You’ve slogged through the challenges and gotten up your freelance blog. You’ve written a blog post, chosen a catchy image, and hit ‘publish.’ Congratulations!

Now what?

Often, nothing happens after that. No clients call. No comments come.

Then you feel you wasted your time and that blogging isn’t a good way to get freelance clients.

But that’s not the case…it’s just that you forgot something. Continue Reading

In this tutorial, we’ll cover how to select topics for speaking engagements. Your topic can make or break you, if your goal is to sell a product or a service to your audience. Choosing the right topic to cover is crucial in engaging your audience and building a reputation as a great speaker.

Learn how to narrowly define your audience, choose a topic that is a great fit for that audience, test your ideas, and pitch your topic to event organizers. With practice you can build on your expertise with the topic you present on and refine your presentation each time you reach out to a larger audience.

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Blogging is a great way for freelancers and small business owners to market their services.

Blogs are a lead magnet to pull in clients. The more blog posts, videos and images you have on your blog, the better your chances of potential clients coming across you when they’re searching Google or browsing social media.

Not every visitor to your blog will become a client – only a tiny percentage will. But the more visitors your blog gets, the more people will get in touch to ask about your services.

In this article, I’ll show you how to get started creating a blog for free, using the website WordPress.com. But first, it’s time to go back to basics. What is a blog? Continue Reading

Here at FreelanceSwitch, we’re really excited to let you know about our new sister site Microlancer. If you have graphic design skills and are looking for freelance work, there is an incredible opportunity to get your foot in the door and start earning a real income by selling creative services on Microlancer. Interested? Read on!

Microlancer is a digital marketplace where you connect with freelancers who offer services to help you get your creative projects off the ground. We put you in touch with those who can provide logo design, app icon design, branding elements, UI features, web design and a whole lot more – easily, affordably, safely and transparently. We’ve only launched with the graphics and design categories so far, but are planning to rapidly expand to other areas like 3D and video soon. Continue Reading

When I first decided that I wanted to quit my job and create my own successful online business back in May 2011, I was driven more by blind determination than belief. In fact, for many months thereafter I couldn’t shake a little voice in my head that kept telling me how fruitless my efforts were.

What I failed to realize was that launching your own successful online business doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. It isn’t an unattainable goal that will forever live only in your mind. In reality, becoming a relatively successful online business owner requires a few more skills than you probably have right now. The rest you can pick up along the way.

What makes the real difference — far more than technical ability or entrepreneurial nous — is your belief and determination. Those are the assets that will pull you through the roadblocks and setbacks that inevitably await you. With that in mind, in this post I want to give you a roadmap that will equip you with the knowledge, belief and determination to launch your own successful online business. Continue Reading

Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive? Continue Reading

Public speaking is hard: we’ve all heard that it’s the most common fear, above and beyond death. Everybody in the room is staring at you, which is enough to make most of us want to run.

There are some lucky people who seem to not experience that particular sensation or who even seem to be natural speakers, but for the majority of us, there are always steps to take that will make us steadier on stage.

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Have you heard about all the powerful insights Google Analytics can churn out for your business? (Here are just 3 Google Analytics insights you can learn about your business.)

If you haven’t heard about Google Analytics, it’s an amazing, free tool you can use to track everything related to your website visitor data – from how many, to where they’re coming from, to what they’re doing on your website (and what’s making them leave!).

If you have heard of Google Analytics and its powerful insights, you know that installing it on your site is a must do item.

If you’re a WordPress user, I have a secret for you: installing Google Analytics on your WordPress site involves very little code. We can install Google Analytics easily. Sound good? Let’s get to it. Continue Reading

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to land your very first speaking gig, before you have any experience speaking in public. It’s an approach that can get you more than just one speaking gig, so that you can get on your way to establishing a speaking career.

Come up with the perfect idea for your presentation, target your audience with your message, pitch your ideas to event organizers, utilize time-saving techniques, track responses, and get speeding towards touching down your first speaking gig. Continue Reading

Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive? Continue Reading

Looking for a new client? The FreelanceSwitch job board is a great resource of freelance gigs and opportunities. These opportunities are in various fields, from development to writing to design, and come from a wide range of potential clients. The job board is hand-moderated by dedicated staff and volunteers from the freelance community.

Each week, we’ll feature a selection of the best job opportunities posted for the week. This week, we’re featuring jobs in Software Development, Blogging, Web Development and more!

To apply for any of these jobs, simply pick up a FreelanceSwitch membership for an affordable $7 a month. See something you like? Join now!

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So you want to write and publish an ebook? Good for you! With the writing tools and online publishing platforms available today, there’s never been a better time to write a book.

Whatever kind of freelancer you are, publishing an ebook can only be good for your business. It shows you’re a thought-leader in your field. You wrote the book, clients will reason, so you must know what you’re doing. It boosts the visibility of your business, making every reader a potential lead. Finally, it provides a source of passive income. Once it’s written, the work is done.

Knowing how to write a book can be intimidating. Of course, if you feel unsure about your writing skills, you can work with a ghostwriter or editor to make sure your book reflects the high quality of work you do for your clients.

That said, I highly recommend giving writing a go yourself. You’ll find it hard to go wrong if you give Scrivener a try.

What’s so great about Scrivener? Scrivener makes writing a breeze. As well as providing one of the best writing experiences, it helps with the heavy lifting of giving your ebook a solid structure, and it will format your ebook ready for self-publishing. Continue Reading