Do i really need a website? Here are 21 Reasons why
Why Do I Need a Website?
Reason #1 – Online brochure
Companies spend millions creating brochures and distributing them. By having a website you can skip that entirely. Your potential customers can find out about you and any of your products online. If you get most of your business through networking and personal connections, then they will want to check out your website.
Reason #2 – More customers
More than 2.4 billion people use the internet every day, and some 90% of those have purchased something, or contacted a company, online in the last 12 months. So by not having a website, you will be missing out on a big piece of the pie.
Reason #3 – Business value
Have you tried getting a business loan recently? It’s not easy, but if you try and the bank manager asks to see your website, you better have a pretty good one. It doesn’t just stop with the bank, the perceived value of your business will be lower in everyone’s eyes – especially your customers.
Reason #4 – Influence
By having a website potentially thousands of people are going to see it. You are able to influence people’s decisions and educate them.
Reason #5 – Time to show off
You know that great feeling you get when people recognize your work? Well, by having a website you can show off what you do and take pride in your work.
Reason #6 – Helps with business goals
That’s right! When it comes to writing the content for your website you are going to revisit things about your business that you haven’t in years. You will most likely reassess your business goals.
Reason #7 – Low barriers of entry
Ever wanted to start a business? Well, now you can do it with virtual space. In fact, by using this service and by clicking here, you can get decent rates on full branding, website and CMS for start up companies
Reason #8 – 24 hours per day
Your website runs 24/7 without any supervision or need to lock it up. You can always be there for your customers.
Reason #9 – Communication with customers
By having a blog or even just a feed on your website, you can update customers on your newest offers, products, promotions, events, photos, or any other content.
Reason #10 – Marketing
The internet has opened up a whole new world of marketing that didn’t exist before. Your website can attract new business by using a whole host of low cost marketing techniques.
Reason #11 – Customer support
You can greatly reduce the cost of customer support by have a ticketing system, or even just an FAQ on your website. I can think of about 5 companies off the top of my head that streamline your customer service straight from your website.
Reason #12 – [email protected]
I know there are other ways to do this, but by having a website you can have your own email [email protected] It is more professional and easier to remember. I know you love your [email protected] , but it doesn’t really resonate with customers.
Reason #13 – Press releases
I know that sounds a bit far out, but it is true. You can run really cheap press releases online about your business, but to do it you will require a website. In fact, I have had clients who were absolute nobodies get one million views on YouTube because of online press releases.
Reason #14 – Stick it to the man
The best answer to “Why do I need a website?” would be that you can stick it to the man. It is the easiest way to quit your job and earn a living.
Reason #15 – Any topic or hobby will do
Do you love sports? How about ballet, alternative dance, photography, holidays, Kit-Kats, cars, skateboards, science or animals? Well, then you have a business idea just waiting to happen. The internet has room for an unlimited number of niche blogs that can attract traffic and revenue. Just pick something you love and start writing about it.
Reason# 16 – Connect with fellow web masters
On a little side note, if you own a website you get to call yourself a ‘web master’. Pretty cool! But reason #16 for ‘why I need a website’ is that you can easily make new business and personal connections with other website owners. This can lead to extra streams of income for you!
Reason #17 – Gives you a voice
Have you ever been in an argument with someone and said “Well, I have written an article about that on my website, and actually, that isn’t the case.” It feels great! For some reason people don’t want to argue with you if you’ve written about something on your website. It also gives you a place where you can voice your opinion without judgment. If someone leaves you a comment you don’t like you can just drag it over to the spam folder.
Reason #18 – Do business your own way
You don’t need permission from your boss or company lawyer. Ash Ambridgedrops the ‘F-Bomb’ all the time because she can, and no else is asking her to stop. Now she has a world class business with thousands of customers.
Reason #19 – Beat the big guys
Have you ever wanted to get into business, but don’t know how to compete with all the big names out there? By creating an incredibly beautiful website with a solid strategy behind it you can smash the big guys to pieces. You have no chance of building bigger skyscrapers, but your website can break down the perceived wall between you and them.
Reason #20 – Instant credibility
Have you ever had difficulty making that sale? Or convincing someone that you are the real deal. By having a well structured website you can foster instant credibility with anyone. You can provide the ultimate proof that you are, in fact, the realest of all deals (couldn’t resist that phrase).
Reason #21 – Helps you to find a new job
I bet you didn’t see this one coming. I have been harping on about how a website can help your business, but it can help you personally too. Not only can a website host your resume or CV, but by owning and managing your website you have demonstrated tons of hard and soft skills. Having worked in HR once upon a time, I know it is valuable.
So… why do I need a website?
Can you think of a couple of reasons why you shouldn’t? It wouldn’t be a balanced argument if you don’t.
CORPORATE REBRANDING: IT'S MORE THAN CHANGING A LOGO
When the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) decided to overhaul its brand and visual identity, the executive team asked an important question: How difficult and emotional will this transformation be?
“Like wading into fire,” relates Portia Mount, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for CCL, “Indeed, as thorough as our process was, when we revealed the [new] logo, we had some people say, ‘This is the best thing we've ever seen—this is amazing!’ and we had others who said, ‘We hate it.’ ”
That was in March. Since then, pockets of trepidation have given way to affirmation and rejuvenation at the venerable leadership-development organization, as the branding initiative evolved into a rallying point for internal change and began to resonate with clients. “Identities are like public art,” states Mount, in a recent conversation about the B2B rebranding effort. “It takes people a little bit of time to get used to it, to understand what it means and to grow into it.”
CCL is a research and client-services organization providing leadership training for individuals, teams, organizations and society at large. It has 3,000 associates around the world, of which roughly 600 are full-time. A sense of personal responsibility for delivering on the new brand promise has taken hold, Mount explains, transforming associates at all levels and across functions into brand ambassadors. “If they don't believe it, we know our clients won't experience it. That was a really important part of the process of coming to this new brand identity.”
So how did CCL successfully embed the change, overcoming challenges and emotions associated with revamping a brand established over four decades ago and steeped in a “quasi-academic” culture?
First came the task of identifying attributes to redefine the brand. CCL had over the years developed a broad portfolio of experience globally, yet was known mostly for training individual corporate leaders. In reality, CCL was driving results not only for better businesses, but a better world — the common denominator being what Mount calls “sustainable impact” delivered on behalf of clients. Frequently overlooked was CCL’s societal impact — working with non-governmental organizations and accelerating leadership development in conflict zones and developing countries.
Achieving sustainable impact through proven, cutting-edge research and training, tailored to a variety of disciplines and types of engagement, became something of a “clarion call” for the organization as it embarked on its rebranding mission, according to Mount. Initially, most team members associated the concept of brand merely with the logo – not a promise of distinction or the reputation they want to earn in the marketplace. So before introducing any visual rebranding, CCL undertook a carefully planned “socialization of the new identity” internally, at the business-unit and team level, via town halls, task forces and small group meetings. Voice of the Brand workshops set the tone for how to communicate values and attributes associated with the new identity.
So when it came time to change the Face of the Brand — CCL’s original, 40-year-old logo — the case for doing so was already internalized. Which is not to say it was easy: Many board members and long-time staffers shared a strong attachment to the original brand “look.” At international offices comprised mostly of newer team members, the prospect of a new visual identity received a warmer welcome.
Emphasizing the importance of consistency in messaging, Face of the Brand workshops demonstrated how the identity would translate across a range of communication tools, from email signatures and letterhead to PowerPoint templates. The purpose, says Mount, is not to come off as “brand police” but rather “to present a certain image to the market. We're trying to earn a reputation, and when we framed it that way we got so much more compliance.”
The key drivers of success? Securing up-front buy-in to the brand promise and making it into a rallying point for team-building and the exchange of information, so that employees feel personally invested in “living the brand” and fulfilling its mission and values was key. Achieving continuity and consistency in the rollout of the new identity across the entire organization, not just in terms of sales and marketing initiatives was just as important. Too often there is a lack of ongoing communication at all levels, as executives sometimes don’t engage in the outreach equivalent of a full-court press.
Let’s face it: Rebranding can be a fraught, and the healthiest organizations are comprised of people who care. So you have to connect with hearts and minds from the outset, and recognize the powerful impact organizational culture has on implementing change. As Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
CCL’s leader, John Ryan, understood this. As the lead advocate for change as an imperative to remain relevant in a global marketplace, he undoubtedly took the brunt of the emails and phone calls from concerned board members and long-term employees. He was, nevertheless, resolute in supporting Mount, the process she orchestrated, and her partnership with our team and The Brand Consultancy.
And the process, in her view, is as important as the outcome. “We're seeing the organization, if you will, mature around the brand identity. To me, that says that we did our homework in building the case for change way up front — helping people understand the reputation we were trying to earn, and then ultimately use the tools to be able to really present a polished, professional and consistent organization around and the world. That's really exciting.”
CREATING ILLUSTRIOUS BRANDS: STORYTELLING THROUGH DESIGN
A graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, Paul Wearing is a commercial artist who has applied his distinct illustrative touch to many projects, from large-scale architectural installations to campaigns for brands including Herman Miller, Elsevier, IBM, Bang & Olufsen, Neiman Marcus, Cedars Sinai Medical Center and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Often reflecting a passion for food, fashion, interior design and travel, his illustration agency’s work regularly appears in design annuals, art magazines and mass-circulation publications including The Wall Street Journal, M Magazine, Le Monde and bon appétit. He spoke with BrandingBusiness Chief Creative Officer Michael Dula, about his creative process, the power of colour and the role of creativity in branding.
Dula: As an illustrator, an artist, an image-maker, can you describe the look of your style for our listeners?
Wearing: I guess the essence of it is, it has a contemporary look. A lot of the influences that arise in my work come from mid-century type of styling — my interest in things like Charles and Reims furniture. Some of the artists who were working in that period come through my work in one way or another. What I guess it has is familiarity, in one respect, and, hopefully, freshness in another.
Dula: Tell us a little bit about your creative process. Do you create for yourself or do you create for your client's audience?
Wearing: I produce work for myself, whether or not it has an application anywhere or not. What is great is when you work with a client who has a view and wants to harness your work and take it further forward. That way, there's an interaction between the two. They'll bring something towards what you do and you'll add something to what they want to achieve.
Dula: How does your mind think when it comes to reaching your client's audience and drawing them in?
Wearing: I’m looking a lot to what the client talks about at the initial briefing on where their position is and where they're leaning, in terms their product or brand, and look at what's going on in the existing market with their competitors — trying to do something which doesn't repeat things other people do, so they have their own distinct, individual characteristic and they tell the story that is relevant to their company — their history or their characteristic¬ — and try and get across some of the essence of what the company or the product is about.
Dula: Do you spend a lot of time researching your clients, researching the background?
Wearing: As much as possible. I also try and keep abreast of current affairs and things that are happening in retail or fashion or anything like that.
In a previous life, alongside illustration, I used to work as a design consultant — advising retailers on trends, colors, products they should be developing. That involved going around the world, basically looking at what everybody was doing, going to various trade shows to see the newest colors that were coming in, and reading a lot.
That kind of background feeds into what I do now. As well as the artistic and creative side, which may be more powerful to me, there's also an awareness of the commercial aspects and socials trends manifesting themselves across a broader spectrum of areas.
Dula: How does color play out in your work?
Wearing: For me, color is absolutely key. Taking back to one of my first art history teachers, a fantastic, charismatic man who liked to tell you, “Color is the first thing anybody sees.” Essentially, I think he's right. After that, you see form and then line.
One of my earlier trainings was as a print textile designer, and color is so key in that area.
One of the most wonderful things… you can almost tell a story with color. If the colors aren't right in something, it never quite works for some reason. If they're right, things fly. And you'll see how much care people put into that when they apply it to areas of business like branding — the enormous amount of energy and focus on detail in trying to get people to have their individual look and individual color and individual stamp.
Dula: When I look at your illustrations, there is color harmony and balance and color complexity. It does seem fundamental when I look at a Paul Wearing illustration, whether you're using three colors or 100 colors. There's a certain harmony. Does color come naturally? Do you go through a lot of experimentation?
Wearing: I work almost exclusively on the computer now. When I begin a job, into the file that I'm working in, I'll bring in several pieces of work… images and colors that I think are pertinent to that particular job. Then I'll just begin playing. The beauty of working in digital media nowadays is the ability to recolor things. It's just fantastic.
Dula: It's amazing to me the vastness of your work, in terms of the application — whether it's on the side of a building, in an ad, on a website. Is there a difference between working with consumer brands and corporate brands?
Wearing: Sometimes just because of the pace of things with retail brands, things move faster. They're slightly more predetermined.
Sometimes with corporate brands, there's a more organic growth or a development period, probably because a lot of parties need to be involved in the decision-making. Also, there aren’t the pertinent deadlines you might get if you’re launching a product.
Dula: So many stories and ideas pour out of your imagery. Whether they'd be minimalistic, whether they'd be more complex, each one seems to hold a story. When you think about storytelling, how big of factor does it play?
Wearing: I think it's quite a big factor — not necessarily in a straightforward type of narrative like a storybook. A lot of my work will involve layering of imagery, subtle patterns and sometimes patterns which tell a story. They may not be immediately obvious.
For example, I had a great commission for Cedars Sinai Medical Center to develop a book promoting their child acute-sickness ward. In that, we had a child being picked up. And within the child, there was a repeat pattern. You got the sense that it was caring not just for one child but numerous children.
Dula: I've gotten to know you and your work through our client Elsevier [a leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services]. Can you talk about your recent work for them?
Wearing: What a fantastic job, to begin with. It's not that often that a client will come to you and want to base their whole look and brand around a lot of the graphic handwriting that you produce.
One of the things about the job… they liked what your colleague Drew [Letendre] termed “visual wit”… the idea of a tree within a head that signified knowledge. But because it had to do with digital downloads, the tree's roots were then made out of circuit board.
It sounds slightly trite when you say it, but when you illustrate it in the right way, it can be beautiful and it can work so nicely and tell a story in a very succinct way.
Dula: In your experience, what role does creativity play in the world of B2B branding?
Wearing: I think creativity everywhere is important, but especially in branding. To differentiate your company, get your company to tell its unique story. To have somebody come in with a creative spark and add a creative idea of how you can do that, I think, is so important.
How to jog your creative mojo with paint #creative #design #inspiration #graphicdesign
Recently had our painter decorator in to finally splash some colour into our offices! I get to stare at a not so luminous lime green wall for the best part of 9 hours which surprisingly is quite nice!
Only time will tell on how these colours affect my daily creative juices.
when you look at the psychology of colour and creative minds there's a lot to take in, paint has a massive effect on our mood whether it be at home or in the office, try staring at a red wall for 8 hours then have a nice conversation with someone.
if you're stuck in a creative mud puddle up to your neck and can't see how you lost it, change your view.
Copyright infringes are all too common, not cool to steal
This post is short and sweet to outline the fact that copyright, stealing and borrowing are all too common nowerdays that we're simply not taking the time to look at how things have been made and what sort of complexity goes into each vector you spend 2 minutes to download and slap into your mates flyer design.
someone, somewhere has taken time to create this particular vector from the stroke up, check out the Infograph below to see the final piece being dissected.
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Portfolio of the week!
Thank you to everyone who voted this past week to get me to the top of Portfolio of the week! Sitting on the top with a measly 3 votes between myself and the competitors i thought it was never going to go in my favour, but you all smashed it and pulled through in the end!
Check out Daily Design Break for some amazing editorials jam packed with design tips and coverage of all up and coming designers.
http://www.dailydesignbreak.com/
The Custard Factory
Walking to work if came across this piece, great to know that Birmingham/Digbeth support great art, whatever the medium used.
Hats off to this artists.
Birthday for one!
24 today! Fack!
Thanks to the rents for making this website possible with invested funds!