Lately some of you may have noticed a few articles on the blog that “didn’t seem like Matt”. Well, that’s cause they weren’t from Matt. To protect Matt’s reputation from being altered (he is such a great guy) I thought I would take just one post to introduce myself.
Factor 1 Context: Matt & I have been friends for a few years now. We started collaborating on creative projects together while he was still at his first place of employment and while I was a pastor in a local church. Those early years helped us refine some of the products we deliver today. Matt, as many of you know, is a pretty uber creative dude. Together we decided last year to officially join forces as “Partners”; we’re pretty pumped about what the future holds for Factor1.
Personal Vital Data: Married w/ 3 awesome boys (www.Russell5.com) – I am older than Matt by almost a decade; I am younger inside than I look on the outside – passionate about Mtn. Biking – excited to get up each morning and make a difference with my life – need to begin each day with a Starbucks coffee fix (Venti Pike’s w/ room for 1/2 & 1/2 + 3 raw sugars just in case any of you should need to order if for me)
Professional Skills: – VARIED – for Factor1 I bring business & creative development skills to the table. Most of my practical skills as they relate to our clients are in Marketing; helping you reach your audience & customer w/ a high degree of impact.
I hope this helps you get a flavor of the ‘other guy’ at Factor 1. While there are times when Matt & I vary in our styles & approaches to challenges put in front of us you can know 2 things for sure:
1. our partnership is rock solid w/ the unified goals
2. we aim to deliver creative, original, excellent & high impact products for every one of our clients
We work very hard in our local community with both non profits, for profits, and even a lot of work for our chamber. The Chamber of Commerce is holding the annual awards banquet, and we think we deserve to be on the ballot.
If you honestly think we meet the criteria, will you nominate us? Anyone can nominate a local business, but only local business can vote. So even if you are not local to maricopa, you could help us get on the ballot. If not, thats cool too. We are pretty content with being the “behind the scenes rock stars” that we are around here.
Nominees should meet the following criteria:
• Excellent business reputation (internally & externally) and a leader in their field of business
• Demonstrates sound business practices & excellence in the area of customer service
• Involvement in community programs, activities or services
chamber award nomination/
The links below provide an excellent example of creative, viral marketing at work in politics (disclaimer = we don’t know that candidate or his views; we are not
endorsing him just the methodology).
After you check out the links below, do some brainstorming with your business or organization:
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What is a simple, interactive tool that you could add to your current website that others can use to communicate about you?
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How creative are you being in delivering your message or product?
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What is the quick & easy way for newbies to get engaged with what you have to offer?
http://seantevis.com/kansas/3000/running-for-office-xkcd-style/
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-candidate28-2008jul28,0,4489963.story?page=1
So in our past a few weeks ago asking Who Reads this, some of you were interested more about personal things. So In an effort to share more about factor 1 staff, here it goes.
- My name is matt, but most of you know that.
- I am 26 (as of august 3rd)
- I started factor 1 in college, but it became full time in 2004
- I have been married for 6 years to my amazing wife Stephanie
- 4 furry kids (2 cats, 2 dogs)
- We do have real kids on the way, but in a non-traditional sense (We are adopting 2 children some time in the next 6 months we hope)
- The factor 1 office is like 2 miles from my house, which is awesome for commuting
- I ride my bike waaaaaaay to much. I love mountain biking, I ride almost every weekend with good friends
- I ride my bike about 50 miles a month to work and back
- I keep said bike in my office, as it is too pretty to leave outside
- I enjoy being home at night and on the weekend.
- I played ice hockey in junior high and high school
- To contrast the ice hockey, my wife and I have completed Bronze level ballroom dancing
- I really stink at sports with balls, I dont even really like watching any of them
- I dont network in person as much as I should, but i have 12,000 myspace friends (kidding)
- I am a total mac geek. but I dont yet own an iphone.
- I am a total design geek, and love great websites, fonts, books, and art
- you can connect with me on linked in here
- I have a myspace page for some reason (because all the cool kids do I guess)
So thats me. Who’s next? I say I put out a challenge for my readers to share some more info about yourself, and link it in a comment. I want to know more random facts about you too.
Maybe I can con some other factor 1 staff to sharing their random details (wink* wink* Ryan and Shannon).
So I dont see many comments on this thing, not sure why. Maybe I am not speaking to my audience very well. So I had an idea. Let’s see who actually reads this blog. I know there are a few dozen subscribers, and maybe you are a designer, competition, clients, my mom, etc. I don’t actually care who you are, but I want to know who you are if that makes any sense.
It’s my goal to be effective. If I need to shift my conversations and topics to better suit my actual audience, so be it. I just want to know who you are.
So if you dont mind, comment and let me know who you are. Share a link to your blog or website, let me know what interests you that we can discuss here. Otherwise I’ll keep talking about whatever I feel like (ohh maybe next week we’ll discuss baking tips for high altitude and their role in web marketing).
If you feel like remaining anonymous, thats fine too, maybe just let me know what interests you here.
thanks
matt
So today we made some key decisions about the future of our podcast feed manager.
The great tool many of you have grown to love, is getting cooler. We are developing a standalone, multi-faceted version of our RSS / podcast feed manager application.
Expect updates as we continue to build it, and get it tested.
For updates, stay tuned here, or sign up for updates:
www.myfeedmanager.com
So we have been simplifying our overall look to be more streamlined.
Today we overhauled the blog themes of our staff, and public blogs.
Check it out. I think it looks way cool.
So I just needed to say, that if you search for “awesome websites” on google. Factor 1 is number 16. I’m pretty stoked about that. I have been seeing traffic come in from it already.
The SEO behind it.
What i did:
1. Changed my site title to “Factor 1 Creates awesome websites, brands and marketing materials”
2. I started titling all incoming links “awesome websites” or “Awesome church websites”, or something along those lines. I keep them somewhat random.
Thats it. Thats all I did. I was not ranked at all for this just 2 or 3 weeks ago.
HEY! Are you coming to the ChurchPlanters.com conference? We are! If you are attending the conference, please stop by our booth and say hi. Since we have probably never met in real life, we would love to give you a hug. Or just say hi and shake your hand. It’s your call.
Also, if you know any friends, acquaintances (or even perfect strangers) that need a great site, please send them to our booth too. Remember what your mother always told you, friends don’t let friends have lame websites.
See you at the show!
So some of you may know we have been getting busier and busier. Lots of new projects, great clients, and so on. We have out grown the concept of working in Matt & Stephanie’s house. I’m excited, but I think Stephanie may be more excited.
So as we are growing in staff members, More space is needed. Today was a long day as we have moved to some great offices.
Check out the pics.
The Lobby
The Conference room
Matts Office
Other offices are not ready yet. but will look the same.
