DEFININTIONS:
Web Optimization: The art and science of building web pages that are both robot friendly and user friendly to achieve high ranking in the search engines
CMYK: (4 color): There are four ink colors - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black - that will mix together to create any color on a printing press
Spot Color: (Pantone Color): This is a special premixed ink used on a printing press. The color will always be exact. Most often used for logos where it is important to achieve an exact color.
RGB: There are three colors - Red, Green, Blue - that use a combination of light and dots on a monitor to create any color. All colors perceived by humans can be formed by the right brightness combination of red, green and blue. RGB is usually more brilliant in color and cannot be duplicated exactly in print. RGB color is used in websites and cameras and televisions. . .

Articles and Tips

Your business card and brochure speak for you
when you're not there

o often I see new businesses with handmade business cards and brochures, printed out using an old printer and on the wrong paper. As a consumer I would hesitate to do business with them. As a designer I cringe. I can not stress enough how absolutely mandatory a professional logo, business card, and brochure is. It is a mistake to think that if you are a "start-up company" that you do not need a professional business card. Even more so, every new business needs to portray an air of professionalism to gain trust and respect.
There is a myth that it will cost a small fortune to accomplish this, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are many ways to cut costs in getting your business cards and brochures printed. For instance - you drastically reduce your printing cost if you print your brochure on a high end printer/copier instead of a press. Some printers, and most office supply stores offer this service. You can also save money on the paper charges by fitting 2 brochures on an 11" x 17" piece of paper, rather than running them each on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. 2 color (2 pantone ink colors) business cards, if run on a press, are a lot more affordable than 4 color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black that mix to make up any color). The costs are very reasonable at most printers for business cards and will actually be cheaper in the long run, after buying your own business card paper and ink.
If you can't afford professional design fees, there are many ambitious and talented students that are looking for ways to build their portfolio (this holds true for websites also).
Your business card and brochure have to speak for you when you are not there. Please make sure they are getting your message accross, with the air of professionalism that you are working so hard to personally portray.

Web Optimization

The four most important steps to Web Optimization are:

1. Your web pages should contain quality text and not just pretty graphics
2. Text links to all of your pages so that search engine robots can find their way through your site
3. Build pages around certain keywords with the goal to rank that page high with that keyword, instead of multiple keywords
4. Place your keywords in the: file name or url; in the title meta tag; in the description meta tag; in the headline which should be enclosed with header tags; in the body text in the first paragraph and naturally throughout; as anchor text or clickable text that brings readers to a different page

Do you have questions on Legal Issues that deal with the Internet?

Click here to read about Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, Spam, Cyber Crimes, and what you can do to protect yourself from computer viruses, phishing schemes, and identity theft.

How to Write a Good Privacy Policy

Click here to read why a privacy policy is important, and what elements it should contain. There is also a sample ecommerce privacy policy that you can use to help you write your own.