Guide to Give Your Company the Proper Branding

When you have developed the concept that you are making for your business, the next thing to think about is branding. In order to make something successful, a brand name is essential that everyone will love and, most importantly, remember. In order to do so, people should be able to associate with the logo, the colors, as well as all little details involved in the marketing aspects of the business. Since no one is expected to know about what kind of emotions different colors bring on clients, it is best to turn to professional designers who are ready for the job. Montreal Graphic Design is a team who will build your image the right way. The modern company knows what it takes to make your business stand out and known. From logos, to printed material as well as webpage layout, anything and everything is available for the branding process.Continue reading →

Importance of Adding Social Media Icon to your Email Signature

In case, you have entered into an unfamiliar arena of social media marketing and wish to set up your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, but do not have a list of followers. Unfortunately, the only followers you have are employees, friends or existing customers. Would you like to enhance the list of potential followers? Of course, you would relish to, but the question that would come to your mind would be how to go about it. This is where social media icons come handy.Continue reading →

Top IT Security Trends in 2016

Security issues are continuing to control the global agenda during increasing tensions, increasing the activity of terrorists, as well as the safety of digital identity. Information and data Security continues for evolving, with cybercriminals busier. There are some Targeted attacks such as the last Talk-Talk breach is continuing to create headlines and amplify the reason of fear among all the senior executives at businesses.Continue reading →

A perfect copy

Advances in modern printing technology mean that artwork can now be reproduced as prints with stunning clarity and accuracy. Giclee is the name given to the process of fine art digital printing which combines pigment based inks with high end archival quality paper to present prints of superior quality. The word Giclee comes from the French verb ‘glicer’, meaning to squirt or spray. The process involves spraying microscopic dots of ink into high quality art paper or canvas. The image is colour corrected to match the original as close as possible and the digital image is fine tuned to match the paper or canvas. The process offers the closest possible copy of the original piece of art.

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Giclee printing is a great option for artists as digital print technology can quickly produce high quality copies of artwork. It is fade-resistant and offers good stability. Finding a professional giclee printing service need not be difficult and be sure to ask for pigment inks as dye-based inks will fade and if you are selling the copies then the you’ll want the colour to be just right. For Artwork Copying, visit http://www.river-studio.com/services/index.php.

Giclee prints offer more exquisite fine-tuning in the detail of reproducing the original than you would get with a regular digital copy. The methodology in the process includes calibration of the Colour Management System and repeated massaging of a minute area on the file of a piece of artwork to retain all the original features like colour and shadow. Even top inkjet printers cannot match the quality of giclee prints. The reason for this is the size of the ink spray. Giclee inks are applied in microscopic droplets which offer a far higher resolution.

Using archival paper to increase the longevity of the print is another bonus. The inks that are used have been thoroughly tested and are estimated to last for 90 years on canvas and 100 years on archival paper. Giclee prints are not just limited to paper either and can be applied to other materials, including canvas, to great effect. Prints can also made on metal and photo prints are also available. The application of the ink is more accurate with giclee printing and the ink generally has a superior colour accuracy as there is a wider range available. When a giclee print is held up next to an inkjet print, the difference is very noticeable. The giclee is more vivid, sharper and can still be considered a work of art.

Those who operate giclee printing presses have extensive training for using the higher end equipment and also have access to state of the art colour management systems and quality checks. Therefore, if you want the best possible reproductions of your artistic efforts and hard work, then go for giclee prints and leave it in the capable hands of the professionals.

Staying Sexually Safe Over Christmas

The festive period is a time for celebration and enjoyment, and for many people it is also an excuse for overindulgence.

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Overeating is one thing – although it may lead to indigestion and a few extra pounds around the waistline, its effects are usually short-term. But drinking too much alcohol, combined with the fun feel of festive parties, can result in more than just a sore head the following day.

The Risks

Having unprotected casual sex (that is, without using a condom) has several possible consequences. Unwanted pregnancy aside, there is an increased risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

STIs such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea are easily passed on between partners, and because many people don’t develop symptoms, they may be unaware they even have the infection until they have given it to someone else.

According to the NHS, STIs can affect your overall health if left undiagnosed and therefore untreated. It is therefore important to practise safe, protected sex at all times, especially with new partners and in casual relationships.

And remember anyone, at any age, can catch an STI – it’s not confined to the young.

Get Tested

In addition, it is essential that if you do have unprotected sex you make sure you get regularly tested for various STIs. Most STIs can be successfully treated with antibiotics, and even the more serious ones such as HIV and AIDs are treatable these days, even though there is no cure.

If not spotted, many STIs can lead to serious and long-term health problems in the future, including infertility and heart problems.

Getting tested for STIs is quick, easy and painless – it can even be done yourself, at home, using free testing kits. London STI testing kits can be obtained from https://www.checkurself.org.uk.

According to Bexley Sexual Health, home testing kits are available for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and hepatitis B and C.

Stay Safe

If you’re planning on overindulging this festive season, the best thing to do is to practise safe sex. Always carry a few condoms with you whenever you’re going to a party – you can get free ones from most health centres and sexual health clinics, if you can’t afford them.

And if you do have unprotected sex, make sure you get tested afterwards, before you pass anything on.

How to cope with dropping temperatures

Keeping warm this winter without spending a fortune on heating your home will be just one of things on your mind during the Christmas and New Year period. A lot will depend on the heat efficiency of your home. There are some steps that you can take immediately to ensure you stay warm and comfortable and able to enjoy the festivities.

Keeping warm affects many things and not just how you comfortable you feel. A cold home can contribute to things like colds, flu and even heart attack, stroke, pneumonia and depression. This is particularly concerning for our older generation who may feel that they can’t always have the heating on. Health concerns are also more likely to occur if you’re on a low income, have a long term chronic health condition already or you are disabled.

In these circumstances, a home should be heated to 18C, especially the bedroom. A hot water bottle or electric blanket are further options but not to be used together. Keeping as active as you can is recommended and so is making sure you eat regularly as food provides much needed energy. Hot meals and drinks throughout the day are really important. Making sure you have a fully functional boiler is also essential. For Woking Boiler installations, visit http://www.rjplumbingandheating.co.uk/

You could think about switching your energy supplier if you’ve been with them for a long time. It could be that you are not getting the best deal you could be getting. Use a comparison website and then call your existing supplier. You never know, they might be able to better the price and you could save hundreds of pounds a year!

When it’s cold it is tempting to shut all the doors inside your home to somehow trap the heat, however, the opposite could help. Opening doors can help increase and spread heat. For example, after a shower, leave the bathroom door open and the steam will spread into the other rooms. Cooking with the oven is another effective way to heat up the downstairs and if you can safely leave the oven door open after you’ve finished, then the heat will spread.

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Have a look around your property and try to identify any gaps under doors or windows that quite shut properly. Drafts could be causing your home to be cooler than it should be and is also affecting the heat efficiency. Draft excluders can be placed around the house in any cold spots. If you don’t want to buy excluders from a shop then you can easily make your own using old pillowcases stuffed with old socks or tights. This is a very cheap and effective way of making your home as efficient as possible.

If there is a room in your home that isn’t used then think about turning the radiator off and closing the door. After all, there is no point in heating a room that nobody uses. Closing curtains can make a surprisingly big difference too. Thermal curtains are best and in the rooms you use most often, make sure they are closed as soon as darkness falls. Heat loss can be reduced by a quarter just by making this small adjustment.

How to create effective email subject lines to increase open rates

Our inboxes are flooded with various emails on a daily basis. Think about how many mailing lists you are subscribed to and how many of those emails sit in your inbox unopened. We all take one look at the subject line before choosing whether to continue reading. We make split second decisions, because we are all targets of an increasing amount of information, without enough extra hours in the day to absorb everything properly.

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If you are finding that your company emails are being ignored, you need to make one simple change. This means that you need to ensure that every email you send out to your audience has a subject line that they simply cannot ignore. You could spend hours meticulously crafting an email but if no one opens it, all that work will go unappreciated, which means that your top priority is to ensure that your message is reaching your customer base. Your choice of subject line will depend on the content of each email, but here are a few examples.

Simplicity

MailChimp has conducted research that suggests that your subject line should be kept to fewer than 50 characters. This ensures that it is easy to scan and efficiently communicates information. Notification emails, such as ‘your order is being processed’ benefit from simplicity, keeping your customer clearly updated.

Building connections

Ryco Marketing, a digital marketing agency in Belfast (http://www.rycomarketing.co.uk/) recommend that companies build an online community. Asking a question in the subject line of an email can prompt a response, or at the very least demonstrate that you are actively trying to engage with your audience in positive ways.

Appeal to curiosity

There is a reason why those ‘top 10 moments of 2016’ or ‘7 viral videos you need to see’ lists are so popular. They appeal to our curious nature and are easily digestible pieces of content.

A few final tips to nail your subject line every time:

  1. Always keep your specific audience in mind. You should know what they want, and how to capture their attention
    2. Come up with a few different versions and choose the most interesting
    3. Keep a consistent tone that reflects your business well
    4. Alliteration can be catchy, but avoid cheesiness.

Corporate Customer Care

When staging an event for a client, knowing how to look after that client is the difference between them having a satisfactory experience and a fantastic one, a one-time only customer or a repeat user of your services. You might the best at what you do but if you have no clue when it comes to customer service then your business is going to struggle.Continue reading →