Next, research the market. Check out other company’s logos and what they have to offer clients. Investigate their marketing tactics and how they’re targeting their customers. Find out what’s working for your competitors and, if they’re larger businesses, how and why their brand has staying power. The most awesome logos are the ones that have longevity and can stand the test of time.

Don’t be afraid to educate and inspire yourself as well. If you see an effect on a logo that you really like, save the image or write it down. Browse online for examples of different logos to see what other small and large business owners have done. The examples don’t have to be brand specific to give you that brilliant idea that suits your company perfectly.

From there, use the research you’ve already done to devise several logo concepts. At this point, creativity and exploration are key. Don’t be afraid to let loose; for each concept you come up with, record a rationale that explains why you like certain elements and to help you remember why you chose certain things. If you don’t think you’ll remember that your partner or employees preferred that shade of blue, write it down! Also, take breaks; a 15 minute cat nap or walk around the block does wonders to refresh the mind.

There are a few good rules of thumb to follow that, combined with your own unique influence, are sure to get your logo noticed. As mentioned above, you’ve probably noticed that most large companies have very simple logos. Don’t use more than one or two colours, and the font must be easy to read. If you decide to include an icon alongside your business name, forego a complex illustration in favour of something basic but memorable. Lastly, be consistent – choose a logo that will be relevant and require little modification in the future.

Your logo represents your company’s identity. It communicates who you are to potential customers and sets the visual tone going forward, including your website, business cards and advertisements. A logo that will be remembered and well received throughout the lifetime of your company is key to success, and is the first steps you should take as a small business owner. Hiring a design agency is a great way to achieve this, as professional designers possess the expertise needed to launch your brand identity in today’s crowded market. Read more about design and branding here.

Image Credit: Capslock 

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All In One SEO Pack

This tool allows for simple addition of SEO tags throughout your site’s individual pages, letting you change titles, keywords, and descriptions with ease. Each field also has a word counter which show the number of characters most ideal for SEO.

NextGen Gallery

NextGen is a simple-to-use gallery plugin that allows for dynamic photo displays, making it an ideal option for clients with little technical knowledge who need to update pictures on a regular basis. It also comes in handy for time-sensitive projects that require a simplistic, clean-coded and easily-editable image display solution.

Contact Form 7

Fairly self-explanatory, Contact Form 7 is a clean plugin that allows for easy insertion of a fully functional contact form with multiple fields on any page of your site. One of the most popular WordPress plugins due to its simplicity and regular updates, it’s a trusted way to receive emails directly from web users engaged with your site.

Enhanced Text Widget

Though WordPress allows users to easily add widgets to their sites, it offers no self-coding options other than basic Text and HTML. Enhanced Text Widget allows you to integrate Text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, WordPress Shortcodes and PHP into your widgets, allowing developers to take them to the next level.

WP FileBase Manager

This is a highly useful tool if your website has an abundance of content that users need to be able to interact with easily, allowing you to upload files from both the front and backend of your site. In the backend you can easily organize your files into different categories, making it user friendly for both developer and their clients. It also comes with different widgets to enable file downloading and uploading in the sidebar of the site.

Though there will always be an overwhelming number of different plugins that do essentially the same thing, the aforementioned are tried and true. With the popularity and influence of WordPress continuously expanding, the number of available plugins increases exponentially, so it’s important to know which ones are right for your site. The important thing to remember is that not all plugins are regularly updated and not all of them are safe from online attacks. These five plugins not only stand on the merit of their functionality, but are also safe and regularly updated.

View a full list of available WordPress plugins here.

Image source: Smashing Magazine