4 Reasons Your Brand Isn’t Taking Off (and What to Do About It)

Here’s a real question for you. What were some of the biggest fears you had around launching your brand? Maybe they’re even fears you currently have as you prepare for that launch.

Do any of these sound familiar?

  • I’m afraid no one will care or pay attention.

  • I’m afraid my products / services won’t sell.

  • I’m afraid of what people will think.

If everyone reading this was in a room together I’m sure 99% of hands would be in the air. Because let’s face it, these are all things that we should fear. After all, we put so much work into bringing our dreams to life, we sure as heck want to see our brands to succeed.

So what do we do when some of those fears actually start to become our realities? Do we throw in the towel and call it quits? I sure hope not! Instead, we can take a good honest look at where we might have missed the marks.

Read More

Paid vs Free: How to Decide Which Graphic Design Programs to Use

If you're a blogger with graphic design ideas you will want to use the right graphic design programs. Adding  visually appealing graphics to your blog is one way to make it stand out and reinforce your brand. In addition to blog graphics you will need to create pins for Pinterest, social media graphics and more. If you're just starting out, you may not have the budget or want to spend the money for professional graphic design software. The industry standard is Adobe, with products like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. These are the programs I use and prefer because they offer quite a bit of options.  The company developed Adobe Creative Cloud, a monthly paid subscription alternative instead of spending hundreds of dollars to own the software. Many believe paid pro tools are the only way to go if you want to produce quality graphics. But there are some free options that are pretty good. Keep these in mind when deciding whether to go with free or paid graphic design tools.

Read More

How to Make Stock Images Fit Your Blog’s Brand

When blogging first became popular, it was common for bloggers to simply choose a photo they liked and plop it into their post, sometimes with a catchy caption. But now in today’s crowded and competitive market, a simple photo won’t do. Editing your blog photos or graphics helps you stand out. Two reasons why your blog needs visually appealing graphics that you can customize is that it creates brand awareness and increases social sharing. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a graphic designer to edit stock photos. You just need to learn a few basics to get started. Follow these tips to start learning how to personalize stock images.

Read More