A big thanks to Moonshine Ink who voted my new artworks from my Healing art series the Visual Award in the Tahoe Summer Annual edition! It is a huge honor to receive a visual art award, as well as the prize for the submission. To read more about and view the submissions, check out the Tahoe Summer Annual edition of Moonshine Ink.People often visit my website to view my fine art and then say, "Wow! I had no idea you created websites too!" They later ask how I can be both an artist AND do something so left-brained like web design and marketing? For me it is easy because they are two passions of mine: I absolutely love to push myself creatively AND I am passionate about finding ways to help people pursue their own business visions.
When I am working on a business project, I wear many, many hats, including:
Brand development and marketing require someone who can keep the vision in mind while overseeing and executing the daily tasks of the project. From owning a few different businesses and coaching several more, I have had regular practice on how to address the unique nuances of each industry. I work with business visions in mind as I get the realistic details in order and figure out what needs to happen on a daily basis to make a deadline. However, I understand the creative side too, so I get results that are eye-catching and memorable to your target market.
To understand the completeness of a project, the project manager needs to understand how each part works, what is most important for that component to work, and then blend the parts into a perfect marriage. That means someone who understands the visual, marketing, programming or printing, and clients needs.
Each project may sounds simple: "I need a website." "I need a poster." "I need a sign illustrated." But behind each project is a multitude of tasks that need to be done correctly to make your project worthwhile. Before choosing your web designer or graphic designer, look at their portfolio and see if they have the experience to help you with your project. Make sure their past works are something you may like for your business. And read their testimonials. And next time you'll get a better feel why so many people choose someone like me, an artist who does design.
I have been busy painting and working on my "Healing" art series between my graphic and web design projects. My most recent artwork is called "Strength", 16in x 20in, acrylic on canvas.
"Strength" symbolizes my healing process of visualizing my skeleton, my thoughts, my emotions, and my attitude growing stronger each and every day. It started with a series of painted sinews in red and purple, and then slowly morphed into becoming a strong oak tree with new leaves standing tall in the bright, new moonlight. On the sides is a light, textured area that looks like it has been peeled away to reveal the tree beneath. On these spots are gritty texture in bone-white, symbolizing the endurance of a basic skeleton structure with the outline of tree leaves. The leaves represent newness, education, and growth.
I get asked this question all of the time: What is a blog? A blog is a type of website where one page streams information (called blog posts) onto it in a chronological order. It means that there is one page (one URL) that you can visit to see either a flow of new updates, with the most recent at the top.
Many people have a blog which is a stand alone website that shows their posts with a little paragraph about the author. However, in recent years, great platforms such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal have made it very easy to integrate blogs into full websites (my website design is a good example of this). This means that you can have a complete website with a common navigation menu such as home, about, services, portfolio, contact, and testimonials, AND have a blog as one of those pages.
The answer lies in your intentions for your content or website. Are you trying to build a business website where you want organic traffic from search engines to find your website? Are you looking for improved rankings on Google, Bing and Yahoo? Are you sick and tired of waiting on a friend or family member to make updates on your website for you? Do you have regular updates to make to your site but aren't sure where to add them to your site?
Here are some of the potential benefits of having a blog:
Are you creating a website for a business to show to (hopefully) thousands of people? Or a person dedicating your blog as a travel blog or showing it only to family? Though others may contend, WordPress/ Joomla/ Drupal hosted on your own hosting account is extremely more flexible than Blogspot for the marketing of a business. Though things may change regularly, the main features as why I prefer self-hosted WordPress/ Joomla/ Drupal for businesses are:
Here is some more information about the arguments for and against Blogspot and WordPress. If I were a business owner looking for a new website, though the "free" option of Blogspot sounds tantalizing, it is so limiting that once your business grows, you will need to move your site anyways to support the features of your business.
There are thousands of benefits to having a blog, but choosing the right type of platform is essential. These points will help you to make some good initial decisions and provide inspiration on what you can integrate into your own website design.
I have had the fun opportunity to work on new branding with several new businesses in Truckee, Lake Tahoe, Reno and throughout the country in the last year. One of the essential components of branding is logo design. Logos are a visual stamp of your business entity. Having a concise logo makes it easy for people to recognize your company's products and services with a quick glimpse. It it part of the protection of your company's assets through trademarking. It also leads to brand recognition and, if all goes as planned, consumer confidence.
I added a handful of my new logo designs to a new page called Logo Portfolio. If you are thinking about taking the leap to becoming an entrepreneur or are need of a business facelift, give me a call.
My first reaction is “yikes!” I have done estimates for people getting bids from these $400 guys and it's definitely comparing apples to oranges. Be sure they are being clear about what they are offering:
Here are some other questions to go through when deciding which web designer to work with: http://www.sarazimmerman.net/2011/09/29/how-to-choose-a-web-designer/
Yes. I have volunteered on a Board of Directors for an art council and on a city’s art steering committee. I have years of art experience, design experience and marketing/PR experience that I bring to each project. I have helped a handful of start-up businesses with their marketing plans (and portions of their business plans) and can help guide you along. Furthermore, I can help write copy for your marketing materials and do public relations for you if you find yourself stumbling. I also write and distribute press releases for local publications as well as help with setting up and running your social networks. I charge an hourly fee for these services.
For graphic design, I do all of my own designs and illustrations. For web design, I do the basic design and layout, html and javascript programming, web optimization suggestions, etc. I work with my husband and a local Truckee team of programmers for .php, eCommerce, MySQL, database and all other advanced programming needs. For search engine optimization, I work with a Truckee-based marketing consultant to help crunch numbers and variations.
If you have a tight budget, you can save money by creating a defined scope of work and providing ALL necessary items. However, to make it an effective project, you really need to have an understanding of marketing, what your business really needs AND have a lot of time. You don't want to put the money into something just to have something out there. You want to make it work for you. So, if you do have an understanding of marketing and have some time, then here are the things you can gather to save you money with your project:
