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Sparkle! Shine! Be noticed! Attract customers! That’s what you want for your product or service. But how do you attain that?

Great graphic design is the key! Graphic design that creates sparkle and pizazz and magnetizes your target clients to you is what you are looking for. When you begin to look for the right graphic designer, it can seem that there are way too many to choose from. Most will have a graphic design portfolio on line. This is the place to start.

What is it that sets one apart from another? How do you judge graphic design for yourself? It’s not an easy task, because it also involves personal taste, but here are some basic design elements that will help as you look at their portfolios.

Emotional Response. Take the time to look at their work and see how it affects you. Do you like it? Does it make you want to know more, buy more? Do you respond in some way? It is usually an effective emotional response that make us want to act or buy. In the graphic design you are reviewing you want to assess the degree to which the pieces initiate an emotional response.

Use of White Space. Probably the first and foremost consideration is the use of white space in the graphic design. Is the message presented simply with lots of surrounding space, or is the space cluttered and you don’t know where to look next. Examine a number of the graphic design pieces in the designer’s portfolio. Knowing how and when to use white space is a talent and an art. Does this designer have it?

Simple Easy to Understand Message. Just like white space, the message should be simple and easy to understand. Competing messages don’t make for sparkle and notice in graphic design.

Meaningful Unique Bold Graphics. Our brains process visually, so the visual message is very important, often more important than the words. How clear and bold are the graphics in the work of the design you are considering. Do you get the message immediately? Are the visuals different and unique or do you have the feeling that you’ve seen them before. Is the designer using the same “stock” images as everybody else or do they find new and unique ways to present their message.

Effective use of Type or Fonts. Does the type style match the emotional feel of the piece? Does is help the message to stand out. Is it readable?

Benefits. While benefits are a selling point and not really a part of the design itself, they are a very important part of what makes a piece sizzle and sparkle, because it’s the benefits that magnetize clients to you. So be sure your designer has included benefits in their design pieces.

Drama. Does their graphic design work have drama? Drama engages the reader, involves the reader, keeps them looking and then remembering long after they’ve seen the piece. This is another part of what creates magnetism.

Spend some time with each online portfolio. Talk to the graphic designer. As for references and then, talk to their clients to get a feel for how well their work has produced results. How happy were they with the graphic design services they received. Would they use the designer again?

With all this information, finding the right graphic design firm to create sparkle, sizzle and magnetism for your product or service should be a cinch.

Public speaking, in one form or another, is thousands of years old. In some ways it goes back to the beginnings of the human race, but even beyond chats around a fire, giving a talk to a gathered crowd is at least as old as the ancient Greeks. Amphitheaters 2,500 years ago were used for much more than just presenting plays.

Many of the principles that were effective then are still valid today.

A public speech to which no one listens is not a success by any reasonable measure. You may or may not inform, sway opinion or provide entertainment. But if what you say is ignored, you have no chance at any useful results. Keeping audience interest for the length of your speech, usually anywhere between twenty minutes and two hours, is a challenge. But there are several common sense ideas that will help you achieve just that.

A good public speaker projects a personality  that makes people want to listen, regardless of the topic and (to some extent) independent of the content. Body language, use of voice and gesture, and a variety of other techniques that can be learned are critical. It’s a cliché that a good speaker can keep an audience spellbound reading from the phone book. An exaggeration, to be sure, but one containing a grain of truth.

Still, content is important. How you write the speech will go a long way toward keeping your audience intrigued. Often, injecting humor or relating an anecdote will work well. But take care to match the style and content of the speech with any humor or tale you tell. Serious subjects require discretion and judgment. Even more lighthearted speeches can go astray if the anecdote is just thrown in for effect.

You can be guided by the event and the expected audience. A gathering of businesspersons who came to hear a talk on international finance may well respond to a story of success won the hard way. Making it personal always helps. But few mothers who came to hear you speak on how to raise a child will be interested in off-color jokes about a politician’s bad behavior.

When you give your speech, base it on the audience you actually have, not just the one you expected. Watch them as carefully as you hope they are watching you. It isn’t difficult to tell the difference between a rapt audience, hanging on your every word, and one that has drifted off into multiple private conversations.

How you deliver the speech will help you achieve the first and avoid the latter. You may write the speech in full and read it word for word (so long as you don’t appear to be doing so). Or, you may prefer to make a few notes and improvise fleshing them out. Or your could even use teleprompter software to help you deliver your message.  That’s a matter of personal taste combined with experience and your skill set. But in every case, be sure you can deliver the content you want in a way that will keep the audience riveted. Appearing knowledgeable and in control of your material and delivery are key whichever method you choose.

Being a good public speaker can be learned by anyone. Practice, attention to detail and having something worth hearing will take you a long way.

“I need a professional graphic design firm to do my logos, stationery, web design and brochures. I’ve met several graphic designers at networking groups. I’ve looked at a ton of web sites. How can I be sure I’m hiring a professional graphic design firm that can meet all of my needs?”

A professional graphic designer will have a full range of services available to meet your needs. These include print and web design, Flash and video work, photography and illustration, resources for quality and affordable printing, and other marketing services. The professional graphic design firm also uses professional tools, like Adobe In Design or Quark, Photoshop, Dreamweaver or Cold Fusion to just name a few.

Look at the firm’s clientele. What size firms are they servicing? What services are they providing for those companies? Do the services they provide cover a full spectrum of graphic and marketing services? Professional graphic design firms will have access to and be using a wide variety of resources. You can ask for the full list of their services if they aren’t already included in their on-line web sites.

Once you’ve narrowed your list down to two or three firms, ask for references and call each one of them personally. Getting your business off on the right foot is at stake here. Take the time to really understand what their clients think of them. Here are a few questions you might ask. This is not an exhaustive list, so before you start calling add any additional questions you can think of to it.

Did the services they provide include the following: logos, stationery, business cards, marketing post cards, advertising concepts and print advertising, brochures, newsletters, press releases, marketing CD’s or DVD’s, web design, web optimization and market research.

For each of the services that were provided ask how happy the client was with the end product. Was it delivered on time and within budget? Did it produce the desired results? What were the downsides of working with the firm from this client’s point of view? What were the upsides? All in all, how happy were they with the products produced? Would they call this firm a professional graphic design firm? Why or Why not?

Once you’ve made the reference calls, take the time to look at the results of each interview. If you rate each of your potential firms on a 1 to 5 scale on the above elements, you’ll find on that a leader begins to emerge.

Then ask yourself some additional questions as well. Which of the professional graphic design firms you are considering has experience in your field? Which one does work that you like and feel is effective? It’s time for your personal taste to be brought into the decision making considerations. On a more personal front, which of the people do you think you’ll like working with more?

Once you’ve considered all of these factors, a clear decision should emerge. If it doesn’t, take the top two and – flip a coin because you’ve done all the relevant homework.

A lot us have ideas, but the real challenge is making them a reality. There are a lot of opportunities in the business industry but the real challenge is making out. Earning money is as difficult as finding it. No one really want to be a cubicle drone, but without adequate capital most of us become regular employees.

There are ways to start a business. If you have a great idea that has a big potential, there are ways to access funds for your business. Venture capital funds are one of the sources of seed capital for your start up company.

Venture capitalists invest on start up businesses with the potential for a high appraisal valuation. These are usually high technology companies that may lead returns in the long run. The downside of this is the venture capitalists get a share of your company and have say on the company’s decisions. A person who has always dreamed of becoming their own business may find this a tad uncomfortable.

The low down on Venture capital

There are some venture capitalists that provide financial services to start up companies. These are usually companies that are entirely new, with mostly an idea and a business plan in their hands. Venture capitalists are willing to make risky investments on businesses that banks loans and capital markets are afraid to make.

Companies that they invest in are usually high technology business such as computer and electronics. They are also interested in development and research.

Venture capitalists are general partners that offer limited partnership to a company. These general partners are usually made up of executives from a financial firm. They have the ability to pool in a large amount of capital. These funds are usually taken from pension, foundations, insurance companies, financial endowments and financial institutions.

This may seem a very good idea for a starting company but there is downside to this. In the business world nothing is free and general partners require 20% of the net profit of the company. They also requires a minimum of a 2% management fee every year.

It’s also not easy to attract venture capitalists. They often have strict requirements. They will no invest on companies that don’t have proof of their technology. They may agree to meet up with you but that does not mean you’re already in good terms. Most of time 999 business plans get rejected out of 1000. They can reject you for a lot of things that may even seem trivial at the moment. The hurdles don’t stop there.

General partners may help your company to jump start and expand. But they won’t just let you make the decisions when they have invested a lot of money on your company.

In some instances this may lead to problems especially when general partners only care about making money for themselves. They may invest in advertising but not in the right places for your customers. Some of them like to spend too much money and the sudden growth is too fast.

Before you find yourself a venture capitalist make sure you are aware of their impact in your company. A venture capital fund may seem convenient at that time but you should always look ten steps ahead. Look for a general partner that will help your company grow not just add weight to their wallets.

What’s with web design that make visitors stay?

Every web designer aims to make the greatest website experience for their clients or themselves, but sometimes even the best ideas and hosting can’t keep a good site afloat. Even if you grab a reliable yet cheap web hosting services it is still not enough. One of the main reasons webizens cite for not using a website is terrible design, and in the fast paced world of blogs and web 2.0 a site needs all the hits it can get. If your website is turning your visitors off, then it’s only a matter of time before it falls into the nether like so many sites before it. Here are the top 9 horrible habits of web designers that anyone looking to make the best site they can should absolutely avoid.

1. CLASHING COLOR CHOICES

Studies show that the best readability for any site is the traditional black text on a white background. While a few additional colors here and there can brighten up a design and make it pop, using too many bright and loud colors can give even a fan of the neon-gilded 80′s a migraine.

2. LONG FLASH INTROS

When someone goes to your site, they are looking for information about your product or your web content itself. Flash intros are fluff, and unskippable fluff at that. If a user can’t get to the meat of your site and get what they need, they’ll leave.

3. TALKING ONSCREEN PEOPLE

This is a recent development in the world of web design, but this is one of the biggest annoyances of modern sites. An embedded video of a person walking and talking around the actual site will introduce you to the site, often obscuring the text onscreen and turning the viewer off as well.

4. ANIMATED GIFS

Animated Gifs have not gone the way of geocities, but live on through trashy site design. Flaming torches, bouncing kittens, and mailboxes that open and close make your site look incredibly unprofessional and can make visitors question the legitimacy of your venture itself.

5. BLINKING

For some reason, many designers believe that blinking text and images will make users pay closer attention to what their site is saying and what their site is providing. This is far from the case, and can even harm users who are prone to seizures or other medical conditions.

6. POPUPS

A single popup on a site to let your user navigate to a separate form or view large media files such as quicktime films is fine by todays standards, but some web designers still cling to the idea that every window and navigation choice must pop up underneath the browser. Considering that most browsers come with popup blockers now, this is definitely not the case.

7. EMBEDDED MUSIC

Unless you’re a musician, no one wants to hear your favorite song embedded into your site. If your site features embedded music that the user can’t turn off, they’ll immediately leave instead of taking a listen or taking a look at what you have to offer.

8. CLUTTER

It’s hard enough to find what you’re looking for when your house is a mess, so imagine how tough it is to find something when your site is a mess. Clean design can’t be stressed enough when it comes to site usability.

9. FLASH ONLY NAVIGATION

In the day and age of the iPhone, flash-only navigation makes no sense. Any visitor trying to get information from your website on their phone won’t be able to access it at all, and the amount of potential customers lost can be in the hundreds of thousands.

Choosing top web hosting may help but it’s not the end of it all. Designers must do away with all the aforementioned annoyances before they can perfect a masterpiece.