As we know that designing play a pivotal role in attracting the visitors and readers for a website or blog. I personally know this that big and large multinational companies are spending several thousand of dollars for new designing. In fact the most successful companies of the world, including AOL or Amazon and some others, are the companies that are also spending a huge amount of dollars to throw at new designs.
Therefore, despite being constantly told about their importance and the value of branding for my blog I’ve ignored the advice. I’ve put it to the back of my mind and decided to focus on other things. After all logo’s are really expensive aren’t they?
In these days there are some websites that are providing the new logos for your website or blog. In this category some website are charging a huge amount from you and it will be very expensive for you. But there are also some website including the 99designs, which can provide a new logo for as little as $150. The best advantage and premise of this website is that you run a competition and then designers from all over the world will submit their entries. Within a week you can be up and running with a great new logo.
I thought for several time to take this logo or not, and several time I was not in a position to take what type of decision. But after thinking for a long time about this issue, I took the plunge and launched my logo design contest on 99Designs. As a result I got a logo that gives a good first impression and was completed just in time. More importantly, as I got this logo, it was featured in various big publications. Similarly this logo sends the very important message of professionalism and this could make all the difference to the success of my site. Due to this logo my blog become very popular among others. And this was the big advantage for me.
If you are considering it for your website, then here I have provided five essential things you need to know before heading over to 99Designs. Before going to 99desing, you must read these five steps. It will act as guidelines for you and will also help you in the future, if you need any further assistance. These are given below.
1. Guarantee your prize
The first and the most important thing is that after you have had your first 10 entries on 99Designs, then you are in the position and able to “guarantee your prize”. In simple words it means that you have to choose a winner. In the beginning this might sound scary, especially in the case if you only have 10 entries and you are not a big fan of them. However, guaranteeing the prize greatly increases the number of entries you have. It means that there is a better chance of finding the right logo. In other words it also motivates you to get the most out of the designers and find the most perfect design for your site. You should don’t be scared, and you need to press the guarantee button. You chose the most beautiful out of them, and what ever you select you need to press the guarantee button.
2. Also contact with other designers
I want to share my personal story about this concept. In fact at the beginning of my competition I did not have enough entries. And those entries that I did were not of very high quality. In fact I was really at risk of having to pay some money for a logo. And, therefore, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with that. In fact I really felt a massive worry at that time. At that time I was thinking and decided to look at other competitions and find the designs. After that I then contacted with several designers behind them. I also invited them to join my competition. At that time as I think I contacted about 15 designers and 7 of those joined my competition. In the end the design I chose was off one of the designers who I invited.
In fact this was a very trouble and hard time for me related to blog designing. I was really in trouble but after some time I got some positive thinking about contacting designers. At that time I was near to leave this hard practice but I never lost my courage and tried again and again. And the results were positive. You should also need to try again if you also feel any difficulty.
3. You will also need to write a good description
The third step that you need to do is that you should need to try as hard as you can to articulate what you want from the logo. The given questions can come in our mind about designing, like;
Do you like and want to see simple designs?
Should your logo be placed on the left of the text?
Should it work on a dark background?
Would it attract the visitors?
What should be the appearance of the design?
For me it was “do I want to promote the video blog or content writing blog?” In fact I, initially, failed to mention this. But later on it was easy to bring some important changes. In this category, as I think, a good idea is that to look at some other best performing competitions and also take a look at their descriptions. It is best to just launch the competition and then make improvement as designs come in. Don not delay indefinitely, launch now even if it is not perfect because you can always change it later.
4. Feedback is also necessary:
Feedback is also essential for blog designing. Really feedback plays a very important roll in promoting a blog or a website. In feedback people will give their own ideas and also will provide some suggestions. But in fact to provide a feedback each and every day, it is a very tough task, especially in successful competitions with 100 or more entries. Sometimes you just think “bluh, can’t be bothered!” Or perhaps that is just me?
But as I have stated earlier a good feedback is very essential. Think about how the logo makes you feel and what you do and don’t like. What would you like to see in the next version? Should the designer just scrap this one? You should also use many of 99Designs features. Rate other designs with stars so designers know what you want to see more and less of. You should also need to leave comments at the bottom about the direction of the competition.
Another thing is that you should need to don’t be afraid to ask friends. Sharing and talking it with others is one of the best ways to argue about the merits and demerits of different designs. When you talk and share it with others as a result you will be in a position to hear from others about your designs. And if your design is good they will appreciate it and if they felt any defaults so they will inform you about them. Therefore, it is also an important idea to share and talk with your friends and other people that you may know. The reason behind it is that they will inform you if they have some ideas about the A, B, and C of the designing.
5. You should need to do not neglect the last 24 hours
The last thing you should keep in your mind is that you should need to not neglect the last twenty four hours. As I approached the last 24 hours I considered ending the competition early and going with a design and I was really satisfied with that. Luckily, at that time, I decided to keep going on and I am very happy and glad that I did it. The last 24 hours tend to be very active with a lot of entries. This is the time when you should be focusing on the competition the most.
Some important tips: Future proofs your design. What happens if your name changes from 1scholar to schoolar? You should also need to make sure the designer provides you with the editable Photoshop files and Adobe Illustrator files. Finally if you follow these important tips in a week you could be proudly showing off your logo to your followers.
So don’t wait and go on for your designing, and increase your blog or website traffic on 99design. Practice it and make your blog or website most popular.