Logo Design Ponte Vedra

Starting a business begins with logo design.

If you’re starting a business, one of the first things you’ll need, is a logo. Printers need a digital design file to add your logo to business cards, promotional collateral like flyers, brochures or shirts, and you’ll need to hire a Graphic Designers to create those files. Eventually you’ll want to add your logo design in Ponte Vedra to a website or in print advertising.

You’ll want to research local designers and make sure you find someone whose design work and personality is a good match for you. A good designer will listen to your objectives for the design and deliver three options that fit. From there, you will chose a design to go with and generally work three revisions to get the logo design exactly as you want it. In addition, if you plan to take your business to great heights getting additional brand development and brand guidelines will insure your brand stays strong.

For my recent logo design in Ponte Vedra, I worked with an artist and new restaurant. First I provided options. And, we work from there to go with the clients preferences. Ok, I may go above and beyond and deliver more than three options sometimes…

There were no set objectives for the abstract fine artist, so I sat down with her and showed her fonts and narrowed in on the few she liked. She decided she wanted to use a portion of one of her paintings in her logo, so I incorporated that into the design.

As for the new restaurant, the client had very clear requirements. Originally the owner of an Irish pub she wanted to keep the name but move away from the pub vibe and go coastal. She wanted the trendy rustic wood background or vintage coastal imagery and eventually decided she liked a circle design. All great choices. Note when I provide drafts images might include the Adobe Stock watermark because I don’t purchase the rights to design elements (such as the rustic wood background) until the client has decided what they want.

If you don’t decide on an equally sized design like a square or a circle, you’ll want to consider a horizontal and vertical version of your logo. I provide both when you choose, J. Lacey Taylor for your logo design in Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra or even worldwide. Call to schedule your project today!

*FYI: October is a great month to become a client, because November is J Lacey Taylor’s Client Thanks GIVING month!

A Year in Review

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Goals, clients, networking groups, website design in Jacksonville, SEO in Ponte Vedra and graphic design branding projects…. oh my! And never enough time to promote one’s own business.

I’ve had a blast, running my own business again – this time “full-time.” It was always my intention to run my own business and throughout my career I tested it out when the opportunity presented itself – in-between jobs or when I was raising my son from birth to kindergarten (which is nearly impossible-being an “all-in” type of mom). I say all of that to say finding my niche should have been obvious, however, the insights I took away after reviewing my client list for the year were a bit shocking to me. But, there is a group of people that stands out and have truly supported my business. I found my niche!

In one word, understanding. A small business owner client who understands what it takes to be businessperson all while juggling the other roles in one’s life – is a true teammate. They get to business and leave the nonsense behind. There is no wasting of one’s time because they too wouldn’t want their time wasted. They keep it objective; they don’t play games. To put it simply, they’ve done their research – they found you – and you provide the service they need.

If I’m being vague about my newfound niche, it is because like any data reviewed, we can find trends in demographics, but it is not always the rule and it really comes down to being an observer during initial consultations and going with your instinct. In the first year of business, you take all the business you can get and in the second year you become more discerning – which is what you look for in a client as well.

Recently while at a networking event, the speaker spoke about referral business. “It’s the best business you can get. If someone knows, likes and trusts you enough to recommend you – that recommendation sells you itself. You are already the expert.”

Which brings me to this month’s celebratory discounts and chance to ~~win prizes~~ earn cash! But first, did you know I offer cash back to people who refer me business? I do! Depending on how fast the sale closes you could earn 5%, 10% or 15% of the sale-any month of the year! I tell you this because for the rest of the month of August I am offering referrers (whose referrals close in August) 25% of the sale!!! That means if you send me a client that closes in August on our smallest project – 1 hour of design work…you get $19.75. If you send a client that closes in August on our largest project – a Premium Consulting Website…you get $3,750!!! OR if you send me someone that signs up for a monthly service and closes in August – I send you a $100 gift card immediately. And, if YOU need my services in August – I’m giving you 25% off. Call to schedule your project or recommend me today – 904-878-0881.

Gift cards are sent when the client pays for the 1^st month of a 6+ month contract. Checks are sent when the project is complete. Applicable for projects with first payments made in August.

My work with charity Clara White Mission

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It was a Christmas miracle when my friend offered a client of hers to me. My business was 5 months old, and I appreciated any new business. I’m thrilled she thought enough and was confident in my ability to recommended me. She had previously worked with a different web developer before we met and, the designer had developed a new website but left all basic functions unfinished. And, this client was a CHARITY! Clara White Mission was left without a way for sponsors to donate and no place for volunteers to register! AND, the hungry had no way of contacting them for a meal! Who would do that to a Charity? To do that during donation season seemed so heartless!

In my first call with the charity, they told me what was going on and I was truly flabbergasted as to why this happened. I offered to donate an hour of my time to investigate the issue and report back to them if I felt I could handle the project. There were too many unknowns and I didn’t want to waste their time or money if I didn’t know how to fix the problem. In that hour, I figured out the issue and reported back what needed to be done. My friend tells me they were very pleased that I knew what I was talking about and described it in a way that they could understand.

In the following conversations, we worked out our partnership. And, I went to work a week after because the previous website designer housed the website on his server and had to move the site to a new server with my recommendation.

Within my first hour of work, the functionality was working. Indeed, another Christmas miracle. Donors can donate, the staff get notification emails, PayPal accepts donations, and donors get a confirmation and receipt email. Their calendar of events accepts volunteer sign-ups, contact forms can accept information and send it to staff. Everything is working as it should!

If you know me, then you know that working for causes have changed my life. This project gave more to me than I gave to them. When I think of how this Clara White Mission works in our community to help the homeless and that my work somehow helped them do the work they need to do, I know I’m on the right path for my career and life.

If you are looking to be someone’s Christmas Miracle this holiday season, donate at www.clarawhitemission.org.

A New Digital Agency | Website Development Jacksonville

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Friends,

I’m embarking on a new adventure offering my experience, skill and talent to businesses that want to grow.

J. Lacey Taylor, is a one-stop digital design, marketing and optimization agency for high growth entrepreneurs. I specializes in website design and development along with SEO (search engine optimization). I want to make sure potential customers find my client’s businesses when they search their services or products online. Because their success, is J. Lacey Taylor’s success.

I appreciate your support and friendship. Connect, and follow J. Lacey Taylor on social media. Contact me if you have a business that you want to grow. And, spread the word to other high growth entrepreneurs that could benefit from digital agency services.

Don’t Promote Yourself, Leave it to the Professionals

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SEO_WD_Header
Mistakes, I make them. I know it’s hard to believe but I do. Especially, I have noticed, when it comes to promoting myself. You would think I’d be able to promote myself, it’s my industry after all. However, I’ve made the errors many of my clients have made – wanting to put too much into one small space. Ugh.

Clients are notorious for cluttering up the space. It’s understandable. They want to say as much as they can in the limited amount of space they have to say it. As professionals we were coached to do this, “what is your elevator speech?” That still haunts me, elevator speeches. I still don’t have one.

Anywho, I recognized my blunder as I read an article this morning. The title, something about first impressions of your website and I scrolled down before digging into the first paragraph to two flashing images: a cluttered, dated design and then just one luxurious lifestyle picture of a couch and a view. That reminded me when I was looking for images for my homepage earlier in the week I was looking for a similar image. I’m not selling furniture but a great photo makes all the difference. I love a view and a horizon line. I didn’t find one and went in a completely different direction with a tangent about the services I offer. I also wanted to add as many design elements from my brand as I could. I had cluttered things up. I’ll post my before and after headers in this post.

I haven’t read the article yet as I write this (I’ll link to it here), but I know what it’s going to tell me. Make your first impression with a moment of calm (by not saying too much) and WOW factor (by giving them a glimpse of the service or product you offer in the lifestyle they want), introduce yourself slowly and win them over and you don’t do this by shouting in their face or dumping your fears and insecurities upon them (which is what clutter is all about).

SEO_WD_Header_Find We all need to just take a deep breath. Breath in the knowledge that we have the skills, talent and services that our clients seek. Breath out our fears, thoughts of lacking anything, or scared our clients wont get all the information they need to make the right decision and hire us. They know they need you. Present to them your best self with a responsive, clean, speedy and modern design. Make sure they find you when they need you, with competitive SEO methods. And, guess what…I offer both of those services to help you thrive.

Developing Brand Guidelines | Ponte Vedra, FL

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Brand Guidelines in Ponte Vedra, FL

Great brand design usually begins with interviews with the client to understand the vision, goals and objectives for their business. However, when you are the client, you just go with what you like. I could have dove in deep into what my target audience would be looking for, but with limited time and my name as the company I just went with colors, textures and styles that appealed to me. And, in the end, the clients you attract might very well like your style.Brand guidelines in Ponte Vedra are important as a reference for anyone who uses your brand to represent your company. No questions are left when the need to use your brand arises, tomorrow or in 3 years. All of the rules are laid out simple and clear.

HELLO Nocatee | Marketing & Design | Ponte Vedra

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Hello Nocatee & Ponte Vedra!!

Premium small business marketing and design consultant services are now available! With 21 years in marketing and design, J. Lacey Taylor offers all the services you need to grow your business. Whether you are a new business that needs brand development, marketing strategy, print advertising design, website development and even SEO, J. Lacey Taylor has the experience to create exactly what is right for your business need. Call today for a consultation, 904.878.0881.

How do I fit THAT in my portfolio?

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ArmadaBanner — Jacksonville Armada Field – Sponsor Banner

Do you see that banner in the background? Well, those are my words and my design.

My clients pain point was that all of the big personal injury law firms claim to be your friend if you sign up with them but you rarely meet those guys on the commercials. With John, however, you meet him in your first consultation. He also wanted to get across that he is board certified. Attorneys that are board certified can use the term “expert” in advertising. Voila! “Meet John. Your Lawyer. An Expert in Civil Trial Law. (Logo I also designed).

A Month in the Life of a Graphic Designer

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Graphic Design of Jacksonville, FL

There is a certain speed and quantity of work at the Law Office of JMP that keep it challenging and interesting. While I wear many hats here, this last month was all about graphic design. I worked on a magazine ad for Folio Weekly and Void, party collateral, re-branding of the letterhead and business cards, place-mat ads for the Metro Diner, a sponsorship ad for Jacksonville’s Armada Football team and it’s all topped off with a rush job/first time three-fold printed newsletter. And, I’m certain I forgot a few. Phewy! Put a fork in me…I’m done!!

PROJECT DETAILS

Folio Magazine Ad: This issue was dedicated to Art and Design, so I asked John if I could design an out of the box ad. Keeping Folio readers in mind, I wanted it to be hip and modern for the out and about crowd of Jacksonville while also creating that connection to John. I used great colors, a stylize picture and a great quote John, a list of his practice areas and of course contact information.

Metro Diner Place Mat Ad: In tight spaces you have to keep it simple and direct, a a photo of smiling faces always pulls your reader in.

Party Collateral: Coozies and Magnets for special event were a rush job so I’m not crazy about the design I created but it works when you are given a couple of hours. Sometimes completed design is more important than perfect design that doesn’t make deadline.

Custom Designed Business Cards: In my early days with the firm, I rebranded it with a new logo and brand guidelines. Eventually, folders, signs and business cards became an extension of that brand design creating consistency and brand recognition.

Top ad. That guy on the right was not in the original photo. Thank you Photoshop!

Marketing & Design Professional

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Marketing & Design Professional

Current Job Description – August 2012 to Present

Marketing Management

Put together a Marketing Evaluation Notebook to review, compare, track, and propose new ideas.
Interviewed business owner and staff to gage goals and make sure everyone is on the same page.
Reviewed current marketing attempts and inventory stats to track growth, ROI and conversion rates.
Discussed marketing evaluation and strategies with business owner
Created and managed Marketing Calendar – developed campaigns, planned and scheduled for the upcoming year
Enforced brand integrity – redesigned and placed letterhead on network for company wide use. Created practice area focused signature line and suggested it be used company wide.
Continuously compared and contrasted competitors marketing to gain a position over them.
Infographs: researched to gather statistics, planned story line, sketched layout and designed a digital infograph
Addressed any drops in call volume or client intake
Order marketing collateral
Photo shoots: Organized, planned composition and subject, assisted and helped direct the shoot
Marketing Solutions: diagnosed several problems and came up with a solution to solve many of the marketing tracking issues

Website & SEO

Embed live feed video from the courthouse for highly publicized (international interest) trial
Prepared a website evaluation
Reviewed website analytics
Researched and logged main practice area top keywords
Developed an SEO and SEM tracking system and strategy
Inventoried backlinks
Developed site map and new navigation
Online Forms: Designed, created, implemented, adjusted and fixed when needed
Redesigned certain parts of the website and FTP files
Embedded radio station and video scrolling applications
Enhanced Wikipedia pages
Updated pages, content, and consistently adjusted for optimal search rankings
Added widgets that translate the whole website
Managed local directories (Kudzu, BrownBook, Yelp, and Manta): built spread sheet to track
Set-up website evaluation accounts (Moz and Alexa)
Managed domain names, redirects, etc.
Used Google maps to increase Google places ranking
Targeted specific neighborhoods
Designed banner ads for other websites (ex. Lex & Terry’s)
Applied the best mobile solution
Addressed bandwidth and login security issues
Quickly designed two websites for clients, one for accepting donations and one for advocacy

Social Media

Researched, planned and scheduled through Hootsuite
Customized and designed the header, background and tabs of our Facebook & Twitter accounts
Frequently adjusted 8 page verification request letter to Twitter

YouTube Account

Managed strength of account
Added SEO strong titles, descriptions, links, and meta data
Transcribed and sync’d videos for close captioning which earns SEO points
Created playlists and organize videos into those groups
Downloaded videos from other YouTube accounts and uploaded into our account

Print Design

Designed folders with a “classy new design”
Designed and laid-out folder informative inserts
Designed, wrote and created direct mail information postcards
Designed magazine ads (Folio, Void)
Designed advertisements for the Metro Dinner placemats
Designed fundraising and song flyers
Designed huge high school support banner
Designed Christmas Party Invite, created mail list per demographics, organized printing and mailing
Made sure to keep letter-head was up-to-date and digitally available to everyone in the company

Writing & Editing

Wrote SEM copy for new website pages focusing on main practice areas
Wrote for Lawyernomics on Avvo
Edited all web, print and radio advertising
Edited public speech – For a client testifying before Congress
Wrote nomination and award interest letters
Wrote Press Release letters
Wrote Judges Introduction for an Oratorical Scholarship Contest Event

Event Planning

Organized Toy Drive (including the use of a local free resource – billboard to advertise it)
Organized new office ribbon cutting
Designed party invitations
Delivered invites through social media, email, snail mail and hand delivery

Media Coordination

Helped prep the firm for weeks with Rolling Stone Magazine, national news stations (CBS, Aljazeera America) and documentary crews
Developed a media contact list
Helped pitch stories to national news stations
Coordinated interviews with local and national news stations, magazines, and radio stations
Collected screen captures of each media appearance for marketing needs
Kept a collection of all print references to the firm
Interior Design: shopped, purchased and redesigned a space for interviews

General Office

Put together trial PowerPoint with timelined case information, graphics and photos
Created the firms first client database, to track client information and track growth
Administrative Assistant: many miscellaneous projects for busy Lawyer/Owner
Scheduled and organized meetings with Congressional and Senate Leaders (see Successes)
Found ideal office space close to the courthouse for trial
Gathered detailed online information and screen shots regarding suspects in cases
Took calls from outside marketing/advertising sales companies
Converted and copied files of all types
Handled several Office Manager Issues
Consistently worked with disturbed co-works and defused each situation. I am very accommodating.
Sent out thank you & holiday cards to clients
Worked with and built relationships with outside vendors (fed-ex, framers, ac contractors, etc.) kept file for potential outsourcing
Filled out several applications and nominations
Worked with charities to make donations
Trustworthy: deposited checks in the bank for the firm

Phone system: solved technical issues that no one else could solve

Successes

Put the firm in the #1 spot in key practice areas searches optimized for Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines
Lacey: “I have us on page 1 of Jacksonville injury lawyer, Jacksonville personal injury lawyer and Jacksonville accident lawyer. John: “And page one at the top on yahoo, as well. And Bing. Yes, that is the trifecta. Lacey, great job.” Fadi: “WOW. Really great job Lacey. That is amazing. Thank you.”
“Lacey – In addition to the graphic designs of post cards and next week’s “thank you,” in the Folio Weekly, Lacey has steadfastly made us number one or on the first page of most of the search websites in most of the search categories- wrongful death? Us. Personal Injury? Us. Accident? We are there. None of those our size, are there with us. We are the little engine that could and Lacey is driving that engine and it is a search engine. We are just getting started, but we have so much advantage because of Lacey.”
“We are seriously all over the place now. Great job.”
“The rep from Gwinnett came in today and complimented our growth over the last 6 months online. She was amazed that I “called my shot” a few months back when we last month that we’d be on the first page and asked how much we spend with Google. I politely declined and she said their rep estimated we’d need to spend about $6000 per month to get where we’ve gotten across the board. She was amazed when I help up a goose egg to my eye and said, “it’s all us.” We are everywhere all of the time, haha. Great job! John”
Contacted and scheduled the many meetings with Congressional Leaders while in DC. Nanci Pelosi took notice and invited them to the Congressional Hearing on Gun Violence, acknowledged them during the hearing and those leaders who I had contacted, made it a point to go up to Lucy and Ron to speak with them afterwards. It was a “thrilling success.”
In August ’12 when I joined, case intake average was 9/m for a 5 person office. 8 months later the intake was 24/m for the 6 person office. I gathered and sent these stats in May,

Quick Statistics on Client Data:
August 2012: 80-94 cases, and 28 in lit or closed, which gave you an average of 9 cases/m.
April 2013: 280 cases, and 59 that are closed or in Lit, which gives you an average of 24/m or 1/business day.
Of the 280, we don’t have referral info on 62, but 45 came from Doc Tony and 72 came from the Internet, leaving the other 101 in a misc. referral category.

Letter from an appreciative peer:

From: Meri
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 10:22 AM
To: Lacey Taylor
Subject: Re: Would you judge a scholarship contest?

I love it when people make my life easier! Thanks.

I will stop by one day, who knows when, with a box of chocolates for you. How lucky he is to have a person like you watching his back. Tell him so. You deserve a raise!

Meri

On 1/29/2014 10:20 AM, Lacey Taylor wrote:

Wow. What a story. I love your mission and passion.

John has asked me to put something together. I’ll write it as I would introduce him and you can take what you like from it.

Starting a business begins with logo design.

Gift cards are sent when the client pays for the 1st month of a 6+ month contract. Checks are sent when the project is complete. Applicable for projects with first payments made in August.

Brand Guidelines in Ponte Vedra, FL

Graphic Design of Jacksonville, FL

Marketing & Design Professional

Gift cards are sent when the client pays for the 1^st month of a 6+ month contract. Checks are sent when the project is complete. Applicable for projects with first payments made in August.