Brand building is more than a logo on a business card. It’s about how you and your work are perceived by the consumer. You want your business to be recognized as one that stands above the crowd, one that offers quality, value and your vision.

what differentiates your business from others?

First, you have to know your competition. Visit B&M stores, go online and check out craft fairs to see what your competition is doing. How are you different or better, what sets you apart? You need to give customers a “reason to believe” in your product above the others. Do your unique designs set you apart? Is it your recognition by the art community? Maybe you’ve created a new way to craft an old product. Pinpoint the differentiating factor.

communicate what you do.

Can you describe your business in a sentence – and pinpoint the differentiating factor in it? Not “I make jewelry” but “I make unique fabric accessories from recycled materials that reflect the wearer’s attitude to life.” (I’m making this up, but you get the idea.) Ask a trusted friend to describe your business and write that down. Does your description match your friend’s? Is there a clear understanding by the consumer (your friend) of your vision? Construct a sentence or tag line that says exactly what you do, and use it on all your communications.

create a visual presence

that is easily understood without explanation. “Keep it simple” is not trite advice – it’s a known fact. Fancy fonts can be unreadable. Shadows and background art can obliterate your message. An up-close image of part of a necklace may not be understood visually by anyone but you. The most successful logos and brands in the world are the simplest: Nike, Volkswagen, Gap, Target.

gain trust and credibility.

Customer service is key. Generate service rules for yourself and don’t waver from them. Send a thank you to every customer. Wrap every purchase the same way. Return every call or email within a certain period of time. Thank every customer for his or her referral. Your brand is an extension of yourself, so you have to be true to it, and it has to represent the real you.

guest author:
Sunny at Sunny Day Vintage

I recently decided to put more focus in my twitter account. In doing so, I researched some popular twitter apps to enhance the service. I came across twunfollow and use it almost daily. With it I can keep track of recent follows and unfollows. Love it!

Anyway, I’ve been noticing several of my followers were showing up not as “unfollowed you” but as “a user following you was deleted”. This really sparked my attention which actually isn’t hard to do since I’m a virgo:) Now I know you can delete your own twitter but I wanted to find out more about how you would be banned.

Since I hadn’t read the Twitter TOS since I signed up a couple years ago I thought I’d hop over there. I’m really glad I decided to take a second look because some of the rules I didn’t even know about!

The spam and abuse section really stood out to me. Here is how to get your twitter account banned for spam:

• If you have followed a large amount of users in a short amount of time;
• If you have followed and unfollowed people in a short time period, particularly by automated means (aggressive follower churn);
• If you repeatedly follow and unfollow people, whether to build followers or to garner more attention for your profile;
• If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following;
• If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates;
• If you post misleading links;
• If a large number of people are blocking you;
• The number of spam complaints that have been filed against you;
• If you post duplicate content over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account;
• If you post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #;
• If you post multiple unrelated updates to a trending or popular topic;
• If you send large numbers of duplicate @replies;
• If you send large numbers of unsolicited @replies in an attempt to spam a service or link;
• If you add a large number of unrelated users to lists in an attempt to spam a service or link;
• If you repeatedly post other users’ Tweets as your own;
• If you have attempted to “sell” followers, particularly through tactics considered aggressive following or follower churn;
• Using or promoting third-party sites that claim to get you more followers (such as follower trains, sites promising “more followers fast,” or any other site that offers to automatically add followers to your account).

Of course there are many other rules you need to follow but I think more folks are spamming than they realize. Let me know if you have any suggestions on to make sure you follow twitter’s TOS.

Author: Ed Hodgson

To be able to start blogging for profit does not mean that you have to have the skills of a professional writer. If you have an interest, a hobby or a subject of expertise and you can type, then you can get some blogging sites up and start profiting online.

Image by Simon Howden

Some people would advise you to get as many blogs up and running as possible. They will tell you that way, you will be able to cover a wider range of topics or pull in a greater number of followers. The danger with this is spreading yourself too thin. When you are just starting, concentrate on a single blog only. Get it established before diversifying to other subjects and more blogs.

You have a choice of which CMS (content management system) to use for your blogsite. WordPress is a very common one and is the one I personally use. I find that you have more control over the look and feel to your blog, as well as being able to optimize it better for the search engines if you host it yourself. If this all sounds too complicated, it is easy enough to find someone to set up your blog for you.

Making money with your blog can be done in different ways. Blogging for profit is a bit of a catchphrase with many people not really understanding where the profit bit comes in.

Blogging basically comes down to creating a website that is regularly updated with posts about a specific subject. People interested in that subject will visit the blog. To make money from the blog, you have to monetize it.

Monetizing your blog can be done in a variety of ways. There are several ways to do this, depending on your own method of making money online. You could sign up to affiliate programs for products related to your subject. That way, you would include a link or banner to a certain product and when a visitor makes a purchase through your link, you get a commission.

Another way could be to sign up for Google Adsense. If you haven’t heard of it you will definitely have seen it. These are the paid Google ads you see on the right hand side of Google results pages or on many websites. When you sign up, you are agreeing to display relevant ads on your site. You will earn a commission whenever these ads are clicked.

One other way of blogging for profit is by having an existing business already in place. In this case, you would have links pointing to your own business and your blog acts as the first point of contact for someone with an interest in what you do.

About the Author

Blogging for profit is just one way that online income mentor, Ed Hodgson, teaches other people how to make money online.

With his turnkey internet business, he works one-on-one with his students to build a highly automated online income. Blogging for profits is just the tip of the iceburg of the strategies and techniques he uses to get his team into online profits fast.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – How To Start Blogging For Profit

Author: Fee Harding

1. Take the Leap.I think the most important advice is, you’ll never know if you don’t try! Have you got passion? Do you enjoy what you make? Have people complimented you on your items? All very good reasons to just give it a go.The number one reason most craft businesses never make it, is because their owner is too scared to take the plunge, too scared of failure. Don’t be! If failing is the worse thing to ever happen to you in your life then you’re pretty darn lucky
2. Do some ground work You have to be passionate about your business. Try to get out of the head space of just items on a table at a market. Try to get into the head space of a larger corporation. Start looking at all those larger companies out there that millions buy from each year. What is there image, what colours do they use, what is there brand name? Start a folder with a bunch of clippings that you can go back to over and over.Also start a savings fund, although start up costs can be relatively small, there will be a point where some extra money may be critical in advancing your business
3. Start thinking about your own nameBrainstorm for some catchy names, ask family and friends for input. Make sure the name is short, catchy and easy to remember. Also make sure that when you google it, a hundred other names don’t come up, because you’ll end up having to try and compete with all those other names already out there!
4. Start thinking about your own imageWho are you planning on selling too? Start thinking about the colours you would like to use, or the look of your logo. Look at your competitors sites, what have they done that you could imitate from? If you’re confident in design, create your own, or if not, do a search for a graphic designer to help you out. There are some inexpensive graphic designers out there who can offer you a design logo package for under a 100 dollars. If that seems expensive just remember that the logo design will be yours for life
5. Build up stock Make sure you actually have enough things for people to buy from. Nothing worse than having only a few items!
6. Photograph your items!
   It doesn’t matter if you only have a cheapest digital camera, as long as you’ve learnt to use macro and utilise natural sunlight, you can really create some fabulous results. Start looking around at your favourite craft sites, why are they your favourite? Often a big reason is how well, presented their products are. Start paying attention to the background. Have they used a white background or maybe something more fancy?If you do a google search on light boxes, there are some easy cheap tutorial out there for the hand-made variety. This will heap to achieve a natural light upon your products!
7. Start writing product descriptions When you start to write the description, it’s useful to picture your target audience in your head. Perhaps you knit shawls and your target audience is in the older generation bracket. Imagine who your average customer would be and as your writing the description imagine you’re talking directly to her about why she should buy it. Don’t just list colour, size and materials (although these are very important) but list why it’s good, and what would be in it for the customer if they bought it. Again check out how other successful sites do it.
8. Make sure you do all the boring things! It’s the least favourite part but you have to make sure you’re registered as a business and you have programs in place to keep in track of expenses and orders (for tax purposes) Staying ahead of it at the start will save major headaches come tax time!
9. Set up your shop Maybe you have a large budget and can afford to have your own website, great! But if you’re not in that category why not try a site like etsy.com. It allows you to create your own little shop space. It’s a great alternative and you’ll be able to build up a customer base from and perhaps start saving for your own site.
10. You could be giving away 100 dollar bills, but….If nobody knows you’re out there, whats the point? You have to get the word of mouth out there, start with family and friends and tell them to pass on the word to other people. They’ll be the most keen in the start to help you out! Add your site’s link to your email signature. This will be sent out at the bottom of every email and is a nice friendly way of getting the word out there. Wear your products everywhere, people will comment on how pretty something is and then you can let them know about your site! Contact craft blogs and let them know about your site. Send out samples and press releases to magazines. There are so many ways to advertise on a cheap budget and you only need to do a quick Internet search to find many more!

Never see your mistakes as failures, for really they are just another opportunity to really learn and remember, you’ll never know if you don’t give it a try! Most importantly, good luck!

I started my own site, www.peachypan.com, with not much clue of anything and I’ve grown so much as a person and as a business owner and it’s definitely been a remarkable experience.

-Fee

www.peachypan.com

About the Author:

Fee Harding is the owner of the successful site, Peachypan.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – 10 Ideas to Create a Successful Craft DIY Business