Interview With Michael Martin of Pro Blog Design

Michael: Sure thing. I started Pro Blog Design around 2 and a half years ago and it’s grown to have just over 10,000 subscribers now. We write a lot about WordPress and web design, so naturally that helps find us a few design clients! And that’s where our core business lies; with web design services (And putting everything into WordPress of course! )

Michael: I think it’s safe to say that the blog is the entire reason that my design business exists the way it does today! The only marketing we do to find clients is to promote that blog. Clients then find the blog and click the “Services” link.

Building a blog is a huge amount of work, but when it gets to this point, it’s an incredible advantage. We don’t have to waste time cold calling or anything like that, and we don’t have the hassle of weeding through job boards.

No doubt if we did do all of those things then maybe we’d find a few more clients, but working for yourself is about more than just money. You have to enjoy what you do. And I love blogging!

Michael: Haha, this is still an area I need to work on! I’m ashamed to say that my task list used to just be my inbox. I slowly worked through tasks from the emails until the day was done. That is the *worst* way to work. None of the important things get done.

I have a new system now which works quite well, mostly because it’s simple I think!

- Each night I write down (literally, with a pen! Wow!) 2-3 of the most important tasks that I want to get done the next day.

- The first task on the list is the one that I least want to do, and it’s the one I *have* to do first. It feels great to have that done by lunchtime the next day!
- I use a webapp called Todoist.com. It’s just a to-do list, but it’s by far the best one I’ve found. It’s incredibly minimal, but it packs in so much functionality (All based on what you type, so you really wouldn’t know the functions were there unless you read their help pages!).

With Todoist, I schedule the less important tasks (That still ought to be done) for when it suits (Doesn’t matter if I miss those deadlines though), e.g. If during a project, a client says that they want to use “x” plugin for something, then I’ll note it down in there and can easily refer back to it when I’m coding the site later.

- Last of all, I use Google Calendar to get a picture of everything (Like what posts I have scheduled for the site etc.), and Gmail (Though I try to check it only once or twice a day now)

Michael: That it’s hard work! The first year or so of the blog was easy. Writing regularly was relatively new to me and the ideas were just overflowing. There’s still loads to write about, but when you’ve had the same scheduled task for 2-3 years in a row, every single week, it starts to feel slightly less important (Well, depending on what else you have to do as well).

That’s just something you have to battle with though. I hire a lot of writers for Pro Blog Design now, mostly to help with the workload, but also because I get fresh minds in and people who specialize in other areas from me. Giving yourself a little break from time to time can be just what you need to get back into writing at full speed!

Michael: I love clean designs, but with a little flair to them. It’s great to keep a site as minimal as it can be, but keeping that whilst adding a little color and some design magic is what makes a site truly special to me!

At Pro Blog Design, I work with 2 other designers on client projects. The 3 of us all have a slightly different style, so we all complement each other and I can make sure that a client gets the designer that will work best with them.

Michael: Busy! There are a huge number of freelancing designers out there, and the advice you hear everywhere now is to get a blog (Which I fully agree with!). The effect of that is particularly high on the design blogging niche because of the freelancers I mentioned.

Freelancers looking to promote their business will try any marketing, and setting up a blog isn’t a hard first step. And what topic to write about? Their design business of course!

In terms of how that will evolve over the next year, I see people starting to specialize more. In a crowded niche, you need to have an angle. The best example I’ve seen of that is WpRecipes.com. It’s not a new blog anymore, but it’s angle was to post very short, but very useful, code snippets. It was perfect!

More and people should start looking for an angle that will make them stand out.

Michael: “Just do it.”

I always steal the Nike slogan when I’m asked for advice, but it’s for good reason. I’ve made a lot of mistakes so far, but the ones I regret most are without doubt, the ones I didn’t make. The timing will never be right (To be honest, it will never even be “good”!), but starting today is always better than starting tomorrow.

And don’t worry about your age. It’s only an inhibitor if you let it be one (e.g. No-one on the web knows my age, save the people I work with), and quite a few people have turned their age into a marketing factor!