If you’re not a designer by profession (and most of us aren’t), the type of graphic design you perform on a daily basis is done in applications like Microsoft Word. Done correctly, this kind of desktop publishing can help you easily create effective communication pieces that highlight the inventive, effective nature of your business. But doing desktop publishing poorly is one mistake that can easily relegate your business to the ranks of the overlooked, undervalued, unprofessional masses.

Below are five tips to help make sure that what comes out of your computer contributes to your success instead of undermining your credibility.

1. Sketch it out first

If you’ve got a newsletter to put together in Publisher, or a PowerPoint presentation to hammer out, don’t just open the program and start inserting pictures and information. Grab a paper and pen first and make a list of everything you need to include. Then, do a quick, messy sketch of where you’d position each picture and block of text on each page. Once you’ve figured out these elements, make sure you’ve budgeted enough room for plenty of white space – it will add a great deal to the professionalism of the piece. Pre-planning makes the design process a lot quicker, and makes the end product look much smarter.

2. Only use two fonts

When putting together a layout, the general rule of thumb is to employ only two fonts in any document you make. For long stretches of text (paragraphs, or full articles), it’s best to use a serif font like Garamond or Times New Roman. Serif fonts were designed to be easier to read, providing visual “hooks” for your eyes to catch on to as they scan the page. Sans Serif fonts (like Arial) are best for short instances of text like titles or captions. If you can restrict yourself to two fonts (and even two colours) throughout one project, you’re off to a good start, and your restraint will certainly convey a sense of sophistication.

3. Never use clip art

It’s easy to rely on the many free pictures, clip art, fonts and borders that are already on your computer. Unfortunately, in almost every instance, using these elements in a presentation or document does a tremendous disservice to your credibility and your level of professionalism. Although ClipArt can often sum up a sentiment or illustrate a point, more often than that, it just looks cheap and tacky – and that includes PowerPoint transition effects. You’d be well advised to pretend these elements don’t even exist as options on your computer.

4. Don’t ruin your images

One of the design’s most dangerous inventions are the resizer handles that appear when using images in desktop publishing. Those are the eight little boxes that let you squish, enlarge, stretch or compress a picture. If you drag one in an attempt to resize a photo, you actually ruin it by changing its proportions. In fact, the only way you can make sure that your picture does not get distorted is by holding SHIFT down while you drag a corner handle. It’s vital that you’re careful when resizing your images, especially if the image in question is your company’s logo.

5. Create your own templates

Most applications come with pre-designed templates, but like we cautioned against in point 3, using these can often make your project look worse. Instead, creating and using your own original templates (assuming they’ve been made with our first four tips in mind) is a great way to emphasize your business’ consistency and credibility. In PowerPoint, you can create a Master Slide to introduce your presentation’s look, and in Word, you can use Headers and Footers to streamline elements across all your pages.

Conclusion:

These five desktop publishing tips will keep you from making those unfortunate mistakes that make us all look silly. But beyond that, they’ll help raise the standard of professionalism for your business, and ensure that your desktop publishing projects are exactly what you need them to be: clean, smart and effective.

If you’ve been thinking that it’s time for your business to have its own website, we’d like to walk you through the process of getting the project started. By the end of this article, you’ll be armed with the knowledge you need to intelligently request a quote from a few local website development companies. (We’d tell you how to build a website yourself, but we assume you still want to have the time and sanity to run your business.)

Before calling up a web studio, it’s important to assess what your company will need out of its future website. Walking through the seven questions below will help you determine your website’s scope, establish your budget for this project, and understand a bit about the development process.

Seven Questions To Answer Before Building Your Website:

1. What information must your website provide?
2. How often will it need to be updated?
3. Will your customers shop online?
4. How interactive will your website be?
5. When do you need it finished?
6. Who write and prepare the content?
7. What is your budget?

1. What information must your website provide?

Before thinking too much about your website’s features or look & feel, think about the basic information and details your company’s website should contain. Sort through your existing brochures and product support materials, think about the types of emails and phone calls you field on a regular basis, and try to put together a list of categories. How many categories do you have? How many subcategories?

2. How often will it need to be updated?

Many corporations choose to regularly publish news articles on their websites. Others like to have a “company blog,” from which they can frequently post stories, updates or thoughts about the business’ ongoing adventures. You might also like the option of regularly adding or updating info about your company.

If you imagine you will need to make updates to your website even as often as once a month, then be sure you talk to your web developer about a Content Management System. A Content Management System (or CMS) lets you, the business owner, easily make changes to the text and images on your website, without having to know any programming languages. A Content Management System is the current “acceptable standard” for websites that need regular updates: if your website isn’t built on one, you will likely find updates very inconvenient.

3. Will your customers shop online?

Do you have a product catalogue that you’d like customers to order from, directly on the web? If so, how many products do you sell? If you’re a non-profit, will you be accepting donations through your website? Do these transactions needs to synchronize with an existing database your company uses? Since online shopping often requires specialized technology solutions, having these answers ready before your first meeting with a web developer will help them establish an accurate quote for you.

4. How interactive will your website be?

Like online shopping, anything that “moves or gets moved” on your website can require specialized solutions that require some advance planning. If you’re hoping to have any moving elements (like animated menus or header graphics), any embedded videos, or any other multimedia downloads like podcasts or photos, try to compile a list of all your expectations in advance. If you’ll also need interactive areas like login screens, sign-up forms, quizzes, surveys and so on, it would also be helpful to have a general sense of how many, and what they’ll be used for.

5. When do you need it finished?

The typical web project will take 3-5 months to complete – although, that will vary depending on your answers to questions 3 and 4. Knowing when your website needs to be live and online will help you decide when to commence the development project with your chosen studio.

6. Who will write and prepare the content?

Many web studios leave it up to you, the client, to write and add all the content and text to your website. If you’re not prepared for this task yourself, do you have somebody in your organization that specializes in writing, copy editing and content planning? If not, it’s important to let your web development company know this, so they can factor the writing process (or outsourcing) into your quote.

7. What is your budget?

The pricetag attached to your website depends on your answers to all of the questions above, and especially on the web development company you approach. Bearing that in mind, here is a very rudimentary glance at the types of prices to expect.

Basic site: $2,500 - $8,000
(Under 50 pages, limited custom features)

Intermediate site: $10,000 - $15,000
(Consisting of 50-150 pages, could include a customized e-commerce system)

Advanced site: $20,000+
(Consisting of 200+ pages, geared towards high flexibility and extensive visitor interactivity)

It’s also important to factor in the annual fees that may be associated with your website. At the very least, you should expect to pay around $200 to have your website hosted on your web company’s server. If you end up using a Content Management System to which your web studio holds the rights, you might also have to pay a licensing fee, which can add to the cost of the project. (If that seems like an unsavoury fee, ask your web developers about WordPress, which is an open-source Content Management System that will cost much less.)

Conclusion:

Building a website can seem like a daunting task, so be sure to take it one step at a time. The studio you choose will help you through the process, and will help you shape your website so it is the powerful, effective, personalized tool you need it to be for your business. Knowing what you need is the first step to getting what you want in a website.

Just because a multinational chain has the clout and budget to brand themselves through inescapable ad campaigns doesn’t mean that they hold the exclusive rights to good branding. On the contrary: paired with quality services and a good reputation, the small business owner can take control of their company’s identity, and craft an image that rivals even the most financially blessed competitor. Below are some tips to help you along the way.

1. Be consistent with your logo usage

You don’t need to have a six-figure communications budget in order to have a recognizable image — as long as you insist on high standards of consistency and professionalism. When launching or maintaining your company’s logo, no matter what it looks like, just make sure you use it consistently.

From business cards to billboards, your logo needs to remain uniform in its appearance, avoid accidental distortion or pixilation, and maintain the same colours. There’s more to it than that, of course, but the principle is this: your business can change shape, but your logo shouldn’t. The graphic designer who creates the logo for you will likely supply you with a helpful identity standards manual that will ensure that no matter where it goes, your logo remains a reliable ambassador.

2. Write well, and develop your company’s written voice

Good copy-writing and even better editing will save you from embarrassment, frustration, and tears. Beyond proper spelling and grammar (which should be givens), it’s vital to avoid using insider terminology and customer-unfriendly abbreviations when explaining your company’s services and products. Additionally, developing a voice and style for your company’s copy helps your customers understand what type of organization you are.

3. Teach your customers how to perceive you

You’ve probably heard variations of the phrase, “You teach people how to treat you” — meaning that the way you behave teaches people what kind of respect you deserve (or don’t deserve.) Similarly, the visual identity of your company is giving people cues about how to perceive you.

What is your company’s look saying about your company right now? Is your website telling people you’re behind the times and disorganized? Is your fleet of decaled vehicles telling customers you’re efficient and coordinated? Are you seen as cheap and low-budget? Indulgent? Hiring a design studio to work with you on intentionally crafting your image is a helpful way to understand and control how you are being perceived.

4. You can’t always control perceptions

Despite your best efforts to follow Rule Three, you can’t always control people’s perceptions of your business. In fact, it’s often a good thing to surrender control of your messaging to your customers, for two reasons: first of all, if a satisfied customer is doing the talking for you, it saves you time and money. Secondly, surrendering control saves you from experiencing “micro-manager’s meltdown” as you watch people misquote your message and misunderstand your brand.

When attempting to “control your perceptions” through your logo, website, ads, website and more, remember that you are merely making suggestions about your brand, not issuing decrees.

5. Communicate your image, not just your information

Many small business owners are so focused on communicating “the facts” about their company and services, that they fail to pay attention to their delivery style. It might sound flaky to insist on placing priority on your image, but in reality, people won’t place much value on your message if your very essence appears sloppy and untrustworthy.

Any time you’re tempted to simply deliver a stream of facts, details and information about your company, consider taking a step back. It helps to consult with creative professionals to make sure you’re presenting the information in a way that is clear, easy to understand, and represents your business the best way possible.

Following these five simple, accessible tips on branding will help ensure that your company’s image remains a recognizable, respected presence in your community. As far as actually having a good business…well, that part’s in your hands.