Entries from September 2012 ↓

Social media has long been thought of as an unknown, especially when trying to work out its effectiveness.

Many companies are resisting the urge to Tweet, Facebook or Pinterest until they know they can assess the ROI on their activity.

So, how can you begin to work out the impact of social media on your overall business goals?

Well, those wonderful peeps at socialmediaexaminer.com have come up with a post that outlines 4 social media goals every business should measure.

Their 4 impacts that should be measured are:

• Raising awareness of your brand
• The effect it has on your website traffic
• Looking at website visitor loyalty (increasing the time spend on your website/blog)
• Conversion rates

So, to find out more about how you can measure these important factors, pop over to Social Media Examiner (click the button below) and take a look at what they have to say.

The following guest post was written by Joshua Danton Boyd. The author’s views are entirely his own and may not reflect the views of FreelanceCopywritersBlog.com. If you are interested in producing a Guest Post for this blog, please get in touch with your ideas.

Everyone has the capacity to be a bumbling idiot (some more than others) and often this just might mean an awkward situation of forgetting someone’s name or putting your phone in the fridge by mistake. Other times it can cause some pretty drastic or annoying problems. This is especially true for the freelancer who not only has to get their job done, but also deal with everything else that comes with it, such as paperwork, accounting and awful lunches with clients (who are disproportionately bumbling idiots all the time). Technology, luckily, offers a wide variety of apps that can act as a safeguard to mistakes. Just like that friend who told you not to jump off the pier that time (although you’ll actually pay attention to your apps).

Evernote

This is a superb little app that essentially acts as an electronic scrapbook. There’s always times when you’re walking down the street and see a job advert, a new shop or something else that you want to remember. You can very simply take a photo of it, add some notes and keep it saved in Evernote. You can also add audio too which is useful if you come up with an idea that you can’t be bothered to type out on your phone. There’s also the option to add tabs to your entries meaning you can keep every organised in categories for future reference.

Snap

Accounting is rubbish. The easier you can make it the better. Online accounting firm Crunch offer a great app that will serve you very well. Snap allows you to take photos of things such as receipts and have the information instantly uploaded to your accounts. This means you can do this on the go before said receipt is lost to the other millions of bits of paper lying around your room. You will need to be an existing customer though.

XE

Depending on your chosen field, you may be dealing with international clients. This can often lead to a bit of confusion with your money. Currency rates are constantly changing too, so it can be hard to keep track. Either way, you’re going to want to be as exact as possible. With the XE app you’ll have access to up-to-date rates and an easy way to convert money as and when you need to wherever you are.

Paypal

A lot of people use Paypal (it currently has around 100 million active accounts) and so it’s incredibly useful to be able to access your account on the go. It also makes for very simple transactions with foreign customers. Paypal can be frustrating at times, specifically in regards to the 2 – 3 day wait to move money to your bank. If you’re not going to be home until after 5pm then you’ll be waiting a whole extra day to get your cash. This app eliminates that problem.

RemembertheMilk

It’s happened again. You forgot to send that invoice, buy some new stationary and your kids have been waiting outside the school gates for two days now. Aside from a visit from child services, forgetfulness will also bring you business problems. Remember the Milk is a simple but effective way to make sure you get everything you need to get done on time. Simply enter tasks in, give them a time and the app will let you know when to do them. With this app, there is hope that one day your children may finally forgive you.

Joshua Danton Boyd is a Brighton based copywriter. He currently works for the cloud accounting firm Crunch and contributes to Freelance Advisor.

A lot of people dream of ditching their boss.

No more 9 to 5, no more tedious meetings, no more ‘wage slave’ status.

But is it really greener on the other side?

Going freelance definitely gives you an added dimension of freedom than being an employee, but it’s not all a bed of roses.

Firstly, you can kiss goodbye to a regular pay slip. The earning power of the freelancer can outstrip the regular employee, but it is also notoriously unpredictable.

Secondly, although there are no constraints for 9 to 5 working, certainly in the early days you may find your working hours are longer as you try to get established. But the up side of that is that you’re doing it for yourself and not someone else, so you’re more likely to put up with it.

Thirdly, when working for someone else, there’s always another person near by to pass work onto, an IT department not far away when your computer goes wrong and various other experts waiting in the wings when you need them. None of that will be available to you when you go it alone.

But despite all of that, freelancing is a great way to work.

Coping on your own

There will be times when you find yourself under immense pressure.

You’ll be sat at your desk working to tight deadlines, the phone will keep ringing and your inbox will be filling faster than an Apple store at the launch of the latest iPhone. Gradually, you’ll feel the pressure bearing down on you. So how do you cope?

As soon as you feel the dark mist forming, step away from your desk and do something else. Take your dogs for a walk; if you don’t have any, take yourself for a walk. Just get out and switch off.

If you don’t, you’ll end up as the crazy person on the bus no one wants to talk to.

Twitter is also a great substitute for the ‘office’. It’s a great source for research, finding the suppliers you need to help you (especially with things like IT and debt chasing), a sounding board and general camaraderie.

Building a virtual team

Being a freelancer doesn’t mean you have to work completely on your own. Let’s face it, you can’t be an expert in everything, so you’re going to need to find people you can delegate to.

It’s a great idea to build a team around you of fellow professionals you can call on when you need them.

That could be a designer, programmer, writer, accountant, computer whizz, credit control specialist…the list is endless.

At least that way, when something goes wrong and you need a bit of expert help, you know you have someone to call on.

Surviving the day

One of the key skills a freelancer needs is organisation.

To be productive, it’s essential you plan your day. Assign certain blocks of time for each project you’re working on to make sure you don’t waste time. And that includes things like marketing, accounting and other paperwork.

It’s also important to take regular breaks to recharge your batteries. Plus, it will get you away from your computer screen.

If you want to be a successful freelancer remember,

• Build a support network of experts around you
• Pass on the jobs you’re not skilled at to those who are
• Plan your day effectively

Sally Ormond started her own freelance copywriting business in 2007 and has worked with numerous high profile companies, helping them communicate effectively with their customers through the written word. 

What is your current link strategy?

Do you look around for sites with high page rank to link to or from?

If so, you may already have fallen foul of the Penguin – Google’s latest algorithm change.

Wikipedia’s definition of the Penguin is:

“…a code name for a Google algorithm update that was first announced on April 24, 2012. The update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using black-hat SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation of duplicate content, and others.”

Essentially, Penguin is anti low quality links, over optimised anchor text and keyword stuffing.  

Linking naturally

Google and the other search engines use links to define the authority of a website. They are what hold the Internet together, helping us to seamlessly navigate from one site to the other.

That’s why it’s important to link for your reader.

Good copywriters have long understood that effective website copy should, first and foremost, be written for the reader and not the search engines; the same goes for your linking strategy.

Before you add a link, think about what you want to achieve.

The purpose of linking should be to improve reader experience, so it should be in a context that makes sense, using anchor text that also makes sense.

In a nutshell, the words you use for your link must explain the information the reader will be taken to when they click on it.

How to recover from the Penguin attack

Numerous website owners fell pray to the dreaded Penguin, seeing their rankings (and of course their traffic) fall through the floor almost over night.

Recovering from such a catastrophic event is no mean feat, so to help you understand what went wrong and how to right it, you might find this post on seomoz.org useful.

In it, Jimmy explains what happened to one of his sites and what he did to recover from it.

So, if you’ve been bitten by the changes, take a look at how Jimmy recovered from Google Penguin.

Before you start to think about gathering followers on Twitter, it’s essential you give a lot of thought to how you present yourself to the Twitterverse.

The first thing a potential follower will do is take a look at your Twitter home page to read your profile.

So it is your profile that will be the make or break of their ‘to follow or not to follow’ dilemma.

Powerful Twitter profiles

Your Twitter profile comprises of the following elements:

• Picture
• Twitter name
• Biography
• Web address
• Number of tweets, followers and those you follow
• Your latest tweets

 Making the most of each of these will boost your chances of being followed.

1. Picture

The most effective picture you can use is one of yourself. Many companies will argue that that’s not possible and would rather use their logo.

For large companies that’s fine, but I would suggest adding a line in your profile telling the reader who it is that’s tweeting (or the tweeter signing off with their name or initials) to add the human touch that is so important in social media.

2. Twitter name

Twitter is becoming more and more crowded (with in the region of 500 million users worldwide) so finding a Twitter name that’s not already being used isn’t that easy.

But rather than going for something off the wall, if possible use your own name. People will be able to find you and it will generate more of a connection.

3. Biography

With only 160 characters to play with, you’ll have to get creative. An eye-catching and memorable bio will encourage people to follow you. Plus, if you can add in keywords that sum up what you do, that will make you more visible. For example, I am a copywriter and so have used that word at the start of my bio.

4. Web address

If you have a website or blog, make sure you include it in your profile. That way, if people are interested in you and what you have to say, you’ll make it easier for them to locate your website.

5. Number of tweets, followers and those you follow

The main information that can be gleaned from these numbers is how often you tweet, how many people are following you and the type of tweeter you are.

If you have way more followers than you follow, it will show you as someone worth following because you have a great deal of influence in the Twitterverse. If have a few more followers than the number of people you follow, you’ll be seen as someone who offers great information. But, if you follow way more people than follow you, you’ll be flagged up as a potential spammer.

6. Your latest tweets

This will give a flavour of the type of thing potential followers can expect.

If they see loads of self-promotional tweets, they’ll steer well clear of you. But if they can see you offer great information and interact with other tweeters, they will be more inclined to click ‘follow’.

That is just a quick run down on how to make your first Twitter impression a good one.

Do you have any other tips you’d like to add?

If so, leave a comment below.