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19 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be Writing a Blog

19 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be Writing a Blog

 

Blogging is one of the most valuable tools that businesses have to engage with customers and ultimately make their lives easier. If you’re not blogging, it’s time to get started or get left behind. If you need a bit of inspiration, here are 19 reasons (in no particular order) why your business should be blogging.

 

Why Should I Start a Blog for My Business?

1. A blog is a simple, easy-to-use platform for connecting with and sharing timely and relevant informationwith customers. It’s your direct communication channel.


2. Your blog fuels SEO. Search engines love valuable content and will reward you for it.


3. You don’t have to be a professional designer. Many blogging platforms like WordPress and Hubspot are people-friendly and don’t require advanced graphic skills.


4. 60% of businesses who blog acquire more customers, according to a HubSpot survey.


5. Your blog is the heart of all of your content marketing efforts. It’s fodder for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email newsletters, e-books, etc.


6. It gives your company a voice. A blog creates a place to talk about new products or services, comment on timely news topics or market trends, and share company initiatives beyond your website. It’s also the place to let your brand’s personality shine and show people what you’re all about.


7. Writing a blog shares your expertise. How else will you position yourself as a subject area expert andthought leader?


8. A blog creates a two-way conversation with customers, prospects and industry peers. It encourages interaction, comments and feedback. Make sure you reply to all comments!


9. It can be fun. Blogging can be energizing, stimulating, and something you look forward to.


10. Blog writing makes you think… about newsworthy topics, your industry, your customers and the world around you.


11. A blog keeps you focused on your content marketing strategy. You must create a schedule and stick to it to continuously deliver purposeful content.


12. It creates free PR. Business bloggers are often interviewed by journalists as industry experts. Get some press!


13. A blog builds confidence, relationships and sales. Customers will look to you as a reliable resource for information on your industry; then come to you to buy.


14. Blogging sharpens your business focus. To create a blogging strategy you must define who you are blogging for and why. A blog with no focus attracts no readers.


15. Helps you stay ahead of the curve. You have to stay on top of news, trends and competitors to be a successful blogger. It helps you be a leader, not a follower.


16. You can tell your brand’s story. A blog is a great place to offer more insight into your company, philosophy, employees, and ideas. Tell your customers why you’re in business and how you can help them.


17. Blogs are cost-effective marketing investments. Every post you publish is a long-term asset that helps build brand awareness and promote your expertise, products and services.


18. Gives you insight into your audience. Blog analytics allow you to track readers, click-throughs, popular topics, shares and comments. You can even tell what day of the week your visitors prefer to stop by.


19. Blogging is inspiring. You’ll start to see ideas all around you..talking with friends and colleagues, watching movies, reading, and just walking down the street.

 

Article Source: http://www.sproutcontent.com/blog/19-Reasons-Why-Your-Business-Should-Be-Writing-a-Blog

19 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be Writing a Blog

10 Reasons Why You Need A Blog

10 Reasons Why You Need A Blog

I know, I know–you’re already running a business, writing a book, raising children, and trying to have a life.

I get it.

But you’re here, which means that you’re into things like productivity,getting things done, and creating space in your life for the good things.

But it’s probably not enough. 

Most likely, you’re able to maintain your 200+ emails-per-day workload, multiple projects at a time, and still have enough sanity to get home in time for dinner.

So why am I advocating adding another thing to your daily task list? Why am I telling you why you need a blog?

Because blogging isn’t going anywhere. 

More importantly, it’s not something that should be seen as adding to what you’re doing. On the contrary, blogging (if done well), can be the most productive thing you do all day, and can even take the place of many of your daily “to-do”s. You might need to step out of your comfort zone, but trust me–it’s worth it.

Here’s a list of some of those things blogging can help with:

1. If you’re a business owner, it’s a great way to connect with customers. Forget Twitter, networking events, and call centers. Blogging is a personal, down-to-earth method of keeping your customers informed and in-the-know about not only your latest product offerings, but your internal culture as well.


2. Finding new clients. In the same vein, don’t discount the marketing advantages of blogging. If you do it right, you could be on to something. Many businesses chalk up a large percentage of their revenue from blogging and blogging-related activities, and you can have a piece of that pie.


3. Getting more done. Just because you’re writing every day on a blog doesn’t mean other things won’t get done. Blogging is an activity that can literally happen anywhere. Wake up early, go to bed late, whatever–blogging doesn’t usually take long, and you can press pause whenever you like. The “Getting Things Done” mentality happens as you start writing that first sentence–you’ll find yourself invigorated, energized, and motivated by the words you’re writing.


4. Getting better things done. Once you start realizing what exactly it is you’re going to offer to people through your blog, you’ll start to prioritize your day differently. You’ll have comments to respond to, emails to answer, and social media promoting to do, but all of this is building a pipeline of targeted warm leads to your business.


5. It’s creation. Period. You’re creating stuff. Stuff can be bought, sold, added to, reworked, and changed, but most importantly this stuff is a form of asset–an asset you own and control. No word ever published online has a negative value.


6. Blogs are the news vehicle of the future. This one might receive some flak, but oh well. I truly believe that blogging–at least the general, broad definition of content-creation by the lay person–is the new form of news delivery. We’ll still have reporters and journalists, but the news and noteworthy stories of the day are now in our hands–it’s our job to be the first-hand eyewitness accounts of the current goings-on.


7. Blogging can boost productivity in unforeseen areas.You might not realize it yet, but blogging leads to a funny ailment I like to call “picking-blog-headlines-for-everything-that-happens-in-your-life.” If you’ve been driving down the freeway and want to suddenly write a post bemoaning the terrible billboard ad called “7 Reasons Your Company Sucks At Advertising,” you know what I mean. This productivity booster is a cool thing, though–it helps keep the “idea bucket” full, and it transfers into many other forms of content, not just blogs.


8. Blogs are a great way to measure success. However you define success, blogging can track it. You can search through your year-old archives or do a specific series–either way, your words won’t lie (unless you lied when you wrote them…). Want to earn $100,000 this year? Start blogging the results of your business’ advertising and marketing campaigns, and include revenue reports.


9. Accountability. This one’s simple. Blogging is usually a public-facing event that we engage in with the sole purpose of gaining readership. These readers, while sometimes harsh, are for the most part verytruthful. They’ll keep us focused on our published and public goals, and that alone is worth the asking price.


10. Because everyone else is. Okay, I didn’t want to use this “cop out” reason, but there it is. If you’re a business owner without a blog, you’re already behind. If you’re an individual with something to say, get started saying it. You may not realize it, but there’s at least one other person in the world who needs the kind of expertise you have, no matter how trivial. Everywhere you look, there’s a blog, video feed, or YouTube channel dedicated to the obscure and random. Do us one better and create something worth sharing.

Maybe I’ve convinced you, maybe not. But you won’t change my mind–the benefits of blogging (creating content and sharing it online) far outweigh the downsides and work we need to put in to it. This is why you need a blog.

If you’ve never tried it, check out my site for some great resources, but just know that blogging is a perfect example of something that “you get what you put in to it.” It can take your business or your life to another level, and it’s not hard to do. It takes work, sure, but everything of value does anyway!

 

Article Source: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/10-reasons-why-you-need-a-blog.html

10 Reasons Why You Need A Blog

Cloud Storage Comparison and Review

Cloud Storage Comparison and Review

Video Source: https://youtu.be/dNX0TENdX28

Cloud Storage Comparison and Review

Web Hosting Which Type of Server Should You Choose

Web Hosting Which Type of Server Should You Choose.

Video Source: https://youtu.be/fnDwzwGLup0

Web Hosting Which Type of Server Should You Choose

HOW TO CHOOSE A WEB HOST

HOW TO CHOOSE A WEB HOST

Video Source: https://youtu.be/FcelkmnwWgw

HOW TO CHOOSE A WEB HOST

How to Choose a Web Hosting Service

How to Choose a Web Hosting Service

Video Source: https://youtu.be/X9CtdDePMrI

How to Choose a Web Hosting Service

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Thinking a building a website? It’s easier than you think! In this video (Part III of our video series), I show how, once you’ve chosen a domain name, how to choose a web host and connect it to your domain name.

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Starting a Website Choosing the Best Web Hosting Review and Comparison

Starting a Website Choosing the Best Web Hosting Review and Comparison

The best hosting to start a website on? Ive made a wrap up of the top hosts and the comparisons of price and features in this video, I used to use host gator and switched to Fatcow, and am very happy for the price =).

Starting a Website Choosing the Best Web Hosting Review and Comparison

Choosing a Web Host Overview of the Best Web Hosts

Choosing a Web Host Overview of the Best Web Hosts

Choosing a web host out of the best web hosts to host your website on.

Choosing a Web Host Overview of the Best Web Hosts

What Web Hosting Company Should I Choose?

What Web Hosting Company Should I Choose?

Part of building a kickass website is by choosing your hosting company to serve your domain. How do you know which hosting companies are reliable and which are not? This is an important early step in building your website because you’ll want a web host that you can easily depend on that won’t cause you problems later down the road.

What Web Hosting Company Should I Choose?

5 Things to Look for When Choosing a Web Designer

5 Things to Look for When Choosing a Web Designer Two Minute Tuesdays

Wondering how to choose a designer for your website? You’re in luck – today’s video outlines five important things to consider when finding the perfect designer for your online store. From understanding how to work with your ecommerce platform to establishing a communication plan, these tips will keep your search moving in the right direction.

5 Things to Look for When Choosing a Web Designer

Creating a free Wordpress blog tutorial for beginners

Creating a free WordPress blog tutorial for beginners

Blogs are a great way to express yourself online, whether you’re an individual with interesting ideas to share, or a community group wanting to showcase your activities.

This tutorial shows you how to set up a free blog at WordPress.com and get started picking a theme and adding posts and pages. For more detailed help and 1-2-1 home tuition, go to www.teachmetech.co.uk.

Creating a free Wordpress blog tutorial for beginners

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes Which is Better for Your Site

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes Which is Better for Your Site

Once you start running a WordPress based website for your business you have two options to choose from. Having a 100% custom built site developed, or using a free or premium theme.

 

From these two, a custom website that is built from the ground up by a design/development company can cost a couple of thousand dollars (let’s say starting at $1,000 and sky ’s the limit). The next in line is a paid WordPress theme which can be purchased on ThemeForest, or from any other of the numerous WordPress theme shops, from around $10 to $100, and that’s the very high-end. The cheapest solution is – you’d never guess – using a free WordPress theme.

Which One to Start with?

Most of the website owners prefer using a theme at the very beginning, as a startup doesn’t often have too much money to burn. There comes the old debate: What is the difference between free and premium (paid)?

If you have already made your research on the Internet or even asked anyone who you consider a veteran or an expert in this topic, you already have the answer: when you start an online business, a free theme is the first thing to start with. I agree. As there are thousands of free themes available on the market, and most of them are as stylish and beautiful as the paid ones, why would you spend even 40 bucks for a premium one? A visitor won’t see the difference, and you won’t feel the difference either. At first.

A free WordPress theme is perfect for you to learn how to use a theme, and how wide is the range of options for you to revamp your website to your own liking. All in all, free themes from developers are great gifts for starters. You can learn the basics of editing a website, so to speak you can get a better insight into a designer’s work. If you are a newbie and decided to go the free route, here are the most popular themes (both considering the number of downloads and their ratings) to choose from.

Later on, when you already learned handling and editing your site and you’re not a newcomer in the world of WordPress anymore, you’ll discover the limited possibilities of free themes step by step, and you’ll soon weight your opportunities up.

Learning the Disadvantages

Let me state, that I’m not against free themes. I also started to learn the basics with the help of them. The truth is, they’re fantastic, because they are free. But there are some detriments I must mention. First of all, free themes usually use simple design and structure. That’s not necessarily a problem until you don’t dig yourself into the latest web design trends, don’t search on the Internet all day and find more and more beautiful websites, and don’t realize – either from own experiences, or form your visitors’ feedback –  how you exactly want your website to look like. But when it comes to this, free themes with their limited options and lack of bells and whistles will be simply not enough for you.

The other disadvantage that needs to be declared is that free themes usually don’t come with a customer support in reality. As WordPress is regularly updating its technology, your theme always has to be compatible with the latest updates and upgrades. In case of free themes, as they are usually built as side projects of a developer or a framework company, you’ll have to wait long months or even more to get an updated version of the theme, if you’ll get one at all!

Customer support also involves helping users with the settings or fixing bugs. Because the fact is, there would be a need for this quite often, as in most of the free themes there’s much room for improvement code wise to be honest. However, developers are usually not serious about providing this kind of support you might need while you’re utilizing the theme.

So talking about free themes, you might want to ask yourself a question. Considering all the time end effort put into improving your site to meet your needs (which, as you’re getting a pro, are more and more sophisticated), are free themes really free? Experience has shown that using paid themes can save hundreds of dollars for a website owner in the long run.

Going for a Premium Theme

Paid WordPress themes come with a price tag. Site owners usually get confused when it comes to choose a paid theme, as there are so many out there. So before you get lost in the maze, let me give you two important advices on how to make a choice.

1. Define what your website is about

Either you have a food blog, a photography website, a real estate site or a news site, you’ll need some special features that a.) differentiate you from other niche, b.) help you stand out from the crowd (that is to say others from your niche). Getting a theme that fits your business type is crucial, as the layout and features will be specialized for your certain purposes. Either to market your product, showcase your work, tell your stories or focus on information.

ThemeForest the largest theme marketplace helps you find the category easily, so you can only concentrate on the themes’ reviews, ratings and finally the design and elements you wish for.

2. Plan/imagine the design you’d like to have on your site

When you go search for a theme to purchase but don’t have any clear idea of how it should look like, then in the sea of premium themes, everything will look nice. So it’s a reasonable idea to know what you are searching for design-wise. If you have already used a free theme before, you might have learned what you would like to have but didn’t/couldn’t. It’s a careful choice to write a list before you start looking into the theme designs. This way you’ll bear in mind during your search that you clearly don’t want to have a slider on your site, but will definitely need a gallery, featured posts, a built-incomment section, a dropdown menu, or various layout templates for the homepage because you love split testing.

Conclusion

You’ll learn that only because a theme is free, it isn’t necessarily bad, and a theme that costs money doesn’t mean it’s unequivocally good. You have to examine this question from the aspect of your needs and knowledge of WordPress, and budget available. However if you are a beginner and just want to start running your site you’d better consider using a free theme at first, so you’ll be able to learn the small tricks needed to make your site custom – without wasting money unnecessarily during your „apprenticeship”.

Article Source: https://kinsta.com/blog/free-vs-paid-wordpress-themes/

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes Which is Better for Your Site

What’s better Free vs Paid Themes

What’s better Free vs Paid Themes

This is the age-old debate!  Should you spend a few bucks and pay for a premium (paid) theme, or should you scrounge around looking for something free.

What’s better for your WordPress site?

The answer is…

BOTH.

Yeah, it sounds like a political way out of the argument, but let us state the case.

Our journey with WordPress started because there was so much free to be had!

We started our very first site on WordPress.com.  We didn’t have to pay for hosting and everything else (including over 100 themes and tons of plugins) were free. How could we go wrong?!?

Soon, we started to realize how much free was costing us.  We were limited by what we could do on WordPress.com and found hosting (we started with Bluehost) was a better alternative.  Not to mention is wasn’t as expensive as we had thought.

Then came the themes… we installed plenty of free ones.  They were great.  But… well… lacking in some way.  They didn’t offer the bells and whistles we wanted.  Still… we dug in!  We started customizing what we could.

If we wanted a squeeze page with a video, we’d wrestle with the free theme (sometimes for weeks) trying to get it to conform.  Then we would decide we wanted a page with a different look (like an ebook cover) and we were right back at the drawing board… trying to figure it out (again).

Eventually, we took a look at Premium (paid) themes.  Most are less than $100 bucks (for the really high-end ones).

The point of this post can be summarized here:

“The right theme will save you hundreds of hours.  These extra hours can then be invested in generating content and traffic.  Content and traffic build your site.”

Our advice?  Follow our example.

If you are new… stick with free themes.  There are some really top-notch ones out there.  In fact, here are 30 Free WordPress Gallery Themes you can check out later.

The free themes will teach you what you want in a theme.  They’ll give you ideas.

Only when you KNOW what you want a theme to do… do you INVEST in a paid theme.  If you want variety, purchase a package of themes (you can find some really good ones for less than $50).

For those who are curious, we use OptimizePress to run this site.  This ONE theme builds our  blog posts, membership pages (with video), squeeze pages (with video) and even our Facebook fanpages (with the right plugin!).  It’s truly amazing.

Full disclosure, if you do decide to purchase OptimizePress through any of our links we’ll receive compensation.  The same hold true if you order Bluehost hosting.  Check them out, at least they’ll give you some options.  If you do decide to purchase, know that you are helping to support this site as well.

Were we able to help you decide if it’s better to use a Free or Paid theme for your WordPress site?  Any questions we could answer for you?  Let us know and please help us spread the word with a like, comment and share!

Article Source http://wptrainingvideos.com/free-vs-paid-wordpress-themes/

What’s better Free vs Paid Themes

Why Use Premium WordPress Themes and Plugins 8 Reasons You Should Invest

Free vs. Premium

First and foremost, what’s the difference between free and premium WordPress themes and plugins? Free themes and plugins are, well, free. You can grab them right now, no strings attached, no money down. For premium themes and plugins, you have to pony up some dinero.

The main difference? You get what you pay for. Free themes and plugins are often barebones. Updates are infrequent and not guaranteed. Sometimes the developer takes some shortcuts or writes sloppy code. Premium themes and plugins usually come with support and updates. They often have more features and goodies. The code is often clean and ready to rock.

This isn’t always the case—we’re generalizing. There are certainly some awesome free themes and plugins. There are also a few premium themes and plugins that aren’t worth the money you pay. But in general, you get what you pay for.

Disclaimer

OK, so we’re iThemes, maker of premium WordPress themes and plugins. We kind of have a vested interest in getting people to use premium WordPress themes and plugins.

Yes, we’re biased.

But we do what we do because we love it, and we believe in it. We’re not some fly-by-night operation. We’ve got 20 employees and roots in Oklahoma City. We’re sticking around. We believe in premium WordPress themes and plugins because paying for something ensures long-term sustainability.

It’s about going far together. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. By paying for products, there’s a viable business model. Our employees get to eat. And as a paying customer, you get a better product you can rely on, now and into the future. Plus, you get guaranteed support and updates.

Learn more about what iThemes is all about from our founder, Cory Miller.

Yes, we’ve got a financial stake. But we’ve also got a stake in our customers. We’re here to do business, and doing it well means working in partnership with our customers. If it’s not worth it to you, it won’t be worth it to us.

So, why use premium WordPress themes and plugins?

9 Reasons Why You Should Pay

1. You Want Help

One of the biggest reasons to go with premium themes and plugins is because most of them come with guaranteed support. You get help when you need it.

Some free themes offer help, but only when the developer isn’t busy. Assuming you’re willing to wait around. And if you can’t wait? Tough luck.

But premium themes usually come with robust support. You can get questions answered. You can figure out how to do something and get back to work.

2. You Want to Be Current

You have to keep your software current. When WordPress rolls out an update, themes and plugins often have to be updated. Sometimes it’s minor stuff, but sometimes a WordPress update will introduce new features or break old ones. If no one is around to keep that old free plugin updated, it could stop working. Or worse, it could become a security threat.

3. Quality Matters

Sometimes you get what you pay for. Free themes are notorious for being poorly coded or stingy on the features. What do you expect? But premium themes and plugins usually go the extra mile. People are paying for it, so the quality goes up a notch (or two or three).

If you want your site to work right all the time, then pay for it. Quality is worth the price.

Let’s be honest: Not all free themes and plugins are crap. There are some incredible free themes and plugins out there. But in general you get more power, more customization, more options, and more specialized features with premium themes and plugins.

4. Be an Original

A big downside to free themes is that everybody uses the good ones. As you browse the web, you start to notice sites looking familiar. It’s not a big deal, but if you want to be unique and original, you’ll have to shell out some extra dollars.

Premium themes are used way less frequently than free themes. Plus, many premium themes have customizable options that keep your site looking unique. Maybe you can’t afford a completely custom design, but if originality is important, it’s worth paying a little more for a premium theme and having a look that’s your own.

5. Crazy Awesome Stuff

If you want to have the latest, greatest, craziest features, then pay up. Some of the most powerful plugins that really take WordPress to another level are going to cost you. And the latest WordPress features usually require the most current themes.

Those impressive features take a lot of smart coding to implement, they need a lot of good support to help people use them and they require updates to stay current and stable. That all costs money.

There are plenty of cool features available in free plugins—let’s not discount that. But for some of the biggest and baddest features—we’re talking ecommerce, backup, membership—the best plugins are premium.

6. Safe and Secure

Free themes, specifically those available outside of the WordPress theme directory, are notorious for being packed with malicious code. This issue has gotten better as WordPress has matured, but it’s still a very real threat. Hackers prey on people looking for free themes and then sabotage those themes with backdoors and other tricks they can exploit.

If you want to go the free route, make sure you only choose themes from the WordPress theme directory. If you really want to feel safe and secure, go for a premium theme. Rest easy knowing a reputable premium theme creator will stand by their work.

7. Support the Community

Let’s get touchy-feely: WordPress is a community. It’s an open source software project that exists because developers have been generous with their time and talents.

By going the premium route, you’re supporting the WordPress economy and helping this community grow. You’re helping some developers make a living.

You’re not a freeloader. Give back.

(And even if you do go the free route, you should still support the community. Many free themes and plugins take donations to support their work. You can also find other ways to give back to WordPress.)

WordPress is an incredible gift, and we’re thankful for it. But not everything can be free. Premium offerings push the community farther and faster.

8. Get Some Perspective

We’ve given a bunch of reasons why you should pay up for premium themes and plugins. We think it’s worth paying for good stuff. But another helpful reason is simply to step back and get some perspective.

What do premium themes and plugins really cost in the grand scheme of things? Theme prices range from a few bucks to a few hundred, and most plugins are in the same range (higher prices are usually for high-end products or multi-site developer licenses). Even if you bought an entire pile of plugins and a really fancy theme, you’re walking away with a ridiculous amount of coding power for under $1,000.

That’s a bargain. If you were hiring developers to code all of this for you, you’d be paying magnitudes more. So yes, premium themes and plugins do cost more than free ones. But it’s still way cheaper than hiring custom coders.

Better WordPress Websites

So why use premium WordPress themes and plugins? You get better quality and better service, for one. Yes, we are biased. But this goes to the heart of our business model, and it really comes down to supporting the community and getting better products for our customers.

Article Source:Why Use Premium WordPress Themes and Plugins 8 Reasons You Should Invest https://ithemes.com/2014/06/26/why-use-premium-wordpress-themes-plugins/

Why Use Premium WordPress Themes and Plugins 8 Reasons You Should Invest

3 Easy Ways to Pick Great Color Schemes For Your Infographics

3 Easy Ways to Pick Great Color Schemes For Your Infographics

Color schemes influence comprehension

[This is part of the Infographic Design Series. Check out the other posts!]

Is this bruise on my arm bluish black or blackish blue, if an orange is orange in color what color is a carrot? There is a large spectrum (pun intended) of uncertainty and subjectivity when it comes to using colors for art and design. This post seeks to provide some order to that chaos and some structure to guide you in picking colors and creating color schemes for your work.

Subjective as it may be, we can agree that colors affect our moods, perceptions and adds context to our content. There’s also tons of psychological research to back this claim. Hence, selecting the right color scheme will potentially enhance the effectiveness of the message that you want to get across. Remember though, like all things beautiful there’s a thin line between having an array of colors that would be a sight for sore eyes and using too many colours that would actually give someone sore eyes. As you go along we’ll help you  with some neat tips and tricks and best practices to achieve the former rather than the latter.

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind before we move on to the nitty gritty details.

1. Stick to 2 main colors, and do not use more than 4 colours. A little goes a long way.
   


2. Pick only 1 or 2 main colors (clear and bold), while the rest should be complementary colors (subtle and warm).


3. When you’re tempted to add more colors,don’t give in- use more shades instead.


4. Provide ample white space for the eyes to stay relaxed.

 

1. Follow your company branding

If you are creating work-related material, one of the best and safest ways to choose a color scheme is to follow the color of the company’s brand guidelines. For some, this may not even be a matter of choice! Use it as the primary color to hunt for complementing colors to match.

Image credits: Left: redpepper | Right: Coca – Cola Infographic by Nelly Soegianto on Behance

The examples above use colors of their company branding guidelines as the main color.

• Oreo Blue, the brand color complemented by the product color makes a clean and clear infographic.


• An infographic themed with Coca-cola Red as the leading color in different shades with complementing colors.

Selecting complementing colors

For this, you will need an easy-to-use generator. There are many online tools you can use to generate theme colors. I personally prefer Coolors. It is a free, quick and easy color scheme generator—you just need to lock-in your company color and leave the rest to Coolors to match for you. You can also go for your own preferred tool.

Selecting shades

If you are unsure which scheme to choose, you can work with shades. You can try ColorSchemer Online. Play with the “Lighten Scheme” and “Darken Scheme” and pick a few codes in different shades and jot it down.

Color schemes by company logo

Choosing colors this way works best when used for branding infographics. Using your company color will furtherstrengthen your brand awareness.

 

2. Let your content decide

You can also use the subject to determine the best color to use for your infographic. For instance, if your infographic is about coffee you can use shades of coffee and its complimenting colors. Or you can select colors based on the objects in the infographic and make it more meaningful, like the following. The color scheme used based on the objects of the infographic makes the information very easy to consume.

 

Image credit: Webdesign.org For this method, you can grab any preset color schemes off the Net. There are many available color sets online, for instance,

For this method, you can grab any preset color schemes off the Net. There are many available color sets online, for instance, Adobe Color CC (previously known as Adobe Kuler). It is an online color generator tool that comes with user preset themes. I pick this tool because they have a good amount of color sets providing me with ample choices. Once again, you can always pick from your own preferred site.

Color scheme by content

Colors instantly highlight the context and facilitate visual perception. So, selecting color scheme to match your content is like giving more context to your content.

 

3. Draw inspiration from the natural world

One other way to select color schemes is to just draw inspiration from what is natural e.g. the colors of the seasons (or trees, sea, sky etc) because simply, you can’t go wrong with nature. Here’s a list of colors by seasons to help you get inspired. You can pick one or two main colors then use Coolors to help you with the rest. Or you can play around with the shades and tints. Remember, do not exceed four colors. If you want to use more colors, play with the shades.

Autumn
 
Winter
 
Spring
 
Summer
 

You don’t have to limit yourself with mere four seasons. There are colors of the holidays and festive seasons for you to choose from too. Here are more colors of the seasons to get you inspired.

Color scheme by seasons

This method works best when used for infographics for seasonal marketing purpose or season themed subject. Holidays and festive seasons are always associated with colors and mood. By applying the colors that are usually associated with these seasons, the message is easier to comprehend, making your work more effective.

How to apply colors in Piktochart?

Now, with your color codes, you can apply the colors on your background, text, icons and shapes in Piktochart accordingly. To apply the background color, you will select Background on the panel on the left as shown below.

For objects like text, icons, and shapes, you will select the object and pick a color from the color picker on the toolbar as indicated below. You can also apply the Hex code you have chosen previously.

4. Too much fuss? Try Pikto Templates.

If you prefer not to mess with colors, you can always use our handy preset templates. The colors are carefully picked and match by our team of designers just for you. You will notice that they follow our best practice in terms of 2-4 main colors, using shades/hues and using a lot of white space. The following are examples of Piktochart templates ready for use.

Key takeaways.

 

Pick color schemes for your infographic using these 3 easy ways:

1. Follow the color(s) of your company logo: for branding infographics


2. Let your content decide the colors: for content marketing infographics


3. Go with the colors of the four seasons or festive seasons: for seasonal marketing infographics

If you decide not to do-it-yourself, then opt for one of Piktochart’s handy infographic templates. So go on then, Make Information Beautiful!

Article Source: http://piktochart.com/pick-great-color-schemes-your-infographics/

3 Easy Ways to Pick Great Color Schemes For Your Infographics

WordPress Themes 5 Reasons Why You Should Go Premium

WordPress Themes 5 Reasons Why You Should Go Premium

Those of you who have spent any length of time browsing the WordPress Free Themes Directory will know that there are a huge number of free WordPress themes available for you to install on your site. At the time of writing, there are an astonishing 1,482 themes, and the directory grows by another 20-30 every single month..

With so many free themes available, you may be wondering why on earth you would ever pay for a premium theme. That is a reasonable question to ask, but there are in fact a multitude of reasons as to why you should choose a premium theme for your WordPress site.

But before we get onto that, let’s first answer the obvious question.

What Is A “Premium” WordPress Theme?

By its most simple definition, a premium WordPress theme costs money. If it isn’t free, it is premium. There are no fixed standards or certification that designates a theme as being premium. Anyone can build a WordPress theme, brand it as premium, and offer it for sale.

But typically speaking, a premium theme will have been built by professional web designers, with the specific aim of catering to a market who is willing to pay more for a better product.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five reasons why you should choose a premium theme.

1. Quality

If you choose a reputable premium theme shop (which of course you should), you can expect a product that is of superior quality to free themes. But what does that mean in practical terms?

You can expect something more unique. If you want your blog to stand out from the crowd, a free theme will typically not cut the mustard. Why? Because a huge number of other blogs will already be using that same theme. Take Twenty Eleven as an example – a clean and attractive design (that also happens to be used by 1,001 other blogs).

You can expect compliance and responsive design. Web standards are always changing, as are the capabilities of the browsers we use. Premium themes are far more likely to be designed with current web standards in mind.

You can expect responsive design. In this day and age, people are accessing your site using a variety of different devices, and it is therefore important to ensure that it remains functional across multiple platforms. You can purchase premium themes that are designed specifically with responsive design in mind.

Purchasing a premium theme from a reputable source guarantees a product of quality. The same cannot be said of many free themes.

2. Functionality

For those of us who are not technologically savvy, trying to make even minor amendments to free WordPress themes can be an absolute nightmare. An intermediate knowledge of PHP, CSS and HTML is usually required.

3. Security

It can seem almost too good to be true that there are so many free themes available. And to a large extent, it is. A huge proportion of available free themes are in fact packaged with malicious code. For a full expose of the risks of installing free themes on your site, check out this brilliant article over at WPMU.

You can largely avoid security issues by downloading themes from the WordPress Free Themes Directory. Unfortunately, searching through the free options available there often presents you with a fresh problem…

4. Updates

Premium themes are typically updated on a regular basis to keep up with new versions of WordPress. The same cannot be said of free themes.

Let’s say you install a free theme on your site, and spend a lot of time tweaking it to your liking. Then a new version of WordPress comes out, which the theme is incompatible with. You have two options:

1. Don’t upgrade WordPress. This can leave your site exposed to security breaches, and you will of course miss out on any new features.


2. Start again with a brand new theme. This of course will take a great deal of time.

Premium theme designers must keep all of their themes up to date – not doing so would result in irreparable damage to their reputation. When you purchase a premium theme, you can be confident that it will stand the test of time.

5. Support

When it comes to setting up and customizing themes, you have two options:

1. Use a free theme – search for help, ask on forums, hope someone will be kind enough to assist you.


2. Buy a premium theme and rely upon timely support from knowledgeable theme designers.

No free theme designer has an obligation to help you if you have problems with the implementation or customization of a theme. On the flip side, all premium theme designers offer some sort of support system. And the top theme shops (such asWooThemes) offer stellar support that are practically alone worth the cost of the themes.

The argument for support largely comes down to how much value you place on your time. If you are having problems with a free theme, you may be able to find the solution by trawling the web and asking on forums, but it will take time. But problems with premium themes are typically solved very quickly and easily.

If You’re Going Premium, Go Reputable

Earlier in the article we made the point that a theme can be considered “premium” as soon as someone slaps a price tag on it. So surely some premium themes can be just as bad as the free options? That could certainly be the case, which is why you should only choose reputable theme shops. For 10 of the best, check out this list we recently published.

Article Source: https://managewp.com/wordpress-premium-themes




WordPress Themes 5 Reasons Why You Should Go Premium

50 Beautiful Color Palettes for Your Next Web Project

Choosing the right color scheme is essential to your website’s success. Your layout and other design choices – including font – should be developed in concert with your color scheme to ensure readability, cohesiveness and beauty in the final product.

Choosing the right color scheme is essential to your website’s success. Your layout and other design choices — including font — should be developed in concert with your color scheme, which can ensure readability, cohesiveness, and beauty in the final product. Unfortunately, making that choice or creating a color palette from scratch can be quite the challenge. That’s why for today’s post I’ve put together a collection of 50 beautiful color palettes that are ready to use for your next web project. If you like these, check out another 24 palettes I’ve recently rounded up.

Getting the Most Out of This Post

Before diving into the color palettes I’ve collected, I want to mention a few tools that can help you get the most out of this post. Colorzilla for Chrome/Firefox and ColorPick Eyedropper for Chrome are free tools that will help you capture the data (such as hex codes) that you will need to start experimenting with these palettes.

Remember that Photoshop will display certain colors far more vibrantly than they will look on the web when you use hex codes. For example, a greyed, soft pink looked super saturated until I chose “Save for Web” to preview it (this article has some thoughts on how to remedy that).

Bonus Resources!

If you’re anything like me, then this post has inspired you to brush up on your color theory and the skills necessary to put it to good use on your next project, in which case I highly recommend checking out the following articles:

• applying color theory to web design,


• understanding the code behind your color swatches,


• learning how to assemble your own palette,


• and our own Betterment article on color theory.

If there are any colors you’re dying to know more about, ColorHexa(which certainly “looks like the Wolfram Alpha of color”) can help you out.

We’ve also had an awesome commenter, Dima, make a GPL file of these palettes that works with GIMP, Inkscape, etc., which can be copied in (~/.config/inkscape/palettes/ or ~/.gimp-2.8/palettes/) and has a white separator between each palette.

Article Source: http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/inspiration/beautiful-color-palettes-for-your-next-web-project

50 Beautiful Color Palettes for Your Next Web Project

How To Choose a Great Color Scheme For Your Website

You don’t need to hire a flamboyant interior designer named Ricardo to pick great colors for your website.

You just need a a sense of adventure and a basic understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Luckily for us web folk, choosing colors for your website is a sh*tload easier than choosing colors for your living room. You can make as many mistakes as you need to in the quest for perfection, and the possibilities for experimentation are endless.

3 important considerations when choosing website colors

1. Does your website need to sync with an existing color scheme? This is often the case for business sites that need to reflect the branding that the company already uses.


2. What’s the purpose of the website? If the aim is to sell something, the colors you choose will need to inspire the right kind of emotion in people. Check out this article oncolor psychology in marketing for further info.


3. What kind of photos and graphics will you incorporate into the site? It’s important that your color scheme matches your images, and vice versa. Photos can actually be a great source of inspiration when it comes to choosing colors for your site.

How many colors should you use?

This is a hugely debatable question, but a good number of designers recommend using only 3 main colors on your website. The more colors you use, the harder it becomes to keep them all in harmony and create a balanced, consistent look for your site.

As a starting point, you could try following the 60 – 30 – 10 Rule, which has been used by interior and fashion designers for many years and works equally well in web design.

The rule specifies that you should pick three different colors and use them in ratios of 60%, 30% and 10% respectively.

• The 60% will be the primary color of your site and set the overall tone of your design.


• The 30% should contrast with the 60% to create a visually striking effect.


• The 10% is an ‘accent color’, which should complement either your primary or secondary color.

In conventional design wisdom, it’s safer to make either the 60% or 30% a ‘neutral’ color (white, gray, beige, black and so on). This gives you the maximum number of options when choosing your other two colors, because neutral elements will generally “go with anything”.

Shades and tones for greater variety

Remember also that you have a certain amount of room to move within each color. In many cases, you will need to diversify your palette beyond your three basic elements. Rather than add a fourth and fifth color to your site and risk spoiling the design, try different shades and tones of your existing colors instead.

By lightening or darkening tones in certain places, you can create distinction without upsetting your harmonious three color balance.

Free tools to help you choose a color scheme

Fortunately, there’s plenty of assistance available when it comes to choosing your website colors. You can find a number of excellent (and free) online tools to help you whip up a professional-looking palette.

There’s a tonne of them out there – these are just a few good ones to get you started:

Colors On The Web

This is a brilliant tool for finding complementary colors and experimenting with shades and hues. You just pick your base color and the website provides a whole range of suggestions.

Visit site.

Kuler

A Flash-based library of professional color themes. You’ll need an Adobe account to use Kuler, but it doesn’t cost anything.

Visit site.

COLOURlovers

A design community where people share thoughts and ideas on colors, patterns and lots of other cool stuff.

Visit site.

PHOTOCOPA

A product of the COLOURlovers community, this tool allows you to create a palette based on colors extracted from a digital photo. Also includes a range of other color creation tools – very handy stuff.

Visit site.

Calling all designers!

If you know a thing or two about mixing colors and can add something to the conversation, please leave us a comment below this article. We’re always interested in the wisdom of practicing professionals.




How To Choose a Great Color Scheme For Your Website

3 Time-Tested Ways To Pick The Perfect Website Color Combination

3 Time-Tested Ways To Pick The Perfect Website Color Combination

Color communicates with the viewer on an emotional level.

Without them being aware, the colors you choose for your web design stir up different moods with the user.  Color is the most immediate way of creating a good first impression. The challenge is to combine color while giving the website a unified and polished look.

There are numerous methods for choosing a color combination.  Here are three of my favorite ways to choose a color palette for a web design project.

Method 1 –  Start with a blank canvas

The first method is to build a color palette from scratch.

It’s helpful to use a tool for this.  Here are a few that I have used:

• Adobe Kuler


• COLOURlovers


• ColoRotate


• Color Scheme Designer

How many colors should be used?

Although there is not a hard and fast rule, the more colors you use, the harder it becomes to established a unified design. To borrow from interior and fashion design, the 60-30-10 rule states that three colors should be used in varying degrees (60%, 30%, 10%) to create the perfect harmony.

• The primary color should cover about 60% of the space and create the overall unifying theme of the design.


• The 30% should contrast with the 60% to create a visually striking effect.


• The 10% is an ‘accent color’, which should complement either your primary or secondary color.

Experiment and use as many or as few colors as you like. You might start with 5 colors and then add or subtract based on how you progress through the design.

Using Tints & Shades

In scenarios where you have to use more than three-five colors, tints and shades can be used. An example may be content-rich web pages where you need to visually separate side bars, captions, and tables from other content. The result will unify the design without the need for a fourth or fifth color.

Tints and shades can be used to provide additional color options without clashing with your existing color scheme.

Method 2 – Start with an image

Photos can be a great source of inspiration when it comes to choosing your color scheme.

When incorporating images into the design, whether they be stock images, original photography or graphic design, coordinate colors between them and the layout. This will create a unified design. It may be that the photograph inspired the design, and in this case fitting the images into the design should be simple. We tend to borrow color inspiration from photographs instead of the other way around.


Photographs are often color inspiration for web design, as is the case of the above website. Our eyes recognize the color relation by instinct, which in turn provides a strong connection for the user. When you borrow a smaller amount of color inspiration from a photo, additional parts of the layout are brought to our attention. In the case of Live Africa, the logo has much more emphasis.




In the above example, large amounts of color coordination is used between the main photograph and the rest of the website. You can see the color scheme from the photograph permeates all other elements which creates a unified visual identity.



Blue, browns, and other earth tones have been borrowed and successfully translated into the design of the Africa Oasis Project’s website. The colors along with the texture of the website form an emotional impression on the visitor while giving them a glimpse into the project’s mission.

Method 3 – Start with the business goals

Color can also be used to elicit an action in someone.

If the website’s goal is to sell something, choose colors that will inspire a an emotion in your site visitor.

Market researchers and brand managers have used color psychology to influence product engagement. Examples of this in practice include restaurants that are usually red and orange, banks and financial institutions are often blue, while luxury products are typically packaged in black.



Discount/coupon sites tend to utilize bright color schemes. The color scheme on Groupon translates into a sense of urgency. These sites are about grabbing a deal at the last minute, and bright colors contribute to this game-like appeal.





Hotel websites usually have a colour scheme of white, blue, black or green because of the symbolic connotations of these colors. Warm colors are also used as they create a comfortable feeling for the visitor. The website for Hotel Missoni uses bold colors and illustrates how color has to fit within the color scheme established by the image. The use of background images means the design can’t be physically separated. The result is a unique looking website with a subdued layout.



College websites have a large amount of content to squeeze on the site, which can make it a challenge to design. The Camden Military Academy used strong, universal colors that connotes trust and dependability. The design uses three colors – blue, red, and yellow, with tints used to differentiate content. The 60-30-10 rule can be seen here: Roughly 60% of the site is a shade of yellow, 30% in the form of blue, and 10% in the form of red.

Carefully selected color combinations along with tints and shades will evoke different reactions, moods, and feelings in the minds of your viewer.  The best way to develop your color sense is to view lots of designs.

What methods do you use to pick the perfect website color combination?

Article Source: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2011/12/30/pick-website-color-combination/


3 Time-Tested Ways To Pick The Perfect Website Color Combination