My office was featured in this week’s Velocity Weekly.

(Photo by John Rott)

That’s me…just being awesome.

I love looking through the Urchin Reports (and Google Analytics) for my site. It’s interesting to know how people are finding me, where they’re coming from, what keywords they’re using and so on. Sometimes, it’s funny what keywords pop up, and even funnier, that people click on the result to come see why my site came up.

“Being Awesome” showed up this month as a search engine result that resulted in someone actually clicking through to Hatch Creative’s site. I guess I’m awesome, but does my site really say that somewhere? (well, now it does).

That got my mind reeling, so I wanted to see the result for the year. That’s right…the 20th most popular keyword for 2007: “Being Awesome”

The proof’s in the puddin’.

Yes, that really was me featured in this week’s Business First (the Friday, August 24 Edition). They cropped my better half out, however, as seen here.

Hatchie and I will be available (by appointment only) for autographs all week.

See the full article here.

Well, maybe not, but…

I decided to do a monthly (?!) newsletter to all my clients. This first one I sent out just to my web clients, but I’ll add everyone else next month, since this first one concentrated on keeping your site up to date.

If you’re not one of the lucky ones that I painstakingly went through my database and “Current Clients” folder, don’t feel left out. You really didn’t miss that much. In the next week or so, I’ll put a Subscribe button on the site, and finally change the homepage.

“It’s hard to be an egg”

(That’s an obscure reference to the old Indie Rock band, Eggs. They should be the official band of Hatch Creative, huh?)

Friday, I moved into the Sophisticated Living offices. Whew! Lotta work. In case you didn’t read my other post (or get the email), I’m sharing the office with my friend/boss/colleague/etc, Eric Williams – Publisher of Sophisticated Living magazine). I am the Creative Director and Graphic Designer for this top-of-the-line Louisville-based magazine.

We’re in the Butchertown Market on Story Ave. Third Floor. 3,000-Square Feet of wide open space. Ahhh….

We’ll hopefully have an open-house really soon. Stay tuned to this rarely-updated blog for more details.

Here’s a quick post about why you should have a website, but this could also give you some ideas about how to make your current website work for you. I see too many company websites that don’t have any “real” information on them. Essentially an online brochure.

Make your site work for you. Put up PDF’s of documents that you are constantly sending people. Put that ancient FAX machine back in the closet next to your typewriter.

The first thing I do before I use a company’s service, is check their website. When I order take-out, I Google their name and keep my fingers crossed that they’ll have their menu available (with prices). When I go to a new doctor, I go to their site to find their contact info.

For those of you who didn’t know, for the past 9 months, I’ve been working a “real”, day-job as a graphic designer and doing Hatch at night and on the weekends. I didn’t want to put my working relationships with my wonderful clients at risk, so I didn’t make a big announcement when I took this on, but now that I’m back, I’m screaming from the (virtual) rooftops! This explains those cryptic emails sent from 2:00 am, eh? I knew it was going to be temporary, but wasn’t sure how temporary. Now I know! As of this week, I’m back at the helm of Hatch Creative full-time.

And, now that I’m back, there are a few changes I’d like to let everyone know about:

In the next few months, I’ll be moving Hatch Creative into an office with a colleague of mine to be the Creative Director/Graphic Designer on a regional bi-monthly 160+ page magazine. It’s not enough to be my full-time gig, but since it’s a bi-monthly magazine, there’s plenty of time for me to devote to Hatch Creative. I’ll be much more accessible than I have been in the past 9 months. It only gets better…

To help offset some of my workload, I’ve got someone helping out with Web changes and updates, as they’ve been piling up rather quickly. In the future, please send any website update requests to UPDATES@HATCHCREATIVE.NET. I’ll be making sure these get done in a more timely manner. Normal correspondence should continue to be sent to john@hatchcreative.net.

If you’ve been to this here website recently, you’ll notice that I won two Silver Awards from the Louisville Graphic Design Association. This was the LGDA 100 Show, and I won for my graphic design, not for a website! What’s that, you say? Yup, along with web design, I also do print design. If you need brochures, posters, trade show booths, annual reports, mailers, a new identity package or anything that needs to look good on paper, I’m your man. I’m not moving away from web design, but I want you all to know that these other services are available to you. I would love to sit down with you and discuss any possible projects I can help you with.

Also, my family has a new little one around the house. Our 2nd daughter, Harper Sue Wurth was born May 1 at 4:25am. Weighing in at 8 lbs. 3 oz., she’s as awesome as her big sister, Roxy. I hope most of you got my announcement. If not, I apologize and blame it on the lack of sleep.

So, I think that’s it for all the news. Please keep me in mind for your next design project. Be it web, print, or heck, even graffiti. I’ll be around…promise! Feel free to call me at 502-479-0641 with any questions or concerns.

I’d like to offer a heartfelt thanks to all of my awesome clients for putting up with my elusiveness lately. I am excited to strengthen and continue our relationships as we go forward.

Please remember to send any website updates to UPDATES@HATCHCREATIVE.NET from now on!

How to price Creative Work. Very good read for future clients!