Transforming Businesses into Extraordinary Brands
I’ve been lucky enough, at industry events and at CaboPress, to spend some quality time with the talented folks over at LifterLMS. Not only do have they created a great product, the LifterLMS WordPress Plugin, they are also really good people. So when Chris Badgett reached out about being a guest on their podcast, LMScast, to talk about branding, of course I said yes!
In this podcast episode, Chris and I talk about branding as it relates to creating an online course.
Ask Me Anything. I’ve seen links and chatter about Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions on various websites, but didn’t pay too much attention because often I didn’t know the person and therefore, I didn’t have any questions.
Then ManageWP reached out and asked me to participate in their Ask Me Anything blog series, right after Page.ly co-founder and Pressnomics creator Joshua Strebel.
OMG. Of course, I said yes. Then I started to get really nervous.
On September 9, my AMA discussion opened and hooray questions began coming in! Questions about family, vacation, games, Legos, and the Grateful Dead, as well as questions about developing client resources, the Genesis Framework, systems and processes, branding, family, managing workload, getting paid, and more.
Let’s just get it out there — I never loved our logo.
The copyediting concept was just a quick idea and great play on our name that Brian came up with when filing our business paperwork. I mocked it up and went with it to get the business off the ground, never intending to keep it. But everyone we met loved it. People raved about it at conferences and networking events when they asked for my card, they raved about it when calling about new projects, and over time, it just stuck.
For the first several years Bourn Creative existed, I was by myself. The colorful rainbow branding we’ve had for years evolved out of my love of color and my desire for something other than the logo to represent me, because at the time, I was the business. I loved the color, the positive feedback, and the praise we received from others about how much they loved it.
Then Brian joined Bourn Creative and took over the company as CEO and all WordPress development, and the brand had to evolve. It didn’t represent a company, but me and my freelance history. So we redesigned the Bourn Creative site, simplifying the rainbows. And about 18 months later, we did it again to “man up” the brand even more. But…
A website header is the area is one of the most valuable areas of your website. It runs across the top of the page and appears on every page of your website, except on sales or landing pages templates that have it removed.
The purpose of your website header is to promote your brand and make your site instantly recognizable to those who are already familiar with you. For many businesses, the header is the perfect place to efficiently and effectively convey exactly what your site is about and what your business does.
Have you ever wondered, How does he/she do it? How does he get so many clients? How does she show up everywhere?” I’ll bet you have. I have. And I’ll bet that thousands of other business owners have too — Why? Because there are TONS of blog posts, articles, and resources available online to teach you how to get more clients, attract more leads, and make more money.
Many articles give you tasks to check off a list and marketing tips to implement — and that’s a problem.
Take this situation for example: Lilly is doing all the right things. She’s taking action to market her business. She has a Facebook page and a Twitter account that she posts to regularly. She blogs at least once a week, she posts articles to article marketing sites, and bookmarks her content with social bookmarking sites. She attends networking events and publishes an email newsletter.
She is working hard, but she isn’t seeing much benefit. She is doing all the right things, but she isn’t getting new clients or even new leads fast enough. She feels like she’s spinning her wheels and she’s frustrated. She sees other people achieve the success she wants for herself and she feels like she deserves it because she’s working harder than they seem to be.
The nerve of some people absolutely amazes me. Well, let me rephrase. The poor and completely inappropriate application of marketing principles and strategies amazes me.
Recently a woman — we’ll call her Susie — contacted us for a quote on the design and development of a completely custom WordPress theme. She wanted the sun and the moon and had high expectations as most of our clients do. But she clearly wasn’t ready to invest in the up leveling of her brand and was a bit miffed at our quote. She made it clear that she wouldn’t be hiring us.
Then, Susie paused for a moment and spoke very seriously. Hello! Didn’t we know? Susie is a BIG deal. She has a giant list and she is an influencer.
Susie then made us an offer — She was going to make a special opportunity available for us, to design and create her custom WordPress site for FREE, in exchange for some promotion by her to her list. Oh, and we better act fast, because this opportunity to have our name in the same sentence as hers is only available for a limited time.
If you’ve been thinking of your landing page a just a holding area where your website visitors can launch browsing excursions to all the other areas around your website, I’d like to change your way of thinking. You do not want your visitors to leave your landing page to browse your website. Your landing page isn’t just a portal or a launch pad. It’s the first place you’re going to clinch a conversion and win a new customer.
If you haven’t been thinking of your landing page as a place where you land conversions, your strategy may need some revising. Here are five keys to creating a landing page that does what it’s supposed to do – win customers.
On February 14, 2012, I will be joining my mentor, self-made millionaire Ali Brown for an in-depth look at branding and how it can affect the success of your business.
I’ll be sharing 5 Steps to an Extraordinary and Lucrative Brand With Ali Brown’s Success Club on a call that is guaranteed to be jam-packed with high-value content you can put to use right away!
The Bourn Family just got back from a week-long, tech-free camping trip at Burney Falls in Northern California. We lucked out with fabulous weather and enjoyed the downtime to relax!
This year we camped with Brian’s parents, my parents, and one of my sisters. It was the first time I have ever camped with my parents as adult with my own kids. The trip brought back so many fun and memorable moments from my childhood — as my mom and dad continued the same camping traditions I remember from my childhood with my kids:
As a business owner or entrepreneur, your corporate identity is a part of your overall branding. It is an extension of your your visual brand and includes everything that has your logo and contact information on it. It adds consistency to your brand and uplevels your professionalism.
Also sometimes referred to as a stationery package, a corporate identity package, or the identity and visual graphic design of your business encompasses things like:
