Here's Chad. Hi Chad!

Here’s Chad. Hi Chad!

It’s time to grill our fearless leader, Co-Founder Chad Fisher, on what Content Runner accomplished in 2014 and our plans for 2015. I drafted some questions for Chad to help outline what to expect from Content Runner in the new year:

What Content Runner 2014 accomplishment are you most proud of?

2014 was Content Runner’s first full year in the wild and it was very exciting! I am most proud of the User and Writer engagement on the site, we are seeing new people post projects every day and new writers signing up to help them out for all their content needs (white papers, social posts, web copy and really anything written that you can imagine). The second thing I am most proud of is that we were able to launch Writer Offerings and give Writers the ability to create their own storefront and advertise their deep subject matter expertise all at the price they are willing to do the work for.

Why do you think Users chose to use the site in 2014, and what will make them want to stick around for 2015?

For the more than 1,000 Users that took a chance on us in 2014, I want to thank them. These Users (along with the Writers) are the heart and soul of Content Runner. This was the year for agencies and users to try out Content Runner to see how they can integrate our tools such as the Idea Engine and the WordPress plugin into their monthly process. 2015 will be the year we add additional features to Content Runner to help solve more pain points in the content creation process. We are launching our new and improved API the first week in January and it will allow our Users to order content directly from their own website and report status to their clients in real time.

What was the biggest challenge for Content Runner in 2014?

The biggest challenge in 2014 was balancing our development resources with the large number of updates that we want to make to the site. We are a bootstrapped company and have to carefully pick and choose the projects are able to tackle each quarter. Bug fixes and User requests always come first, so Users if you are looking for a new feature drop us an email!

What goals do you have for Content Runner in 2015?

We want to significantly grow the User and Writer base on Content Runner from ~1,200 (each) to 5,000 or 10,000 by the end of 2015. That will require us to invest more in customer acquisition so we can get the word out. Even more importantly I want to significantly increase the orders from our existing user base. Through the API and new tools we plan to release we can improve the transaction volume on the site but also deliver a better product that will keep our users and writers continually coming back for more.

Any tips for Users and/or Writers as far as new features, plans, etc.?

I would like to pitch Offerings again and get the word out that writers can create their own storefront and advertise (for free) their writing expertise on our site. It’s such a neat option for writers and really helps break the mold of the “race to the bottom” pricing issues that have afflicted many other marketplaces. Writers can set up their own Offerings, advertise it on social media and offer extras for Users that want more than the standard service. As a Writer you can get paid on our site, show off your Offering to your existing client base and it will only take you a few minutes rather than creating your own web site from scratch and integrating payment processing.

Anything else you want everyone to know about the future of Content Runner?

The future for Content Runner is 100 percent about the people. It’s the people that use the site, it’s the people that write for the site and it’s the people on the Content Runner team that are doing all the little things to deliver great customer service. Everything we do is designed to get Users and Writers to interact and to foster personal relationships. The No. 1 thing lacking in other marketplaces is that inability to create a personal relationship between a user and a writer, on Content Runner you can read a writer’s biography, check out their social profile, peruse reviews and send a writer a direct message about your particular project. On Content Runner you are working with a real person and it shows.

Thanks Chad! Thanks to all of you that made 2014 a great year for Content Runner. We look forward to helping you with your content needs in 2015.