Be inspired to stay branded! I love my GOC branding, then I see someone else's site ...oh, I love their logo...oh, maybe I should switch to pink...oh they did this better than me...oh, oh. And then I waste *way* too much time, re-thinking and over-thinking every visual decision I've made. Is this ever you!?!?!?! So some small encouragement today to finish our series. Create an inspiration board. Here's mine... Include words that describe your brand, along with images, colors and patterns that reinforce who you are.  You can do it on the computer or cut pictures out of magazines, anything that suits you.  This should make you happy … [Read more...]

Adding products or services to your business Being the creative entrepreneur that you are, new ideas are bound to lead to business expansion.  Over time you may learn new skills or develop new ideas that should be incorporated into your business or blog! But be careful, you've worked too hard educating people on who you are to let it all go now! In college I worked for a wonderful consignment shop that also sold new wedding dresses and was a full-service bridal salon. Confusing right? How to you market to both people? How do you teach people that the clothes are used but the dresses are new.  Just a few of my uneducated, but often … [Read more...]

Your 10 Second Introduction Hey! I'm Christine, I own a graphic and web design shop called Great Oak Circle, specializing in design elements for handmade shops, small businesses, and bloggers. What do you do? umm....I....well....one time I found this door by the roadside and painted it and now....well I paint junk I find...but I also carry this line of chalk paint....but it's online....I mean, but my candlesticks are online also, I just started making those 1..no 2 years ago...let me pull up a picture...wait... are you on facebook? interesting huh? hmmm....what's your 10 second introduction? We've spent so much time this month … [Read more...]

Branding your biz or blog with a business card Hey, welcome back friends! I trust yesterday's post helped narrow down your print must-haves, and I hope it includes a business card.  We've grown up around business cards, haven't we? Every store, service and sales person has one, which can leave most of us with stacks and stacks of them stuffed in cup holders and wallet pockets.  So isn't it pretty important that you have a business card AND that it stands out?! Let's talk design Some things to consider: What kind of business or blog do you have? Do you need the professional standard rectangle or can you do something totally … [Read more...]

Branding your biz or blog with Instagram Confession: I really really really love Instagram.  This one is a little different than the previous social media sites in that it's pretty much only for mobile devices.  You can login to your account online, but posting and browsing photos happens from your iphone, etc. General tips: 1. You can run a photo stream on your blog. In wordpress I use a widget appropriately called, Instagram Widget.  If you use Blogger, this tutorial explains a sidebar install. She does a great job, so I'll send you  over...but y'all come back now...ya hear? 2. You can join fun monthly picture parties or … [Read more...]

Branding your email signature Can I be honest? I am totally done talking about websites...and I guess email...done done done.  At least this is the last day right? We are talking about pictures tomorrow! So let's talk today about email signatures, the friendly little love you have at the bottom of an email message.  The one below is from gmail. There are practically as many opinions on this as there are people, so here's the quick wrap-up...DON'T GET CRAZY! What you should include: Your name Business/Blog Name Your Title Link to your website Links to a few other social media...that you would be ok with sharing … [Read more...]