Rachel Soothill | Resources,Technology
If you are creating your own website there are a lot of factors to consider besides the look and design. There are certain elements that are repeatedly used among successful sites which have been tried and tested. Here we give you a rundown of the major elements that you should bear in mind when planning and developing your website
Jen Stakes Roberts | Resources,Technology
I’m noticing over here on the other side of the Atlantic that the British freelancer community seems less enamoured by Google Plus than their US counterparts. I could speculate for hours why that might be: probably some mix of American enthusiasm for anything new and shiny, British cynicism of bandwagon-leaping, and perhaps just something pessimistic in the water at the moment.
Media darling and social mega-destination Facebook recently rolled out their COO Sheryl Sandberg at the DLD Conference in Munich to wax lyrical about the economic benefits Facebook is bringing to Europe. To entice the UK’s freelancers, contractors and small businesses into the Facebook ecosystem the firm has organised a “Facebook for Business” roadshow.
One of the keys to securing some of that lucrative repeat business is to make sure your clients remember you. If you design their website, you want them to leap from their chairs and yell “let’s call Geoff!” when it comes time to make some alterations, rather than “who was that web guy? George something?”
Although Google+ has been getting a lot of buzz in the tech press and recently announced it has amassed 90 million users, it is still seen by many as a social media also-ran, having been unable to break into the public psyche in the same way Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have.
Pinterest was launched in March 2010, and has really blown up in popularity over the past few months. Pinterest is an online pin board / social network – and despite what you may have heard is not just for fashion and food bloggers!
Jen Stakes Roberts | Getting a Job,Training
Whatever your freelance business, whether you provide a service or create your own products, marketing will probably take up a good chunk of your time. You might not have thought of your website, social media time, cold calling or networking as ‘marketing’ but any time you are spending telling people about what you offer, however indirectly, can be set down as marketing.
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,Technology
Every so often a new invention or technology pops up that fundamentally changes the way people interact. Whether it be the Gutenberg press or Facebook, both have had a profound impact on the way information is shared and how easy it is to access. Along with any new technology also comes a healthy dose of new business opportunities and hype – and the hype comes no bigger than that surrounding social media.
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,News
As we usually carp on about, marketing is a necessary part of any successful freelance career – even if you hate the thought of self-promotion. Every so often we come across people who have decided to do something really interesting to further their freelancing career.
Rachel Soothill | News,Technology
At the beginning of the week Google announced the launch of its Google+ Pages. Specifically designed for companies, the pages allow them to set up profiles for their brands. There are also a host of business related features that they can benefit from.
If you have your own business website, it might take the form of a blog, or at the very least have a blog section. Content is king, as they say. If you want to be king, you’ve got to have content. Blogging is a great way to start a conversation with potential customers, improve traffic to your site, and keep visitors coming back.
Rather than coming from a dawdling consultant, or ghostwritten on behalf of a high-flying CEO, the author Daniel Priestly actively practises what he preaches, putting on seminars which are attended by entrepreneurs in their hundreds. His opening gambit – “I arrived in the UK with nothing more than a suitcase and a credit card” – may seem a little cheesy, but indulge him for a while and you’ll most likely find something useful in this book.
One of the hardest things to get your head around when using Twitter is the hash tag. What are they? What do they mean? Where do they come from? A hash tag is simply a way for people to spread information and make it easier for people to search for tweets that have a common topic.
TimothyTim | Guides,Technology
OK, that’s it. I’ve had it with sloppy internet stupidity and moronic marketing strategies from site owners. Here are my top ten (alright, eight) moronic things you’re doing to your website that dramatically hinders your ability to sell stuff.
Sending out B2B (that’s business-to-business) email marketing can be a key tool in helping you accumulate clients and to increase awareness. However, it is also a difficult activity to get right. Most of your recipients will be pushed for time and will undoubtedly receive an abundance of similar emails every day.
You may think this is a crazy notion; you’re fresh out of Uni, your CV is sparse, your bank account decidedly mothball-ridden, but jumping into the world of being self-employed could be a very wise move given the current climate. As recent figures have shown, more young people and recent graduates are out of work than ever before.
So after exploring why and how you should set up a blog as well as looking at how to make your blog as easy to find, use and navigate as possible. Here is the third and final chapter in the blogging basics series…the content.
Last week software developer Serif released a new piece of research showing that some small businesses are spending over £1,000 on developing their company websites. The motives for this survey were obviously self serving, however the press release raised some interesting questions.
In January 2011 there were a reported 153,205,413 identified blogs on the internet and this number was growing by approximately 47,719 per day. These figures reflect just how popular blogging has become but also highlight the difficulties of getting your blog to stand out from the crowd.
For wannabe bloggers out there, The Guardian has just launched a new regular section called “How to build a profitable blog”. The blog will follow internet marketer and professional blogger, Glen Allsopp, who at just 22 years old takes home £10,000 a month from his websites, as he coaches freelance writer Andrea Wren on how she can do the same.
As freelancers, we can afford to be flexible with our pricing and choose whether to be paid on an hourly, weekly or project based rate. We can offer discounts, increased rush job rates or even work for free if we choose.
Your brain. Resplendent in it’s awesomeness; it has many distinct advantages. Without the weird array of half remembered crap it keeps locked up in it’s squidgy folds you would be a gibbering vegetable and would almost certainly fail hard at everything you did. However there are a large number of techniques and tricks you and your business can use to make your business, tactics and marketing better.
One of the common challenges that most freelancers face, and most loathe, is the need to pitch yourself and your services to potential clients. For most of us this is the hardest part of being self-employed and can be terrifying and intimidating.
As we discussed recently, the sales pitch is one of the hardest challenges a freelancer will face, so it is essential to get to grips with some basic sales techniques and tools in order to continue finding new work.
There has been a lot of back-and-forth about the effectiveness of social media for generating genuine business leads in the last few weeks. A study by Forrester found that commerce activity on Facebook was still lacklustre compared to other marketing avenues – a claim swiftly rebutted by the giant social network.
In the same way that most people will pay close attention to the way they dress, how you ‘dress up’ your business deserves just as much attention. The visual identity you apply to your business will shape external perceptions and attitudes, playing a key role in the long-term success of your business.
A survey carried out by Sedo, a global domain marketplace, has revealed that small businesses are paying 5% more for their domain names than they were this time last year.
Rachel Soothill | News,Technology
Hot on the heels of the launch of Google+ Facebook has introduced a Facebook For Business portal in an attempt to encourage businesses to choose their giant social network over the competition.
Rachel Soothill | News,Technology
A new global survey has revealed that branded apps are failing to take the world of smartphones by storm. The new research, carried out by Deloitte was based on an analysis of apps published on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry by big healthcare and consumer brands.
Rachel Soothill | News,Technology
Google’s new attempt at a social network, Google+, launched three weeks ago and already has over 18 million users. Presumably envious of Twitter’s sea of celebrity users, Google+ has now embarked on a mission to ensnare celebrities to help build on its early success.
Rachel Soothill | News,Technology
Research into online marketing has revealed that two thirds of marketing managers still rely on email to deliver their online campaigns. The survey, which was carried out by eCircle, is part of a larger study on European Social Media and Email Marketing.
Look at a marketing plan as your map to achieving your business objectives, providing you with signposts to help you reach your ultimate goals.There are a number of sections that will make up your marketing plan and all will need careful research and planning.
Richard Hall | Getting a Job,Resources
Penny Hunt, one of the best advertising planners I know, said to me recently “do you think that the time we spent on marketing was actually like gift wrapping the product and at the same time concealing it?” She paused and added “would we do it like that now do you think?” A resounding “yes” to the first’; a thunderous “no” to the second.
Selina Murray | Getting a Job,Technology
The last year has seen a rise in UK companies using social networks to win new business, says a new global survey from workplace provider Regus. In 2010 Regus found that 33% of UK firms were successfully winning new customers through social networking activity. A year later, the proportion has risen eight percentage points to 41%.
Jon Norris | Resources,Technology
As Twitter becomes more and more widely used by businesses both large and small, more time and brainpower is being poured into finding out what makes the social service tick, as marketers everywhere try in vain to find out what it takes to make something “go viral” (hint: you can’t). Of course, the secret to success on Twitter lies in the retweet – users passing your message on to their followers.
Bex White | Getting a Job,Guides
With competition fierce between companies to win business, customer service is one of the most overlooked weapons in your arsenal. I read many articles about growing a business, many of which point out that referrals and word of mouth often generate the best leads, yet they still tend to stick to tactics designed to winning new clients.
Jon Norris | Lifestyle & Time out,Technology
Every website should have a blog. Content is king, as they say, and you’ll need some kind of Content Management System (CMS) to keep that content organised.
UK companies have been warned to take control of employee’s social media usage in the workplace or risk facing reputation damage and security breaches. With the recent rapid increase in social media usage, it has been revealed that 51% of employees engage with sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn while at work.
Selina Murray | Getting a Job,Resources
It may sound like something Victorian mothers used to advise their daughters about, but these days managing your reputation – or at least your online reputation – applies to us all. Reputation management these days refers to the practice of monitoring the internet reputation or online presence of a person, brand or business.
Royal Mail has announced that the letters division of the business lost £120m last year. This is compared to a £20m profit a year earlier. The business overall showed the worst performance for seven years.
Selina Murray | Lifestyle & Time out,Resources
If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from Ryan Giggs in the last few weeks, it’s how not to use Twitter for business. Love it or loathe it (probably the latter for Mr. Giggs), Twitter can be a very useful business tool. If you work alone it can be invaluable for making connections.
Rachel Soothill | Getting a Job,Guides
Whether you have launched a new product, service or just have exciting business news to share, at some point you may need to write a press release in order to promote these developments. Like Marketing, PR is an essential tool in promoting your business and its key messages. However, unlike most Marketing initiatives PR is usually free and will often only require a good news story and a well written press release.
Good website addresses are like gold dust these days. All the good ones are taken, either by people with the same company name as you, or by soulless URL squatters who want to charge you exorbitant amounts for them. For example, I recently enquired about buying thebomb.co.uk, which I discovered was available for £500 – and since then the price has gone up to £600!
Rachel Soothill | Guides,Technology
Now we have established what a powerful communication tool social media has become, the next step is to learn how to harness that power and use it for getting your business and key messages out there. Social media is rapidly becoming the chosen channel for businesses to communicate and share ideas, and should form a strong part of your online marketing strategy.
Rachel Soothill | Guides,Technology
With around 600 million users worldwide, Facebook is the largest social media platforms that exists. It has pageview rates and engagement metrics that blow away the competition. If you are not using Facebook as part of your marketing strategy you could be seriously missing a trick!
TimothyTim | Getting a Job,Guides
Brands are everywhere taking your money, ideas and possibly souls. Want a drink? 52% of you actually heard “Get a Coke”. Need some trainers? 32% heard “Where are your Nikes?” Gum? 27% “Wrigleys”. etc
Freelancers are no longer a rare breed, more and more employees are turning freelance everyday and competition is growing fast. In these competitive times it is important to stand out from the crowd and embrace your individuality.
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,Guides
Thankfully they’re becoming more and more rare, but every so often a freelancer may be asked to deliver a pitch for a project. Aside from being a pain in the backside, pitches are usually used to determine whether or not you’ll cut the mustard. So how can you make sure you’ll impress your audience?
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,Guides
There are two types of clients for most freelancers. There are those who you’ve known for years and do regular work for – they call you up as and when they need you, and there are the one night stands. They’ll find your details somehow, get you to do a job and discard you like a used tissue. It’s always slightly disheartening – why don’t they want you back? Were you not good enough? Did you accidentally insult their wife?
TimothyTim | Guides,Lifestyle & Time out
Didn’t we take over a bunch of banks? Didn’t the government promise on bended-knee that they would not let the rich irresponsible cretins in “the city” screw us again, at least until we had time to get our collective lipstick on?
Andy White | Guides,Technology
We’ve discussed planning and recording your podcast, now we’re going to explore how to make sure people can listen once you’ve produced it. Using some simple technology you can make it easy for people to subscribe and listen to your creation – let’s talk about your options.
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,Guides
Freelancers can be a paradoxical sort. From a client’s perspective we can be highly regarded specialists brought in to solve issues that no staff member can fathom, or we can be sandal-wearing layabouts who flit from place to place, only working when we choose to. Freelancers know that neither stereotype is correct – unfortunately the client’s perspective is often the only one that matters.
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,Resources
Let’s face it, you need business cards. They’re great for networking, showing off to friends or casually flicking out the car window as you drive down the street in the hope you’ll score a new client or two. But you know what sucks? Paying for business cards.
Jon Norris | Guides,Technology
It’s all well and good designing and building a website to promote your business – but how do you know if people are actually visiting it, and what they’re doing once they’re there? Luckily, Google is on hand to provide anybody with free, relatively in-depth website analytics.
TimothyTim | Lifestyle & Time out
Everybody knows marketing agencies are up to no good. They’re either burning through your companies money at an alarming rate, or trying to trick your brain into buying something you don’t really need. We’ve been allowed access to a spreadsheet a freelance marketer kept of all the most brain-dead snippets to cross his desk.
Sebastian Powell | Guides,Technology
For some, just the thought of getting started with Google AdWords makes palms sweat and knees shake. The somewhat steep learning curve all too often results in ineffective campaigns with little return on investment; a big no-no for freelancers and small businesses with limited financial resources.
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,Technology
The explosion in popularity of Facebook over the last few years combined with Mark Zuckerberg suddenly realising he needs a decent revenue model has seen a range of bizarre (and depressingly, often successful) tactics employed to try and leverage money from the social network’s 600million of so subscribers.
As we reported last week, since March 1st the Advertising Standards Authority has broadened it’s reach, and is now monitoring online advertising in the UK as well as its traditional sphere of print, television and radio. While we certainly don’t envy their new task, it’s absolutely a good thing that some kind of regulatory body is wading into the traditionally murky world of online advertising.
In this months podcast, we’re looking at how you can promote your services as a creative in the increasingly-populated freelancing marketplace. Andy talks to Scott Belsky of Behance, an online portfolio platform catering specifically to freelancers working in creative fields, about how they can utilise their service to better market their service.
Jon Norris | Lifestyle & Time out
The Daily Mail’s attack dog Richard Littlejohn has applied more of his unique brand of “common sense” to the increasingly vitriolic debate on how to tackle the national deficit. The chancellor George Osborne has publicly asked for ideas on how to bring in more revenue, however we can’t see Littlejohn’s proposals holding much water.
The Advertising Standards Agency, whose remit is to monitor advertising in the UK and make sure it sticks to the letter of the law, is from today expanding its remit to include online advertising. Until now, the ASA has concentrated on print, radio and TV advertising. This means that all online UK entities will have to conform to the rules, including us.
hen I began making video for business way back in the eighties it was only the top dogs of sizeable companies that made video appearances – either for their workforce or publicity’s sake. Since the advent of cheaper video equipment and the spread of video across the Web, any one of us might find ourselves called upon to make a video appearance or to organise one for a client or colleague.
Although the importance of social media is well established in the UK, we still trail a long way behind the US. However, that is all set to change in 2011 according to a new report by freelance work portal Office Cavalry. In fact, the findings are particularly positive for those freelancers specialising, or hoping to specialise, in social media marketing.
Here’s a breakdown…
In this months podcast we’re talking networking, both on- and off-line. First, Andy speaks to Ryan Healy about Network Roulette – an online professional networking solution which helps you build your business network by borrowing from popular self-exposure site Chat Roulette.
As a freelance writer, making a great first impression on a client is just as important as being able to show off a portfolio of quality work. Clients want writers who can write immaculate copy, of course, but also want someone they can trust and work with. Plus, it is only human nature to give preference to people you like and get along with.
Social media isn’t going to be around forever, but it’s going to get a lot bigger before it goes away – it’s a pretty big deal at the moment. If you don’t have a Twitter presence for your brand then you’re a sucker, and if you don’t have a Facebook fan page then you’re a chump.
Think your brand could do with a bit more pizazz? Paying for marketing and promotional materials is outside the realms of most small businesses – usually a one-off payout for logo design and that’s it. Well luckily the internet is here to help again! Serif, developers of easy-to-use design and publishing software, are holding their first live web chat today with marketing expert Dale Cook.
Here’s an interesting quandary – if you’re a Freelancer who has a decent presence on lots of social media sites (which you really should, by the way), but you don’t have your own website, where do you point potential clients to get a taste of your personal brand?
Martha Retallick has written an honestly useful, if Americanised, guide to expanding your business contacts. I won’t lie to you, the basic suggestion herein is to cold call people and the suggestions are orientated toward how best not to become a crumpled husk of your former optimistic self. However the advice is useful and backed up with good examples and techniques.
Although we may not willingly admit it, most of us have, at some point, searched for ourselves on Google to see what our virtual alter ego looks like. Few people, however, review the results from a professional perspective.
This talk by web-hero and Basecamp creator Jason Fried underlines almost everything that Freelance Advisor is about.
Advertising your skills can be expensive and inefficient but writing a short blog post that catches the imagination of thousands of people in your field is much easier. In this talk Fried talks about the huge difference between blogging about your product and blogging about your techniques, how being open with your clients AND competitors works to generate new business for those willing to share their secret sauce.
Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out
At Freelance Advisor we’ve spent a lot of time sharing advice on how you can effectively use Twitter and social. As a tool for finding more friends, colleagues clients and work. We’ve discussed how to use it for Marketing your personal brand and for PR for your own company.
This cheeky little site has a different view…
Michael Rose | Getting a Job,News
Despite cuts across the board, overall, UK business is seeing a positive change thanks to the new Government. Tax breaks, including extended relief on the increase in Capital Gains Tax and National Insurance have been introduced and support for SMEs has been very positive.
To mark the importance of SMEs, The Startups Awards 2010 have added a Home Business of the Year category to their annual awards.
Emma Jones believes in starting a business and then finding and focusing on your niche.
But what happens when you feel the niche audience you’ve chosen could be restricting in view of its size? Then it’s time to expand your product range, as opposed to extending your niche.
Emma explains how…
If your website IS your business and it’s offering products, services or information then it might be something that you might seriously consider.
However, if your business website is just ABOUT your company then it’s probably not such a good idea. There is of course a thin line between the two, so another way of judging whether you should take advertising is by looking at some of your competitors and seeing what they do.
The economic downturn has played a big part in accelerating the importance of social media in the marketing minds of freelancers and small businesses. For that reason, the idea of employing the services of a social media consultant can appear to be a no-brainer. After all, for many small operations, social media has become integral to their online presence.
Failing to utilise social media to its fullest extent could prove costly.
But is formal training really necessary?
As a freelancer there is an opportunity to create a working lifestyle to suit you, but without enough work or clients you may not achieve this, or end up always trying to. Some freelancers are lucky enough not to need to market themselves in the beginning, but at some point they will need to in order to find more work.
Mark Bowley of Creative Agency Freelancing shares his advice on gettings started and finding work.
A few years ago getting heard on Twitter was easy. When I first joined there were less than a million users and it was easy to find friends with common interests and it was even possible for a couple of friend to create a trending topic.
Now with 70m+ users (sending 50m tweets a day) the story is a little different…
Andy talks to Web and Social Media Developer John O’Nolan and Darren Fell of Crunch about the power of personal branding. Choosing your brand Using Twitter to create a conversation Facebook, following and fans Social media as customer service Social media strategy and setup Listen to the podcast:
Podcast 24: Personal Branding for Freelancers & Contractors [ 29:46 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
As the saying goes ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’ so how can you widen your network of contacts to create the network that is important to your freelance business?
Business Growth Strategist Janette Whitney shows us how…
Think networking is where people go because they want to sell more stuff?
You’re a little bit right, and a big bit wrong.
Freelance Advisor and copywriter Leif Kendall shares four reasons why getting to know your peers will make you a better, happier freelancer.
One of the biggest sales and marketing problems that small businesses can face is getting people whom seem interested in buying something to actually take the plunge and hand over their money.
Because let’s be honest, it’s actually pretty easy to attract attention to your business and meet prospective customers these days. The internet has made it simple to give your business a marketing presence (your website) and drive people to it (online advertising and search engine optimisation).
The key then to a successful business is not just one which attracts prospects, but one which has fail-safe systems to convert them into revenue.
Do you have content you would like to share with an interested audience of existing and potential customers? It’s never been so easy to package your content in a stylish way, and distribute it in a cost-effective way.
Enter the age of home publishing with Emma Jones.
Alick Mighall | Getting a Job,Guides,Technology
If you want a website for your small business or to show off your freelancing work AND know what you want then you are almost ready to contact the designers but thinking clearly, focusing on objectives and writing a good, clear brief can make a world of different when it comes to getting a quote.
You’ll not only save yourself time and money but you’ll also make developers and designers like Alick Mighall really happy.
Daryl Close, a business performance coach, discusses why freelancing success is not directly related to your specific freelancing talent. Whilst personal branding is not a new term, it is a term that has come back to the forefront of success as a professional freelancer. He explains that your actual talent is only a small part of the overall personal branding concept and freelancers need to refine and develop their professional brands in order to thrive in an ever increasingly competitive world.
Dianne Bown-Wilson | Getting a Job
Isolation and winning new clients are two of the biggest problems for freelancers. Marketing consultant and freelance advisor Dianne Bown-Wilson offers some simple tips for what to do when you – and your business – need to get out more.
Rob Watson | Guides,Technology
Part three of our guide to Google AdWords for beginners:
Yesterday Rob explained how to set up your first Google AdWords campaign. Today he looks at some of the best practices you should follow.
Rob Watson | Guides,Technology
Part two of our guide to Google AdWords for beginners:
Yesterday Rob explained the basics of GoogleAdwords. Today he looks at setting up your first AdWords campaign and some of the most common mistakes in setting up.
Rob Watson | Guides,Technology
Whatever it is that you (or your clients) do, you can always find new customers over the internet – even if you’re a niche business or you only work in a specific area or region. In this 3-part guide to AdWords Marketing Manager Rob Watson tells us how to increase our clicks
Marketing yourself with an excellent CV or resume is not easy. Malvolio has found that there are not only technical issues to deal with but often several layers of audience from recruitment agencies, to human resources, departmental heads and senior management.
Can you help Malvolio unpick this particular puzzle?
Freelance Advisor and Home Business diva Emma Jones explains why now is a perfect time to spruce up your business development and pursue opportunities that will mean new work from existing customers and new work from new customers.
Here’s three things you can do to keep the contracts coming in…
Andy White talks to Drew Griffiths of Mosaic about why companies hire freelancers and what they look for.
Podcast #14: Why we get Employed - the Company Perspective [ 12:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Andy White talks to Emma Brierley, Director of Xchange Team, about her book, Talent on Tap: Getting the best from Freelancers, Interims and Consultants, and gain some interesting insights into why freelancers get employed from the agency perspective.
Podcast #13: Why we get Employed - the Recruitment Consultancy Perspective [ 28:32 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Brighton and Hove-based freelancers have the opportunity to attend free events aimed at helping small businesses survive the economic downturn.
The Business Lifebelt events have been developed in partnership with Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce and Business Link Sussex to provide relevant advice to businesses operating in the area.
There is no finer talent for a business owner to possess than the skill of making a sale. As the business grows you may decide to outsource the sales function but at the beginning, making a sale is on your ‘to do’ list.
Here are six simple steps that will turn prospects into clients and leads into revenue.
Whether it is the Nobel Peace prize, the Oscars or the X-Factor people seem to love a good awards ceremony. But what about us freelancers? Is there any point having awards for the stars of the business world? Today Emma Jones argues that entering awards is an effective marketing tool; writing the entry helps to define business plans and goals and, if you win, you earn prizes, recognition and a good night out!
Kasey Brunt | Getting a Job,News
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has released a series of online video guides to help businesses and start-ups understand their tax requirements. The guides cover a variety of topics, including VAT, corporation tax and PAYE. They also cover areas such as importing and exporting, keeping accurate records, and things to consider when employing other people. [...]
Freelancer and contractors are unsung heroes and Xchangeteam’s Emma Brierley has made it her mission to get freelancers the recognition they deserve. This month’s Freelancer of the Year Awards are only the beginning… Why Freelancers Need To Be Celebrated At some point in their career no less than one in seven British workers will be [...]
Whether it is networking, meetings, clients or conferences, marketing yourself is an essential skill for any freelancer or contractor. Freelance Advisor and author Emma Jones offers seven quick tips to help you shine Starting on the right foot: 7 steps to creating the right impression You only get one chance to create a first impression. [...]
Freelancers benefit from online social networking MORE and more freelancers are using social networking sites to promote their services, a survey has found. The BT Tradespace survey found 15 per cent of small businesses promote themselves on sites such as Facebook, compared to just seven per cent this time last year. But the survey also [...]
Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones gives us her review of the best applications for freelancers. Top 5 technology apps of 2008 As we enter the month of December, I can’t help but look back at the year that was. The thousands of new businesses started, the people we’ve profiled, [...]
Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones give us a timely reminder of the things we could be doing in the run up to Christmas. What can freelancers do when things get quiet over the holiday season and what plans can we make for 2009. When the phones hush and emails [...]
Freelance Advisor founder Darren Fell is a successful entrepreneur and all over the first page of results when you Google his name. We asked him to share the secrets of his success and he responded with this guide to marketing yourself. Marketing yourself for free, a guide. The big question running through everybody’s mind when [...]
Whether it is business cards, promotional posters or flyers for a club night there are many printing options and quality and colours will vary greatly. Print adviser and consultant Andrew Walker guides can help you decide where to get your printing done. Choosing the right printing method for your client Digital vs Litho Printing The [...]
Congratualtions to the Farm Freelancer Award nominess Shortlisting has now been completed and Freelance Advisor, proud sponsors of this year’s Farm Freelance Award, would like to applaud these three fine freelancing nominees. This year’s shortlist is: Jonathan Aizlewood of Carbon Graffiti for his email design, marketing and web design services Sarah Bird of AnimNation for [...]
Look who’s talking: Monitoring buzz on the web As a freelance community builder and co-director of TheWerks web-socialite Rosie Sherry offers advice on monitoring your brand and filtering out the noise. Five sites for monitoring your brand online There’s no denying that the web holds huge amount of information. Most of it irrelevant to you [...]
The death of the CV? Are curriculum vitae a thing of the past? Guest blogger Greg Coley, Creative Director of the integrated agency VGroup, gives an insider’s view on what freelance designers can do to get noticed. Marketing yourself as a freelance designer So you’re a budding young designer straight out of university, a middleweight, [...]
Compelling Content – Part 2 Brainstorming: Your ideal reader or customer A two-part series from freelance copywriter Kath Burke. In part one, Kath explained how you can understand why people buy you. Part two explores how to use brainstorming as an exercise in focusing on the content that really matters before you put pen to [...]
Create compelling content your clients will crave In this 2-part series freelance copywriter and content consultant Kath Burke says the secret of writing great web marketing copy is in the preparation. Before you put pen to paper, you need to explore your clients’ deeper concerns and needs. Ah. If only you could magic up the [...]
Find freelancing advice and support by joining our community of freelancers and contractors on Facebook. By becoming a fan of Freelance Advisor you’ll get all the latest articles and advice, alerts when new content is added to the site, and you can help build the community by connecting with other freelancers and contractors in your [...]
If you are a freelancer or contractor living and working in the South then you could get your work in front of a top panel of judges from the BBC, Channel 4, Endemol and New Media Age. The Awards are also an excellent place to publicise you and your work – especially if it is [...]
Freelance Advisor is on Twitter And you can follow us here. If you’ve not yet joined the twittering classes then you’re missing out on the latest social networking phenomenon – according to TwitDir, the unofficial Twitter Directory, there are now over 3,000,000 users and the Twitterverse is still growing. If you’ve used Facebook and their Status [...]
If you’re a freelance designer or programmer then attending the i-design 08 Portfolio Clinic Wednesday 17 September in London is a no brainer. First it’s FREE and secondly if you’re currently looking for work or to expand your future client base then you’ll be able to meet 15 of the capital’s most respected and successful [...]
In part one and part two we looked at the marketing process and what you are actually employed for, e.g. the way you think respectively. Today we look at how to identify the unique features of product, you. Understanding the product – You, Your Abilities, Competencies & Transferable Assets Many of us realise that every [...]
In this series, Bill Faust, author of Pitch Yourself, shares insights gained from over 30-years of industry experience. He discusses key factors for effective self-marketing, understanding what self-marketing means, reading your future employers’ desires and defining clearly what you, the product, have to offer.
One of the joys of freelancing is that you get to do everything. But this omnipotence means you can’t hate the sales team for not bringing in new clients, because you are the sales team. Become CEO of YouCorp You can’t have a spat with Maureen in accounts because she hasn’t sorted your expenses, because [...]
What’s personal branding all about? Is it important? What does it mean? Where do I start? Do I really need a strong identity or even a logo for my freelancing business? Is it really necessary to make ME stand out from the competition? Expert, Al Welsh, has had years of experience within some of London’s [...]
Andy talks to Paul Silver of The Farm who talks about 5 areas to concentrate on. Get these right, and your freelancing business will get off to a flying start.
#4: Marketing Secrets part 2: Here are 5 things you must do [ 26:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
In the age we live in having a website as a business is critical. I’m not sure about you but it’s literally the first thing I do when I want to vet a supplier out and in my old days at Pure360.com I’d even do that for customers. No site and to be honest I [...]
RA: , an experienced IT support contractor speaks to Andy about some of his self-promotion techniques as a contractor. This is part 1 of a 2 part special series on marketing yourself.
