Online Public Relations Steps To Take For Your Freelance Business

Online Public Relations

As a Freelancer you do your best to provide exactly what your clients require at the most competitive prices.Online Public Relations

Your main aim being of course is to secure ongoing work from your clients and enjoy new business that comes as a result of the positive feedback (hopefully).

But you cannot just sit back and hope that others will pass around the news of the good work that you do or you will most likely be flat broke in no time at all.

So, with that in mind here are five steps to take to ensure that your online public relations are in order for your Freelance business:

  • LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site that allows you to build an online presence and maintain a list of professional contacts in your profile. This is a great online tool where you can form ‘connections’ with satisfied and repeat clients. LinkedIn also allows you to obtain recommendations from your connections which will add weight to new clients making the decision to provide you with their business.
  • Facebook – Social Media is a very important business tool these days. Major corporations like Coca-Cola who were established in 1886 now have Facebook Fan Pages. It is important to ensure that if you are using your personal Facebook account for business that there is no unsavory photo’s or messages that will turn-off potential clients. Alternatively create a Facebook Fan Page which you can use to create a social interface to clients.
  • Twitter – You could probably add Twitter in with Facebook under the Social Media banner, however even though Twitter has been around for some time and many businesses have already joined in on the phenomenon, Twitter is still a great medium to utilize for not only online public relations but also traffic generation purposes.
  • Personal or Business Website – This one is probably a given, however I see many freelancers who either do not have their own website or have websites which look like they have been recently created or not updated in several years. You do not have to spend thousands of dollars on a website and with great CMS products available these days like WordPress you’d be simple wasting your hard-earned if you do. Creating a personal website, or even better a web log (blog) will allow you to publish frequent content which will continue to build authority and increase the ranking of your business website.

A great thing about these online public relations tools is that they also rank very high in search engine results.

If any potential clients are doing some homework on you (which I am a firm believer in), the profiles that you have created in these sites will most likely be the first to show up, so it makes sense to utilize them to their full potential.

Taking online public relations steps for your freelance business makes sense when you look at the return on investment. Taking a little time now to setup and maintain such online public relations tools will yield many benefits for years to come.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

Going Social For Traffic Generation

Social Media Traffic Generation

Everyone who has a website or blog these days is trying to find ways to increase their traffic generation.Social Media Traffic Generation

If you have found this article then you are no different. You are in search of ways to increase the amount of traffic that goes to your website because you want it to rank better in the search engine listings.

Well you have come to the right place, the following tips and tricks will help you to get your website or blog out of the dumps and off the 14th page of Google.

  1. If you do blog then you can enhance traffic generation by adding your URL to every blog post that you make. Persons even if they were not looking for your services before will follow as they may just want to see what exactly you have to offer.
  2. By using a Squidoo Lens, these allow you to make a community for yourself and you can place pages here from your wider community along with your website.
  3. Article writing and submission. There are quite a number of submission directories out there but one of the well known ones is Ezine Articles. Many persons have been successful writing and submitting articles to this directory as well as other directories on the web.
  4. Go on social websites. You don’t have to go on the popular ones; there are some out there that will give you some good traffic although they are not widely known. All you have to do is join them and start posting forums and making comments, all with your major blog or website mentioned somewhere.
  5. If you are a blogger and are familiar with Digg and del.icio.us then you will love blog-buzz.com this website allows you to submit your articles so they can generate you traffic.
  6. Go to the various answers websites and give your answers as well as a link to your page. These websites include wiki answers, LinkedIn Answers and Yahoo answers to name a few.
  7. Be the first to write a post about the ‘Top Ten Blogs’ in your niche. The post will rank highly in any general search for blogs in your niche and other bloggers in your niche write about the post and link to it.
  8. Use your archives, instead of replacing content archive it. There may be people who are looking for the content that you had three months ago who will go to other websites since you have removed yours.
  9. Write on a current topic that is in the news everywhere. Persons like to be in the know and like to see who is thinking the same way that they are. If they agree with your piece they will leave a comment and will come back to hear what you have to say next. If they don’t like it they will leave a comment also and come back to hear your response also or just to see what you are now ranting about this time around.

These tips will be sure to help you with traffic generation, so use them, maybe one maybe use them all and good luck!

Outsourcing Content Writing For Your Website

Outsourcing Content Writing

At some point in time you may be faced with a decision where you are looking for help in delivering content to your website. This is whereOutsourcing Content Writing Outsourcing Content Writing comes into play.

Many businesses and individuals look at Outsourcing Content Writing due to two main factors:

  • Not having the time to produce regular content
  • Not having the expertise to produce quality content

Regular high quality content on your blog aides in driving traffic to your website and with high quality content this can be the deciding factor where you place in the search engine results.

Content Writers

Writing content for the internet is a little different to other forms of writing and this may take some time and experience to get use to. By Outsourcing Content Writing you can find writers who have a proven track record of producing high quality content for the web and utilize their skills in producing content for your website.

Many content writers specify their skills and also provide samples of work so you can read and decide whether the writers style will suit your websites niche.

Costs Associated with Outsourcing Content Writing

Outsourcing Content Writing is not as expensive as you may think. Many article writers charge competitive rates and offer various styles of writing to suit your needs.

The cost of a article differs depending on the expertise and location of the writer. Some article writers from western countries charge higher rates, however you are almost guaranteed a high quality article. If you decide to accept the services of content writers from countries where English is a second language you may find yourself with a lower quality article.

Some content writers also employ Search Engine Optimization techniques which will aide in your search engine rankings but may carry an additional cost.

If the cost of outsourcing your content writing is above your budget, you may want to consider PLR Articles.

How to Find A Good Content Writer

Finding a good article writer for when you are ready to outsource content writing is not always easy. You need to ensure that you take the time and do your research so you are not left spending money on articles that do not meet your expectations.

Some very important things that you should do prior to accepting the services of a content writer include:

  • State very clearly what you require (number of articles, on what topic, word count, etc)
  • Ask for at least 2 samples of work on similar niches to what you require
  • Set a time-frame on delivery of work or part delivery of work at certain dates
  • Define any keywords that you want the writer to include in the articles (including the Keyword Density)
  • Any special structure that you would like the article to follow

Resources For Outsourcing Content Writing

There are many options available when you are looking at Outsourcing your Content Writing. Some of the best ways include:

  • Upwork – Upwork is probably one of the biggest outsourcing services available. Elance allows you to post jobs online and potential writers or companies will contact you with their offers for completion of your posted job. Elance provides a workspace where you can contact the writer and discuss further details or negotiate on specifics of the job. Payment for Elance is through secure Escrow and also allows a eBay-like feedback function based on your experience on the service and content delivered from the writer.
  • oDesk – oDesk is similar to Elance in that it allows you to post a job and prospective employees to bid on it.
  • Buying PLR Articles – PLR articles or Public Label Rights articles is content that is written for a specific topic and sold on a mass scale. PLR Articles are a cost effective method of publishing content. The best PLR articles are those that are sold in a limited release set. This way there is less similar instances of the same content in circulation.

Outsourcing Content Writing can be beneficial for you in many ways. It is important that you take into consideration all of the items above before you accept the services of an article writer and hand over your money. Remember, content is king, you will not receive the same quality from a $3 article that you would from a $12 article so do your research.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

Creative Ideas for Over-Coming Writer’s Block

Writers Block Ideas

Writer’s block is one the biggest challenges that professional writers have to deal with. Writers Block Ideas

Writer’s block is basically the feeling that there is nothing left to write. For whatever reason the mind shuts off and it is impossible to come up with anything to write about.

This is extremely common in both the creative writing world and the non-fiction world. Fortunately there are many tricks of the trade for over-coming writer’s block.

Here are a few that you may find useful:

Don’t Panic

Panicking about not being able to write is just going to make it worse. If you feel like you can’t write, take a breather. Take a break, take a nap, have some lunch. Sitting at the computer all day with nothing to write is as frustrating as lying in bed when you have insomnia and just as ineffective.

Stick to your schedule, but still work in some wiggle room to just walk away for a few minutes or even a few hours, when things get too tough.

Brainstorm

One thing that adult writers often neglect is brainstorming. There was a purpose to all those writing lessons you had in school. Sit down for a few minutes and make yourself a nice brainstorming chart. Don’t worry about going into detail, that isn’t what brainstorming is about.

Make a web like you would have in grammar school or simply jot down some ideas on what way you could go with your paper. It’s surprising how much this can help with over-coming writer’s block.

Try a Different Project

Most of the time writer’s block is a result of boredom with a topic. This is especially true in the non-fiction world. If you have a paper that is really getting to you and you are running out of stuff to say, switch to a different project for a little while to clear your mind. Many writers find this surprisingly effective.

Clean Your Work Area

Something I have realized is that when my surroundings are messy my brain gets that way too. Most of the time I feel writer’s block creeping in I am in a messy situation. Cleaning up your work area is often a great method of over-coming writer’s block.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

Concentration Techniques for Freelance Writers

Concentration Techniques

Having effective concentration techniques is a huge part of writing.Concentration Techniques

As a freelance writer you will often be put in situations where you have to write about unfavorable or uninteresting topics.

During this time it can be easy for your mind to wander. Other times you just may be distracted by outside forces.

Everyone’s attention span is different but there are many concentration techniques that have proven to be very effective at extending the amount of time one can focus and concentrate on a particular task.

Concentration Techniques You Can Use

Take Care of Personal Issues before Work

Personal issues are the biggest concentration killers ever. Even for a normally very attuned person with a great attention span a day at work can be shot worrying about something that happened the night before or a bill that is overdue.

It is important to either fix these issues before even sitting down to work, or if you can’t to block them out of your mind.

It may take a little bit of time at first to accomplish this but it can be done. One way to take care of things that are on your mind that can’t be easily fixed is to write the worries down a slip of paper before beginning to work. After you have listed your worries put them to the side and let them remain away from your mind and your hands until work is over.

Though it might seem silly, this is a very effective concentration techniques of “putting away” your worries and of course you are free to pick them up again once your work is complete.

Regularly Partake in Crosswords and Memory Games

Crossword puzzles and memory games are great concentration builders. Though these concentration techniques take place away from the office, if done regularly during spare time you will soon find that your concentration is growing during other times in your life. Skip the TV some nights, since it is a known concentration killer, and try a crossword puzzle.

Always Practice Mindfulness

Always aim to stay in the moment. If you are writing a paper, than write the paper. Do not spend that time thinking about what you want to do after work or what you are cooking for supper. Whatever you do in life always devote yourself completely to the task at hand. This is one of the best concentration techniques around.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

How to Find Freelance Jobs

Freelance Jobs

These days no one wants to get bound by work or get into any long term commitment with employers (mostly). This is where looking for freelance jobs could be right up your alley.

Freelance jobs are the best optionsFreelance Jobs available for such people to get work according to their liking and to work under flexible time schedules, while at the same time continuing to earn a living.

But getting such jobs are tricky unless you are well aware of the market conditions and also aware of your own skills.

Kind of Work

There are various freelance jobs available such as web designing, content writing and editing, internet support work, data entry, photo editing and graphic designing.

But you have to be aware that there’s no guarantee of continuous work from the same employer as there is no binding contract between the employer and the freelancer.

However jobs are abundantly available once you register yourself at numerous freelancing websites and you would to be wise enough to choose the right kind of work that suits your expertise and expectations.

Professional Outlook

Any job requires professionalism, so you ought to maintain work ethics even while working as a freelancer. Every project is time bound and has to meet the expectations of the employer so you have to show quality in your work.

Once you meet such expectations your reputation as a freelancer would boost and you’d get more jobs.

Tools Required

You need to be equipped with a laptop and have every kind of software installed that you require in your field of work. Regular access to the internet is also required to find freelance jobs continuously and regularly. Today the internet has brightened the way business is done all over the world so getting jobs online is far easier as you reach out to a broader network of prospective employers.

Besides, the internet is also required to be constantly in touch with your employers and even to do research work.

Money Making from Freelance Jobs

Lastly, getting freelance jobs would seem tough in the beginning but once you establish your credibility and work over a period of time there would be loads of work available and it would be hard for you to choose a job.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

5 Tips For Using PLR Articles

PLR Articles

You may have come across the term PLR and wondered what that is or how it could benefit you.PLR Articles

So What Exactly Is PLR?

PLR stands for Private Label Rights and it basically allows you to purchase a package of articles and use them for whatever purpose you want.

Private Label Rights articles or PLR articles are articles that have been written by other people where you the right to purchase and use the content in any means that you see fit.

Private Label Rights articles give you the flexibility that you need in content without the cost of hiring a freelance content writer.

Using PLR Articles

There are many ways that you can use PLR content to bring maximum benefit not only to yourself but also to the readers of the articles.

Here are 5 Tips For Using PLR Articles:

  1. Post the PLR content to your website or blog to grow your site’s Indexed Count and authority.
  2. Add the PLR content to your newsletters to build the relationship between you and your subscribers.
  3. Add multiple PLR articles into a single report or eBook to give to your readers as a free gift or as an enticement to subscribe to your mailing list.
  4. Rewrite PLR content, adding new content to create a unique article.
  5. Turn PLR content in to an autoresponder series to provide real information to new members of your mailing list.

PLR articles should be used as your aide, not purely a supplement. Using PLR Articles means that if you spend a decent amount of time editing the PLR article, you will have a unique article – Not a duplicate!

This not only saves you from expensive copywriters or sub-standard ghostwriters, it also saves you a tremendous amount of time writing all the content yourself.

There are many ways that you can go about using PLR Articles – it just takes a few minutes to work out how the content can work for you!

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

The Importance of Building an Online Profile

Building an Online Profile

There are a variety of beneficial reasons for building an online profile. This is a great way to promote your work and get your name out there.Building an Online Profile

Here are some of the many reasons why building an online profile is well worth the effort taken.

A Place to Display your Work

An online profile is a great way to display your work. Online profiles can contain as much or as little information as you would like and it is best to keep them concise and to the point.

Make sure to include examples of your work and accomplishments as well as a reliable source of contact. When potential clients see your online profile it is the first sample they get of you.

Think of it as a portfolio that is available to the entire globe. Only display your best work.

Self Promotion

The right keyword phrases and a little SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can help to get your profile to the top of search engines. This helps to put you ahead of competitors who have poorly written profiles or do not have a profile at all.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be the first name to pop up on Google after a search for “freelance writer”?

Professionalism

One of the biggest benefits by and large of an online profile is that it exhibits professionalism. This is even truer when you purchase a personalized domain name.

Now you have your own domain, an online profile that displays all of your best quality, a contact point, and even some examples of your work. You can even throw in a nice, professionally done portrait.

This really helps to make you seem like a legitimate person to do business with. You can even use this spot to include personal references or better yet, quotes from former clients that illustrate how wonderful you are.

Sets You Apart from the Crowd

Though there may be a writer on the web with the same amount of experience and the same education level, if they don’t have a profile— you will automatically appear more prepared.

Professional profiles really set you apart from the crowd and this is very important in today’s world.

Building an online profile is something that can be very quick to establish and the benefits that you would reap will continue for many years.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips

Local Search Engine Optimization

Local Search Engine OptimizationImplementing a sound Local Search Engine Optimization strategy is the best way to drive traffic (and potential customers) to your website in an effort to increase sales.

As a small business, having an online presence and being found online has never been more important than it has in the current business marketplace.

You do not need to be a small business that sells it’s products or services online, however in this tech-savvy world more and more consumers are turning to using the internet to find the services and products that they want before they leave their homes.

Below is a list of important Local Search Engine Optimization tips to perform on your website that may help you increase your customer base:

Register Your Website With All The Major Search Engines

The 3 major search engines, being Bing, Yahoo and of course Google all have their own Webmaster or Website service tools. You can create an account with each and submit your site to them.

Target Keywords Using Local Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Keywords are one of the most important aspects of Local Search Engine Optimization. Take for example if you are a florist in Sydney, Australia – you would want to target the keywords “Sydney florist” as that would be the primary search term that consumers would be searching for.

Do Not Over Use Keywords

There is a certain ‘sweet spot’ to the number of keywords that should be used per webpage. Over-doing it can actually work against you, so you should focus on using one keyword per page.

Build Quality Backlinks

Building off-page SEO content, or backlinks are a very important aspect of Local Search Engine Optimization.  You can write articles, create videos and submit blog posts to other blogs to get backlinks. There are different kinds of backlinks such as one way links, two way links, reciprocal links, etc.  These types of links all work differently and you should consult your SEO Consultant to create a sound SEO strategy.

Create Quality Content

When you use content on your website as part of your local search engine optimization strategy, try to make it as interesting and to provide a purpose or a benefit to the reader. The more useful, beneficial and interesting content that you create and longer visitors will remain on your site and the higher potential that they will become a return visitor and a customer.

Title Tags

Search engine use title tags to calculate the topic of your page and site as a whole. Using relevant title tags will aide in your local search engine optimization strategy.

Using all of the above advice will get you some really great SEO for your website, although there are more things you can do, that you can look into by performing a web search.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.

Avoiding Scams when Working From Home

Avoiding Scams

Many people falsely believe that all work on the internet is a scam. This isn’t true.Avoiding Scams

Working from home is a great way to spend time with your family and have more control over your day to day life, and there are many great places to find online work.

This is never truer than in the case of freelance writers.

Here are some tips for avoiding scams when working from home.

Avoiding Scams by Using Reputable Freelancer Sites

Freelance writing jobs seem to be less scam-filled than other forms of online jobs. I am not sure why.

The biggest thing you have to watch out for in our business is being ripped off by a client who neglects to pay you.

Once you have a reputation you can set up your own profile with references and ask for payment in advance of your work. When first starting out however, you may not be able to request payment up front.

Going through a reputable freelancer service that either pays a flat rate per article or offers certain protection from clients who don’t pay is the best way to start out. Always check to see what the policy is before accepting work as this is a sure fire way of avoiding scams.

Avoiding Scams by Focusing on Payments

Another way to avoid scams is to set up a personal limit. Clients are apprehensive about paying up front because they don’t want you to scam them. There is a lot of mistrust out there.

However, since you are trying to avoid being ripped off yourself you need to set up some ground rules. For example, you can tell new clients that you have to be paid after 5 articles in order to set up a trusting relationship.

No client should have a issue with that as it shows that you are genuine and are here for the long-haul. Then you can increase it to ten, then twenty, and after that you would simply let the client pay you by the week or on their terms.

Of course every client is different and some cannot afford to pay up front for large orders. You may need to look at other avenues here hen avoiding scams.

Avoiding Scams by using Social Security Numbers

If you are an American citizen working for an American citizen you will have to fill out tax papers that include your social security number for each client that you make $600.00 or more dollars from.

Some clients want this to begin with; others are willing to wait till you hit that mark. Be cautious of this but understand it is the rule. Always keep copies of all 1099 that you fill out and retain the names and addresses of all clients that you work for.

If you are an Australian business you usually complete an order form or provide a receipt which contains your ABN. Your ABN is a unique identifier for your business and all business and tax dealings are carried out under this number, so make sure that you keep copies of everything.

These are only a few pointers into avoiding scams when working from home, however it pays to be diligent with all business transactions to ensure that you don’t end up losing more than you bargained for.

If you are looking for SEO Consulting or Small Business Web Design services, Contact Us today.