Four Ways to Get a Great Logo on the Cheap

As I launch more and more Web sites, I'm starting to care a bit about making them look nice. Since my artistic skills are about on par with those of my two year old, I've started to enlist professional help. Upon learning that some of the designers I know start at $5,000 for these projects, I knew it was time to get creative.

Here are the best resources that I found:

LogoMaker is a neat online service that gives you tools to do it yourself. Much easier and higher quality than, say, Microsoft Clip Art, but obviously tough to come up with something that's completely original looking. Still, it's fast, you can play with it for free, and if you like your creation, it's yours for only $49.

Rent-a-Coder is hands-down the most effective marketplace for small, outsourced projects. I absolutely love it and have gotten to the point I'll post projects that take 30 minutes and cost five bucks. The key to success with RAC is that you need to be crystal clear in communicating what you want, and follow up regularly. Even though your coder may be half a world away, you still need to manage them as you would any other contractor. Rates will probably be between $10 and $100, depending upon the quality that you are looking for and you can get something workable in as little as two days.

Digital Point is a huge and generally good quality forum for Web marketers. The Contest directory is a fantastic and fun place to solicit designs from multiple designers. Again, you need to be clear about what you want and provide feedback as the designs come in to help guide direction. Prize money of $100 usually draws a good number of entrants, and I find that a $10 consolation prize really gets boosts participation. One caveat: since the designers don't know if they will get paid, it can be challenging to manage them once you get down to those detailed refinements.

LogoWorks leads the pack in terms of professionalism. They are all about logos (and other designs) and structure their process in the same way that an advertising agency does. Very best tools for management and feedback available online, which are really critical if you are going for a higher quailty design. They tap 2 or more designers to provide unique comps to you, then you pick the one you like and work with its designer on revisions. LogoWorks is the priciest of the bunch, starting at $250 and climbing from there as you include more designers and design optoins.