Kreative Design / Marketing

Know Your Signs

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 21:00:30 GMT

When it comes to signate, you have choices.

Click Here to Get An Estimate!

New! 3D Puff Patches

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 20:55:12 GMT

Foam Filled Embroidered Patches - Great for Hats!

3D Puff Embroidered Patches are a great alternative to traditional embroidery. You can use them on several different types of garments like hats, jackets, bags, sweatshirts and more!

These patches offer both permanent and temporary backing options. From Velcro Hook and Loop to Heat Seal.

Minimum Order 50 Pieces Setup: $20

Backing Options

KDM Interview with Jerzees Activewear

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 19:18:25 GMT

We did a Q&A with Jerzees Activewear for their Shop Talk Series.

Easy to use Animation Software

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 19:11:45 GMT

Are you a designer like me that always wanted to be able to learn to use Adobe After Effects but found it challenging to learn. I found a new software app that is affordable and offers almost everything that After Effects can offer.

It offers a simplified interface that has a minimal learning curve. They also include free / paid templates that you can manipulate and they have a lot of YouTube Tutorials. Once of the best parts of using CreateStudio is the price.!

COST: Its one time payment of $99. But I can offer it to you access at a discounted rate of $67 by clicking SPECIAL OFFER!

Here are just some of the features CreateStudio offers:

Adobe Illustrator iPad App - Promo

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 21:29:51 GMT

I was selected to beta testing the new Adobe Illustrator iPad App. Adobe created a promo video for the release using several designers art. One of my pieces made the cut. #madeinadobe

Free! Activity Book from Sanmar

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 21:06:01 GMT

Download it Today! Tag #getkreative

Sanmar Apparel created a free activity book - Download Here!

Google makes mobile-first indexing the default for all new domains

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 02:03:13 GMT

Make sure your Website it mobile optimized

At the end of 2018, Google said mobile-first indexing — that is, using a website’s mobile version to index its pages — was being used for more than half the web pages in Google search results. Today, Google announced that mobile-first indexing will now be the default for all new web domains as of July 1, 2019.

That means that when a new website is registered it will be crawled by Google’s smartphone Googlebot, and its mobile-friendly content will be used to index its pages, as well as to understand the site’s structured data and to show snippets from the site in Google’s search results, when relevant.

The mobile-first indexing initiative has come a long way since Google first announced its plans back in 2016. In December 2017, Google began to roll out mobile-first indexing to a small handful of sites, but didn’t specify which ones were in this early test group. Last March, mobile-indexing began to roll out on a broader scale. By year-end, half the pages on the web were indexed by Google’s smartphone Googlebot.

Google explained the change to how sites are indexed is aimed at helping the company’s “primarily mobile” users to better search the web. Since 2015, the majority of Google users start their searches from mobile devices. It only makes sense, then, that the mobile versions of the website — and not the desktop pages — would be used to deliver the search results.

Mobile-first indexing isn’t the only way that Google has begun catering to the larger mobile majority.

Several years ago, it also began to boost the rank of mobile-friendly webpages in search. Last year, it added a signal that uses page speed to help determine a page’s mobile search ranking. Starting in July 2018, slow-loading content became downranked.

While many sites today now show the same content to users across desktop and mobile, those that have not yet achieved this parity have a variety of resources to help them get started. Site owners can check for mobile-first indexing of their website by using the URL Inspection Tool in the search console to see when the site was last crawled and indexed. Google also offers a host of documentation on how to make websites work for mobile-first indexing, and suggests that websites support responsive web design — not separate mobile URLs.

“We’re happy to see how the web has evolved from being focused on desktop, to becoming mobile-friendly, and now to being mostly crawlable and indexable with mobile user-agents,” said Google, in its announcement today.

Tech Crunch - Click Here!

The End of Adobe Flash Websites

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 19:07:09 GMT

Free Website Assessment

Businesses with Websites this change might affect you. Adobe has announced that Flash development will discontinue completely by the end of 2020. Many older Website platforms used Flash as part of the design and editing Software. Which means you could lose some or part of the functionality of your Website.

We are offering a FREE Website assessment, all we need is your Website Address.

We will check your current Website for the following:

- Your Website is currently using Flash

- Your Website meets the new Google search requirements

- Compliant with the new laws (GDRP & WCAG)

Contact us t oday for a FREE assessment and our limited time pricing to convert your Website over to HTML5 (current standard).

Don't spend your money on short term Promotional Items

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 18:28:28 GMT

I have been selling promotional items for 11 years and I have learned a great deal about which ones are effective and which are just a waste of money.

My least favorite promotional item is food. Stay away from the cookies, candies and snacks. They may seem like a great giveaway at first, but your branding has a very short term impression if at all. Once the person eats the item, what happens to your branding? It goes in the trash. If your hard set on giving away food, then find packing that you can imprint your logo on like a jar or a wood box. Something they can keep.

Promotional items should have a lasting impact on a potential customer or even a current client. They can get pricey so when your making an investment in your branding you want to ensure that you're get a return on it. When looking for promotional items for my clients I take several things into consideration.

1. Budget
2. End User
3. How it relates to the industry
4. How they will be distributed
5. Shelf life

Some of my favorite promotional items:

Corrugated hand fans for summer events
Tote Bags
Pens
Rulers / Tape Measures (Real Estate)
Magnets
Sport Bottles or Stainless Steel Tumblers
Cellular Accessories
Stress Toys
Drinkware (Mugs)
Home Improvement
Kitchen Utensils (Pizza Cutter)

Why SSL Certificates for your Website are important.

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 17:59:11 GMT

We recently switched over to Amazon for our clients Website hosting. With the benefits of having a cloud server we also are making SSL Certificates apart of all of our Website hosting packages .

Most think that SSL Certificates are only required for ecommerce Websites that accept peoples payment information. Well that is no longer true anymore. Each year Google changes their Website ranking requirements. While keywords are no longer as significant as they once were, SSL Certificates on all websites will receive priority ranking.

The average SSL Certificate runs from $99-$300 depending on how much security your website requires. Most people have to pay for the website hosting and an annual fee for the SSL Certificate. The benefit of our package is that SSL Certificates fee is already included in our annual fee.

Benefits of an SSL Certificate:

Our SSLs use 2048-bit encryption to protect sensitive data. It’s the strongest encryption and it is virtually uncrackable.

SSL Certificates protect your customers' sensitive information by encrypting the data they send to you, then decrypting it once you’ve received it.

The green lock in the your browser bar and the "S" in https mean your website is secure in every language.

Google favors HTTPS-encrypted websites and will push them higher in search results. So an SSL not only protects your customers but helps you find more of them.

Selling items on your website is easier ell to a much larger audience you need to give customers the payment options they prefer — AND an SSL to keep them clicking through to checkout.

New Rules for Website Search Ranking

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 21:03:12 GMT

Is your website optimized for search?

All the rules have recently changed. The focus now is speed, mobile optimization and security to get priority ranking in search. It's no longer about keywords, backlinking, etc.

Check the status of you page speed for your website - Click Here!
Our website receives a 99/100 scoring.

The websites we build at Kreative Design / Marketing are optimized to meet the Google Page Speed Requirements. They are mobile optimized and we also include an SSL Certificate with our hosting plan. All web clients will have access to their websites analytics right through your own dashboard. This will give you key information about how visitors are interacting with your website.

You can read more our Website Design services here !

Here is a great article with some tips!
https://www.woorank.com/en/blog/8-experts-on-why-googles-page-speed-update-makes-sense

Why we don't use Wordpress

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Tue, 29 May 2018 23:38:13 GMT

We have a lot of people ask why we don't use Wordpress to build websites. We personally don't feel it's up to par when it comes to functionality and security.

Wordpress is open source software, which means it's very easy for people to hack into it. There are also 100's of security holes due to the 3rd party plugins that you have to install to make your website function like you want it too. They also end up making the website run slow due to being bloated with code.

WordPress requires a plugin to pretty much do anything and most have fees associated with them. Our plugins (We call them Widgets) are native to our design software which ensures it's compatible and works seamlessly. We also don't charge additional fees to use them.

While WordPress has gained a lot of popularity over the years, I would definitely do your research should you decide to go in that direction.

WordPress - Quick Pros & Cons

Positives

As one of the largest open-source platforms in the world, WordPress can be used to design any type site you can dream of as long as you hire a designer that is knowledgeable.
The extensive market of plugins and themes means you can purchase functionality without having to design it yourself. But most you will have to pay a fee to use.
WordPress sites can be hosted with any provider, so clients may be able to reuse their existing hosting.

Negatives

"With great power comes great responsibility" - WordPress sites need constant updates, patches and monitoring for security vulnerabilities. It is certainly not headache free.
Sites often end up much more expensive than anticipated due to the ongoing need for outside plugins to achieve functionality.
Heavy customization of sites will likely require a developer or designer with solid coding skills.
The platform is quite bloated. With so much functionality, sites typically load slowly and contain a ton of unnecessary code that should be manually removed in order to speed up load times and improve SEO.
WordPress must be installed on a server, so experience managing a server and database is a major asset.

Tips on Hiring a Website or Graphic Designer

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:14:31 GMT

First off cheaper is not always the better deal, especially when it comes to hiring a graphic or Website designer. People get lured into these offers from Etsy, Fiverr and other online Websites making it seem like they’re getting a great deal! These deals can be very deceiving to the average person. You also don’t really know who you’re working with because all the communication is done through the website or via email. Some of these people aren’t even located in the United States and require full payment up front. All Red Flags.

I receive a lot of phone calls from people, four in the last month alone who have entered into these types of transactions and are looking to me to help them. Either they come to me to have something printed and the art was not created in the proper format for all the types of printing they want to have done. Or the relationship went sour and they’ve lost all communication with the designer as well as the money they have paid them. Then they’re back to square one and having to pay someone else to do the job correctly. So they truly end up paying double or triple, when they could have done a little research and hired a local professional.

I feel bad for these people because they don’t know any better. These online companies that take advantage of people, make the professionals look bad and make people think we all work that way. Not true.

FIRST, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Contact designers within your area so you can meet them in person and interview them so that you feel they’re a good fit and understand your goals. Or if there’s a local business that you like how they’ve branded themselves - ask them who they work with. Visit their website or online portfolio to see if you like their design style. When you finally contact a designer tell them what you’re looking for and ask a lot of questions. Good designers will ask you what your goals are and then educate you so that you can make the best decision that you can.

Most professional designers including myself will never ask you for all the money up front. Typically we ask for a down payment and then the balance when the final art is approved. They will also provide you with a detailed contract that protects both you and themselves should any issues arise.

Visit Yelp and Google+ to read reviews about their company. You can also ask for references, so you can contact them to ask how their experience was working with them.

Another important question to ask is what software they use. The industry standard is the Adobe Creative Suite. Professional designers use Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. If the designer says they only use photoshop, they aren’t that experienced.

Here’s a little description and how they’re used:

Illustrator is meant for creating logos or vector based illustration work (they should not use Photoshop). Sign printers, apparel printers and even some website designers will ask you for your logo in vector art. This file extensions are usually .ai or .eps.

Photoshop is photo rendering software for image manipulation and drawing as well as creating elements for your website.

InDesign is a desktop publishing software for designing business cards, letterhead, print ads, posters, brochures and other printed material.

I hope this gives you a little-educated insight when you’re going to hire someone to help create your brand. Whether you use Kreative Design / Marketing or another professional, at least you can feel good about the money you spent and walk away with your expectations met.

Why having vector art is important

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:10:51 GMT

Vector Art Tip! All apparel printers must work with vector format art files to be able to screen print, embroider, or cut vinyl heat transfers. It is important when you have your logo or apparel art created that it’s designed using a vector based software program (Adobe Illustrator).

Logos and designs should always be created within a vector format. You can then export raster files from that file for size specific printing or web use. Vector art allows us to separate colors for screen printing, get a stitch count for embroidery or print high quality designs for our large format printing like banners and signs. It's a very flexible format that allows you to make the art as big or as small as you want without losing any quality. Raster images do not work in the sameway. If you try to make them bigger than their original size they will end up blurry and pixelated.

Vector File Types:

.eps

.ai

.pdf

.svg

Raster File Types:

.png

.jpg or .jpeg

.gif

.tif

.psd

When hiring a designer this is a good question to ask before signing up with them. If they aren't able to do the job in a vector file you will likely end up paying more money to get it re-done.

What if you don’t have vector art? We can assist you with that. For a small fee we can have most art recreated into vector art. We also provide you with a copy of the file for future use.

Small Business Software - Free or Really Cheap!

krista@getkdm.com (Krista Guerrero) — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:03:57 GMT

We’ve compiled a list of software applications that we here at Kreative Design / Marketing use to run our small business.

What’s great about FREE software is most have a beta tester programs so that you can provide input on new features you would like to see added.

Click on the “name” to visit their website -

Wave Accounting (FREE) - Invoice and Accounting Software. Offers a mobile App.
Meister Task (FREE) - Kanban Task Manager. Also can be used as a simple CRM. Available on your desktop, web or phone.
Mind Meister (FREE) - Brainstorming software
Zoho Bigin ($7 per month) - All in one business dashboard - CRM, HRMS, Sales, Marketing and more!
Mailjet (FREE - 6,000 emails per month) - eMail Marketing software with an easy to use drag and drop interface.
Jotform (Free - $99 per month) - Online web forms with an easy to use drag and drop interface. Share the software for free upgrades.
Tiempy (Free) Social Media Sharing application. Schedule your social media account posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Offers recurring and best time scheduling.
Evernote (Free) Keep yourself organized with a very easy to use notes application. It can be used in many different ways to support your business. Available on your desktop, web or phone.
Tumblr (Free) - Social Blogging with lots of great features like text, photo, video, audio, quotes and links. This a great platform for guest bloggers too. Offers a mobile app for on the go bloggers.
Zapier (Free) - Application integration. This is heaven sent! Many of us end up using several applications to get the job done. Zapier comes in to assist you with your workflow. Lots of
123RF Photos (Paid) Affordable option for royalty free images for your marketing.

Be sure to check out our business tools page on our website!