners. This page displays all the entries in the database and updates automatically. This way the director and planners have two resources to use when setting up the tournament .. emails with every team/player entrant and an online list where they can see every entrant at once. Sounds pretty cool, right? But you'd be surprised the number of business owners who have no idea they can access something so simple for their own business and just how easy it…

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Social Media: An Important Business Tool

In 2017 if you're not utilizing Social Media in some way to market your business you are missing out on an every growing segment of the population (ie. potential clients/customers). Recent studies have revealed that the younger generation (and to some extent middle agers) are growing more and more dependent on Social Media for recommendations/reviews/suggestions when it comes to local business. How many times have you seen a post on your personal Facebook page by a friend who is at a very cool looking new restaurant in your city. Maybe there are pictures of the menu, or drinks, or even what they had for dinner. Comments along the lines of, "Wow, we love this new bistro and it's right around the corner from our house!" Intrigued, you go check it out the next day and equally impressed, you are sending out the same type post to your friends!! This form of "organic marketing" is a business' best friend. While it's true you can't control who/when/what your customers send out to the world you can take the first step of creating your own business Facebook page and sending out your own posts on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. Many repeat customers will depend on these posts when choosing whether to patronize your business on a continuing basis. Facebook isn't the only great Social Media option .. Twitter can be equally beneficial if your Twitter account is heavily promoted. Google+ and Linkedin do not have the same target audience as Facebook and Twitter but they are growing and each has its own niche. Setting up Social Media accounts is easy but we can help you if you don't have the time or know-how. We can even help you set up a schedule of posts or do it for you!! To sum it up, marketing with Social Media is necessary, vital and best of all it's "easy-peasy" for even a novice. Ask us how we can help! ~Todd

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What are we doing Monday? We’re watching Football!

  • Todd Day
  • blog, Football, Uncategorized
  • 06 January 2017
  • Comments Off on What are we doing Monday? We’re watching Football!

This Monday night will be the 2017 NCAA Football National Championship Game in Tampa, Florida. The Clemson Tigers will take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in a rematch of last years National Championship Game! If you're like us you love your football and it doesn't get any better than this game. The 13 - 1 Tigers are out for revenge. The 14 - 0 Crimson Tide are trying to keep their streak alive. What a matchup! So who do we like? Well .. we have a lot of family involved with Clemson University so our loyalties are pretty rock solid. But let's be honest, the Tide have one of the largest and most loyal fan bases in the country. They will be out in force for this game, both in person and in front of television sets all across the USA. So Monday night you will know what we will be up to at ToddDayGraphics. Are you going to be watching? Do you have a dog in this hunt? Let us know!!

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New Year: New Website?

Most business owners are not aware that their website needs to be updated often. I don't necessarily mean a full-on reboot every 30 days but at the very least you should be adding new content, updating images and WRITING A BLOG. So why is this important? First of all lets look at it from a user standpoint. We all love new .. new clothes, new car, new job, new year. It's in our DNA to constantly be changing and evolving. We get bored quickly with the same old routine ("peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch again?"). When a frequent visitor to your site sees the exact same content every time they land on a page they will eventually grow bored and move on. It's human nature. Next there's the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) part of the equation. The complex algorithms used by Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc return search results based on parameters such as the number of times certain keywords in your search text match in a website's content. For instance, if you go to Google and type in "where can I buy bananas?" the results are likely going to include local grocery stores and farmers markets because they are selling bananas and the word "bananas" appears in their content multiple times. If I wrote a blog post and included one sentence that said, "Boy do I love bananas" it would likely be waaaay down in the results. Probably not on the first 20 - 30 pages. Or more. Those pesky algorithms at work!! So how do you make the algorithms work for you? Content, content, content. Those pesky algorithms also look for new content in established sites. Content that changes and refreshes. Relative content. If every 30 days you write a blog post that touches on your business and includes lots of rich keywords, Google is going to notice. The more you do this the more Google notices. It's an organic process that builds on itself. If you don't have a blog I highly recommend you start one now!! If your site is built on the Wordpress platform you only need to simply start writing blog posts and publishing them so that they appear on your site. If you have an older site or one that is a static, custom coded site, you can create a blog at Wordpress.com or have your developer create a blog with Wordpress.org…

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Merry Christmas!

All of us at Todd Day Graphics would like to take a moment to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. May we all come to know peace in our hearts and prosperity and stability in our daily lives and business.  

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Why does my business need a website anyway?

  • Todd Day
  • blog, Website Design
  • 14 November 2016
  • Comments Off on Why does my business need a website anyway?

Believe it or not that's one of the most frequent questions I get from potential clients (and sometimes even existing clients). A lot of business owners, especially those of a more "mature" age and from a more old-fashioned way of doing business, tend to stay stuck in the "yellow pages" mentality of business promotion. And for good reason, after all, at one time the Yellow Pages were the premier forum for advertising a business. Particularly a small business. Those days are long gone my friend. When a young couple are trying to decide where they are going to eat dinner on "date night" they are no longer digging out the Yellow Pages and flipping through endless pages of Restaurants. They probably will not even consult their town's local "entertainment and nightlife" publication.. you know the ones that you find in racks outside restaurants and bars. Their first stop will be an online search. That search might begin with Google, Bing or Yahoo. Or maybe they'll start with one of the many popular apps like Yelp, Urban Spoon, etc. If you are a restaurant owner without a website they won't find you. That scenario applies to any type business. Online searches are now the norm when looking for a restaurant, plumber, electrician, babysitter, piano teacher, hotel or even a band to book for your nephew's 21st birthday party. Many business owners make the mistake of thinking they can't afford a quality website. A quality website does not have to have a dozen pages, endless graphics and E-Commerce. You simply want to get noticed. Your name and logo, location, services offered and contact information are the building blocks and from there the possibilities are endless. If you are the hands-on type you are in luck. You can take charge and purchase everything you need to design your own site and get online fast .. right here from our website! If that seems like an enormous headache we can take over and design a site for you!! Let's get started getting you noticed!!

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First site utilizing WordPress

We are pleased to show off the first site that we have developed using the award winning Wordpress.org platform. http://thedentalbusiness.com The Dental Business is one of our longest running clients. Over the years we have done many site redesigns and refreshes as they like to keep their content fresh and up to date. We made the decision to use Wordpress for their latest reboot after much research and sterling testimonials from some very trusted business associates. We hope you love the new site as much as we (and they) do. Feel free to leave us some kudos!! We appreciate your feedback.

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To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question..

  • Todd Day
  • blog, Social Media
  • 22 June 2016
  • Comments Off on To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question..

"Should I use Social Media for my business?" That's a question most web designers will hear from their clients. Especially if said client is a new business owner or never had any sort of web presence even if they are established. While many people may look at Social Media as simply "fluff" or "entertainment" when it comes to promoting a business the value is immeasurable and the sky is the limit! The simple fact is that these days many potential customers/clients use Social Media as their starting point, jumping off point or pipeline to the rest of the web. If you're already perusing Facebook and suddenly remember that you wanted to find a good garage organizer, why not start with the search bar in Facebook to begin with? That's exactly what most people do, especially young people. Make no mistake though, once they find the Facebook page of a company that looks promising they will usually click through to the actual website to get more information. Used in this way your website and Social Media pages can work together to bring you business. Think of Social Media as a funnel for your web traffic. A quick peek at the Google Analytics page for a successful company will show the amount of web traffic that originates from Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Instagram is astounding. Setting up a business Facebook page should be a natural compliment to your fantastic website. Need help? We can do that too! Contact us today!!  

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