What Makes a Good Logo?

What is a logo?
A logo is a design, graphical representation, image or symbol that represents a business or organization. Logos were initially used to distinguish and differentiate products, the logos assisted purchasers in finding the product they prefer or have come to trust (or not trust). When product selections were limited and items were marked with a logo which a consumer was familiar they would naturally assume a certain level of quality or value, even if they had not previously used that specific product from that vendor. Now many companies not only have a corporate logo, but they have a logo to represent each of their products or product lines.

The company or product logo typically appears on all printed media or websites that are associated with the company or product. The logo appears in all marketing material and media.

A logo is really more than just a graphic, a logo design is part of a larger marketing concept. Marketers take specific care when selecting a logo, and they give a lot of thought about what they want their customers to identify with the company or product logo.

Some logos are designed around color. Studies have been conducted about the psychology of color and how different colors evoke different emotions. Green is used to imply wealth or expense, a marketer might use a green logo to imply an increase in perceived value. Blue on the other hand has a calming and soothing effect. Multiple colors can be used to accent and highlight specific parts of the logo. Accented and highlighted colors should be contrasting and complimentary.

Regardless of what colors you select, be sure that you use standard pantone colors and websafe colors. Also make sure these colors can be easily reproduced in print mediums.

Logos should be simple, and not overly elaborate or complex. Newer businesses and technology companies should have modern logos, while long standing businesses may want to use a logo that emphasizes their business experience. That does not mean that an older business cannot freshen or enhance an older logo, they may just want to retain certain qualities so their logo is still recognizable. Rarely do business depart drastically from an established logo. For this reason businesses should select a logo that has longevity. Once you establish and build a strong corporate image, you will want to retain it.

Logos should be designed so that they scale easily and can be used in a variety of mediums: letterhead, t-shirts, and more. Always keep in mind that logos are part of a larger marketing concept. Promotional materials will require consistency to reinforce the company or product image.

Taglines incorporated into the logo help reinforce the underlying message in a logo and can be an easy addition. Countless memorable marketing campaigns over the years have associated slogans with a logo to hit a message home.

While logos sound complex, in truth it has never been easier to locate a logo. Professional graphic artists are abundant on the web, and can be contracted to create a custom logo, or business owners can scroll through thousands of logos in logo directories.

Logo Directories:
Logo Search - logo-search.com
Logo Maid - logomaid.com
LogoWorks - logoworks.com

Logos are the building blocks of a company or product identity. Be sure to take the time to find a logo that reflects the values that you, as a business owner, want associated with your business. Find a logo that is more than just a graphic.

A Home Based Business Won't Make You An Overnite Success

Believe it or not, it takes a long time to become an overnite success! Once you have chosen your particular home based business, the two most important things to remember are to stay focused and not to get discouraged.

I've had many active and enthusiastic business team members that were their own worst enemies because they exhibited the classic "flea on a griddle" behavior pattern and jumped around chasing one business opportunity today, and then another one tomorrow without ever putting in enough sustained and focused effort to reasonably give themselves a chance to succeed at any of them.

I can really relate to this situation since I briefly fell prey to this same "dog in a meat market" syndrome when I first started my own home based business a few years ago. I caught myself trying to chase several different opportunities at once and not being very successful with any of them.

There are so many home business opportunities (some real, some not) that it takes real personal discipline to avoid the scattergun approach...you know, throw enough against the wall and something is bound to stick. In the early going, it is really important to resist this temptation and to stay tightly focused on a single business.

Some will argue that "I don't want to have all my eggs in one basket". To those people I say, diversification is fine, but only after you have achieved solid success with your initial business. A premature attempt at diversification will quite likely cause a loss of focus and actually slow down your success rate.

If your main marketing vehicle is a website, you can fairly easily leverage your initial success and effectively promote a few other complimentary and closely related home based business propositions from the same website.

However, it is important not to go overboard and offer too many choices to visitors to your website. If you do, there is a good chance of confusing your visitors to the point where they will take no action and you have, in effect, diluted the effectiveness of your website.

Whatever you decide to do, you will need to stick with it for a reasonable length of time (give it at least one year) and put in a solid and sustained effort. Stay focused and don't get discouraged. As much as you would like it to be, starting and developing a real home based business is certainly not an instant gratification situation.

Coping With Frustration While Operating A Home Based Business

Regardless of whether it is online, or offline, operating any type of business will present challenges and periods of frustration. The source of frustration addressed in this article may be all too familiar if you happen to work at an Internet-based home business which relies on personal relationships and/or teamwork.

I am often contacted by members of my business team with a tale of woe regarding a lack of response from their affiliates. It typically goes something like..."I send out lots of emails to all of them and I very rarely get any response. What am I doing wrong".

If your particular internet business involves selling well known branded items, personal feedback is not an issue. Visitors to your website (potential customers) are primarily interested in selection, availability, and price. If it is a returning customer, then you can also throw customer service into the equation. Once the desired item is selected, your mouse does all the "talking" without any human interaction involved.

However, there are many types of internet-based home businesses where feedback and interaction are quite important and getting an affiliate or business team member to communicate with you is a definite objective. It's not at all surprising that this can be a challenge when you stop to think that what you are trying to do is initiate a dialog between two complete strangers who have never even seen each other.

Heavily branded websites like walmart.com or amazon.com are household names and carry an implied trust with visitors. However, the vast majority of websites are not well known and are found and visited as a result of searches performed by search engines. In these instances, the visitor is probably arriving at the website for the first time and human nature often dictates a sense of fear or suspicion of the unknown which is manifested by a reluctance to respond to email messages from an unknown party.

It seems that there is no pat answer as to the best way to elicit an initial email response from a person. I have tried several approaches with varying degrees of success. Individual styles will vary, but the following four points should be kept in mind:

*you need to build trust & credibility with thorough knowledge of your business and with straight forward talk about realistic expectations.

*don't over-sell or indulge in hype as many people are expecting this and it can be an immediate turn-off.

*send messages with at least one open-ended question that requires a response.

*keep the messages fairly brief, long winded messages that go on and on quite frequently will not be read.

One other thing to keep in mind is that your messages may not even be reaching the intended recipient and they have no opportunity to give you a reply. At the end of your messages you might want to ask the recipient to send you a return email just saying "got it".

We all agree that spam is a very serious problem. These days, many email providers and ISPs have appointed themselves to be the "information police" and are employing various schemes to try to recognize and block messages that constitute spam. Unfortunately, these mail filtering or blocking techniques are often very inaccurate and many messages that people actually want to receive are arbitrarily being sent off into the ozone.

I have some first hand experience with this situation. Not long ago, the ISP that my mother was using suddenly decided that she would not be allowed to receive messages from me! It took us a while to figure out what was going on, but once we did, that ISP was going to soon become history as far as my mother was concerned.

In the final analysis, all you can do is give it your best shot. Some people will respond, some won't...and the beat goes on. Remember, it's nothing personal, just human nature at work.