About a week ago, I was browsing through a salon and hair product shop at a nearby outlet mall, when a very familiar design caught my eye. The Twitter bird was part of the design of Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree products.
My first thought was “wow, Paul Mitchell stole Twitter’s logo,” so I quickly took some shots with my cell phone.
Getting back to reality after a vacation in Disney World is no easy feat. I returned from the “happiest place on Earth” last week to a dreary and snowy Boston. I can’t even count the times I’ve been to Disney World/Land on my fingers anymore, but even as an adult it’s as magical as ever.
It’s not just an amusement park with overpriced food and even more overpriced merchandise (though it has both). If anything, I don’t mind laying down $40 for a t-shirt I’ll never wear outside the parks. The environment they’ve created makes me forget about my worries from the real world. It’s not just about Space Mountain. Young or old, the Disney brand makes you start to believe that fairy tales could be real, and dreams can come true.
This perception really got me thinking. Even in a suffering economy, Disney remains packed with people willing to fork over hard-earned cash for tickets to wait in long lines. They’re doing something incredibly right. So what Disney traits can anyone (CEO’s, entrepreneurs, bloggers, etc.) use to make their products more successful?
Here’s a breakdown of what I think makes up the Disney magic, and how I will aspire to apply these characteristics to my blog in 2009. Read the rest of this entry
Branding can make or break your website, whether it’s a business or a blog. Your readers should connect with the theme of your site with they see your logo elsewhere. One way to increase your brand’s visibility is by creating a FavIcon. FavIcon is short for “favorite icon,” and is the small icon that appears in the URL browser bar. They’ve been around for a long time now, and it surprises me how many popular blogs and sites out there still don’t have a favicon.
FavIcons also appear on certain browser’s navigation tabs and on a reader’s bookmark list if he has bookmarked your site, so having a unique FavIcon can help readers easily remember your site. Try to use your site’s logo, initials of your website, or some prominent image that appears on your homepage. Having a FavIcon will also make your site look more professional; all the big sites are doing it. Read the rest of this entry
