Category Archives: Design for Hire

14
Mar

YouTube Background Design to Further Your Brand Messaging

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

Do you have a YouTube account, but your background is a solid color and not promoting your brand at all? YouTube is one of the largest social media sites in the world, just following Facebook. Video is the most popular media type online and will continue to be the growing trend for a long time.

If you do not have a YouTube account, then first, I need to urge you to get on this wagon by setting up an account and taking the video plunge today.

If you do have a YouTube account, you must, must get it branded, otherwise you are literally wasting the opportunity. Every single time someone views your video, they should be staring at your website URL, photo, logo, tagline – or testimonials, a service list – anything that will drive people back to your website to learn more about what your message is.

See below for my YouTube background and examples of a recent YouTube channel backgrounds we designed: (click to zoom)


6
Mar

Facebook Timeline for Pages – Questions Answered

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

Everywhere I turn I’m seeing people ask questions, post articles and shares images for the new Facebook Timeline for pages coming March 30th. The new Timeline look was introduced to personal profiles as early as last Fall for those that accessed the Developer App. Now, Facebook Timeline will be revealed on March 30th and we have just a couple of weeks to prepare.

What does the new Timeline look like?

What is the greatest addition for Facebook pages?
The Facebook Cover is by far the greatest because we now have an 815px X 310px header that sits at the top of our page which we can use to further our brand messaging!

Get Your Facebook Page Timeline Cover Header Designed »

Important! There are some critical points of information to note about the Timeline for Pages. Some include:

  • Facebook no longer allows you to set a default landing tab for your business page.

22
Feb

Share My Message! 7 Key Steps to Social Media Integration

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

Attention authors, speakers and entrepreneurs who are trying to build their online business and make profits to sustain the message they are passionate about sharing:

  • Do you feel clueless about social media? Questions come up such as, “What do I say on Facebook?”, “Is this really as important as people say?”, “Which social networks are the best to be on and why?”
  • Are you curious how to maximize social media interaction on your website so more web visitors share and like your content?
  • Have you considered the powers of branding your social networks to drive all that traffic back to your website?

Don’t worry, most online business owners share this frustration and confusion. Today my goal is to help you build a sturdy bridge so a steady stream of people flows between your website and social media touch-points. The goal is to maximize ease for people to join your social networks from your website AND to find your website while visiting your social networks.


9
Feb

What is Pinterest and How to Use Pinterest for Business Exposure

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

Pinterest is the latest, greatest social network. It is one of the faster growing social networks and is said to already be bringing website owners more traffic than Google+ and LinkedIn.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a social network that allows you to “pin” cool images to a virtual corkboard-type setup on your wall. The home page acts as a giant feed of images that are being posted on Pinterest to show you the latest activity. They have developed a browser add-on button that allows you to be on any website (except Facebook, I’ve discovered so far) and be able to click the “pin it” button to add images to your Pinterest profile page without having to be on that site.


28
Sep

Get Your Facebook Page Timeline Cover Header Designed – the NEW Facebook Timeline

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

As of March 30th (we are told) Facebook will change over all business pages to the new Facebook Timeline design. Many have already changed their personal page to the new timeline months ago through use of the Facebook Development App.

Facebook is giving us an 850px X 315px Timeline Cover (or header) that sits at the top of our Facebook pages! The new Facebook cover is a HUGE amount of space to promote you, your business and your services – don’t miss the opportunity to brand your Facebook Timeline Cover.

Total Facebook Branding

There are three ways to uniquely brand your Facebook page(s).

  • One is with a Facebook Cover as discussed below.

  • The second is with a Facebook Banner Image which is a medium-sized vertical banner. For those of you still clinging on to the “old look,” this is a must for you. I suggest clients get this designed either way as it can be used as a bookmark for events, an affiliate banner, used for cross-promotion on other websites, etc.


6
Sep

New Release! By Popular Demand, Online Evolutions 2 Now Available!

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

I’ve feel so honored and truly grateful from all of you who have download Online Evolutions 1 and given me such great comments like,

“I just started reading your ebook – Online Evolutions – and I wanted to let you know that it is truly inspirational! You talk about many of the same principles that I applied to my sales regime and daily routine early in my career. I must say that I needed a “refresher course”. Keep writing and offering up principles to live by!”  — Joyce K

“Thanks Amber! I got the hard copy of the (Online Evolutions) book in the mail yesterday. Thanks for your note. You are so great! I am excited! Thanks again! You rock!!!! :) “  — Sarah

 

I’ve been asked throughout this year, “When’s the next volume coming??” Thank you all for your patience as I could get this formatted and prepped for you. Today I can announce, “IT’S HERE!”


16
Jun

A New Discovery: Facebook Marketing Banners to Further Brand Your Business

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

Have you seen these Facebook Marketing Banners? I stumbled across a friend (and GREAT Internet Marketer)’s Facebook Page a couple days ago and saw something that I thought was super creative…

Simon Leung had used the little image boxes at the top of his Facebook Profile Page to spell out the URL to his website, added branding, and now has a big “Facebook Marketing Banner” that shows a constant call to action! Bravo.

Then today, I saw another one:

Ah ha… I started to catch on. Maybe this isn’t brand spankin’ new, but it’s new enough that I’m just now catching on and I try to always stay current.

With a quick Google Search I see there are lots of free Banner-Builder sites out there you can use to achieve this Facebook Marketing Banner idea. It’s great! Most though have pre-made banners with a catchy (or not) phrase or template design. :( boo.


25
May

Branding: eBook Design that Says Something About You and Your Message

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

eBooks are no longer a “new and cool” concept. It seems like everyone has an eBook – which I think is pretty cool. I love writing eBooks. They’re fast to knock out, they have the opportunity of going viral (if you spend the time to do them the right way) and they can REALLY say something about you and your message.

When you get the idea to write one of these short books (usually 6-12 pages in length), puuullllease consider all that “stuff” beyond writing the words. In my opinion, to write a solid eBook you’ll want to:

  1. Create an outline so you stay on topic. Think of it like a mini-book. There should be a beginning (intro), middle (meat of your content), and end (closing with call to action).
  2. Edit your eBook. You want to comb through your pages a few times to make sure you don’t have typos. Remember this is a *reflection* of how you want to come across to these readers as a first impression.

13
May

Facebook Welcome Page Custom Designed and Development

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

You’ve probably noticed this trend on Facebook business pages. You’d arrive at someone’s page and you see a Facebook Welcome Image that looks like a landing page. The first few designs were very simple with text, then it grew to having videos, opt-in boxes and other goodies.. and developers like me got excited at the possibilities.

Facebook recently made a change to its business page layout and started to implement the new Timeline look. Instead of a new visitor landing on this “welcome page” first, thereby acting as a landing page (the way the page was setup pre-Timeline), NOW with the new Timeline a visitor will find this welcome page by clicking on a welcome tab such as this example shows:

Total Facebook Branding

There are three ways to brand your Facebook page(s).

  • One is with a Facebook Welcome Landing Page as discussed below. This is to be used only on business pages and a solid way to build your email list, get new clients, and get MORE LIKES!


22
Jan

Website Design Breakdown: What Does Your Headshot Say About You and Your Website?

By: Amber Ludwig, Website Development • Social Media Branding • Internet Marketing Coaching

Today I thought I’d show you a series of website headers containing the website owner’s photo. Featuring your headshot within the header of your website design is very common if you are an entrepreneur, consultant, speaker and/or author.

The photo you choose to represent you in your website design is so important. When a visitor comes to your website for the first time, you have all of 3-5 seconds to make a first impression. That impression will either result in them staying on your site to learn more about you, or they will hit the back button, thereby increasing your bounce rate.

So what does your headshot say about you? If your photo is outdated, please change it! I think it’s important to show a photo of you within the last 1-3 years, versus 5+ years ago. You can even go to Target if funds are tight – or most digital cameras are very high quality these days. Note too your website designer can tweak your photo to add a background or border or fade that can really make your photo pop.