Wording

Blog/site for Design Enabler
Tagline: Make more money, have more fun

About the business

Design Enabler is a new site/business devoted to helping freelance designers learn to outsource (and spend more of their active work time on design vs. coding, sales, marketing, business administration, etc.).

My background is in web development, specifically creating SEO WordPress themes. My business model: I will offer outsourced WordPress theme coding from Photoshop mockups. I also have a business partner who will offer outsourced administrative services (virtual assistance).

The main draw of the site will be blog articles that offer practical tips for designers on a variety of topics, including:

• Design topics, including design theory and creative practices
• Technical tips for working with design software
• How to outsource (finding partners, managing the process)
• Business development (specific to freelance designers)
• Interviews with successful designers and people who buy freelance design services

Business goals and personality

• The goal of the blog is to attract freelance designers and expose them to our services, as well as educate them on the effective use of outsourcing (the education component makes it much easier to work with them).
• The main message I want to communicate is that it’s possible to build a freelance design business without the headaches of doing everything yourself.
• The primary objective is for freelance designers to buy our services. The secondary objective is to generate word-of-mouth referrals.
• There are many other companies that offer outsourced coding and virtual assistance services, but our quality is much higher than most, and the advice provided in the blog will help freelance designers build a successful business, not just get a few tasks outsourced.

Target market

Characteristics of our target market:

• Freelance web designers (or print/graphic designers transitioning into web design)
• “Solopreneurs” (working for themselves, or wishing to work for themselves, rather than an employee in a design firm)
• Good at many things, but enjoy design most of all and want to spend more time designing, and less time running a business
• Overwhelmed by the many hats they’re wearing (marketing, coding, accounting, etc.)
• Relatively young (18-45 years old)
• Both male and female
• Financially comfortable enough to pursue freelance work full time (perhaps thanks to a spouse with a steady corporate job) but not satisfied with current freelance income
• Comfortable with the web and technology in general
• Perfectionistic, and passionate about quality

Specifications

We have a logo that we’d like to use. The colors are flexible, so feel free to change them as needed to mesh with your vision. Here is the logo:

• Web-based preview
• Adobe Illustrator version

The front page should contain the following features (please note that I’m very open to your ideas for how these would be best arranged):

• The most recent post, which will include a headline, 1-2 paragraph excerpt, and a photo
• Headlines (maybe with thumbnails?) for the next 3-5 most recent posts
• A brief blurb that says who the blog is for and what to expect (3-5 sentences)
• Prominent ads for coding and virtual assistance services
• Invitation to subscribe to blog
• List of 5 most popular posts
• Recent links or Twitter posts

An individual post page should also be mocked up (after approval of the front page design) with everything detailed in this post, including the “Extras” section. In addition to the “standard” elements, here are some details:

• A short bio section after each post, including the author’s name, photo, and a brief (1-2 sentence) description.
• Social media icons for Delicious, Design Float, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and Digg.
• The ads will be for our services or possibly complementary services with the same focus (productivity systems, project management tools, etc.). The ads on interior pages will probably be 125×125, with between 2 and 6 per page (up to you, based on layout considerations).
• Additionally, most of the posts will have an “Action Steps” section at the bottom (but still part of the post) that is essentially a list. It might be nice to style it a little differently to emphasize it.

I haven’t completely settled on navigation, but there will be 5-7 options, including “About”, “Blog”, “Services”, “Pricing” and “Contact”. Feel free to use dummy text in mockups. There also needs to be an obvious search box on every page.

Blogs/sites I like

• 45royale Inc.: lots of info but organized so it’s easy to scan.
• Function: nice typography, and understands the value of helping people “get” what they do.
• Train-ee: provides extremely easy access to the info people are most likely looking for.
• Kyle Haskins: colors and small details give this blog a very “rich” feel. A little difficult to pick a focal point o the sidebars, though.
• The Things We Make: beautiful combination of interesting textures and shapes, plus a clear path for the eye.
• Mark Boulton Design: the minimalist look still features a lot of information.
• Jason Deurr: another beautiful minimalist site that still manages to have clearly defined regions. I’m not sold on the column-widths, though; they make it hard for me to visually prioritize the information.
• Jaredigital: I like the strong lines and unexpected color mixed with more formal design and font choices.
• NxE: I’m actually not that fond of the “look” overall (kind of boring) but I like how there is such a clear visual focus on the latest article.

Time frame

• I’d like to see 2 or 3 front-page comps within 5 business days, if possible (this is flexible, though, because I’m supposed to be having a baby any day now… so I might not be in the office next week anyway ).
• Once we settle on the front page, I’d also like 1 comp for the individual post page within another business week.