Today I’m going to share with you what you MUST look for when you’re going to get the graphics for your e-book and e-covers designed.

PROS OF GOOD WEB GRAPHICS AND E-BOOK DESIGNS

Look at the below points to judge for yourself, what elements make a good e-book or web graphic (headers, templates, footers, logos etc…)

* Clarity - make sure the main title is clear and contrasted * Sharp definition in image - anything blurred or are the edges too sharp?

* Good color combinations - Red and yellow … now that’s too cheap

* Realism - Does it look like the real, tangible product?

* Text - Too small, Too Much or Too Big?

* Layout - Does it all align well?

Note: Lowest price isn’t the best - lowest price is usually cheap graphics Anything under $35 - be very careful before purchasing unless it’s a special deal.

Why are these factors so important?

Well, the quality of your design can ultimately increase or decrease the perceived value of your e-book. If designed professionally an e-book will definitely help your marketing campaign, including:

* minimization of charge-backs and refunds
* Boosts sales of your other products
* Improve good review networking.
* Attract subscribers
* Save money and time
* Increase conversion rates
* Impress visitors

You see, too often people hire e-book services that create their e-books without considering the above marketing factors and as a result the sales could suffer and the damage is irreversible, because people remember the image and it’s quality. It could also dent your reputation on future e-books or marketing products.

You have to stand out amongst competitions. There is a multitude of consumer choice so you product must look impressive, just to capture attention!

The Impression on E-Books

E-books are tangible and if you make it scream, that people want to reach in and grab it, then you are on the road to securing more clients.

Establish trust, credibility in dynamic web graphics. First impression count and most will see your image before they even look at your sales copy.

A well designed e-cover and web graphics will let you charge more for your product - seriously think about that.

Remember, people see the wrapping before opening the gift.

People are looking for something unique to all the rest and a product that is superior to your Competitors. Honestly, only the top designers can capture this and design to impact.

People don’t want overload, so please don’t bombard your cover with your sales copy or a load of small font. All you need is a simple title, followed by subtitle. Remember the old saying, ‘less is more’.

As an e-book only helps make a sale, it should support your sales copy not the other way around.

Tomorrow you’ll discover Why you should leave your designs to the experts.

Today I wanted to share with you why you should leave your designs to the experts…

Want to design your own e-book cover and save some money

Don’t design yourself if you’re not a designer - I humbly accept I am not a terrific marketer, therefore I try at
every avenue to outsource or get advice - not attempt the task myself and ruin my online reputation / identity. You can’t expect a cook to perform brain surgery, in the same way, many (not all) marketers aren’t always the best artists! Forest Parks over at The Random Forest Has a free 3d e-book and e-cover design action script for photoshop you can download.

If you Don’t have photoshop Forest will even do the design for you, for nothing. Can’t pass up a great deal like that.

If you go for cheap alternatives people will pass over your site - or re-consider your product based on not only your sales letter, but presentation.

Unfortunately, people do judge books by their covers - that’s just the way it is.

All the client has is a sales letter and graphic to decide on their purchase. If that’s the case, then both elements need to come across professionally.

The proper use of graphical images on a sales page will lift your reputation and will surely increase conversions.

You don’t want to look like everyone else. Secondly, don’t bother looking at software if you’re not a designer - even if you have the packages you still have to design the face and the graphics - so it’s not going to be much easier.
Don’t waste your time or money.

I’ve been on the hunt for a custom blog design, for quite some time really. And to be quite honest with you I am having a hard time deciding on who I want to do the custom design for the blog and how much will I be paying to have a custom blog design done for me.

I’ve been on vacation for about 2 weeks now. no-where sunny or anything of that nature It’s winter and I like to be out and about here In snowy Canada, playing hockey and all that So its good to be back and back to the keyboard. But now that I am back I am continuing my search for a custom blog design, or a custom blog design service to suit my needs. Maybe its the holiday shopping bug that got into me maybe its because the new year is coming around and I am currently goal setting and one of the goals is to have a custom blog design done for me.

Not any easy task if you want an honest opinion as there are so many talented blog designers out there.

So lets have a look at some of the reasons why you would want to have a custom blog design done.

First off from a personal perspective:

I am currently using Chris Pearsons 3 column copy blogger theme. As much as I do like the 3 column copy blogger design and the clean white space it provides to feature content, the one problem I have with it is that it breaks in Opera. Not cool in my mind. At first I thought it was just me and something I did to it, but I have seen a few others with this design and they break as well.

Here’s a few other bloggers using the copyblogger design on their blogs

http://blog.biklopsdesign.com/

Keener living

TropicalSeo

OsCandy uses the copyblogger 3 column theme by chris pearson as well.

Another problem I have with using a freely available theme is that as you can see from just a few examples there are many others using it as well.

This doesn’t lend well to better blog branding when so many others are using the same blog template or theme.

When your prospects recall your brand, make sure it makes them smile. If not … you would be better not being recognised at all - ChrisG

"we are moving towards a world where online reputation and personal branding are taking hold. If people connect more to one another through their personal brand online, we are going to see the connection for emotional branding in these channels."  - Six pixels of separation

As bad as this sounds when I am surfing for information when I come across a blog that uses a theme or design I just saw 30 mins ago I just click on to the next browser window or hit the back button or close the window altogether regardless of the content. Why? I’m a visual creature to a large extent if the theme doesn’t grab me in someway I am not going to stick around. My attention span is very precious to me its the most important commodity there is.

When I am surfing for information I am an information consumer. SO when I land upon a blog or a website that information had better consume me quick. Strange really isnt it. Do we consume the information or does it consume us. Either way the consumption process happens or better happen quick and something anything on that page has just got compete for my gold-fish like attention span or Im outta here.

Image is everything and this is where the importance of blog design comes into play. Look at some of the A-list bloggers that have had a custom blog design done with-in the last few months or longer.
 

Copyblogger 

Problogger

JohnChow

Shoemoney

ChrisG

HERE’S WHAT I THINK

DO I think blog design is important I will say YES.

DO  I think a good blog design will positively impact your traffic I will also say YES.

The most important point though, is to realize that a good blog design is nothing without presenting your high quality content. With out content your blog design will not matter much at all and is a waste your money.

Another point worth mentioning here. If you cannot afford to have a custom blog design made for you, don’t let that stop you from producing killer flagship blog content. Or Pillar content.

" A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice." - Yaro Starak

What you perceive you believe 

It’s human nature that what you perceive you believe. Being it real or not is a totally different thing, but it still hold true. When you see someone driving down the highway in a BMW, your first immediate impression is wow, that guy/gal is loaded. You have no idea if he is loaded in debt. But you know he’s loaded and you want to drive that car have his success, have his lifestyle. All based on an impression, on an image, on a perception of a reality. Or is this person faking it till they make it

Yes marketing has something to do with this as do hefty price tags on luxury automobiles. But its still all a perception.

Same holds true when, As neil patel at quicksprout.com so eloquently put it: " if people don’t see you as successful then you are less likely to succeed yourself" Appearances are not deceiving they’re reality.

Let me ask you this what do you think you wind up on a professional looking blog, or custom design. Using the blogs I’ve mentioned so far as an example.

Is this blogger is successful?
Knows what theyre doing?
Is trust worthy. Are they real?

These are of course just very basic assumptions.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll see what makes an authority blog and how to the reality matches perception. And how you can mimic these blogs and create this for yourself.

I’ll save that for the next post.