Road map to a successful logo & web site launch

This project was born out of one woman’s ability to help other women find love. Jessica Sabatini has a gift coaching women to seek out and find their real love. Her success has led to several happily married couples and a thriving business, too. She needed a website to compliment her unique and growing business.

I created and designed the logo, free report cover, e-book cover and website. I also sub-contracted with a web developer and print expert on behalf of Jessica to get this job done on time and within budget.

From the beginning, Jessica was clear about several things which helped this project zip along more quickly than it might have otherwise. For instance, she knew which colors she wanted to use for her logo and web site. In our initial meeting, she came with a color wheel and the exact color preferences she had in mind.

Part of her focus came from the experience she had had with an online logo service. She did not receive the design in the proper format for print or larger media and didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

When Jessica learned that I would provide the native (original) files for her logo so that she would be able to scale it from a mobile application (tiny) all the way up to a highway billboard (huge), she said she knew she wanted to work with me. She also had written a business plan that included a description of her target market. As we began to discuss concepts for her logo, I clearly understood that she wanted a simple, elegant logo that would resonate with her target market of single, professional, smart and savvy women.

As a result of Jessica’s focus and clear ideas of color preferences and awareness of her target market, she was able to navigate the logo design process with ease. Following the successful completion of the logo, we forged on to work on the website.

Because Jessica works with women on the phone, she wanted the website to show her personality and presence. Therefore, much of the website has professional photographs of Jessica so that prospective clients would be able to easily ‘meet’ her online. Also, Jessica preferred simple, recognizable graphics and an intentionally simple design so that the viewer could focus on the relevant goal on each page without lots of visual distractions. She was vigilant about making sure she put her best image online while appearing approachable and genuine.

The result is a website with friendly graphics, images of Jessica as well as a video blog entitled “FMRL Blog,” a Free Report download, and a product page with shopping cart capability including several packages, one of which includes an e-book, to help Jessica’s clients as they strive to reach their goal of finding real love.

Jessica also worked with a web content expert to ensure her domain name and content would be search engine optimized to reach her ideal clients. She provided the content to me in advance of the web design process so that I could create a site with the content in mind. This is an extremely important aspect of web site creation and redesign not only for the look and feel of a new site but for search engine optimization as well. Be sure to include this in your project plan and work with a web designer who collaborates with web content creators.

The successful launch of this site the week before Valentine’s Day is due in part to Jessica Sabatini’s knowledge of her preferences, target market and passion for her business: helping women find real love. Visit the site for more details.

If you are thinking about a new website for your business or redesigning an existing site and feel overwhelmed at the prospects of getting started in this process, don’t worry. I have a list of helpful questions that will help you decide what your preferences are for everything from colors, to site navigation and more. I use your answers to these questions to create a design brief that becomes our own road map in this process to ensure that you, too, have a successful web ite launch.