I Recently Designed a New Logo for Answers for Freelancers.

So I recently redesigned the logo for Answers For Freelancers. Why? Well although I like the old one I wanted something a little punchier. So I decided to try something else.

Original Logo

















Fun, illustrative but not too wild about the background colors.
The blue gray is a little dull and the character is a little busy.















Problem solved.......
oops not really, a little dark and not everyone
knows what A4F is. So let's tell them and make it
easy to find us.
















Final solution.
I think this one is pretty fun. The colors are nice and strong and it reproduces
fairly well. I think we'll try it out for while and see what people think.
If you have an opinion please share it I'd love to hear from you.


All logos shown here were designed by Bob O's Logos
and are property of the Creative Independence Network -
owner and producer of the podcast Answers For Freelancers
© creative independence network 2007

Is your Blog Easy to Subscribe to? If Not it Could be Costing You.

Tonight I wanted to learn more about new media marketing so I went onto Google blog search and tried to find some blogs that would help me out. I found a couple right off the bat. I was on my way or so I thought.

I visited the first site. It was good, full of tips to help me increase visibility, up my search engine score and learn how to use word tracker. Great, just what I'm looking for. Now to find the RSS feed and move onto the next blog. What? no RSS feed? Are you kidding me? Really? A blog about increasing traffic, optimization and web marketing tips and no RSS feed?

It must be me... so I search again. Nope can't find it. Maybe it's here, maybe its not but it didn't matter to me because this blog had lost all credibility. How can you seriously be offering me tips on marketing my blog and not have a simple (and easy to find) RSS button? NEXT !!!

Selected number two. Good design, RSS tag right up top easy to find. Not quite what I was looking for but maybe future articles will prove useful. I subscribe using my Google reader.I continue the search. Same story for the next 5 sites. I subscribe to the easy to find RSS and dump the ones that make it difficult for me.

I just learned marketing lesson number one. Want people to subscribe to your blog? Make it easy for them.

Lesson two. Uh oh...Was MY site easy to subscribe to? No, not really.

So it looks like lesson number three is to learn how to fix that. Hopefully it won't be too big a deal. I'll let you know how it goes next time. See you then.

Can You Really Make Money from Blogging?

As I've mentioned earlier I'm kind of new to this whole blogging thing. I mean I'm no stranger to the world of blogging but I've never really been much on keeping up a blog or commenting on the blogs I read. I finally started subscribing to a few of my favorites earlier this year by using Google home page. As I read, I learned that more and more people are making money off their blogs... and we're not just talking beer money here. Some are actually quitting their jobs and blogging full time. I had to find out more.

The mission: Learn more about blogging income.
The solution: Subscribe to pages that teach about blogging.

I subscribed to the top ten blogs dedicated to making money through blogging. The number one rule mentioned on every single site was do not be a passive reader. Get involved become part of the community. Start your own blog, comment on other peoples blogs, but whatever you do, do not be passive.

Sounded like good advice to me. So I went out and commented on a few of my favorites. Nothing too wild. Just a few comments here and there. Then I sat back and waited for the money to roll in.

Ok, ok...even I know that's not how it works...but it did. It worked. The money did come rolling in. I know what you're thinking but it's true...here's how it happened.

I posted a comment on my favorite blog sites Problogger. It was a story about work spaces. I sent in a silly cartoon and it was posted on the site. The next day I got an email from a really great guy in Isreal who wanted me to do some artwork for his blog, Codswallop (my new favorite blog). Suddenly I was making money from blogging and not only that but I was international. So does commenting on blogs pay off? You bet it does. Will I continue to comment? As often as I can. Is this typical for people who post comments on blogs? Who cares... it worked and that's good enough for me.

If you've had a positive experience commenting on a blog or writing your own blog I'd love to hear about it. ..and remember the number one rule don't be a passive.

Updates for the week of November 5th.

Blog Update: After much consideration I've decided to leave this blog alone and keep it as an info updater and nothing more. So rather than change it to a tutorial, I plan to start a brand new blog for that.

The new blog is set for launch some time towards the end of Novemeber possibly the beginning of December. It will be dedicated specifically to budding freelance artists. I am really excited to be working with a great team of very dedicated and talented professionals on this one. Please check back for an official release date and site address.

Show update: Lot's of behind the scenes work going on with A4F. If all goes according to plan the A4F podcast will be just a small piece of what is on the way... again please check back for updates as things progress.

Studio update: Extremely busy right now. Wrapping up a project I've been working on for the last couple of months. A really fun book about a sassy cat and a crazy dog.

Still plugging away at the 7 reader book series. The art work is coming along great and I can't wait to see this one in print. Scheduled to finish up some time towards the end of February.

Will be selecting art for next years promotion in the coming weeks. Looks like I have a lot of really fun stuff to chose from this year. Going to be hard to narrow it down.