How to get an Affordable yet Professional Looking Logo for your Blog
Recently, I’ve created and launched a few different websites. It wasn’t long before I started to feel embarrassed by the logos on these sites. Sure, I have Photoshop, well Photoshop Elements, but my design skills just aren’t up to par. The longer I looked at the logos that I created, the more I realized that something had to be done. Is the logo on your blog a source of embarrassment? Does it look like it was designed by someone in grade school? If so, continue reading and I’ll share my experiences on how to get a professional looking logo for your website without spending exorbitant amounts of money. Having an attractive looking logo is an important aspect of creating your blog’s brand.
To start off with, I’ve worked with professional graphic designers in the past. They can literally charge hundreds of dollars for logo design work. If you’re looking for a logo for your business, it just might be worth spending the money for top-notch design work. What if you’re just looking for a logo for your as of yet still non-revenue generating blog? Do you really want to shell out a few hundred dollars or more just for a new logo? For most of us, that’s probably more money than you spent on your blog’s template if you purchased one to begin with.
Can’t find an affordable website logo?
Realizing that I needed to find a source of quality logos, I wasn’t actually sure where to start. Naturally, I tried various search terms on Google to see what I could find. For the most part, I either found free logo generating software, or companies that charged around a hundred dollars for some relatively poor-quality designs. If you decide to use a free logo generator, you’ll basically end up with a stock design that’s used on other websites. What’s more is that the end result just won’t look very good. Yet, the companies that rank at the top of Google searches for “cheap logos” still charge a decent amount of money and you probably won’t be happy with the end result.
Looking for a cheap logo design…
On this foray, my next step was to post a thread at Digital Point Forums in the relevant graphics section. One person quickly replied and sent me a very poor quality sample. After I replied, I never heard back from that individual again. Was it something I said? I’ll skip over a few other misadventures in order to get to the point here. What you may not be aware of, is that you can host a logo design contest at Digital Point Forums in the “contest” section. I’ve see other websites that offer logo design contest and the actual cost is far less expensive at DP Forums.
Design Crowd is one such site that lets you host a logo design contest. However, their “economy” package starts at $200 and their first class package is $930. Again, this may be a great option if these prices fit within your budget. On the other hand, you can host a design contest at DP forums starting at just $10!
Tips for hosting a logo design contest.
- Obviously you will have to register an account at the forum and find the “contest” section (Forum/Business/Buy, sell or trade/Contest). You’ll want to look at other logo contests to get an idea of the language used.
- Typically, the contest will state that it closes in “2 days” or whatever time frame you want and that the winner will be paid X amount of dollars. Note, you don’t actually end up paying for designers to submit their entry–only the contest winner gets paid.
- You’ll want to ensure that logo design contest entrants use a Watermark so that the design doesn’t get copied.
- Though you can get responses with a $10 logo design contest, the “sweet spot” for generating quality designs is at $30.00.
- While looking at the other logo contest threads, you’ll likely see designers that produce quality work. Make sure that you personal message them directly and invite them to enter your contest.
- During the contest, ensure that you provide feedback on the designs that are submitted. Don’t panic if the first several designs look hideous, it will get better as the more skilled designers make their submissions.
Two mistakes you shouldn’t make
- Though it’s tempting to skip the contest altogether if you find a designer in another contest thread, don’t do it! I made this mistake and the competition of the contest is essential to getting a good result.
- Once you’ve had one logo designed by a contest winner, stick to using contests instead of using this designer directly. Again, this is a mistake I made. For me, the original design winner was only effective when he had ideas from other contestants that he could play off of and refine. When I used him directly to make a logo, the end result was subpar.
In summary
There are several available options to find an affordable logo for your website. Depending on your budget, two great options are to host a logo design contest either at Design Crowd or Digital Point Forums.
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