Are you wondering why your call-to-action (CTA) isn’t attracting visitors to redeem offers at the rate that you expected? Well, it might be due to the fact that you have a boring rectangle at the bottom of your web page that isn't compelling enough for your visitors to take any action.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create a CTA with a cutting edge design. Having a basic understanding of which design elements have the most significant impact on click-through rates can help even the most design-challenged person in your office develop an effective CTA that will convert visitors in leads.

Building a strong brand requires careful planning and creatively executed marketing. Part of implementing a successful strategy is having great collateral material.

Keeping your print brochure alive is crucial for face-to-face interactions—it's great to be able to show off your brand by spreading fantastic marketing collateral across a conference table. But is it wrong to focus resources on print when it's your online marketing that gets a proven return on investment?

Print versus web is a false dichotomy.

You can have your cake and eat it too by converting your print brochure into a powerful online marketing asset. This type of marketing collateral is especially effective at reaching customers who are evaluating you as a provider of solutions to their challenges or needs.

Of all the creative marketing strategies that have emerged recently, infographics are among the most useful to nonprofits. Everywhere you look there are examples of data-rich graphics that organizations have created to inspire, educate, and engage their prospective supporters.

Nonprofits have unique concerns when it comes to launching or revamping their websites. Under pressure to channel resources toward mission-critical activities, they often try to do as much in-house as possible. Staff may create site outlines, content, and even wireframes internally and hand them over to a developer / designer or nonprofit marketing agency to implement. Often someone on staff even has the great luck of serving as that developer / designer.

The bigger, the better. It's an adage that often holds true (unless you're talking about credit card debt). But do the largest nonprofits in the U.S.—the ones with the most resources to hire a top digital firm or nonprofit marketing agency—have the best websites?

Reading Forbes' list of the top 50 charities in the nation made me wonder. The Forbes list includes nonprofits with the highest private donations received in 2013, including those from individuals, corporations and other nonprofits.

In this age of the internet and online marketing, you may not think having a brochure is important. In some cases it may not be. In many cases, though, it pays to keep your business’s brochure alive.

Logos are fun.

For artists and designers.

Having your own logo on the operating table, though, can be painful and angst-inducing. If you're in the midst of logo creation or renovation, it might be helpful to take a break and spark your own creative thinking by looking at Ryan Loomis's work. The user interface designer combined some of the most recognizable brand symbols in unlikely ways, sometimes based just on visual relationships, sometimes through ironic combinations of image and identity.

Having your logo designed is a crucial step for any business. After all, your logo only says everything about you. But for a small business, it poses special challenges. You probably have a relatively small budget, and you may be on your own in making decisions, without a team of executives and marketing staff to back you up.