Logo Design for your business is critical. It is the face and the first thing people see when they encounter your brand.

When it comes to getting a logo designed for your company there are a few ways you can go about it.

• You can design the logo yourself if you are a decent artist and proficient with design software such as Adobe Illustrator.
• You can go the inexpensive route and go to a site such as Fiverr to have a freelance artist design one for you.
• You can go the more professional route which I recommend and run a competition on 99 Designs for different graphic designers to compete for your business.

Create a logo that clearly illustrates what your company stands for or does, and stands out visually when looked at. There are many different things you need to take into account when choosing a logo design. It should be clean and functional, you need to be able to look at it and tell what the business is about, and you need to think about your target audience.

For all of my online ventures, I have chosen 99 designs. They allow you to run a competition and have hundreds of designers compete for a chance to design your logo. After a set amount of time, the competition ends and depending on the type of package you choose and you can select the designs you like best to go to the final round. Once you have decided which design you like best you can communicate this with the designer and he will hand over all of the necessary files.

The Right Way to Launch a Contest

1. Head over to 99Designs and Sign Up for an account
2. Once you've signed up for an account, start a new "Logo Design" contest and fill out the Design Brief. Make sure you provide as much information as you can because the more you can convey what you want to the designers the better

Using and Protecting Your Logo

After you have decided on a logo design that fits your company's mission at a glance, be sure to trademark it to protect it from use by other companies. You can apply for a trademark at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.