A website of any kind is quite necessary for selling your services but it does not have to be that elaborate or expensive. In fact, a straightforward WordPress site is more than adequate when it comes to being an online page to promote your website. This is because you can create a single page on WordPress and also attach a blog. It is especially a good idea to start a blog to accompany your promotional page. It helps you meet customers, show off your talents and also inform your readers of your prices, services and the latest in the freelance writing world. In fact, a blog offers you the opportunity to show off how you can promote yourself. If you do it well others will want you to promote them too.

You might be thinking that you need more than a WordPress page to promote your site but you actually don’t. It’s not the type of site you have but what’s on it. The most important thing is going to be the copy on the sales page that you create to promote the services that you provide.

Remember that the real purpose of your blogging site is to act as a way of generating leads. You want to create blog content that is designed to force visitors to come to that page for a quote. This means you need to create content on the page somewhere theta has a very clear call to action that tells them to e-mail you and ask for a quote. Even better yet, install a plug-in from the C-Panel on your web host that will allow you to collect email addresses so you can build a list of prospects.

Another great thing to include is testimonials from satisfied customers. This gives you some credibility as well. You can also go “whole hog” and make yourself a little video using free software like CamStudio and embedding on your WordPress site.

Once this blog is up you have to remind people it exists to generate traffic for it. You should add a signature file to all of your outgoing e-mail messages, even your personal mail.

You can also write keyword rich articles that are associated with your business and submit them to the leading article directories like EzineArticles, GoArticles, Search Warp and Article Dashboard. These can also serve as sample articles you can show potential customers.

If you have some cash available, try using PPC advertising with Google AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing. Using the former will undoubtedly put your advert for your blog in front of far more potential customers.

The main thing that you have to remember is that achieving success as a service provider to a large extent depends upon your ability to set yourself apart from everyone else in your market so be unique with your content.

In the freelance world, it can be a bit complex when it comes to deciding what you should pay for copywriting services since ever project is unique. You can set a price per word price or a price per page or document price but ultimately you should always examine a job to see if it has any hidden time consuming aspects that could possibly put you in the poorhouse. For instance it is not quite same charging for a 500 word article about baby booties as it for a 500 word article about fractional jet aviation.

To be competitive in the marketplace you need to see what other writers are charging their clients. Compare your prices to the prices of others. If you are a member of a big bidding site like guru.com or elance.com then be sure to look at what other people are charging and also at their profiles. Then “underbid” them as much as you can without putting yourself below your acceptable “bottom line.”

One thing that you will notice is that many writers give big discounts for bulk prices for high volume writing particularly if it is a job where the language in the content is not that sophisticated or if the articles are being done

It is also customary to ask for a fifty percent deposit on any work you do although quite a few of your clients will probably insist they have never had to do that with any writer they have encountered before! Some clients may insist on paying you weekly or monthly which is fine but ask first to see at least part of the money in some kind of escrow accoutn . However for the most part it is traditional for writers to ask for half up front before they start any work on any assigned project.

Wondering how much you can make as a copywriter? All you have to do is look to see what the going rate for copywriting is in your area or on the internet and then divide it by 52 weeks a year and then by 40 hours a week. This is how you can estimate what to charge and your entire earning potential on the web. If you decide to become a copywriting professional in a selected niche, which is a specific field of interest, you can charge even higher fees.

You should also consider whether or not writing the project is going to cost you to research it and at it to your final fee. This is especially true if you need to travel, buy books, and buy special software or specialized equipment to get the job done. Make sure too that your computer Is of a very high quality. You should always attempt oto charge for extra expenses and time. However it is also advisable to keep your prices affordable and not layer on too many extra costs or you might not get hired at all!

In order to create this type of free viral advertising you have to have great copy on your sales page and in your pitches. Remember that the purpose of your site is to act as a prospect generating machine. It should literally design to ‘force’ any visitor comes to that page to e-mail you for a quote. This is why every page need a very strong and clear call to action on that page, with a simple statement telling the visitor to e-mail you for a no-obligation quotation being the most effective method of getting action in my experience.

Once you snag the customer it is then your job to deliver more than you have promised. Not only does your willingness to over deliver attract referrals, it also helps to protect your reputation, because it is highly unlikely any customer is going to complain if you always deliver more than they expected. And even in the unlikely event that at some point, a customer is not 100% happy, the fact that every other customer enjoys an extraordinary experience dealing with your business means that one lone dissenting voice is unlikely to be listened to too much.

For example, if a customer approaches you to write 5 articles for them, why not deliver 7 articles instead of the requested number? If your customer orders a 10,000 word e-book, offer a 2000 word special report that can be given away free as a promotional tool for the e-book at no cost.

Of course you should not do this if it is going to put you under financially. It is generally easier to do if you specialize writing in a certain niche or sub-niche. This is why people looking for articles to submit to ezine publishers are such good customers. You end up doing less research because you are mining information about one topic. That makes it much easier to top up your offering with a free article or two.

You also might consider giving away a free report that has something to do with your writing business. Make sure it is chock full of the kind of information your clients might be looking for – such as how to make sure article content is keyword optimized and search engine friendly.

Of course, giving away something for free does not directly add to your bank balance, but in the fullness of time, it certainly will do as you attract new customers to your business because your marketing message is being spread ever more widely.

The Need of a Day Off

I still remember how great it felt when I became a freelancer for good. I felt free, excited, the possibilities were endless. It didn’t take long for me to realise that freelancing is not easy, it is actually very hard. Perhaps one of the greatest reasons why it gets so hard so fast is due to the inability of many new freelancers to manage their time scrupulously. Before you know it you will be working weekends, public holidays and into the night.

If this is a reflection of your work as a freelancer, you seriously need to stop now and reassess your work-life. Everyone needs a day off and without one you will be lost for inspiration, hardly motivated and the future will have a bleak look to it. Start taking your weekend off and spend time relaxing, alone or with your loved ones.

Working on the Weekend

There can be advantages to working on the weekend, however, I would accordingly suggest that you take a day off during the week. Some freelancers find that they are more productive on certain days or at certain times. If this time happens to fall on the weekend, you should work on the weekend.

Of course the joys of taking a day off during a week day for me are that everything is less busy. For example, when shopping, there a smaller queues and generally with all other activities I do with my wife and daughter, there us more to enjoy on weekdays. This combined with the general of walking around feeling special and pompous because I can shop with the unemployed, the elderly, desperate housewives…okay, I admit there is nothing to feel special and pompous about!

The problem which I have found with working on the weekend is that if you are doing work for a client and need to revise it or speak to the client then you may not find them on the weekend. Other general communication problems can arise which will impede your work on the weekend. This is why it is probably a better idea to work when the rest of the world is working – the week.

To conclude

Working on the weekend can be drastic for your freelancing career if you are not taking days off. You can however rearrange days off such that you are taking time off and being as productive as possible. Use trial and error if you are unsure of working on the weekend because some people hate working Mondays, others hate working Fridays. Find out what works for you.

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It is said even the devil can teach you good and this was the case with the book because there were some points which were good, as with any self-help book. The book explained excellent ways of planning and motivating yourself, I would not recommend reading the pile of poo since I will explain the good points of it. I have read several self-help books and all the points by Rhonda were derived from the same principles, so you may want to read something genuine for which I would recommend Tony Robbins.

Set Goals

In order to achieve what you want, whether that is a better rate per hour, more money, or more time, you need visualise your goal and break it down into smaller ‘bite-size’ goals. This will enable you to take easier steps towards your goal. Start working through your bite-size goals one-after-the-other and you ought to be on your road to achieving your goal.

An example of this is if you are a new freelancer and need clients for an income then your goal is “I need an income” the path includes getting clients. So you would break your goal down into ‘get a portfolio up’, ‘get some sample work on the portfolio’, ‘start a blog’, etc. This will lead to ‘get a client’ and so on, until you have achieve your main goal.

Visualise

One of the ways of motivating yourself to achieve your goals is to visualise what you will achieve by getting there. An example of this is if you are freelancing because you want a BMW X5, then get a picture of it and put it on your noticeboard. Spend at least five minutes at the start of the day visualising what it would feel like to have this car and visualise how you would go about getting the money for this car. This will set you up at the start of the day to aim towards your goal.

Believe

This is where ‘the Secret’ starts becoming a cult. They have a fantasy idea that if you believe anything, then it is possible (literally that “I will get this parking spot at the mall” and  you will get it). Personally I would say that you should believe in your ability and you should believe that you have the ability to get more clients. By believing this and actively thinking about it, it will drive you to try to achieve client satisfaction, procrastinate less and generally enjoy what you do. You are a freelancer because you have a skill which the rest of the world does not, believe in your skill and go for it!

Finally

The Secret may be a load of baloney, but what most self-help books agree on is summarised above. Implementing the three points above should nudge you on the way to a successful freelancing career. As an action point today, write down your main goal and the goals you will have to achieve to get there.

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These designs are, however, exceptionally good and a testament to the ability of the designers who designed them. I wish to take this opportunity to say, Well done guys, your skill is outstanding and without you the internet would not be as beautiful as it is today. Keep it up!

1. VMware

2. HyperX Local

3. Revive Africa

4. 6creations

5. SquareSpace

6. CampaignMonitor

7. Matt Dempsey

8. 45 Royale

9. MailChimp

10. Branded07

11. FlashnSeo

12. TheWebDesignBlog

What do you think of them?

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It’s been pretty popular since launch, and we’d like to thank everyone who took the time out to make the purchase and check it out.

It covers a vast area of marketing, from offline to online efforts – along with some rather unorthodox methods you may have not come across before. All in all, a brilliant resource for any freelancer looking to grow their client-base.

More Information

Emotions are hard to control and it would be futile for me to say “Don’t feel this way”, however it is possible to bring back your motivation by looking at the reasons why the work was really rejected and making amends in the future so your work is not rejected as much.

A Breakdown of Client Relationship

If a respectable client rejects your work or ends a long standing client relationship, you may want to get to the bottom of why this has happened. Often you will find that setbacks caused to the client due to unprofessional time-keeping on deadlines and other avoidable problems which may seem trivial are the root cause of the client’s distress. This illustrates how it is not your ability which causes work to be rejected but unprofessionalism and weak business decisions usually cause the unfortunate breakdown of relationships and rejection.

If this is the case you may want to contact your former client and ask them what caused them to leave your services. A telephone conversation is usually harder to listen to, as they may say something which offends you. Personally, I think you should send them a questionnaire with a small list of questions. Try to focus your attention on grasping the cause of why they rejected your work.

Ask straight forward questions, such as, “What did you not like about the service provided?” and give them realistic options to choose from, such as “The rates were too high”, “The deadlines were not met” etc. This will give you much needed feedback to help you improve your services in future. If you are lucky this may also show your client that you actually care about their custom and they may come back to you and if they rejected your work, they may ask for revisions

Improving

When you have the feedback you are in a great position to reassess how you look at your business. If the client says that deadline keeping was bad, then you need to have a read around on how to better your timekeeping.

Sometimes there is a problem which can be rectified in unusual ways, for example, being unqualified. If many clients are rejecting you because of your lack of qualification, you may want to learn the new skill sets required.

If your rate is an issue, you could reassess this, but in my own experience I have found that only some clients moan about the rate, and they are mostly clients who will moan about everything. This can, however, not be the case and it is possible to overprice yourself.

Final Word

Try to keep reassessing your business and make good business decisions based on your feedback. Do not be disheartened when your work is rejected, rather just get back up and dust yourself off and go for it again.

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Working from home can be great and most of the freelancers who I know will work from home. Let us explore the advantages and disadvantages of working from home.

Advantages

Control of environment
By working at home you have absolute control over how your office looks, to the extent that you can even have extensive building work done to your office at your own discretion. You can paint, build or destroy anything you wish and you do not have to ask permission or have your idea rejected. You are your own boss.

Traveling
If you rent an office space which is even a five minute walk away, you will still have to travel. A home office is in your home and no travelling time is lost, so this means that once you are done with your work you can go home to your loving families in an instant.

Cost
One of the greatest advantages of working from home is cost efficiency. If you work from home, gas and electric bills along with rental costs will all be minimal. This is because the heating you will have probably been on at home anyway, so to heat a new room in your new office would cost more. Similarly all other costs which exist from an office would be significantly less because of working from home.

Disadvantages

Noise
Usually rented office space will probably be in or close to a business district. Your home will be in a residential area. In a business district you will be pushed to find teenagers playing football, dogs barking and the general sort of noise pollution which you find in some residential areas. This of course depends on where you live, because the description sound like down-town Detroit.

People
People visit your home and if they have come to your home you will be obliged to sit with them. This may not be a serious problem but it can be and regardless if you are the only person at home then cold callers (on the phone or on your doorstep) will get the best of you. In a rented office, this may not be the case.

Family
If you have children, then when they come home from school they will probably want to see you and play with you. If you happen to be more productive around that time you will lose out on good work.

If you do not have kids, your partner or parents (depending on who you live with) can have distractions of their own. Sometimes it can be difficult for younger freelancers to explain to their parents that being home does not mean that they are free to do chores, but they are working in the same way they would if they had rented office space.

Procrastination
It is significantly easier to procrastinate at home since all it takes is a walk to the other room to start watching TV. It’s very easy to get distracted with anything. Also, the idea of being at home can make you feel lazy and therefore cause you to procrastinate. Especially since you may be using the same computer which you work on during the day, to socialise on during the night. This will make it easier for you to load up Facebook and waste your life telling people what you ate for breakfast in the morning.

Working in an External Office

By renting out an office space which is separate from your home, you will have the opposite of what has been discussed above. The advantages of working at home are disadvantages of working from an external office and the disadvantages above are advantages of working in an external office.

Working in an external office will demand a demeanor of its own. You ought to feel odd wasting time from an office space or watching a Youtube video. Personally, I feel that it would cause you to work harder and in a more productive manner as the sole use of the space is for work, and work only.

Final Point

It is possible to work from home in such a way that you remove the above disadvantages and it is possible to work from an external office and manage to turn the advantages into disadvantages. This depends on the type of person.

What do you think is better, a home office or an external office? Let us know by commenting below.

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In my own experience I have found that business from previous clients was where the majority of my work generated from. This may not apply to freelancers who have just started out, but over the years business does head toward the 80:20 rule. Does this mean marketing to new clients is futile? No, that is ridiculous. What it means is that all your efforts in marketing will go further because a client who does come to you will be back for more business and will refer you if you play your cards right.

1. Thank You

Whenever I do business with anyone, I send them a thank you card. This is not always a matter of getting more business but rather its because I’m a nice guy. A side-effect of being a nice guy just happens to be that the client has a record of your contact details in the contact card and feels better and easier about recommending you to friends or family.

2. Mailing List

Add your previous clients to an email mailing list. The problem with mailing lists is that they become irritating, especially when they start to clog your inbox. The best way to have a mailing list which will actually have some effect is to email at most once a fortnight, you can increase this to once a month, but my experience tells me not to do weekly or daily emails.

3. Business Card

A business card gives you a professional look while being personal. The greatest advantage is that it is great for marketing as business cards make their way around. Since a business card has the vital info on there it should be enough to get a potential client to contact you.

If you don’t believe the advantages of business clients, I would tell you to go and watch Will Smith’s film ‘Hitch’. In the film his entire business survives on a single business card.

4. Warm cold calling

If you have a previous client’s details and worked for them two years ago, it may be time to give them a call. When you call them, be genuine and actually ask about them as opposed to launching into a tele-marketer script (like a guy from India who rang me today!). Once you have asked how they are, whether the service you provided for them was good, you should pitch to them.

Don’t ask them, tell them.

Say “Have you heard of our 25% off deals? Yeah, its very limited and as soon as we were offering it I thought of you. Shall I come down and discuss it with you?” That is more likely to receive a yes than the tele-marketer who rang me saying “Sir, my name is John Price (in an indian accent) you want to take advantage, we have excellent deal blah blah blah (for five minutes)”

Last Point

These are not all of the ways of getting business from previous clients, but rather some of the best ones from my personal experience. What does your experience say? Please be kind enough to share your experience with us so all our readers can learn.

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