Do You Care About SEO? How About $80k in New Sales?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, chances are you’ve heard of it. You keep seeing articles about SEO, have probably even read a few of those articles, and it sure looks like everyone else is doing it.
But why should you care about SEO? Easy: SEO can bring you business.
Better yet, SEO actually makes new clients come to you, instead of you having to do a bunch of sales and marketing. And although we all have to do sales from time to time, chances are that cold-calling, follow-up, and sales calls are your least favorite things to do.
But wait, there’s more. Since SEO can bring you business, it essentially brings you money. That’s right, cash. And everyone cares about cash. I know I do. In fact, some simple SEO helped me gain $80k in sales, and it can for you too.
8 Simple Steps to Set Yourself Up on Social Media
Freelancers new to flying solo can be overwhelmed by the mass of marketing opportunities on the web. And while social media is a great way to promote your business, it can be enormously time consuming.
Like any marketing activity, it takes time to build up your brand, but there is no need for promotional work to distract you from your core business. With careful planning, some quality writing and a time limit on your efforts, you can soon have a strong reputation across a large network of potential clients and promoters.
Setting up an online brand can be done quickly by following these simple steps. Continue Reading
Win a Free Business Account From BaseKit (x3)
Most freelancers need to create a website at some point in their career. A website is an important aspect of any business and is something that many freelancers spend quite a lot of time working on. Unfortunately, not all of us are expert web designers. Some of us may know code really well; others may not. Today, our friends from BaseKit have come to the rescue and are giving away a free 1-Year Business Plan ($240 value) to 3 lucky readers of this website.
BaseKit is a website builder. It allows you to create professional websites from within your browser in just a few clicks. You don’t need any technical skills and there are loads of templates and widgets to get you started. Simply choose how you want your site to look, add your content and publish.
Update: Congratulations to Abraham Diez, Julia Voncannon, and Seth Hall! You have all won a free business account from BaseKit! Thanks everyone for your participation!
Top Freelance Jobs from Job Board – Week 2, October
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 Photo Retouching, PHP Development, Web Writing 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!
Graphic Designer Bundle by Envato
Of all the many marketplaces we run here at Envato, the one I use the most myself is GraphicRiver. So I was very excited to get to pick out $500 of files from GraphicRiver and PhotoDune to include in a Graphic Designer Bundle which is now on sale for just $20!
The reason I love GraphicRiver is that while I can usually create (or recreate) most things myself, it saves me a lot of time and effort. And there are some really cool ideas, images and effects that can be combined to awesome effect. I don’t know what other designers think of the site, but for me personally, I love it! And I picked out a whole bunch of my favourite items for this bundle, not all of them though – so there’s still lots of reasons to go shopping! Continue Reading
Linkswitch #89, Web Presence, Pricing War, Writing Problems
Take Control of Your Web Presence with Ten Top Tips
Social media is a brilliant way to build your brand, which in turn grows your client base. But it can suck hours out of your busy day. And time is the one resource that we freelancers crave. With a simple routine, you’ll soon put those hours back in your day. The secret lies in preparation, combined with sensible scheduling – and a loud alarm clock. By implementing ten simple tips, you can manage your web presence without it managing you.
6 Lead Generation Strategies for Local Businesses
Small businesses advertising in their own local market often operate under the “big local lie.” It’s common to see small business owners who have tricked themselves into believing that they don’t need to advertise at all and can rely solely on referrals for lead generation and repeat sales.
How To Change Your WordPress Publishing Workflow For The Better
Running a blog has never been easier. Running a blog well is still a difficult task. Working with a team of people on a blog increases the challenge, so anything that makes that challenge a bit easier should be given a chance to show you its wares. I want to introduce you to two WordPress plugins which I now could not do without, and I’m certain have improved my writing workflow over the past few years. I’ll start with Pre-Publish Reminders and then move on to Edit Flow.
TED Video: What We Learned from 5 Million Books
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at What we learned from 5 million books by Jean-Baptiste Michel and Erez Lieberman Aiden. Have you played with Google Labs’ NGram Viewer? It’s an addicting tool that lets you search for words and ideas in a database of 5 million books from across centuries. In this video they show us how it works.
7 Skill-Perfecting Tips for Non-Native English Writers
Internet and the English language brought people with common interests together from all around the globe, and blogging earned its big slice in launching individuals’ careers as freelance writers. What a great option to hone writing skills, learn how to interact with a readership, and build quality clips?
While the majority of these blogs are well written, no matter the author’s nationality, a number of non-natives’ blogs show poor English skills. Causes are diverse and not always a consequence of the author’s negligence: poor teaching, lack of feedback, and little opportunities to put language skills in practice.
The result, however, is the same: compromised readability turns off readers, and writers can have a tough time breaking into the writing market. Language skills are crucial to landing a job, along with an eye for storytelling and proofreading.
Don’t let this discourage you. If you are a non-native English writer with (still) unripe English skills, you can work on perfecting your writing for the English-speaking market, and advance your career.
How Much is Your Status as an Independent Contractor Worth?
Credit: MoneyBlogNewz on Flickr
As a freelancer, you’re independent. No one can tell you what hours to work or where to be — provided you complete your work to your client’s satisfaction, you’re free as a bird.
At least, that’s how the law works. The realities of working as an independent contractor can be a little different, especially when companies are willing to do things that don’t really meet best practices in order to save some money.
No matter what your clients think, though, your independence is valuable, to the point that you may even be able to put a dollar amount on it.
Learn how to maintain your status as an independent contractor and the tax benefits of doing so.
Top 10 PDF Tools to Improve Your Document Workflow
Every freelancer works with tons of documents daily. We receive detailed business proposals, technical requirements, data sheets, specifications, portfolios, etc. The majority of these documents are PDF files. The popularity of the PDF format is easy to understand: it is readable on various devices, has pure content structure, and has limited editing options.
It’s clear why the PDF format has become a standard document type. But at the same time PDF file type advantages turn into its disadvantages – PDF files are hard to customize and annotate. However, there are several helpful PDF tools that edit, convert and create new PDF files easily.
Let’s t look at 10 affordable PDF Makers of four sorts: converters, printers, readers and creators.
PDF Converters
Free PDF to Word Doc Converter
Free PDF to Word Doc Converter
HelloPDF or Free PDF to Word Doc Converter is perfect freeware for PDF to Word format conversion. Select a PDF file, click the Convert button and you get a completely editable Word file. The resulting Word file quality of this little free software is close to pricey document converters. Free PDF to Word Doc Converter is definitely helpful freeware that should be installed on a freelancer’s PC. Continue Reading
6 Steps To Scaling Your Freelance Business
Credit: Pressmaster on Photodune
Isn’t it about time you got a raise?
As freelancers, it can be difficult to make that happen. Sure, we might be making a comfortable living today, but what about tomorrow? If you’re supporting a growing family or if you’re looking to upgrade your lifestyle, you’d better start thinking beyond just your next project. You must begin thinking about how to scale your freelance business.
So how do you do that? Most freelancer’s incomes are tied directly to their time. Since there are only so many hours in the day, how do we break through our income ceiling? The answer boils down to this: Stop working alone.
In this article, I will outline six steps you can take to scale up your freelance business, and grow your income, without sacrificing your leisure time.
