I am referring to Andrew Hyde and Arlo Bryan Guthrie. Both designers/entrepreneurs I respect deeply and their accomplishments speak for themselves.

I feel as though I have a unique perspective and can add something to the conversations about crowdsourcing.

Unique Blog Designs and Crowdsourcing…

As you all know I co-founded Unique Blog Designs with Matt and Nate almost 2 years ago, and even before that, Nate and I co-owned a different web design firm which we dissolved upon launching UBD.

So from that angle, I would assume that most of you would think I would be siding with the designers I mentioned above… but I’m not.

You see, we have seen all the stages and the positives and negatives about being a freelance designer as well as a professional design firm who does work for fortune 500 companies.

I remember the days when I was trolling malls and local small businesses to find work for infinFX (Nate and I’s other design company before UBD). It was basically Nate who was the designer and me who was the Biz Dev guy trying to make it work. We did get some business but having many consistent paying customers eluded us.

Over time we found sites like digitalpoint.com and freelanceswitch.com that gave us ideas and some additional work.

The goal for us was not to stay freelancers but to build revenue and clients well enough to form a solid company.

With the launch of crowdsourcing sites like 99designs.com and crowdspring.com, the dynamic of being a freelance designer has changed. I think for the better.

Better for both the consumer and the freelancer. When we were just getting started, it would have been great to have tons of options and consistent work for us to do while building our brand and customer base. Both of which freelancers can more easily do using 99designs.com and crowdspring.com.

For the consumer, they now have access to thousands of designers for their projects and can also get them done for a lower price… generally. The best part is that they don’t have to pay for anything that they don’t want to use.

Now, Why Crowdsourcing Does NOT Negatively Affect Professional Design Firms…

I would consider Unique Blog Designs a professional design firm, although we are very small. It is Myself, Matt, Nate and 4 in-house employees. I can only speak from my own experiences.

We have worked with everyone from the individual doing a first time start up, to Shoemoney.com and JohnChow.com, to working with Yahoo and Nike.

Most owners of professional design firms that I have talked to, take pride in the fact that they turn down customers all the time in order to make every project that they take on as successful as possible.

Over time you come to realize that not all projects are worth taking on, even if they pay a lot of money.

What’s the reason?

Not every type of client can match well with your particular firm. This design firm can specialize in artsy design, another can specialize in b2b design, one can specialize in UI, another can specialize in Ecommerce, etc, etc.

Professional design firms build their brand and success by ensuring that each client that chooses them, will be more successful for doing so. We pride ourselves greatly on trying to achieve this goal.

It is impossible for us to take on even 25% of the clients who want to work with us. Mostly for budgetary concerns but also because of the things that we specialize in and don’t specialize in.

Having sites like sitepoint.com, 99designs.com, and crowdspring.com, are great resources for us to be able to refer potential clients to, without having to put our own brand on the line.

Final Word

I would really love to hear what some of the guys who also own professional design firms would say about my perspective.

I would also strongly recommed reading Jeremiah Owyang’s post on the subject. He is an analyst from Forrester Research and was a UI designer in a past life.

Another resource for crowdsoucing is crowdsourcing.com by Jeff Howe. I have personally read his book and it is a must for anyone interested in the subject. Jeff is also a writer for Wired.com.

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions as I am open to discussion about this seemingly controversial subject.

So a couple days ago I did just that. It couldn’t hurt right?

It was actually really simple. To put your company in Crunchbase you simply go to their homepage and in the upper right hand corner click, “add company.” Then proceed to fill out the necessary info.

It usually takes a day to get approved, but unless you are a spammer, your company will get approved without a hitch.

Check out UBD’s Crunchbase profile here.

Some of you may already know this, but myself and the rest of the UBD Team are moving back to Seattle in the next couple of months and are excited about it.

We have a lot of family and friends back there and the tech community seems to be supirior to the one in here in Scottsdale.

One of our good friends Neil Patel is a limited partner in a Seattle based Venture Capital firm, the Founder’s Co-Op, and they recently have been funding quite a few great companies.

To give those other entreprenuers some hope that financing is still a possiblity and even in bad economic times there are some industries still thriving.

You can check out Founder’s Co-Op portfolio here.

Guess what…. they have an affiliate program…. seriously?

Check it out: MGM Affiliates

2. Terry Tate does his job well and so does Dina.

3. Dina showed me this video which is the all-time greatest video, ever!

For those of you who don’t know, we recently did the re-design of 1938Media.com

Loren was awesome to work with.

Here is his video:

Just a quick observation…

Old Marketing - makes most think of advertising and sales - advertising in magazines, tv, bilboards, and used car salesman tactics.

New Marketing - for those in ‘the know’ talk about SEO, PPC, and BRANDING in an online environment.

Biggest shift in marketing focus off-line in recent history - from advertising to branding….

What will the next “big shift” will be…

That is all.

Thank you to all that interred my contest!! The winner is …..(just click the link below to watch the video and find out who won!!)

I try to blog as often as possible for many reasons but I am more interested in hearing why you blog and what keeps YOU motivated!

Also, because this post is on Halloween, if you leave me a comment you will be entered to win a fee copy of our Citrus Theme!!!

So hurry up and leave me a comment before you go Trick or Treating tonight.

Be safe.

Enjoy!

A big thanks for Allison Nazarian for interviewing me about “What Makes a Good Blog?”

As always, she is a joy to work with and extremely professional.

Please take a listen to our podcast here.

Have you noticed that a lot of internet based companies either don’t have a phone number or try to hide theirs from you?

Why do they do this?

Well, in all fairness, there are many reasons why a company might do this. However, doing so equates to poor customer service.

We recognized this as an opportunity and put our phone number “front and center” on our site.

There is something to be said for the company that makes itself as available as possible.

So what happens when you call UBD?

You talk to me!!!

That’s right, one of the founders still answers the phone.

What this means to you…

Basically, excellent customer service. I will answer the phone before, after, and of course during business hours and will answer any questions you may have, as long as I am not already on the phone.

We are a small design firm whose success relies on the fact that our clients become more successful after using us. If this was not the case, we would no longer be in business.

If you are calling about a custom blog design…

I can give you a quote right over the phone and this is actually the preferred method to use to contact us.

So please, pick up the phone and talk to me today! (870)-619-4550

So, I mentioned to Nate and Matt that I had another ‘Matrix Moment’ the other day and they both needed some clarification as to what exactly ‘Matrix Moments’ are…

Whenever I communicate with several people at the same time, to accomplish a task, through some sort of social media portal(s), I feel as though I am a part of the beginnings of the ‘Matrix.’

In this case, I was talking to a client on the phone, sending Matt a text message, I was on AIM with Nate and reading some tweets, all at the same time.

We are all so connected at any given moment, that I think the only difference between the ‘Matrix’ and our modern Web 2.0/Social Media society, is a hole in the back of our heads.

Whenever I realize what I am doing from a Macro Perspective, communicating with so many people via the internet, I feel as though I am having a ‘Matrix Moment.’

Do you ever feel this way?

I will keep you posted with more Matrix Moments to come…

In times of financial concern, I thought it would be appropriate to give some of my ideas about helping your business make it through an economic downturn.

1. Lower your monthly expenses.
-When businesses and individuals are tightening up their budgets, it is possible that your sales will go down. It is best to have lower expenses in order to continue to profit in the case of lower revenue. If there are ways to modify your workflow to lower your expenses, I would recommend doing so. Be especially critical of those fixed expenses that you will have regardless of the total number of sales. Take a look at this article written by Ron Conway that was featured on Techcrunch.

2. Go to conferences relating to your business.
-One of the most important elements of surviving an economic downturn, is having great relationships with those in your industry. One of the best ways to build quality relationships is to meet with others face to face. I truly believe a ‘quality’ relationship is one in which both parties involved, benefit mutually. During a conference, it might even be possible to grab a drink with some of them. We all know that the really great business deals get done, or at least started, over drinks.

3. Try to pay down as much high-interest, short-term debt as possible.
-This is a not only a good thing to do to help with the monthly expenses, but it will also help you be more flexible. Especially if for some reason you have to make an investment of your capital into your business when sales are low.

4. Don’t be afraid to put in an extra couple hours a night of good old fashioned hard work.
-When the goin’ get tuff, the tuff get goin’. During slow times, some extra hours on the biz each night could go a long way.

5. While you might be working hard, you also need to stay motivated.
-You can stay motivated in multiple ways. However, no other person really knows what it takes to make YOU stay motivated. In fact, my friend Neil Patel wrote a post about it just the other day.

How are you recession proofing your business?

Enjoy!

A special thanks to DK for putting the event together and allowing us to sponsor it.

Here are a couple of pictures to get you excited for next year!

(word from DK’s excellent staff is that 2000 pics should be uploaded very soon)

So here we go-

5. Most people who start a blog, stop blogging within 3 months.
-This is one of the most over looked ‘details’ of a blog, it takes work! It is very difficult to keep posting even though not very many people (if any) are reading your great content. You must be thinking about the blog as a long term commitment rather than a short term one.

4. Take into consideration what your goals are for the blog.
-One way in which I have been told that we (UBD) stand out from some of the other design firms, is that we ask you what your goals are for your blog. This greatly impacts not only your design but your posts as well. This should be close to the most important thing to consider before starting your blog. This may also help you to keep on writing if you know you are doing it for a purpose and what that purpose is!

3. Have a list of key words you would like to rank for.
-This may seem extremely obvious to some of you and it may get others to scratch their heads. One of the main reasons why people start a blog is to increase their search engine rankings. If you don’t know this by the time you actually start a blog, you’ve got some more research to do

2. You should write about…
-This kinda ties into #4. Before starting your blog make sure you know what you are going to write about. Keep in mind that there is not just one answer to this question. In general you should write about topics that you are constantly involved in, that way you will be able write a lot of really useful information for a long, long time. I would also recommend writing in a way that benefits your brand or business (any or all or a few), that way you are able to see a return on the investment of your time into the blog.

1. Write as often as you can, but more importantly, write consistently.
-Ask John Chow how he made his blog so successful and he will tell you consistent, usefull content. In the early days not nearly as many people read his blog, however he still wrote awesome content, Consistently to keep readers coming back.

However, there is an unbelievable up side to attending conferences: building priceless relationships.

If you are trying to build a business (online especially due to the lack of personal interaction), it is impossible to calculate the value in being able to look potential clients and business partners in the eye and shake their hand.

Here are some pictures and a list of the people I got to hang out with at the past couple conferences as well as people I hope to meet at the next conference - “Think Tank ‘08.”

IZEA Fest

Dina from Market Leverage

Me, Nate Whitehill, John Chow

Zac Johnson, Neil Patel, Nate Whitehill, Matt Blancarte, Me

Others not in the photos:
Brian Clark
Loren Baker
Jeremy Schoemaker
Tamar Weinberg
John Reece
Ryan Wade
Loren Feldman
Stephanie Agresta
Michael Brito
Ted Murphy
and of course I probably forgot some people…

Blog World (who were not mentioned above)

Anil Dash
Jim Kukral
Greg Morgan
Daniel Nagami
Gary Lee
Gary Ng
Derek Semmler
Darren Rowse
Sarah East
again, I probably forgot some really important people…

Think Tank ‘08

People I hope I get a chance to sit down with:

Andy Liu
Jeremy Hermanns
Aaron Wall
DK
among many others…

I can’t wait to see what comes of these relationships!

We recently went to IZEA Fest and had an absolute blast. The conference really modivated me to get back to blogging and maybe provide some useful information to others.

I am particularly proud of the new design we just did because I actually played a major role in creating it, along with both my business partners Matt and Nate.

My Goal

I spend a great deal of time each day combing the blogosphere and can’t help but take notice of the wide variety of designs out there. My goal for my design was to come up with something really different and Unique (pardon the shameless plug).

Keeping things “Simple Stupid”

I really like simple designs. I am a big believer in keeping things “simple stupid,” and my home or landing page reflects that.

A new visitor to the site doesn’t have to work hard at all to find the different sections of the site and therefore will immediately click on one of the three boxes. Making the site highly navigable.

Style and other considerations

One of the things that I always ask new or potential clients is, “what are your goals for the site?” This should play a huge role in the development of any blog or website. This site will always be a personal blog for me and therefore I don’t need a ton of extra navigation to different parts of the site.

This plays into keeping things “simple stupid.” I also really like some of the more modern “web 2.0″ looks out there but I didn’t want to go too far as some people tend to do. When designing my blog Matt used some subtle reflections, gradients, and even customized my RSS icon, but overall the design was kept pretty clean.

I assume that most of you guys who are reading my blog are at least somewhat familiar with blogs, so, what do you think?

Well, the combination of starting Unique Blog Designs, and trying to grow the company has a been a great challenge to say the least. Also, when your life is completely wrapped up in your small business (12+ hours a day, 7 days a week), what is there to talk about on our personal blogs (LOL)?

Okay, okay… you are probably saying that coming from someone who runs a blogging company, not finding the time to blog on his personal blog is a LAME excuse… YOU’RE CORRECT!

In the coming months, we are launching some exciting new services and products from UBD and I want to make sure you can find out about what is going on inside UBD, and give you some insight into the day to day of what we are doing to market our company and what I research and learn on a daily basis.

My blog, Matt’s blog and Nate’s blog are going to be taking on the responsibility of trying to reach out to people and give back to the blogosphere valuable and useful information previously not shared.

So please keep the faith and look out for the re-launch of our blogs and for updates on what we are launching in order to reach more people.

Thats right, GM is blogging.
Make your way over to GMnext.com, you will find articles written by executives, proper use of podcasts and other forms of new media. To me, this cements the value in using blogs as a way to market your business, small or large.Late last night (or early this mourning at 2am) Nate, Matt, and I were discussing different markets and how they could use blogs and in what way. We all agree that small to medium sized businesses are among those who could benefit the most from blogging.

Why?
All small businesses need a website (at least in my opinion ) The only problem is most small businesses are working with a relatively small budget. Well, as most of you know, to get a decent website designed these days costs at least $5,000 big ones.A blog can be a far less expensive alternative that benefits from higher search engine rankings in most cases. Also, because a blog is based on some sort of content management system, preferably Wordpress, a blog can be easier to update and modify.Having a great design and useful content on your blog can also convey trust and can encourage visitors to become evangelists for you and your brand.

So What Now?
In the coming years it is likely that more and more of the population will understand how valuable a blog actually can be; a powerful marketing and branding tool, a way to develop a community around your brand, a highly search engine optimized web site, relatively inexpensive, and of course they are easy to update and modify.Seeing the companies with big market research budgets do it first, is just one of the first “clues” blogging is here to stay.

 http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/millionaire/millionaire.html  

I have mentioned these sorts of financial tools often on my blog and so I thought it was good and time to give you guys a link.
Take a look and see when you will be a Millionaire. Enjoy!