Archives December, 2009
Take a look around any online marketplace and you’ll see the labor of designers, writers, and digital artists severely undervalued. In a short-sighted shoot for ultra-low prices, online entrepreneurs are aiming to spend less and less on services, and unfortunately many online providers are following suit with their pricing.
One element of the issue is an ignorance of the value of great design. Since Photoshop became a standard installation on a lot of high school PCs, everyone under 18 with enough time on their hands could pretend to be the next big designer. The prevalence of basic design abilities has lead many people to think that great design is easy.
We’ve all heard the horror stories about clients demanding infinite revisions and 50-page websites for under $150. They’re not particularly nice to hear, but in many ways designers effectively bring them upon themselves. By not setting clear pricing and a long-term marketing and business strategy, a lot of designers, writers, and other online workers push themselves into a corner with their business.
I’m sure the first thing that comes to mind when you hear ‘coming soon page’ is something people used to put together back in 1999 on Geocities that had a big ‘under construction’ sign. Well these days, a coming soon page is much more than that. It actually serves a purpose and is completely different than those under construction pages.
A coming soon page serves one very important purpose: to let people know you’re working on something, but it’s not quite ready yet.
Of course you could simply create your website or web application and never worry about putting a coming soon page up. But to ensure your new project is a success, you need to get people interested long before you launch.
The other day, Jon and I were talking about different types of articles that are posted on many blogs and sketching out a tentative schedule for my contributions here at SpyreStudios. During that discussion, Jon raised a very interesting point, suggesting that some types of content affect traffic in different ways. Some are more like a sugar rush – you put them out there, do a bit of promotion, and see the traffic come in fast and furious. Others have a more sustained effect – they may not have the same immediate traffic results (though they might do that too), but they do tend to bring in more traffic over the long run, through things like search engines.
Today, we’re going to look at six common types of blog articles and look at the benefits and drawbacks of each. At the end, we’re going to look at some things that you might want to consider when planning and/or creating content! So, let’s get started!
For typography lovers, posters can be an excellent source of inspiration. Skilled designers can do amazing things with typography and text effects, and in this post we’ll feature 40 outstanding poster designs.
You’ll see posters in a veriety of different styles. Some combine lighting effects with typography, others use 3D text effects, texture, illustration and other design elements. If you see something you like, click on the poster and you’ll be led to the source (such as Flickr, deviantArt, Behance, etc.) where you can find more work from the designer.
Marketing can be the one thing in your business that sets you apart from your competition, yet so many freelancers are either uneducated on ways to market themselves or are just a bit scared to think outside the box. Lucky for you, we’re doing all of the heavy thinking here today.
Guerrilla marketing is a great way to showcase your freelance business to potential clients without using much cash, thus keeping your business costs low and your ability to pick up and move onto another idea seem almost seamless in transition. So here are 15 killer guerrilla marketing tactics you can start using today.
If you’ve been following SpyreStudios lately I’m sure you’ve heard about MediaLoot – a new project I’m working on with current FreelanceFolder owner, Mason Hipp.
We’ve received many emails from people interested in this new project and looking for more information.
Here’s the idea: we’ve grown tired of the existing design marketplaces out there and we think there’s room for something different. One of the things I personally dislike is having to go through tons of sites and marketplaces to find the right icon set or brushes I need for my designs. So we decided to create MediaLoot and build this ‘ultimate design toolbox‘. We’ll be offering brushes, vectors, textures, icons sets, graphics, templates, UI sets, etc… all for a very low monthly price.
Click here to read more…
