These days, most people don’t get their basic business documents like newsletters and flyers designed by professionals. Most of the time small businesses use a word processor to publish documents in-house. Just because these documents are homemade, doesn’t mean they have to look that way. Here are some basic typography tips on getting your home published documents to look a little more professional.

1. Use no more than two fonts

This is a rule that I see broken all of the time in self-published newsletters, brochures, flyers, etc. Many people feel that using many different fonts in a document will give it some flare and liven it up a bit. Or, they may think that using an abundance of different fonts will help communicate the message of a certain section of the document better. I can understand this thinking. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t work. Usually what ends up happening is the person trying to read the document gets confused and agitated. This happens because there is not a single visual voice to the document, resulting in an unprofessional look and feel.

The solution is to keep your font choices to a maximum of 2 fonts. This will keep the visual tone of the document consistent and help the reader, well, read. It may be hard to resist using all those pretty fonts, but you can do it! RESIST!

2. Don’t double up

There are two basic kinds of fonts out there: Serif and Sans-serif. Serif fonts have little “feet” called serifs, and Sans-serifs have none. Examples of Serif fonts would be: Times, Georgia, and Baskerville. Examples of Sans-serif fonts are: Helvetica, Arial, and Tahoma.

If you are going to be using more than one font in your document, use one Sans-serif and one Serif font. Never use 2 of the same kind of font. Using 2 different kinds of fonts gives a good contrast and gives the page life in a professional looking way.

3. Use space wisely

This tip is up to your discretion and really depends on the type of document you are producing. The key in most professional documents is keeping things legible. Let’s say you’re producing a newsletter for your business. Don’t try and cram as much info as you can on the page. Let it breath a little. Give your readers eyes a break. Whitespace can add a sophisticated feel to your documents. Just think of the difference between the layout of a luxury jewelry ad and some junk mail piece you get in your mailbox. The jewelry ad most likely uses a good amount of “empty” space, the junk mail piece crams everything it can into a small space. Now you have to decide if you want your publications to look elegant, or like junk mail. It’s up to you.

Conclusion

These are just a few basic typography tips to make your desktop publications a little more attractive, easy to read and professional. Now go make some great looking stuff!

Other resources

Typography tips for graphic design students
10 Common Typography Mistakes
Styles, Weights, Widths — It’s All in the (Type) Family

With the arrival of the blog and many different content management systems, it is quite easy for a website owner to add valuable content to their site regularly. Valuable, fresh content is what the internet is all about. Users are searching for fresh information in your area of expertise every day. It would be a shame not to take advantage of the many options that you have when you own a website.

Get a blog

If you don’t have a blog that is connected to your site (e.g. www.yoursite.com/blog), it would do you good to get one. This is the easiest way to update your users with relevant content that they are looking for. Having your blog directly connected to you main website has it’s advantages as well. When people visit your blog they are already, technically, visiting your site. They are only a click away from your main site. We use WordPress on this site for blogging. It’s easy to use and has loads of flexibility and functionality.

Build a loyal following

Having a regularly updated site keeps your user base coming back for more. I know that I am very loyal to a handful of sites because of this very fact. They have updated information constantly (almost on a daily  basis) and articles on subjects that I am interested in. This is the superiority of the web to print. Imagine if you updated your brochure or printed a new ad in the paper every day. The cost would be huge!

Get on it!

So if you have a newly designed website, or an old one that needs a little love, show it some. Get in there and write an article or update a page on your site that has real value to your users. A website is a tool. If you use it properly, it will pay off.

So you have a brand spankin’ new website. You’re pumped. You think to yourself, “Wow, now I’m feeling really good about people visiting my site. I’m so glad I had it re-designed!”.

Now how to get people to visit the site?

This is a key question. A website is no good if people don’t go see it. I’m not going to go into deep SEO techniques or anything, so don’t worry. These are just a few practical things that anyone should do to get people to go to your website.

1. Start Talking

Simple, yes? Really a website is like any other component of business, you have to get the word out so people know to check it out. Start chatting it up with everyone you know and mention that you’ve just got a killer new site up and that they should check it out. It seems simple, and it is. Sometimes it’s easy to forget to do the most obvious things. So get talking!

2. Put your URL on everything (That’s yours)

Business cards, letterhead, envelopes, email signatures, your car, pens, you name it! Just like a phone number or email it is key to have the address to your site on all physical marketing materials and identity pieces.

3. Send out an email to your clients

This is a great way to generate interest in your site. Just pop a link to your website in a nice little email and send it off to your client list. This makes it  effortless for the reader to go straight to the site that you want them to go to.

4. Facebook & Twitter

Facebook has something around 350 million users, and Twitter has millions of users as well. These social networking tools are a great way to get the word out about almost anything. Using them to update people in your social networking circle about your new website is a no-brainer. Facebook has a nice feature where people can comment on your link to your site – giving you instant feedback.

5.Run an Ad.

Some people are saying that all forms of traditional marketing are dying, but I think they are still hanging on and very useful. Online marketing tools will greatly enhance any other marketing you are doing. That said, running an ad in your local newspaper or an industry related magazine about your new site would also help drive traffic.

6. Start an AdWords Campaign

Search Engine Optimazation (SEO) is essential to gain high rank in search engines like Google or Yahoo!, but it takes time. To get exposure on Google quickly you can pay for ads to run that come up when people search for the keywords you specify. This is called Google AdWords You can also set a geographical area to your campaign. This way only people searching within that area will see your ads, narrowing your focus. You also have the ability to set daily caps on how much you are willing to spend, making it easy to budget.

Well, there are a few ways you can direct people to your website. With a little time an dilligence you can get the word out and get people visiting. The fun part is, you don’t have to be a technical genius to do these things!