This is guest post from Ben Johnson of Logoinn, custom logo design service provider based in UK.  It is timely for us here at Blizzard because we have been actively working to redesign our logo:

Clicking on this link is an indication that you are doubtful of your logo. Don’t fret! Time and again, many organizations have realized that their logos have become stale and out dated.  They realize that a logo is the foundation for any business and if there is something wrong with the foundation, disastrous could be the consequences. We all have different tastes and preferences for designs, colors, flavors and so forth. So, naturally when it comes to selecting a logo, business owners would choose the ones which suit their personal tastes. I see nothing wrong with that, in fact, to an extent I believe that following this route results in logo designs, which are truly a representation of their moods, people, and culture of their company.

Hmm! Now that’s quite understandable, however there are still, certain guidelines and criteria that every logo design should comply to. What are those guidelines, we’ll tell you because we don’t want your logo to fall into the category of logos that suck! If your logo already does not comply with these guidelines, you can consider a redesign. Your logo:

1. Should be describable
2. Should be memorable
3. Should be scalable
4. Should depict your company
5. Should be unique

Your Logo sucks if:

Business owners can analyze if their logos fall under the category of bad logos.

It is not describable

You need to ask yourself whether your logo is describable or is it ambiguous. Is it communicating any tangible brand attribute or not? Many companies struggle in describing their logos and their connection with the company’s goals and objectives due to a weak or vague logo that portrays a different image than what the company is actually about. In this case, no slogan line, any suggestive image, or color element help much.

It is not logo memorable (more…)

Looking for some tips on recession busting?

This powerpoint is for today’s webinar.

Here are some other resources you may want to check out for ideas or inspiration:

The 10 Most Ingenious Travel Offers

Travelers Find it Pays to Wait for Late Deals

Peter Yesawich’s March 2009 Insights on Travel Trends

Online Hotel Marketing Tips for a Recession

Hear is a video by Matt Cutts from Google talking about how to help Google see your images and using alt tags.

Of course, you may want to refer now to our recent post on How to Find Who is Stealing Your Images.

Check out the 10 Weirdest Hotels in the world over at www.MatadorTips.com.  My favorite was the sewer tube:

Das Park Hotel, Ottensheim, Austria. Photo by Foam.

One question many of our clients are asking themselves is “How will this summer turnout?”

There is a growing belief that the booking window is shortening and that more consumers than ever before will wait til the last minute to book this summer.   Hotel marketers are rightfully worried about last minute bookers — they want to target this growing segment, but, are concerned about “training’ their clients wait for the last minute to book.

There is some data out about shrinking booking windows:

Tripology reports that early 2009 is up 42% from late 2008 in terms of consumer trip requests.  They also note that the “booking window” has decreased steadily from August 2008 through December 2008 but increased significantly in the early part of January 2009.    It started at 275 days in 2008 and recently has settled at 141 days after dipping to 117 days in December.  That means the booking window is only half what it was a year ago!

Navis Technologies also has some cool data pulled from their system posted on their blog.  They show a shrinking booking window… not to the same degree, but they also show January spiking back up a bit more:

Booking Window Data from Navis Technologies

I have a hunch that activities centered around finding and attracting last minute bookers could be more profitable than ever this summer.

photo credit:  ricardodiaz11

Google has shared some fascinating eye-tracking videos. Here is an example:

You can see the searchers eyes skimming through the titles and descriptions.   It would seem that these really matter…  There was a lot more skimming than clicking.  Making your titles and descriptions relevant and appealing matters.

Will this technology become available to small business?  Maybe it has.

Can anyone recommend an affordable eyetracking solution for a small business?

Visit the Official Google blog to see more

Google is starting the release dance on a huge new service: Google Voice.  I have not been able to try out this new service, since it is now in limited availability beta.

This product has been in super-secret beta with only really important and connected people having access under its previous name: Grand Central.  It is now rebranded as Google Voice and it  looks like a unified telephone number with a web-based dashboard and all kinds of powerful features.

Google Voice - Beta

Watch out Verizon, AT&T, Skype and every0ne else.  Here are some of the features:

• Place calls - Call US numbers for free
• Taking calls - Answer on any of your phones
• Listen to voicemail - Check online or from your phone.

See video about how a voicemail is transcribed and made available as text. (more…)