So you have a blog, now what?

Blog’s can be a great source of information for your customers, however coming up with something week after week can be daunting. Here are some ideas and inspirations for those times when you get the notorious writers block.

-Think about the top questions you get asked by your customers and write a blog addressing those questions.

-What are you working on? You can easily upload pictures and show your readers what your business is up too.

-Interview someone in your industry. Provide your readers with an interesting interview from an industry insider.

-Travel. Get inspired by your surroundings. You don’t have to travel to far off distances even listing some local hot spots can create a blog entry.

-Read. Select a few articles that you have read or provide reviews on books you have recently read relating to your industry.

-Surf the net. By searching the internet you can find interesting articles, stories or pictures for your posts.

-Shop. This is my personal fav :) Shop for things or services for your industry and sharing that with your readers.

-Write a review. In business you use a lot of different services and make great connections so share that with your readers and give your rave reviews about who you use. (Be careful with this one though if your writing a negative review, it could come back to bite you)

-Try new places and things. By trying out new places or things you are not only staying current within your industry but you can provide readers with why your way of doing things is better than the competition.

-Get technical. Are their certain aspects of your business that leave people scratching their heads? Explain in layman’s terms something about your industry.

-Vanessa

Flaunt Worthy Fonts

On most computers Times New Roman is the default font, and in my opinion the most boring (it brings me back to the days of writing school papers and no one wants to be reminded of that!)  Well I'm here to tell you we have come a long way since the days of only having a few fonts to select from.  In fact, typography can be an inexpensive way to create an interesting and dynamic marketing design.  So this week’s blog features a few of my newest font favorites! Use these fonts or others, to spice up your website or make attention-grabbing marketing material. Just be careful that it is still easy to read and flows with your overall design objectives. Enjoy!

Featured Fonts:

Orial- I love that the swirls add delicateness to this bold typography.

FontDinerDotCom- Retro, yet whimsical this font reminds me of a 50’s diner.

El&Font Block- This graffiti style font would be hard to pull off for most businesses. But….I think given the right audience and industry, like an urban fashion blog and this font could add some edginess.

Green Piloww- I love the organic handwritten characteristics of this font. I think it would be perfect for a green business.

TrashCo- Grungy with ink splatter spots, this typography is funky and functional.

Vtks Revolt- I like that the capital letters are different from the rest of the word. This one is creative yet easy to read which is key.

-Vanessa

Inspirational Blogging

One thing I love to do is travel. I love seeing new places, trying new food and meeting new people. One way travel can inspire your blog is through pictures. By taking pictures of what you find beautiful in your travels you can than translate that into a new color palate, texture or theme. However, don’t think you have to travel to far distant places, you can find inspiration all around you. People, scenary of everyday life and things are also great muses to get your creative juices flowing. Here are a few picture/blog translations I created.

I call this one Venetian Church.  This is a nod to the beautiful church's we saw in Venice, Italy.

This one is inspired by the flowers of Fiji. 

And lastly taking your favorite picture of someone special can inspire.  I called this one L-O-V-E.

Don't know where to begin? Colourlovers.com is a fantastic place to start!  Whether you are a novice or an expert you can create custom wallpapers for your blog, twitter or myspace. 

Happy coloring!

-Vanessa