How to Create a Poor Publication - Six Ways to Brand Yourself As an Amateur

Whether you're selling a product, service or building web site traffic, creating a web-based or print publication will help build your subscriber and customer base. A well-designed, well written communication will inspire, motivate and attract repeat customers. Unfortunately, a poorly designed one can have the opposite effect. There are plenty of professional looking ebooks, magazines, newsletters and ezines available for your customers to subscribe to or purchase. Using some of the tips below will help you portray a professional image and retain a loyal audience.

1. Make sure you use amateur logos and art.
The first thing people see is the artwork that portrays you as a company or publication. Creating your own logo or cover may seem like a cost-saving idea, but in the long run your first impression will brand itself with your customers. Invest in an image or cover that leaves a lasting mark of quality, even if you do the rest of the work in-house. If price is an issue, research designers and see if you can barter in whole or in part, or pay on an installment plan.

2. Don't bother checking grammar.
Unfortunately there are many common grammatical errors that have made their way into common usage. You won't find them in professional publications, though, so do your homework and make sure you don't slip into making mistakes in grammar that will make you look like an amateur. One of the most common errors is using "I" instead of "me".

To make sure you use the right pronoun, ask if "I" am doing something or is something being done to "me."
Examples:
My partner and I are writing an ebook.
My assistant gave the subscriber list to me.

The first one is "I" while the second one is "me" because in the first case, "I" am doing something: writing an ebook. While in the second sentence, my assistant is doing something to "me": giving a subscriber list.

A good way to check is to take the other person out of the sentence and see how it sounds with both pronouns. You wouldn't say, "She's going with I" when you remove the other person out of this sentence - "She's going with my partner and me". One other "I" rule: always address the other person first in a sentence. Example: "My client and I are editing her article together." For some excellent grammar tips, visit proofreadnow.com/grammarrules.html

3. Don't proof your copy.
Besides grammatical errors, typos and misspellings will make you look less than professional. If you're the author, make sure that you have another person proofread your copy as your eyes can skip over the same mistake a multitude of times. This is one of those instances when you are too close to the forest to see the trees. If there are other writers involved in your project, trade articles for proofing.

4. Make sure you leave narrow margins.
White space has a purpose. It lets the eyes "rest" between articles, paragraphs and sentences, and it clearly organizes and separates your content visually on a page. A wider border on each side will make it easier for readers to navigate your content. An important consideration if you have a print publication is to discuss your layout with your printer or bindery person ahead of time. Even if you're doing the printing yourself, a professional bindery will fold, staple and then trim the outside edge of your magazine or booklet, so a generous margin becomes even more important.

5. Use lots of different fonts, type sizes and ignore typography rules.
One thing you'll find in professional magazines and newsletters is a consistency in typestyle and size. It's all right to use some artistic fonts for story and article headings, but fonts and sizes that change from story to story are unprofessional and difficult for the reader. Yes, this may mean you either have to expand your number of pages, or edit an article to a shorter length, but it will produce a look of quality to your print materials. If you already know about how much space you'll have to work with, create some dummy copy and then use a Word processing program to give you a word count and convey that to your contributors.

While you're at it, make sure you proof for too many hyphenated words. Professional ads use no hyphenated words. The rule of thumb on longer articles and stories is to limit them to not more than two lines in a row. Use Shift>Enter and create a line break if your next word wants to hyphenate. Watch those exclamation marks too! Let your statements give the needed emphasis, or consider using an italicized word or phrase to make a point instead. And by all means, if you go ahead and decide to use an exclamation mark, remember that professional pieces won't have more than one!!!

6. Make sure you use WordArt, dark backgrounds and fuzzy graphics.
Programs like Publisher give you the ability to make some cool effects with your text, like gradient screens and shadowed texts. Resist the urge. Clean, crisp headings are much cleaner and expert looking. If you're breaking up your copy by placing it in a colored or grayscale box or column, make sure that your text is readable. If using darker shades, change your text to white or a light color to give it more contrast.

When printing a publication, do you see a small halo of pixels around graphics? This ragged look often happens when you're using low resolution images. Make sure that you're using art or photos in 200-300 dpi, and preferably CYMK colors for printing. If you're not sure how to make those adjustments yourself, ask a designer for help. There are many graphic conversions that take little time or money, but will add a statement of quality to your overall look.

You may be a small business, but your materials don't need to reflect that. Using these tips will help you communicate to your audience that you're a business that embraces professionalism and quality throughout.