Adobe Illustrator is my go-to software for anything and everything design-related. It's the one program I truly couldn't work without.
And while it's easy to assume that the program's primary focus is illustration based on the name, there is so much more to this design software.
With tools for type, color, photo cropping, image tracing, drawing, and much more, it has innumerable benefits for bloggers and business owners, alike.
To get your creative gears turning, here's a look at 40 ways Adobe Illustrator can take your blog and/or business to the next level.
First impressions are crucial, especially in business.
Potential customers and clients make judgments about your business within the first few seconds of coming into contact with it, whether it’s through your website, your social media accounts, or a simple blog post graphic.
And those initial thoughts - whether they’re spot on or far off from what you want them to be - are within your control. You have the opportunity to make a killer first impression through high-quality, branded visuals.
If your blog is a large part of your business or you’re hoping to drive more traffic back to your site through your blog, you have to have eye-catching blog graphics to not only generate a positive first impression, but to encourage readers to share your posts on sites like Pinterest and be seen by an even wider audience.
So how do you create eye-catching blog post graphics? And better yet, how can you set them apart so they’ll stand out from the rest and be recognized time and time again?
“When I discovered YouTube, I didn’t work for 5 days.” - Michael Scott
Video platforms like YouTube (and more recently, Periscope) are easily the world’s greatest time-wasters. We’ve all been guilty of losing track of time on YouTube at least once, because videos are easily consumable, very addicting, and highly entertaining.
As a matter of fact, studies show that a whopping 78% of us watch videos online every week and 55% watch videos online every day.
Which is why Youtube is also the world’s greatest overnight-success-maker. If you’re on the production-side of a video and you’ve come up with a clever idea, you might just have a viral hit on your hands.
Video holds a lot of potential for interaction, engagement, and shares for creative businesses. And for that reason, it’s one of the best visual marketing tools you can use.
But it producing videos can be a little overwhelming, can’t it? Even with helpful video tools out there like Animoto, many of us struggle to come up with simple ideas for video content that would appeal to our audience.
And that’s where this post comes in. I’ve rounded up 40 easy, engaging video content ideas to help get your creative gears turning. My hope is that you’ll find a few ideas to implement and as a result, bring your business more exposure.
If you’re looking for a good way to kill at least an hour of your time, type in the word “infographic” in the Pinterest search bar.
Thousands of clever graphics will pop up on everything from “how to make a salad taste awesome” to a baby’s first year in a review. There’s even an infographic that answers the pressing question, “Is your dog sleeping a little too much?”
Then, after you’ve admired the genius creativity behind them, take a gander at how many repins and likes each of those infographics receives. Thousands upon thousands.
In fact, infographic volumes have increased by over 800% in 2 years. Publishers who use infographics grow in traffic an average of 12% more than those who don’t.
What is it about infographics that makes them so appealing? And better yet, how can you come up with some clever infographics for your business so it gains more exposure through likes and shares?
I have all the answers for you in this post.
Is your headline the first thing you consider when you sit down to write a post?
Probably not, but creating a catchy blog post title is one of the most important aspects of each blog post. It's the gateway to your content; it convinces people to click or scroll right past your latest post'.
In fact, studies show that 8 out of 10 people will read your headline but only 2 out of 10 will read your entire post.
Here are a few pointers for drawing in potential readers and a couple "templates" to help you create a catchy headline for your upcoming posts.
How can I quickly grow my blog?
It's the question on every blogger's mind, whether you're blogging for your business or you're hoping to monetize your blog in the future. While stats and numbers aren't everything, higher blog traffic helps you attract new customers, gain sponsors, and book clients; it expands your reach and your market.
Blogging is one of those things that seems simple in theory and winds up being difficult in practice; what starts out as a simple concept can easily turn into hours of outlining, writing, revising, linking, editing, and sharing. This past year I've learned that it's helpful to have a system in place to cover all my bases, and I've almost gotten my process down to a T. Today I'm giving you a peek at my process so that you might take away a couple helpful insights that make creating and publishing blog posts less frustrating and more efficient for you.
Diversity is one of the things I love most about the blogging industry. No two blogs are quite the same; each one has a different mission, audience, aesthetic, and voice. Different things work for different blogs, and monetization one of them. It's common to think of sponsorships when you hear about making money from blogging, but blog sponsors are one of many ways to monetize your blog. So today I'm riding on the coattails of yesterday's post by sharing 7 ways that you can make money from blogging apart from sponsorships. My hope is that you're able to find something in this list that works for you and helps you differentiate your blog from the rest.
Blog sponsorships are a popular topic within the blogging community, and for good reason. When you spend hours each day writing posts, answering emails, and replying to comments, it only seems natural that you would try to find ways to monetize your efforts. For many bloggers, compensation comes through offering sidebar ad space and for others it comes through entire blog posts that highlight a paid sponsor. The internet, especially Pinterest, is full of blog posts on why you should accept sponsors, when you should accept sponsors, how much you should charge, how may sponsors you should accept, and so on.
Elle & Company's readership has been growing quickly since October, and the opportunity to accept sponsors has come up on many occasions. I've put a lot of time and thought into this subject, and I keep coming back to the same conclusion: sponsorships aren't a good fit for this blog. Today I'm sharing the main 4 reasons why.
I'm frequently asked how I create graphics for my blog posts, design printables and planners for the Library, and come up with colorful buttons to my sidebar. I'll let you in on a little secret: I design them all through software programs included in my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Although I've been taught how to use these programs and I've had years of practice, I believe that learning and working with programs like Photoshop and Illustrator puts business owners and bloggers at a huge advantage. So what exactly is Adobe Creative Cloud and why is it important? I'm giving you all the details in today's post.
