Posted by Marnie Bergan on the 18 August, 2008
Cumberland Courier Newspapers holds the True Local Business Awards for 19 regions across Sydney and the Central Coast. Their aim is to acknowledge and celebrate the success of businesses in their local communities. The program unites the local community, and in recognising the success and potential of local businesses, encourages community growth and development.
Nominations and voting has now opened for 2008 and I’m proud to announce that once again, Bergan Blue has been nominated!
2007 saw Bergan Blue as a Finalist in the Professional Services category and we’d love to be able to achieve the same for 2008. If you feel that we deserve a spot as a Finalist, please click HERE then click on ‘Vote Now’ on the right to cast your vote!
By voting, you also go in the draw to WIN one of 20 indulgent weekend packages for two at the Crowne Plaza, Terrigal!
You’ll enjoy two nights accommodation in Pine Tree Suite including breakfast, dinner at Seasalt restaurant, a relaxing spa treatment, champagne and a late checkout! The perfect romantic weekend away!
What are you waiting for? Cast your vote!
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Tags: business awards
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Posted by Marnie Bergan on the 18 August, 2008
Common Design Mistakes - Part 1
Whether in start-up phase or well established, the fact is that small businesses can’t always afford to pay to have their marketing materials designed professionally. So sometimes they decide to design their own. This is where things can go horribly wrong. Below you will find some basic design tips that will help make your flyers or ads look a little more like you had professional help!
symmetrical madness
Centering every visual element in your marketing material is not the best approach. Despite the attraction to symmetry being deeply ingrained in us as humans, when it comes to design having your business logo, marketing message, pictures and contact details all in one long-running, centered paragraph isn’t only unprofessional looking, it also looks lazy and boring.
Those corners are just begging to be filled. That doesn’t mean you should fill up every other bit of space on your canvas, but instead plan your design strategically, sketch it out on some paper, do a mock up of your sketch, and then play with it until it looks right.
too much text
You have a matter of seconds to get the attention of your audience. When they look at your flyer and see a page full of black text and a tiny logo, you’ve lost a customer. Most people today barely have time to pick up your flyer or glance at your ad, let alone read a whole marketing pitch on a piece of paper. They’re not going to waste their time reading something like this, so don’t waste your very precious time making this kind of flyer. Volume does not equal quality. Cut down on unnecessary text and make every word left on your design one that counts.
clip art
Clip art is for your kids’ projects and garage sales. It should not be part of anything that comes out of your business. Trust me on this one.
no white space
As I mentioned above, you shouldn’t try to fill up every pixel of free space. All marketing material needs blank or white space – websites, business cards, flyers and stickers. All of them. It gives the illusion of there being less text to read, makes the text that is there easier to read and generally presents the overall design as clean and neat. Overcrowding your designs with pictures, accents or big bits of text screaming, ‘DON’T MISS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!’ is not going to help with your image.
not proofing before printing
I like to think I’m a bit of a Nazi when it comes to spelling, grammar and, well, pretty much anything to do with language. So I can’t help but notice when I get a flyer or brochure that says, ‘We sell used furnture.’ Spot the mistake? I can promise you I did.
It amazes me how often this happens, and it’s not just on things that the businesses in question have printed themselves – it’s also on material that has been printed professionally. Professional printers WILL NOT proof your work. That is your job and you need to make sure you do it before sending off the so called finished files. I know what it’s like to have been working on a personal design for 3 weeks and wanting to see the back of it so I can get on with my client work. It’s only natural that when you finally get the look right, you’re keen to just get the printing over and done with. But not checking your spelling or leaving out a comma where there should be one makes your audience think you didn’t care about getting their business enough to double check your work before sending it to them. And who wants to give their money to someone who apparently doesn’t care if they get it or not?
I know as small business owners we are all run off our feet and usually very time poor. Sometimes it is easier to just throw a flyer together in Word. But think of it this way: marketing your business should not be less important than doing the accounts or working on a client’s project. Without good marketing, you won’t have those clients and your bank account will be sitting still twiddling its thumbs.
When you need to get a flyer done for the next promotion, set aside a decent block of time and plan your design down to the last detail. Once you’ve planned, try designing it using the tips above. If you need to, look at designs on the web or keep competitors mail-outs and compare your design to them. Don’t blatantly rip off their design, but ask yourself, ‘What’s this flyer got that makes it look better than mine?’
Whatever you do, don’t rush to get your marketing done so you can get back to your latest project. This is your business and its image, and that is the most important project of all.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Common Design Mistakes
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Tags: diy marketing, marketing, small business
Posted in Graphic Design | 4 Comments »
Posted by Jon Bergan on the 7 August, 2008
Are you interested in finding out a little more about Bergan Blue and what we do? Well, we have something that may just answer a whole heap of your questions and you don’t even have to read a thing!
Our resident graphic designer and director of Bergan Blue, Marnie Bergan, spent a good ten minutes with Jeff Burzacott on South Australia’s FIVEaa 1395 AM radio in the Plug your Business segment of his morning show. As all small business owners know, any exposure is good exposure and we really do appreciate Jeff and the team at FIVEaa for giving us this spot!
If you’d like to take a listen to what Marnie has to say about Bergan Blue, web design and websites in general, please listen here!
Be sure to leave any comments/feedback - we’d love to hear them!
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Posted by Louise Meers on the 4 August, 2008
It’s easy to get colours right, but it’s even easier to get them wrong. In web design it is crucial that you make well-informed colour choices. It might sound far-fetched but your choices of colour in web design can make or break your online business. Websites that are aesthetically pleasing and well designed are the ones that get more hits, and a more likely to get returning business.
Visitors to your website will judge your design skills – there’s no escaping it. According to the Institute of Color Research, “colour effects and directs the decision making process of the customer. It identifies a company, its product lines and the quality of the merchandise.” Their research also reveals that individuals make a subconscious judgement about an item within 90 seconds of initial viewing and up to 90% of that judgement is based on colour. If you want your clients and customers to make a positive judgement of your business, you really need for your web design to be of the highest standard. This includes getting your colours right.
Harmony is the key when deciding colour choices in web design. Choosing harmonious, non-offensive colours will keep people coming back to visit your website. It’s extremely important you make your website user-friendly in all areas, and colour is no exception. You want to make your clients’ and customers’ experience with your business the best as it can be. You don’t want to turn them off with your colour choices. Employing the wrong colours in web design always looks unprofessional – potential customers will not be captivated by your business and you run the risk of offending them, or even hurting their eyes! Both of these results will have them closing the browser in seconds, or worse, they will take their business elsewhere.
It is also important to remember that your colour choices must be relevant to your business and familiar to existing customers - why choose red for your website when your company colour has always been blue? Everyone likes the familiar so don’t be swayed by the countless colours in the web design rainbow. Make smart, safe choices and it will cause less confusion for all.
Colours themselves have specific meanings, so it’s important that you do further research to find out what they mean. Colours often have different connotations in different cultures and it is important to consider this if you are targeting an international audience. The following provides common Western meanings of colours that are used in web design:
Red: power, excitement, energy. Good to use for a promotion. Should be used sparingly as it is tiring to the eye
Blue: sophistication, stable, serious, dependable. One of the most common colours used in web design.
White: neutral, calm. The best choice for backgrounds.
Pink: feminine, love, friendship. Preferred by women, could alienate male users.
Green: tranquillity, stability, renewal. Great if your business is ‘going green’.
Yellow: warmth, humour, youth. Try a warmer tone of yellow, as bright shades are often harsh on the eyes.
Brown: masculine, productivity, endurance. Great for accents on your website
Black: technical, strong, authority. The best colour for text. Best used in small areas
Orange: health, heat, flamboyant. Avoid overuse.
Grey: intelligence, practicality, professional. Good for disabled items and text.
Colour and the relationships between colours is a science in itself. The process of designing a website when there are so many colours available to you can be a daunting task. Do your research, remember good design techniques, and think about the customer’s needs and you should be able to make well-informed decisions. If in doubt, get the professionals in as they are specially trained in colour theory and will have your website looking harmonious and professional in no time at all.
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Tags: colour, Web Design
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Posted by Marnie Bergan on the 29 July, 2008
You may or may not already know that the Bergan Blue website is completely W3C Standards Compliant. This means a lot from a designer or developer’s point of view. But to most, it simply means that our site looks fantastic!
There are several CSS galleries on the web showcasing websites that have been properly developed using CSS and XHTML - and of course, sites that look and function exceptionally well.
I’m proud to announce that Bergan Blue’s website has been featured on several of these sites! Please see the links below to check out the Bergan Blue site in these galleries!
If you would like to read more about CSS, please visit our Library.
Bergan Blue @ CSS Leak - http://www.cssleak.com/detail-Bergan_Blue-2126.html
Bergan Blue @ CSS Mania - http://cssmania.com/galleries/2008/07/08/bergan-blue.php
Bergan Blue @ Stunning CSS - http://www.stunningcss.com/2008/07/08/bergan-blue/
Bergan Blue @ CSS Based - http://www.cssbased.com/showcase/3417/bergan-blue
Bergan Blue @ CSS Loggia - http://www.cssloggia.com/2008/07/04/bergan-blue/
Bergan Blue @ CSS Imagine - http://css-imagine.com/gallery.cfm?siteID=214
Bergan Blue @ CSS Galore - http://www.cssgalore.com/design-companies/bergan-blue.html
Bergan Blue @ CSS Lounge - http://css-lounge.com/bergan-blue
Bergan Blue @ Typo9 - http://www.typo9.com/inspiration-website/bergan-blue.html
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Tags: bergan blue, Bergan Blue News, css, Web Design, web standards, xhtml
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Posted by Jon Bergan on the 15 July, 2008
The Central Coast is home to a thriving number of micro and small businesses. Everyday, business is taking place out of garages, spare bedrooms and small blocks of office space and everyday, new businesses pop up. With such a diverse business community at our doorstep, it is inevitable that we’re going to run into problems finding one another. That is why we decided to make use of technology and create a Facebook Group dedicated to Central Coast Business!
Click here to head to our Central Coast Business Facebook Group!
If you’re a little unsure about Facebook, you should seriously consider signing up. You’ll find that many of your business associates already have Facebook accounts and have been networking with one another on there for months. Facebook opens many doors for small business. Whether it be for business networking, employment, freelance work or simply getting to know one another, there is plenty of opportunities on this website.
Once you’ve signed up to Facebook, be sure to add yourself to our group and introduce yourself. We’re finding that many business owners have already found our little hiding place on Facebook and are keen to get onboard. By all means - the more the merrier!
In the months to come, we’re hoping that this small community of Facebook users can gather together and hopefully form some sort of small tight knit networking group of our own. I mean why not? Everyone else seems to be doing it and online social and business networking is the next big thing!
So, get on to Facebook and get to know the people who work next door to you each and every day!
Hope to see you all there!
Regards,
Jon
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Posted by Marnie Bergan on the 11 July, 2008
Yesterday afternoon I was delighted to receive my regular e-newsletter from Belinda Jackson at Web Chameleon. This issue I found to be particularly interesting as it was focused on Relationship Marketing which I happen to be a big advocate for. But Belinda offered a new take on the subject: relationship marketing via the web.
I will be the first to admit that I had never thought of Bergan Blue’s website or blog as a form of relationship marketing, but as Belinda states in her article, “Having an effective website and/or blog and using your web presence to attract and build a database allows you to form the beginnings of a relationship with prospects.”
To read Belinda Jackson’s article Pull Marketing = Relationship Marketing = Easy Marketing please click here.
Enjoy!
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Tags: marketing, Online Marketing, website
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Posted by Marnie Bergan on the 3 July, 2008
Hi everyone,
You may have noticed that we’ve had a few problems with our website - you might’ve seen images in odd places or not been able to get to the website at all. This was simply to do with a hardware problem with the server our website is currently hosted on.
But, good news - we’re back up and running now! Everything seems to be working fine after the hardware upgrade, so fingers crossed it stays this way.
On a separate note - don’t forget about our Free Business Card, Letterhead or With Compliments Slip Design offer! See the blog post for details.
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Tags: early bird special, free business card design, june special, website problems
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Posted by Marnie Bergan on the 2 July, 2008
To celebrate the launch of the new website and blog, we’re offering a FREE Business Card, Letterhead or With Compliments Slip design with any Web Design project booked in for August or September!
* Design only. Printing costs extra. Project must be booked
prior to July 31st with a minimum of 5 pages per website.
If you would like an obligation free quote or simply a chat about the weather, please contact us!
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Tags: blog launched, free business card design, new website, special offer
Posted in Bergan Blue News, Graphic Design, Web Design | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marnie Bergan on the 2 July, 2008
Hello everyone and welcome to the Bergan Blue Blog! It’s taken us a little while, but we finally have it up and running.
In addition to launching the blog, we’ve also launched a fantastic new site which we’re really proud of. The site is easy to navigate, informative and looks better than ever. If you haven’t already, please take a look and let us know what you think! We especially recommend the Portfolio and Library sections.
Back to the Blog - each week you will be able to read the latest news from the team at Bergan Blue, hear about our latest projects, see photos, read articles and more. Please be sure to check back or, better yet, add this blog to your RSS feeds and share it with as many people as possible!
Until next time, hope you all have a fantastic week!
-Marnie
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Tags: bergan blue, blog, blog launch, introduction, new website, news
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