About Us
Knox Design is a small, personable, creative design studio. From logo and brand development to label and package design to marketing and sales collateral. Utilizing more than 20 years big agency experience to create and maintain brands ranging from healthcare to consumer package goods (USDA & FDA compliant).
How We Got Started
I started my career directly out of college (1984) by moving to Chicago and not giving up. I worked with small production houses where I learned the art of prepress. From there I worked in larger agencies where I could flex my design muscle with heavy weights. In 2003 I decided to go out on my own and have been doing what I love ever since.
The products and services we offer
Products & Services
If you have a need for a logo remember that this may be the first thing a potential client sees. Your logo represents you when you are not there. I...
Good label and package design sells for you. Having an eye catching and professional label creates trust which adds value. Consumers love value. It...
Printed sales collateral is everything from business cards and stationary to door hangers and posters. Product information sheets, brochures, pamph...
Recent Activity
I feel the best bang for your long term dollar is good Search Engine Optimization for your web site. Good SEO can be done once and then maintained once or twice a year after, along with updated text on your site every couple months. You may spend some money with a good seo company who will be...
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I feel the best bang for your long term dollar is good Search Engine Optimization for your web site. Good SEO can be done once and then maintained once or twice a year after, along with updated text on your site every couple months. You may spend some money with a good seo company who will be doing their homework figuring the best language strategy, evaluating the competition and implementing the work on your site and maybe even restructuring your site to accommodate the plan. But the long term is being there when people search and people are searching.
I would call them, especially if you have made as much progress as talking money. You never know until you know and lack of email response is not knowing. I would call them and make sure everything is ok, and if they have changed their mind or found someone else I would want to hear it from them...
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I would call them, especially if you have made as much progress as talking money. You never know until you know and lack of email response is not knowing. I would call them and make sure everything is ok, and if they have changed their mind or found someone else I would want to hear it from them before writing them off.
Yes, I do. http://www.bryanknox.com. Give me a call if you want to discuss. Always leave a message and I will get to you as soon as possible.
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Yes, I do. http://www.bryanknox.com. Give me a call if you want to discuss. Always leave a message and I will get to you as soon as possible.
First off I agree with Elizabeth, very busy and you do not know what the company offers as soon as you get the site. I only looked at the home page, but took a quick glance at the coding and the meta tags are "stuffed". I assume this is done throughout the site. This means you are trying to say...
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First off I agree with Elizabeth, very busy and you do not know what the company offers as soon as you get the site. I only looked at the home page, but took a quick glance at the coding and the meta tags are "stuffed". I assume this is done throughout the site. This means you are trying to say everything your company offers in the meta data on every page. The first so many characters of the description meta tag may show up as the description,so contact in for or core business offering is nice but the rest should be saved for the specific offering of the page. You need to think of seo as an app might see it. A computer (search engine spiders and robots) will scan you page, follow link to other pages and evaluate if the content is specific to the meta data as to give it a rank for being information that is valuable. The more specific it is, the more it likes it. Try to beak your company into services as the app does not really care how long you are in business etc. It cares about what people are looking for and being able to give them that data. Few people look for a "network company in business for 25 years", more like "network company charlottesville va (or wherever) or "x-ray systems maintenance, modesto Ca (or wherever). If you only operate in a specific area use this to your advantage as getting calls from Japan, if you do not operate in Japan, is useless. If you operate in wide area, as I noticed you operate throughout the US and Canada, pages can be built to be more specific to these regions or the major regions in these wide areas.
The sites language (text) needs to be compartmentalized. For instance, you have a web site for a company that makes cookies, the home page could talk about cookies in general and services associated with this cookie business, if the cookies are sold in a specific region like Virginia it could talk about cookies in Virginia. Since potential visitors are looking to buy cookies the language on the page would reflect this as the site sells cookies. Keep it specific to the core of the offering for that page (Every page is potentially a landing page). Then add pages for the individual cookies and talk about that specific cookie as well as the core language. I refer to this style of seo as language pyramid. The core of your business if represented on your home page and the information gets more specific as you get into the pages. The core (home page language will be represented on the more specific pages lower on the pyramid as it is hard to determine which page a visitor may enter the site as it depends on what they are looking for. Lower pages in the pyramid are prone to more long tail search terms. I hope this makes sense.
A couple key problems
• Broken links• All the scripted navigation can make it hard for search engines• Not a fan of outbound links to other sites even if they are yours• A lot of scripting language in page code. Externalize as much of this as possible
There are other ways to improve rank like inbound linking, image alt tags, comments, blogs or other updatable data and such that can supplement a solid site built to attract search engines. It is also important to update the content on your page, even if just slightly, fairly often to avoid the google age and decay algorithm. Also keep in mind seo is an ongoing process and it takes time, 12 to 16 months, to get real rank in major engines (directories are handled differently). I would also like to mention language research and its importance to seo but have to run. I do not mention seo in my own services as I typically only apply seo tactics to sites I build and I do not advertise web site building as the cheap competition does not make it worth my while to do so.
There are a few really good resources for seo and remember content is king, useful content specific to the potential clients wants. I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you have questions and good luck. Sorry for any typos.
GoDaddy has a process for getting to domains by proving ownership (Sometimes as simple as a letter on your company letterhead with a scan of your drivers license). Hopefully the developer did not register the name for you as the process becomes more difficult and may require legal representation....
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GoDaddy has a process for getting to domains by proving ownership (Sometimes as simple as a letter on your company letterhead with a scan of your drivers license). Hopefully the developer did not register the name for you as the process becomes more difficult and may require legal representation. If the domain name is your company name a letter from an attorney stating your intent to gain control of the domain may be enough. If the developer is a real ass you may want to consider buying another domain, extracting the data, and reestablishing the site in the new space, then put the original domain on a watch list to purchase it if it ever goes into default. Personally I would also purchase all the domain names around it as well, .net, .biz, etc., but find the cheapest registrar you can and forward them to your hosts DNS's. Although you probably already know this, always protect your interests.
Aaron,
Anybody serious about hiring a designer will look at your portfolio before talking budget, so do not worry about people wondering about the quality of your work based on cost.
When I was starting out on my own I would call other freelance designers and introduce myself. I would offer...
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Aaron,
Anybody serious about hiring a designer will look at your portfolio before talking budget, so do not worry about people wondering about the quality of your work based on cost.
When I was starting out on my own I would call other freelance designers and introduce myself. I would offer them my services in case they became to busy (which worked out pretty well). I would also inquire about their fees so I could make sure I could make a living working for them on a freelance basis. There is also ways to see what freelance graphic designers are making in certain areas online.
Recruiters of freelance design talent can also tell you what you are worth in specific markets. Or at least tell you what they can get for you. I found via more than a couple projects that they double what I was making to get their commission. When I quit using recruiters I added 30% to my fee.
Always keep in mind that you have a lot of time invested in your craft and what you provide for people in many instances is forever.
I had a discussion with an unhappy manufacturer of a food product about my fees. I brought up that they cannot look at it as paying $2,500.00 (based on estimated hours) for label design, then asked them what their first production run was going to be. They stated it would be 500,000 pieces. I reminded them that this works out to 0.005 cents per label and goes down every time they put one on product. They never brought it up again and I still work with them.
I live by the philosophy: If I am going to work for free, I might as well be fishing. At least I may get a fish out of it.
Good luck,Bryanhttp://www.bryanknox.com
I agree with the thread about local designers. Working with someone locally or even in the U.S. that is responsive is better as I have seen issues ranging from file compatibility (format, resolution etc) to copyright issues from using stock. I specialize in branding, mostly consumer goods...
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I agree with the thread about local designers. Working with someone locally or even in the U.S. that is responsive is better as I have seen issues ranging from file compatibility (format, resolution etc) to copyright issues from using stock. I specialize in branding, mostly consumer goods including U.S.D.A & F.D.A. specification for food products. Feel free to contact me directly or review my work at http://www.bryanknox.com. Take care,Bryan