Guest Post by Spencer Spellman, freelance travel writer and social media expert

Whether you like it or not, it seems that Google as a social media platform is here to stay. Google+ got a lot of buzz over the summer when it launched, providing for many, yet another social media application, and for others, an alternative to Facebook, as Google+ honed in on features that Facebook hadn’t, such as enhanced privacy and better organization. However, this buzz was short-lived, as traffic significantly dropped in the weeks and months following the launch of Google+. Nonetheless, Google+ has bounced back with traffic spiking again with the recent introduction of branded pages.

Word spread quickly about the new Google+ pages with thousands of people being among the first to start a page. In just a few minutes you can have a Google+ page up and running for yourself or your business. When creating a page, you’ll fill in some details, such as what type of page you’re creating, and then start adding information about your business, along with multimedia. From there, you can start growing your page. There isn’t the same versatility with Google+ as there is with Facebook, such as FBML, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since it brings consistency across the board. Therefore, you won’t be spending the same amount of time customizing it as you would a Facebook page.

The main question you need to answer is whether it’s beneficial for your business. Google+ recently crossed over 40 million users. However, this is the number of registered users, which is much different from the number of active users. Google+ is still in its early stages. Most of the users are merely early adopters with a keen interest in technology. I strongly recommend analyzing your audience before choosing to sign up for a Google+ page and not just do it because the number of registered users suggests that you should.

It’s uncertain what the future of Google+ is, but the introduction of Google+ pages is evidence that Google is invested in this new application. Unlike Facebook, Google+ is an open network, making it easy to search for not just people and pages, but also for information being shared. This isn’t something you can so easily do with Facebook. Ultimately, Google+ isn’t just about being another social network. It’s about being another arm of Google’s search functionality. The implementation of the +1 button, in addition to Google+, proves that these elements will be a part of Google search going forward.

Do you use Google+ brand pages? If so, what results have you seen?

If you like this post, you might also like:

1. Is Google+ the Facebook Killer?
2. The Successes and Direction of Google+
3. The Future of Social Marketing

When fiction writers undertake a new project, they usually spend time getting to know their characters through surveys and profiles. This lets them write characters whose actions and speech seem believable to readers.

Even if you’re not trying to write the next Great American Novel, getting to know your niche—and the clients in that niche—will supercharge your marketing and help you win the hearts and minds of your target audience.

Why Finding Your Niche Matters

Small-business owners have limited resources, which means that they can’t realistically do lots of different things really well. But that isn’t a bad thing—finding your niche is a way of determining what specific products or services you are supremely qualified to offer.

When you discover your niche and focus marketing efforts on the right target audience, you establish yourself as an expert in what you do. For example: if you needed an operation on a very specific part of your brain, you’d want to go to a surgeon familiar with performing the exact procedure you need—not a generalist who knows as much about bunions as the prefrontal cortex.

Think of yourself as a sort of super-specialized surgeon who has exactly what your clients need—nothing more and nothing less.

Discover Your Unique Niche

You started your business to solve a specific problem or fill a specific void in people’s life, but maybe you’ve gotten bogged down with developing marketing strategies or establishing price points. Refocusing on your niche can help breathe life into your current efforts.

Start by profiling your business with questions like these . . .

• What need do my products or services fulfill?
• Who has this need? (Who are my ideal clients?)
• How can I reach these clients?
• How will my product or services change my clients’ lives?
• How can I communicate this to my clients?
• In what ways does my business differ from the competition?

This process may require more than just filling out answers on the page. When researching your potential clients, for example, you may have to talk to people, visit online forums, and ask a lot of questions to find out where your clients are and how you can get their attention.

Make the Niche Your Own

Once you’ve determined your niche—that is, once you’ve realized that you’re the only person who does exactly what you do—it’s time to let the world know. Or, more specifically, the section of the world that needs your product or service.

Interested in receiving more effective marketing tips? Follow us on Twitter!

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When you’re authentic in your marketing, your prospects and clients like and trust you, so they’re more likely to work with you for years to come. When you’re authentic, you’re powerful; people are drawn to you and want forge a relationship with you.

On the other hand, if you’re not authentic, prospects and clients sense it immediately and back away, never to return. Whether you’re authentic or not, word spreads quickly, so ensuring authenticity will reward you handsomely. We’ve found several ways to be authentic in your marketing strategy—and these tips work for all your business dealings.

Show them who you really are.

Suzanne Evans puts it best: “Your mess is your message.” Don’t be afraid to admit the lumps and bumps you’ve overcome in your life. Of course, you may not want to tell the world everything about yourself—but when you show that you’re a real person, with a real life that hasn’t always been perfect, people will flock to you because they sense a kinship.

Take a stand.

It’s been said that the person who stands for nothing will fall for anything. Stand for something in your company and your marketing, even if it’s as simple as making sure your customer service is the best. Say it. Mean it. And live it. Be specific and direct, and tell people what they can expect by working with you.

Tell it like it is.

You’ll find that most successful people do not shy away from the truth. This is not to say they are blunt or mean, but they acknowledge the facts and decide how to proceed from there. If you see a problem in your industry or a flaw in the current thinking, don’t hide behind it and hope it goes away. Bring it up and open the discussion. Nothing is more authentic than someone trying to solve a problem is.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Your prospects and clients are the experts on their pains and struggles. Ask them what they need to solve their problems and how you can help them. They don’t expect you to be a mind reader, and they’ll appreciate that you’re taking the time to ask. And they’ll see that you have a vested interest in helping them succeed.

Never assume that you know anything about your prospects and clients unless you’ve already asked the questions.

Being authentic in your marketing and in your business means simply being true, honest, and open with your audience. When you can do those three things consistently, you’re well on your way to the success you’ve been seeking.

Share this article with your followers on Facebook.

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2. The Power of Finding Your Unique Niche
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Have you had a blog for a few months now and are starting to run out of topic ideas for your future editorial calendars? If so, there is no need to fret—this happens to everyone and is something that can be remedied with the right tricks and tools.

Below is a list of ways to generate a plethora of great blog posts—without ripping your hair out:

Search Google News: Not only will Google News give you some blog topic ideas, but it will also show you a list of top trending stories, as well as the top stories in your industry. If you choose to write a post around one of the highest searched news topics, your post has a good chance of appearing on search engine results pages.

For example, if you run a travel blog, it would be smart of you to write a blog post around visiting England during the royal wedding, mentioning Prince William and Kate Middleton because those keywords are currently some of the highest searched terms.

Utilize Your Facebook Page and Twitter Feed: Ask questions on your Facebook page to get an idea for what readers want to learn about or discuss. You never know what responses will spark fresh blog post ideas. You could also send out a Tweet to your Twitter followers that asked a specific question related to your industry. Any type of feedback has the potential to inspire a blog post. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box.

Scan Your Twitter Feed: One of the main reasons I visit Twitter is to search for trending topics, ideas, breaking news, and interesting articles. I actually have a customized list on my Twitter account that pulls up a handful of feeds from my favorite bloggers, peers, and industry professionals. I search this list to find industry news, opinions on controversial issues, and to see what people are interested in talking about. After five minutes on Twitter I already have a list of topics I’m ready to write about for my blog.

Expand on Past Posts or Create A Series: Visit your blog archives and dig for some of your most popular posts. What topics were discussed in these posts? Can you create a series out of this post by expanding on the subject?

For example, if you run a travel blog and one of your most popular posts was on wine tasting tours in Italy, you could develop a blog series that focused on various wine regions across the world. Your series could consist of five blog posts with each one focusing on a new wine country.

Generate Guest Bloggers: One day when I was racking my brain for fresh blog post ideas, I decided to go back to my archives and look at some of my most popular posts. I noticed that one of my articles on developing an effective customer retention strategy was a big hit among readers. I chose to expand on this topic by contacting several small business owners, asking if they would be interested in answering a Q & A for the blog, discussing their effective customer retention strategies. I received four new blog posts from reaching out to guest bloggers—and I didn’t even have to write the posts!

Do you have any tips for generating fresh blog post ideas? If so, we’d love to hear about them in our comments section.

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Adding new features to your blog is easy with plugins. Essentially, a plugin is an additional piece of software that you can upload to your blog in order to give your blog a new feature. For example, if you look right above the first sentence of this post, you’ll see a Twitter button that says “Tweet” with a number next to the blue “Tweet” button. This is a plugin / additional feature that we added to our blog to enable users to tweet our blog posts. This plugin did not automatically come installed into our blog, we had to upload the software. This is supereasy to do. All you need to do is follow a few simple steps.

Before you begin uploading plugins to your blog, you must find out if you have a WordPress.com account or a WordPress.org account. It’s important to note that if you have a WordPress.com account, you can NOT add plugins to your blog.

WordPress.org, on the other hand, allows you to upload plugins. The difference between the two is that WordPress.com is a free blog platform and WordPress.org is a blog platform that costs a small hosting fee. There are many other differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, but in a nutshell, WordPress.org costs money and you can upload plugins, and WordPress.com does not cost money and you can NOT upload plugins. We use WordPress.org and often advise our Love Your Blog clients to use this platform, as well.

For those of you who do not have WordPress.org but are interested in learning more, visit their website, here. If you do have WordPress.org, but don’t know how to upload plugins, below is a list of easy steps to upload plugins:

1. Sign into your blog dashboard.

2. Scroll down the page until you see the category titled “Plugins” on the left sidebar (displayed in Figure 1, below).

3. Click “Add New” beneath the “plugins” category (displayed in Figure 1).

Firgure 1

4. Type in the name of the plugin that you want, then click “Search Plugins” (displayed in Figure 2).

Figure 2

5. Once you’ve searched for a plugin, you’ll be directed to a page with a list of plugins (displayed in Figure 3).

6. Find the plugin you desire and click “Install Now” (displayed in Figure 3).

Figure 3

7. You’ll get a pop up window that says “Are you sure you want to install this plugin?” Click “OK.”

8. You’ll then be directed to a new window (displayed in Figure 4).

9. Click “Activate Plugin” (displayed in Figure 4).

Figure 4

10. Go back to your “Plugins” page by clicking “Plugins” on the left sidebar (displayed in Figure 5).

Figure 5

11. To view all of your plugins click the “All” option, or to just view your active plugins, click “Active” (displayed in Figure 6).

12. You may edit, change settings, and deactivate a plugin by clicking the options below the plugins (displayed in Figure 6).

Figure 6

Did you find this WordPress plugins tutorial helpful? Feel free to share it with your followers on Twitter.

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3. How to Achieve Blog Success: Interview with Baby Boomer Travel Blogger

Special guest post by Jeff Copeland, owner of Simple Weddings and Tampa Bay Search.

I’m a marketing guy, and I’m also a wedding vendor. Sometimes the two complement each other nicely. But the wedding industry is unique in many ways and, frankly, wedding vendors are sometimes better off ignoring traditional marketing and advertising advice aimed at other industries.

Here are five major challenges faced by businesses in the wedding industry and some ways to cope with them:

1) Marketing to a steady stream of new prospects instead of a “cycle” of repeat customers – The wedding industry is unique in that you only get one shot to market to your prospects. Generally speaking, couples only get married once. So, even if they are absolutely thrilled with the service you provided, they aren’t likely to be a repeat customer anytime soon. This fundamental difference from many other industries makes a lot of typical marketing advice null and void, and makes things like email marketing very difficult.

Ways to cope:

• SEO – Increasingly, today’s brides and grooms aren’t picking up the yellow pages or watching many television commercials. They get their news and entertainment online, and if they need something, they Google (or Bing) it. You have to be there when they search! If you have not invested the time and effort in search engine optimization, you are missing more and more potential customers every day. [Check out my "What the Heck is SEO?" series and "How Google Instant Affects SEO and What It Means for Your Website" for more info]
• Social Media – Granted, your wedding clients probably aren’t coming back. But their friends might! That is what makes social media platforms such as Facebook so powerful. If your happy clients “friend” you on Facebook, all of their friends and contacts are introduced to your Facebook profile. Some of them may be in the wedding market soon.
• Reviews – When you shop for something on Amazon, what is the first thing you read about a product? I don’t know about you, but I always scroll down to the customer reviews section before anything else, and it’s often the only thing I read before making a purchase. Your prospects are hungry for feedback from people who have already used your service…feed them! Choose a single, reputable platform (such as Google Places, OneWed, or WeddingWire) to capture all of your customer reviews and make getting these reviews an integral part of your follow-up with clients after their wedding (we have had great success by offering a free gift such as a wedding picture). And most importantly, make these reviews prominent and easy for new prospects to find and read!
• Diversify – Think of some ways you might be able to get your wedding clients to come back or use your skills  and equipment for other related opportunities . Family portraits (for photographers), vow renewals, other special events?

2) The long buying cycle – Brides and grooms often have a very long lead time from the time they enter the market until their wedding date. What this means for you as a wedding vendor is brides may be checking out your website, blog, social media presence, and customer reviews a year or more before their wedding day, and possibly months before they even contact you.

Ways to cope:

• Quality content – Give your prospects a reason to keep coming back! If a bride visits your website or blog, saves you to their favorites, then comes back a couple of months later only to find nothing has changed, she probably won’t come back a third time. It’s fine for your website content to be relatively static (as long as it is current and accurate), but you can always add pictures from recent weddings or stream your blog’s RSS feed to your website to keep things fresh.
• Blog – Your blog, on the other hand, needs to have a steady stream of quality fresh content. You should be posting your favorite pictures from your recent weddings, planning tips, advice, and guest posts from industry professionals on a regular basis in order to give your prospects a reason to come back on a regular basis. Remember, if nothing else, time spent looking at your website or blog is time spent staring at your logo!
• Pictures – I can’t stress enough how important it is to have high quality pictures on your website, blog, and social media presence. Brides love pictures. Let me repeat that – BRIDES LOVE PICTURES! And this is one area where the wedding industry has a leg up – If you’re not a wedding photographer, chances are you work with a few on a regular basis. Most would be thrilled to share some of their work with you for display on your website or blog as long as they are credited for the picture.

3) The seasonal nature of bookings, weddings, and cash flow – In most areas, January and February are the busiest time of year for wedding inquiries and new bookings (people tend to get engaged over the holidays and start their wedding planning after the first of the year). Unfortunately, the holidays and the beginning of the year also tend to be the slowest time of year for actual weddings – meaning your cash flow is probably at it’s lowest at the very time you need to be out there advertising to new brides!

Ways to cope:

• While it’s sometimes easier said than done, try to save some money and plan your advertising spending for maximum impact. Often, this means spending as much as 50% of your annual advertising budget from January through March in order to lock in those Spring and Summer weddings.
• Consider offering payment plans. Many wedding vendors take a deposit when the wedding is booked, then collect the remaining balance on or just before the wedding date. If a couple has six months or more between the time they book and their wedding date, consider letting them make interest free monthly payments in the months leading up to their wedding. This has the double benefit of spreading out your cash flow more equitably throughout the year, and decreasing the likelihood of cancellations.

4) The Economy, Stupid – Every wedding vendor knows that our industry closely follows national economic trends. Let’s face it, many wedding services are “optional” and aren’t absolutely necessary to ensure a beautiful wedding. When the economy goes south, so does wedding spending by brides and grooms-to-be.

Ways to cope:

• Go where the money is - consider offering lower cost alternatives to your typical services or well-conceived discounts to brides on a budget or including more services in your current prices.
• Partner – could you package your services with those of another vendor (or group of vendors) to offer a broader range of services and increase the perceived value to your prospects?

5) Low cost competition – Some segments of the wedding industry have low barriers to entry. Let’s face it, anyone with good organization skills can call themselves a wedding planner, and anyone who can afford a decent camera could conceivably take someone’s wedding pictures.

Ways to cope:

• Educate your prospects and clients – many of your prospects would be shocked to find our how much your equipment cost or how much time you spend on pre- and post- wedding activities. Pull back the veil (no pun intended!) and give them an inside look at how you prepare their wedding venue or edit their wedding pictures [Note: Your blog is the perfect place to do this!]. If your prospects and clients really understand your art, they’ll value it accordingly.
• Build your brand – Imagine you are looking at two rental cars. You have to choose one for your trip, but both are under a cover, and all you can see is the hood ornament. One says Mercedes. The other says Kia. Which one do you choose and why? Obviously, Mercedes is the stronger brand, and (all other things being equal) consumers will choose the trusted brand everytime. Your brand has value. I want to stress that this has nothing to do with your logo, and everything to do with your business model, marketing, copywriting, and reputation. This takes time to build, but it serves as insurance against upstart competition!
• Find your target market – Once you truly understand your target market, the competition dwindles. This is called your unique selling position. Focus on doing one thing and doing it like no one else can. If you are truly unique, there is no competition, is there?

About Jeff:

Jeff Copeland and his wife, Claire, own Simple Weddings, an award-winning destination wedding planning company specializing in Florida beach weddings. He also blogs about small business marketing, advertising, and strategic management on The Nifty 150.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in our comments section.

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There is a huge difference between wanting a new logo for your business and needing a new logo.

You’ve worked hard to build an accurate brand message that resonates with your target audience. Switching the image that represents this message is a huge undertaking since it is most likely the main image that customers associate with your brand. Releasing a new logo out of the blue could break the connection your audience has with your brand. This is why it’s important to evaluate everything involved in the success of your business and its image. If you randomly change your logo and nothing else about your business, then prepare yourself for pickets and rioting.

Below are a few—but not all—things associated with a business image:

• Social media profiles
• Blog content and design
• Website content and design
• Logo
• Company name
• Business cards
• Brochures
• Ads
• Products / services
• Employees
• Customer service

When the above items are not complementary of each other, you run the risk of creating a huge disconnect between your brand and your target market.

And as we all know, the most essential component needed for a successful business is the customer base. Without loyal customers, a business lacks the demand to be successful.

All of the above elements must be taken into account when deciding if you need a new logo. We all want our companies to evolve, but if we try to force the evolution by only changing the logo and nothing else within the company, it could send customers into a confused—and often angry—talespin. Many times, businesses think that the evolution of their business message lies solely in the logo—this is a fatal error since customers use this logo in conjunction with various other visual and verbal materials to identify the brand. When you just change one element—the logo—you’re ruining the big picture of your brand.

If you’re ready to kick-start the evolution process of your business, here’s what you need to do:

1. Do your research, and talk with customers: Market research and interacting with customers—on social media and in person—are huge when it comes to rebranding. If your target audience isn’t ready for a change and is still demanding what you currently offer, there’s no point in attempting to transform your company—your audience might not want what your new business image has to offer. Be sure you know exactly what your target market wants—only then can you sell to their demands and continue operating as a successful business.

2. Evaluate your brand story: Once you’re clear on what your customers want, it’s time to evaluate your story so that its mission connects with your prospects. Based on your research, your brand story needs to tell customers what they receive—what’s in it for them—when they purchase from your company. You need to tap into a complication your prospects are experiencing, one that ties into their state of mind, situation, and desires—which you should be able to determine from your market research and customer conversations.

3. Get clear on your brand message: Based on the complication your prospects are experiencing, how does your brand solve their problem? What benefits do they receive from purchasing your products?

Be honest with yourself and your customers about what your company stands for and offers. We see many companies that lack a strong and coherent message. Not only do these companies project a different and inaccurate brand message across their various marketing materials, but they also are trying to be everything to everyone—something that is both dangerous and impossible.

When your message is too broad, there’s no doubt your customers will misconstrue it; you’re enabling them to use their imagination to fill in the gaps, which is highly dangerous for your brand. Your customers can then take this false perception of your brand and look to you to provide something that you actually do not offer. Then, your consumers feel as though they’ve been lied to.

4. Tweak products / services accordingly: After you’ve done extensive market research and talked with your prospects on- and offline, it’s now time to tweak your products / services based on their needs. Give them what they want and share with them the changes you’ve made to your products / services via marketing outlets such as social media, an online press release, and website design and copy.

5. Transform your marketing materials: Only when your business message is clear and accurate can you transform your marketing materials to follow suit. From your social media profiles to your business cards, product labels to stationary, and advertising to web copy, all of your marketing materials must contain a look and feel that is consistent with your brand message.

6. Implement a new logo: This is the last step in the entire rebranding process and should accurately reflect your new brand image and business as a whole. Make sure it’s what you want because you’re going to be associated with it for a while!

As Nora Richardson, graphic designer and brander, mentioned in a previous guest post on Copy Doodle, “A logo change is a great opportunity to gain attention and renew enthusiasm about the brand as long as there has been a change within the company. Most companies evolve their brand every 7 – 10 years. This reiterates the overall perception to their audience that the company is evolving, changing, and growing. An evolutionary change to a company’s logo is subtle: changing colors, adding a shadow, or eliminating lines. Sometimes, a revolutionary change is needed. A revolutionary change is when something major happens inside the company and the company needs to reflect that major change to their audience (such as a merger).”

So remember, if you’re simply bored by your logo, don’t change it yet. There must be an interior change that occurs in your business for you to benefit from a new logo.

Was this post helpful? Tell us what you think in our comments section.

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Guest post by Melody Brooks, head copywriter for Sumer, LLC

The late comedian George Carlin was fond of saying that the quality of our thoughts is only as good as the quality of our language. That sentiment can be taken a step further: the quality of our marketing copy is only as good as the quality of our language—and if that language doesn’t speak to the target audience and motivate them to take action, it’s a waste.

Every target audience or industry has its own buzzwords and lingo, and your website and marketing copy need to use that specific language, or they won’t be effective. For example, the word choices, tone, and context you use to connect with retirees in the Midwest will be markedly different from what you would use with college students in the Northeast.

If you feel unsure about which words to use with your prospects and clients, find out what they read. Magazines or books that are popular with that group are using the right words. Learn from them, especially any advertising that appears month after month. If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be there.

If nothing else, ask your audience what they respond to. They’ll remember you for caring enough to seek their opinion.

Here are seven quick tips to connect with your audience by using the right words:

• Clarify your intention and your motivation. What action do you want them to take and why? Where does this copy fall in your sales process?
• Know your audience. Are they well versed in your industry, and do they know the lingo? Normally, you want to assume they don’t and keep it simple; however, with some target audiences you can use specialized language. Will they respond to 25-cent words or hundred-dollar words? Should you say get or receive?
• Don’t censor or edit yourself when you start writing. First drafts are about putting your thoughts on paper, then going back and reworking. You can add industry- and audience-specific language later.
• Watch your tone. You don’t want to come across as sarcastic, condescending, or patronizing. You are their partner in solving their problem.
• Monitor your use of I, me, my, and our. It’s not about you.
• Never use your first draft unless you have no other choice. Let it sit for a while, do something else, and go back for a fresh look. You’ll be amazed at how much better the second draft is.
• Have someone who is in your target audience or demographic read your copy and tell you where you shine and where you could use some polish.

Remember, your choice of words makes all the difference between blah and brilliant copy, no matter the situation. Use the right words effectively to motivate your audience to act. Speak their language. Show them you understand their problems, and you know how to help.

Melody Brooks is Sumèr’s head copywriter and can be reached at melody@writtenbysumer.com.

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When you decide to hire a copywriter, you want a good fit between his or her abilities and your needs. You want a copywriter who can speak to your target audience and influence them to take action.

Not all copywriters are created equal. Most copywriters have medium specialties that they enjoy, such as white papers or web copy, or maybe they love writing for specific audiences such as B2B (business to business) or coffee connoisseurs. The only way to find out what your copywriter can do is to ask.

Following are seven questions you can ask to find out what your copywriter can do for you:

1. Which type of writing is your favorite? While we all have taken on writing tasks that weren’t our favorites, if you’re looking for a long-term relationship with your writer, you want him or her to enjoy writing your materials. If your writer doesn’t like writing for your business, the copy will suffer.

Listen to the answer here and see where your copy fits. If your writer loves travel writing and you need a technical writer for industrial software, you may want to probe for more information, or move on and interview someone else.

2. Which media have you written for? Whether it’s web copy, brochures, press releases, or articles, each medium has its own challenges and best practices for effective copy. If you need a seasoned web writer and your writer has never written a web page, you might want to reconsider.

3. How familiar are you with ___? If your writer has little or no experience with your industry, you’ll need to provide some education before the first project starts. Depending on your field, this may be simple, or it may be a time-intensive undertaking.

4. How fast can you turn projects around? You want a writer who takes enough time to do a good job with your copy, but you don’t want someone who will take two months to write a brochure. You’ll need to discuss what you expect, including adhering to deadlines.

5. How do you handle rewrites? When we hand in a first draft for your review, we expect revisions and plan for them. Occasionally, even the best copywriter will miss the mark and need to rewrite copy. We include one free rewrite in our project cost, but other writers handle this issue differently. Be sure you understand what happens if you need copy redone.

6. Do you have a written contract for me to sign? A contract protects both of you and spells out the expectations for both parties. Some copywriters have a full-fledged contract, while others prefer a shorter memorandum of understanding. The main parts of the project that the contract should cover are what is to be written, how and when it is to be completed, what happens in the event of a rewrite, and when payment is due.

You should be responsible for ensuring the copy complies with the legalities of your business. You cannot expect your copywriter to know what is legal in your industry. Also, there should be some kind of indemnification clause, meaning that except in the case of plagiarism or gross negligence, the two parties hold each other harmless in the event of a lawsuit. Have your lawyer look at the contract before signing.

7. What is your expectation of payment? Often, copywriters will offer a paid-in-full discount, and it’s up to you whether you’re comfortable with that. In any case, most copywriters expect a percentage of their fee upfront—50% is usual. If your copywriter demands 100% upfront, ask why.

If your copywriter can answer most or all of these questions to your satisfaction, you’ve found a good writer. Assuming his or her writing skills are excellent, hold on tight. . . responsible, talented writers with good business sense are hard to find.

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Planning budgets are necessary for running a successful business—that’s a given. But, there are always areas in your business that deserve greater financial and time investments than others. One such area that demands these investments is your brand story and logo. If you’re looking to rebrand or have a new logo designed for your business, it’s essential to consider a pool of highly experienced branders or graphic designers.

Your business is your child. You nurtured it from the ground up and are willing to do anything in your power to continue growing. But, what many business owners fail to realize is that one of the worst things you can do for your business is associate it with a horrible image—or logo, in other words. A bad logo can mean fatality for your business.

A graphic designer or business brander who is ill experienced can create a crippling image for your brand—a risk that could cost you years of agony and stress and loads of money to repair.

Do it right the first time. Get a professional graphic designer or brander who brands your business correctly. He or she might cost more, but the investment is well worth it if his or her qualifications match the pricing.

Here are four tips for finding the best graphic designer or brander for your business:

1. Do your research on- and offline: Don’t immediately go with the first brander or graphic designer who appears in search engine results or the first graphic designer you see advertising in the paper. They might not be a good fit for you and might be overpriced.

Once you find a handful of designers you are interested in, research the going rates for high-end graphic designers and branders. Many times, designers won’t put pricing on their website as their pricing depends on the scope of work each client is looking for.

2. Look at sample work: Sample work is always an effective way to get a feel for the style of the designer and the quality of his or her work. If he or she does not have samples or a portfolio, this might be a key indicator that the designer doesn’t produce superior work. Obviously, if the designer’s site appears under construction, the absence of a portfolio might just mean the portfolio has not been added to the website yet. In this case, email the designer and ask to see some of his or her sample work.

3. Talk to previous clients: Samples in a designer’s portfolio almost always have a company name or client associated with the design or image. Visit the websites of these clients, and contact them regarding their work with the designer.

In this email to previous clients, introduce yourself, tell them why you are contacting them, and ask them questions about the designer. Questions could be, “What was your experience like with this designer?” and “Would you recommend this designer to others?”

Keep your questions to a minimum of three. You don’t want to take up more time than necessary from the individual you are emailing. If this individual enjoyed his or her experience with the designer, it will most likely be expressed in his or her responses to just a few questions.

4. Speak to him or her to get a feel for his or her personality: If the designer passes all of your above tests, it’s now time to contact him or her. Send an email asking if you could set up a time to speak about your specific needs.

When you speak with the designer, get a feel for his or her personality and work ethic. Speaking for 15 minutes with this designer can give you a fairly good first impression and better aid you in your decision to hire him or her.

After you speak with a handful of designers and narrow down your favorites, compare their prices. Don’t immediately eliminate designers just because their rates don’t fall within your budget. They might do phenomenal work that could provide much greater results for your business than a designer who is less expensive or less qualified. I’m not saying overpriced graphic designers and branders aren’t out there. They are. This is why doing your homework is essential in finding the perfect graphic designer or brander for your business.

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