Ramblings-n-Writings

Posts Tagged ‘Skala Creative’

One of my projects for the month of April has been focused on social media and my business. Living in a rural area, and one of the poorest counties in the country, doesn’t exactly lead to high business volume. My desire is to spread the word more about who I am and what I have to offer. So, I’ve been looking for ways to expand my client base.

The wave of the future seems to be social media – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs. People are obsessed with knowing what others are doing and what their opinions are. What better way to connect with potential clients than to go where they are?

My first step was to find a way to make my business website dynamic. That means I needed something that changed periodically so people would keep coming back to the site. What did I do? Created a blog.

My second step was to start tweeting as my business. (Follow me @SkalaCreative.) I’ve been on Twitter for over a year now as an individual. I tweeted about my business and promoted my website with my personal account, but now I wanted something more focused. Having a business twitter helps build name recognition in the minds of potential clients.

My third step involved updating my profile on LinkedIn and making some more connections. I started using LinkedIn a long time ago (don’t ask for specifics because I don’t remember how long ago! ). Since the connections on LinkedIn are more professional in nature, I view it as a good spot to showcase my previous work experience. 

My fourth step started today when I made a Facebook page for my business. I have a totally different group of friends on Facebook than I do on Twitter. Creating a Facebook page will help put that group of friends in contact with my business on a regular basis too. (If you want to join the Facebook page, the link is in the sidebar to the left. Hope to connect with you there!)

Throughout this entire process, I’ve read hundreds of articles about “how to” and “how not to.” I’m so grateful for friends who have walked the road ahead of me and aren’t afraid to share their knowledge with me.

My goal for May is to be consistent in blogging and updating (that goes for both my business and personal sites!).

Now I just need to figure out how to automate everything …

I finally accomplished something I set out to do about 10 months ago!

Some of you will remember my lamenting about my business website and some of the issues I had with it. One of my goals all along since I started the site about 2 years ago was to add a blog.

Through the blog, I wanted to share writing tips, editing hints, graphic design ideas, grammar lessons, and publishing-related stuff. (Isn’t “stuff” a fun word? It can encompass so much without having to be specific or particular. Of course, some might say it’s uncreative and it can be replaced with a better word, but oh well.)

Well, guess what? My new blog launched last week!!!

I’m going to be sharing on the topics I originally planned on – writing, editing, grammar, publishing, and graphic design. I might even throw in a few posts about rural small business, advertising, and who knows what else!

One of my favorite parts of the blog is the grammar section. I’m starting off by talking about the most feared piece of punctuation … the comma. So many people are afraid to use a comma, but once you know the rules, that little squiggly thing really isn’t too intimidating.

When you have a few minutes, stop by the Skala Creative blog and let me know you visited!

Oh, and I also added some new advertisements I designed to my portfolio. Click on ”Promotional.”

Do you like deadlines? I absolutely love them. They’re one of my favorite things. I think I thrive on the pressure (a.k.a. stress) of a deadline.

Now, my deadlines at the moment aren’t high pressure. The 15th of every month is the close of advertising sales for the next month’s issue of Two Lane Livin’. Besides the sales, I have to have any advertising designs completed by the 15th or shortly thereafter. No big deal. I love sales and I love designing.

Probably more high pressure are my self-imposed business deadlines. I’m working with @stargardener to develop a social media presence for Skala Creative.

I managed to complete the Step 1: create a twitter account. You can follow Skala Creative here. You’ll receive helpful tips on writing and editing, thoughts and quotes (related to writing), special promotion discounts and lots of other stuff. Trust me, if you’re a writer, you don’t want to miss out on some of the future discounts on my services!

Step 2 has me totally intimidated. I need to rework my business website. I love the look, but the behind-the-scenes setup is a royal pain. I hate to sacrifice the look, but I’ll probably need to so I’ll have a site that is manageable and easily updated.

Step 3 is the addition of a blog. I’m really excited about this part. Unfortunately I have to get beyond Step 2 before I can enjoy Step 3.

Here’s the sad part … I’ve been thinking about Step 2 and Step 3 for almost a year. I haven’t done a single thing to reach those goals. Well, I’ve looked at some potential site redesigns and talked to a web designer who agreed to do the site for me and then totally fell off the face of the planet. Other than that, I’ve done zilch.

So, I’m imposing some deadlines on myself. Once deadline week is over, 100% of my work time is going towards recreating my business site and adding the blog. I have until the end of the month to have everything working to my liking. If I don’t … well, I’m not sure what a suitable punishment will be. Any suggestions?

Occasionally, I have the opportunity to create a book cover for a non-fiction book. My covers are always stock photography based, meaning they start with a photograph taken by someone else. I choose the specific photo because it reminds me of something in the book. Then I add graphical elements, fonts, and colors to make the cover unique. You can see some of my cover designs at Skala Creative.

Over at The Seekers, Janet interviewed James Griffin who has been creating book covers since 1976. Thirty-two years ago, he started creating covers, dare I say, the old-fashioned way … pre-computer. *gasp* Now his process includes a computer. Jump over to The Seekers to read how a man who can lay claim to 3,000+ covers creates them. And he makes those beautiful painting-like covers gracing the front of many fiction books!