Collective gain for an organization is the most important part of their goals. An organization doesn’t really take into consideration your individual achievements if they have not been centred around the greater good of the organization that you’re working for. And more importantly, this shows how committed the organization is towards growth and that in itself is great for your own personal growth.
From competition to team initiatives, if done healthily, these make an organization thrive.
If you continue to simply focus on your own achievements and personal goals, you may be successful in creating an impressive resume, but that resume is incomplete without a good recommendation and a good image in front of the employers.
Every person has a distinct personality setup. While extroverts are great with interactions and rank high on energy while thriving in a group, introverts are instrumental in providing the necessary stability at the workplace.
And the importance of team efforts cannot be downplayed ever. This is because the collective qualities of every unique individual bring something innovative to the table, and that is how you just ace at your projects.
It doesn’t matter how many awards or accreditations you earn at your own disposal. What really would work when your contribution is being assessed for an organization is how much you put yourself out there for ensuring that your company generates the maximum results and revenues.
And for achieving that, you have to sometimes be the underdog. So many employees tend to make it all about themselves, and that is exactly where they end up losing out on their coveted promotions.
Here’s the thing. The collective gain for an organization will always be more crucial. In a team, another person’s gifts can mask another person’s weakness, and that’s how organizations work. If it were about an individual’s performance, they wouldn’t spend so much on hiring so many people to have them work together.
And every single talent is required to navigate through the project and effectively troubleshoot because different people have different approaches for addressing a situation or a challenge.
Standing out at work is one of the most important things for a professional. And the title of employee of the month is just a feather in the cap, which significantly enhances your job prospects and makes your resume look so much better.
It also increases your chances to get a promotion. But getting there isn’t an easy bet. Here are some steps to make it easier to clinch that employee of the month title.
1. Know the criteria for selection
There are some requirements that you need to meet in order to qualify as the employee of the month. You need to know all the factors for getting this title. If you have knowledge of the requirements, you can set out to achieve all those goals. When you list down all the criteria and work systematically to reach those specifications, it becomes easier for you to stay focused.
2. Let your work speak for itself
At the end of the day, it is your work that will matter. If your work is not up to the mark, your interpersonal skills or employee relationships won’t matter. You need to keep your performance perfect so you stand out in that category, and everything else is considered secondary. Every single report or assignment has to be done impeccably.
3. Punctuality is important
Apart from your quality of work, one thing that matters is punctuality. Running late for work will always work against you. What time you reach for work reflects your sincerity and dedication towards your job. If you’re constantly reporting late for meetings, your bosses will just assume that you don’t take your work seriously. Also, work overtime if you have to chase those targets.
4. Be good with your clients
Interpersonal skills at work are an important facet of your professional life. How you interact with your clients and navigate through their struggles and requirements will determine your success at work. Having good relations with the employees as well as your clients goes a long way in making you the ideal candidate for employee of the month.
5. Be helpful to recruits
If you’re a helpful and kind person at work, you will earn the respect of everyone at work, and popularity is a huge factor for being chosen as the employee of the month. If the newcomers at work are struggling with something, you should always be ready for assistance and reassurance. This will give an impression of a good character and your ethics at work.
Multinational Corporations are always an interesting place to work at. It’s like branded attire; everyone just notices it, and you may want to brag about it many times. But there are many other perks of working in an MNC, which shall be discussed in the following article.
Increase your value
This is the age of globalization which means that more companies are moving to other countries and continents to expand their base. This has further set the bar for employees with more international exposure in an organization that has cross-cultural exposure prior to applying for the job.
The international exposure makes you an attractive bet for employers, and they will be more than happy to take you on board.
Learning about other cultural setups
Working in an MNC gives you a chance to explore other cultures and ethnicities as you work with people of different countries and races. This is one of the most fulfilling aspects of MNC culture. The conversations are fascinating, and you realize so many things about the world by just one meeting or lunch session.
Enhances creativity
When you work with people with different ideas and perspectives, your creative juices start to flow. You can be more innovative at work because you can judge from a variety of factions of the same issue as there are people from diverse backgrounds brainstorming on the same issue. This opens your mind up to innumerable avenues and possibilities, thus expanding your horizons.
Globetrotting
Wanderlust gripping you by the hour? Have you always wanted to move around across continents galore and explore various terrains globally? It can be through transfers, excursions, and meetings, or even your own funded trips to various countries. Being exposed to a multinational environment gives you the courage and confidence to take the plunge and travel your heart out. You can also learn so many languages and be acquainted with travel information beforehand.
Are you a stay at home mom, wanting to join the workforce? How does work from home jobs for moms sounds? Then, this post is definitely for you to read.
Here, in this, we will talk about what are the best work from home jobs for stay at home moms, how to find them, and how it will lead you to have a successful career.
Are work from home jobs for moms a good option
There are hardworking moms that want to earn a bit of extra money while working from home, so you can also spend time with your kids. That is why work from home jobs for moms are greatly favorable during this time.
In work at home jobs, the working hours are flexible, so you can work around your children. You also have the option to work part time or full time job.
There are many home jobs in the job market, that you can get without a degree. These jobs can be turned into a full career that pays well if you choose well.
So, if you want a flexible job and yearns to showcase your skills, you should definitely try a home job.
Preparing for work from home jobs for moms
1. Resume and cover letter
Your resume is like your marketing brochure. Whereas, your cover letter is your introduction to your resume.
An important purpose of a cover letter is to link your experience directly to the job description. Look at the description mentioned in the job sites, relate directly to those in your resume and cover letter.
Your resume is the most significant document you will have to create for applying to online jobs.
You can use this guide to make your perfect resume and cover letter.
2. Computer/ laptop
A computer/ laptop is a must, for your stay at home job. It is the most important thing for work from home jobs for moms. Most of the remote jobs require you to have a laptop. Now a days most of the work from home jobs, involves use of computer.
Although, it is not compulsory to have a laptop, as not every home job requires a computer or laptop.
3. LinkedIn and other networking sites
Having a LinkedIn profile is essential for most job seekers. Since, there are many job postings, which would ask for your LinkedIn profile.
Also, you should make profile in other networking sites like naukri.com and Facebook.
4. Personal website
Having a personal website may be helpful in showcasing your skills and online work portfolio, depending on your field and industry you want to work in.
Do that only if you are able to, as it is not compulsory to have your personal website. You can use this guide to create a personal website.
5. Two numbers
If you can, try to have two mobile number. You can use one for your work while the other for personal use.
Work from home jobs for moms
1. Freelance writing
It is one of the best option for every mom out there, since it doesn’t come with a lot of requirements.
If you love writing, sharing your experience and thoughts, this is the right job for you.
Let’s discuss a few ways in which you can write at home as a stay at home job:
1. Social Media Writing
There are many companies, which hire freelancers to write posts and handle social media accounts for the company. There are many opportunities in it for work from home jobs for moms.
This kind of jobs often require creativity, including utilizing images and other visuals to really grab the attention of those scrolling through their Instagram or Facebook.
2. Blogging
Have you ever noticed?, your mother or grandmother have information about things that even the internet doesn’t know. So, why not share it as content and start a blog?
Blogging is a great way to monetize your passion and writing skills and there are many opportunities in it for work from home jobs for moms. You can blog about things you are interested , which can help you earn a decent income while you are at it!
3. Copywriting
Copywriting is the about creating content for Sales and Marketing with the objective of generating sales and attracting more and more customers. There are many opportunities in it for work from home jobs for moms.
For example, advertisement, email, catalog etc.
The main purpose of copywriting is being an engaging and persuasive writer, which could open up many different opportunities for writing for different companies or online publications.
4. Article writing
Article writing involves writing informative, credible, and well-researched articles. You should have excellent writing, grammar, and research skills.
So, these are some ways, you can do freelance writing. There are many other ways too and some of them may be industry-specific.
7 popular sites specifically for home moms to work as freelance writers:
Freelancer writing, is considered one of the best work from home jobs for moms. As it a flexible job, so you can arrange your own schedule.
2. Virtual assistant
Virtual assistants are high in demand, these days. Stay at home moms who like to organize and preferably have some administrative experience.
The work of virtual assistants is to provide administrative support to an individual or team. Handling email and social media, maintain calendars, scheduling meetings and travel, planning events, and researching are some tasks you are required to do as a virtual assistant.
Skills you need as a virtual assistant
Good networking, communication and interpersonal skills.
Project management and organizational skills.
Word Processing skills
Proficient Computer skills
Quick decision-making
The best freelance sites for virtual assistant jobs:
Being a virtual assistant provide plenty of diversity and to stay at the top of the game, learn on a daily basis.
For moms looking to work and make as much extra money as possible, virtual assistant jobs are an excellent way of increasing income.
3. Data entry positions
One of the popular jobs for stay at home moms, data entry positions can be highly flexible jobs that allow you to manage your own schedule with your children by working while they are at school or while they sleep. You can work as a part time or full time job, as per your convenience. There are many opportunities in it for work from home jobs for moms.
You don’t need a bachelor’s degree, all you need is knowledge of computer and good typing speed.
Companies on which you can apply for data entry jobs
Avoid data entry scams: There are some scam sites, which offer data entry jobs. So, be careful while applying and never pay them, if they ask in the name of deposit.
4. Social media manager
In the 21st century, most of the people have a virtual presence and social media is the main reason behind it. So moms, if you’re good with social media and have some marketing skills, you could work from home as a social media manager. A social media manager is one of the trendiest work from home jobs for moms.
As a social media managers you will be responsible for creating and analyzing content for an organization’s social media pages. It’s one of the flexible jobs. The social media manager’s role serves to build brand awareness, engage with followers, and increase positive customer sentiment.
Knowledge about the following social media platforms is a must:
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn
Along with this, you will the following skills:
Writing: You should have good writing skills. When writing, you should be concise and have compelling writing that can fit into a brand’s story and engage an audience.
Creative design ideas: What kind of stock image will you use?, In What way the message is written?. These kinds of questions can affect the perception in which the customer perceives a company’s image.
Social media savviness: As I mentioned earlier, you need to have a good understanding of several social media platforms for good social media management.
Ability to adapt to change: Change is constant in the world of social media. You will be required to be adapted to changes like, new features, changing posting algorithms, new trending hashtags, etc.
Analytical skills: Knowing the target customers and how to attract them, requires an analytical eye and a capacity to research. Try to be familiar with social media analysis tools like HubSpot, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social.
Updated: You should be updated with the latest news or issues, related to company, to have a better understanding.
Companies That Commonly Hire for Remote Social Media Jobs
Now-a-days, so many moms are applying for it. As mostly, your schedule is 100% on your terms.
5. Transcription jobs
A transcription job is a professional typist job who listens to recorded or live audio files and converts into text format what they hear. They offer their services to the medical, legal, and general transcription industry.
A transcriptionist job is an excellent option of stay at home job for moms. You would be wondering, ‘why is that?’. Then allow me to explain you, why it’s the ideal work from home job for moms:
Flexible schedule
A freelance transcription job allows you to set your own hours. This will empower you to have control of your personal and career life. What’s the most advantageous thing about it is that, it’s totally up to you whether you prefer to work during the day or nighttime, when your kids are sleeping.
You can also decide when to take breaks. Transcription jobs relieve you from the pressure of a 9-to-5 jobs. You’ll be free to maximize family bonding and other priorities, as long as you don’t quit in the middle.
Employment opportunities
You don’t require a bachelor’s degree to get a transcriptionist job. As long as you possess the necessary skills, you will surely be able to generate superior outputs.
Work-Life Balance
A remote job of transcriptionist gives you a great opportunity of improving work-life balance. As I have mentioned before, for a transcriptionist job, you can set your own hours for work.
So, you’ll be able to focus on your work without sacrificing your personal time.
Minimal Equipment Investment
For a transcription job, all you need is a laptop or computer, a good pair of headsets and a reliable internet connection. Also, most of the companies provide transcription formats and software.
Control how your income
You can control your income by taking extra work which can give you some income security, as per your convenience.
It is considered a good job for supplemental income.
Some of popular types of transcription jobs:
Medical transcription
Legal transcription
General transcription
Academic transcription
Sermon transcription
Business transcription
Conference transcription
Market research transcription
You can choose the type of transcription, you want to work as and if you are confused go for general transcription. General transcription is the most preferred, especially when stay at home moms.
Skills you require as a transcriptionist:
Proficient in English and grammar.
Basic computer knowledge and familiarity with MS Word or other similar applications.
Strong listening skills.
Good typing speed.
With a career in transcription, you can work at your own pace and in a comfortable and productive environment.
So moms, if this sounds good. You should definitely give it a try.
6. Customer service representatives
A customer service representative interact with customers to handle complaints, process orders, and answer his queries.
Some of the most important Customer Service skills:
Communication skills
You need to have persuasive speaking skills. Persuasion has not only been recognized as an significant sales skill, but it can also be invaluable for your customer service.
If a customer contacts you, chances are it’s because he or she has a problem. But despite a customer’s anger or frustration, reps need to stay positive. They should have the ability to use positive language and steer the conversation towards a positive outcome.
Adaptability
People have different perspective and different ways of conversing. Also, they will use different ways of contacting, for example, email, messages or phone calls.
Luckily, a good CRM is equipped to handle this challenge by integrating ticket sources and making customer information available no matter what channel you’re using. That is why, reps need that mental flexibility to respond to a variety of situations in whichever way your customers prefer at the moment.
Effective listening and patience
You need to listen properly to the customer’s queries and have lots of patience to deal with their questions and problems.
Companies That Hire for Remote Work-from-Home Customer Service Reps
For mothers who are wanting to re-enter the workforce or transition into a career that allows them to work from home, this is a great job opportunity.
7. Online Teacher
If you need something, you can do now and not have trained for it, try this job!
Online teaching refers to the medium of imparting education through an online mode. It could be via email, live or recorded video, online boards etc. There are a variety of tools available that support people who are looking to impart education digitally.
With a new development era in technology, online Teacher/tutor had been one of the most preferred jobs, especially for mothers. You can choose the subject/ subjects, which you want to teach. There are many opportunities in it for work from home jobs for moms.
Skills Required to Start Online Teaching Jobs
In-depth knowledge of the subject
Flexibility in approach to cater to various age groups
Good communication skills
Active listening and ability to provide constructive feedback
Good curriculum planner
Familiarity with the course structure
Passion for teaching and tech-savvy
An online teacher’s job can play different roles, like:
Some Things you might need for online teaching jobs:
A computer
Microphone
Reliable and fast internet connection
A webcam
pen tablet
If you have a passion of teaching and also needed something that would be reliable and consistent week to week and pay more than $8 an hour, this is the job for you!
8. Web Designer
Web designers are responsible to plan, create and code web pages and websites, many of which combine text with sounds, pictures, graphics and video clips. It is a very good option of work from home jobs for moms, who have the required qualification.
A web designer is responsible for creating the design and layout of a website or web pages. Web designers can often work from home and can find freelance and flexible schedule roles.
Qualifications for a web designer
1. Master’s or bachelor’s degree in one of the following field
Computer science
software engineering
multimedia web design
information technology
web design
digital media production
graphic design
2. Diploma or certificate courses can also be pursued
The salary of a web developer is dependent upon education and experience. For moms, who have the qualifications should definitely do a job as a web designer.
Between the income potential, how flexible the projects can be, and the fact that you are doing meaningful work that is helping other business owners will help you feel content with your career choice.
There are many more online jobs like graphic designer, interior designer, life coach etc. and many more corporate jobs and other jobs for work from home moms.
Pros of having a remote job for mothers
Good source of income: Online jobs are really the most convenient and good source of income for mothers. So, work from home jobs for moms, is a nice way of earning some additional income.
You’re there for your children: You can keep a watch over kids while working, and that is the main purpose of your online job search. Having a parent at home, from a child’s infancy to middle school has been shown to be extremely beneficial to children. That is how work for home jobs for moms are convenient working opportunities.
Escape from office politics: From dressing right, to dealing with gossipy colleagues, breaking away from the politics of office can make your life extremely liberating.
Money saved on childcare services: The cost of childcare is extortionate, but because of work from home opportunities you can negate these costs completely, saving your family a small fortune every year.
Cons of work from home jobs for moms
Many people who work from home find that they are more productive in their offices than their homes. ome environment, it can be difficult for some moms to do both, keeping eyes on children and doing the office work.
You can feel a little trapped: You’re there for your children when they need you, but then, of course, you’re always there. It can sometimes be very tiring to do both, dealing with your kids and doing work. You have to do everything yourself, from making coffee to cleaning your workspace, in addition to taking care of your home and children.
Health issues: Dealing with two things at the same time can be stressful and can lead to health issues, so you have to be careful with your schedule and take proper intake of healthy food.
Mothers are like superwomen, if they want, they can achieve anything in their life. So, if you are a superwoman for children, don’t be hesitant to give yourself a chance, to show your capabilities and for yourself and your family. Try these work from home jobs for moms.
There is a common saying that if you don’t love what you do then you won’t be able succeed no matter how hard you try. Treat every day differently and watch out for your steep learning curve.
Want to become a successful freelance designer? Here’s everything you need to know!
In today’s world, a lot of people are taking to be a freelancer. Be it any field, and freelancing is available everywhere. It is quite good to work as a freelancer in the industry or niche of your choice. Being a freelancer is not an easy job, but it can be exciting and fruitful if you are passionate about what you are doing.
What is freelancing?
When you work as a freelancer, it has its own perks over a full-time job in some company. Though having a full-time job gives you a kind of security and means a fixed income source, working as a freelancer also has its advantages. One of the best things about freelancing is that you are your own boss.
As a freelancer, you can select projects according to your choices and preferences. You can work as per your own will. Not just this, you also have the freedom to decide your work schedule.
What does a freelance designer do?
One of the most popular fields to be a freelancer in is graphic designing. A lot of people take to graphic designing nowadays. Especially there’s a big craze for graphic designing among youngsters in the present time.
A graphic designer or freelance designer is one who assembles images or motion graphics to create a piece of design. It can be said that they are visual communicators who create visual concepts by hands or computer software.
There are a lot of people nowadays who choose to become freelance designers. If you are a freelance designer, you can create graphics for printed, published, or electronic media such as brochures and advertisements. Being a freelance designer gives you a lot of freedom.
If you are also an aspiring freelance designer, you need to take the right measures to be a successful freelance designer. If you haven’t gone to school or college to learn graphic design, you can enroll in graphic design courses. There are many institutes offering courses in graphic designing for those interested in the field.
How to be successful as a freelance designer?
1. Make yourself a brand
No matter whether it’s a full-time business or freelancing, all of them need a name. When you plan to be a freelance designer, one of the most significant steps you must take is thinking about how you will be deciding a brand name for yourself.
As a freelance designer, you have to decide everything for yourself as no one else is there to help in your work. Making yourself a brand or deciding a brand name is supposed to be done at the beginning of your career as a freelance designer.
In every business, especially in freelancing, word of mouth is one of the important factors that determine your success as it is one of the primary ways you get clients and projects. But, there should be a brand name for you as a freelancer to make people or clients suggest you or refer more clients towards you.
An important question that all freelancers have to consider is whether to use their own name as their brand name or decide on a separate name for their brand or company. Well, it all depends upon what you are planning for the future.
If you plan to be a freelance designer and have a one-person business, then it’s a good idea to use your own name as the brand name. But, if you are planning to grow your freelance business into a business of many people, then decide on a separate brand name.
2. Look for clients
If you really want to be successful as a freelance designer, you need projects and clients. It is only when you have clients and work to do that you will stay in the industry. When you are just starting your career as a freelance designer, the most important thing that you need to do is to find your first clients.
Are you thinking about why it is necessary to find clients? Well, you can’t call it a business until you have clients. And, not having clients means you are not a freelance designer. Just giving your freelance business a name and building a portfolio won’t make you a freelance designer. You need clients to be a successful freelance designer.
When you get your first clients as a freelance designer, it boosts your confidence. It gives you momentum and encouragement to do your work as a freelance designer with all your heart.
There are various ways for a freelancer designer to find clients:
A) Freelance job sites
There are a lot of websites online from where you can find clients for your freelance business. You have to look for clients in your niche. Some of the websites where you can find clients are Upwork, FreeUp, and TopTal.
B) Through personal network:
Whether you are already working as a freelance designer or you are just a student, you must have a personal network related to your niche. You can look for clients among the people in your personal network. Those people can even introduce you to your potential clients.
3. Build a portfolio
Whether it’s a full-time job or freelancing, the portfolio is an important factor that affects the possibilities of you getting the job or clients. A portfolio is like a mirror of your personality, as it tells about all your experiences and skills.
Many freelance designers in the market are yet to find clients and work just because they haven’t finished their portfolios. If you don’t want to suffer like them, build a portfolio that highlights all your best works to prompt the clients to hire you.
Whenever you plan to buy something, the first thing you consider is the qualities of that product. If the product is of good quality, only then it prompts you to buy it. The same is the case with clients. They will hire you only when they find you appropriate and able to handle the project.
4. Treat your clients well
When working as a freelance designer, your work doesn’t get over after you get clients. In fact, that’s where your actual work begins, as those clients will stay loyal to you only when you will treat and serve them well.
Whether you have found your clients through websites or personal networks, you must complete the projects assigned to you efficiently. If you serve your clients well, only then will they be happy with you, and the client’s happiness is the key to become a successful freelance designer.
Treating and serving your clients well has many pros:
Getting more work– When you work well on your projects, there’ a great chance that the client will hire you again for other projects. More project means more work and more money, and hence your success as a freelance designer.
Referrals– When a client gets impressed by your work, he would not only give you more projects himself, he would also refer you to other clients. When other people in their circle need a freelance designer, they’d suggest your name to them, which is a great way to find new clients and success.
5. Market Yourself
When you start working as a freelance designer, one of the most important steps to find work and be successful is to market yourself. To find work and clients, you first need to reach them, and advertising and marketing is the primary way to do that.
There are a lot many ways to market yourself as a freelance designer:
Creating a website– In this internet-friendly world, having an online presence is significant, as it helps a lot. All the businesses and freelancers have their websites where the clients and customers can better know their work.
Blogging– If you want to attract more clients as a freelance designer, start blogging. It’s a good way to market your brand as you can describe it in your own words. When your clients will read your blogs about your brand or work and find it fascinating, they’ll surely hire you.
Social media marketing– Social media is a powerful medium in the present world. Almost everyone has a profile on various social media platforms nowadays.
Not just for entertainment, social media can prove to be quite useful when it comes to working. If you have a presence on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you will reach more people and find more clients.
Asking for referrals- Don’t just wait for your existing clients to refer more clients to you. When you are a freelance designer, don’t feel shy and ask for referrals yourself. This way, you will increase the chances of you getting more work.
A few tips to get you started
1. Learn to manage invoices. paperwork, and proposals
When you become a freelance designer, your work is not just to complete the clients’ projects assigned to you. When you are a freelancer, it means you don’t have anyone else in your team, and you have to manage all your business on your own.
In a business where the company has various employees, the work is divided among people. But, when you are a freelancer, you have to do everything yourself. It would be best to learn how to write invoices, send proposals, and manage contracts.
It’s completely okay if you are not a pro at making invoices as there are many software available online that can help you with that. Some of the best software to create invoices are Freshbooks, QuickBooks, and Honeybook.
2. Don’t be too choosy in the beginning
If you are starting as a freelance designer, your primary goal must be to find as many clients as possible to get more work. While looking for clients, you should keep in mind that it is not too choosy in the beginning.
When you become too choosy about the kind of clients you want to work for, it decreases your chances of getting more work. When you become picky, you sometimes let good opportunities go and then regret eventually.
Remember that to be a successful freelance designer, and you need clients to boost your confidence and earn money. Your first clients are like your stepping stones, and if you keep turning them down because they don’t pay enough or for some other reason, your career will see a dip even before it starts.
When you are a newbie, you don’t have much experience to show to your clients, and no one will pay a first-year student as much as an experienced freelance designer. So, it’s obvious that people would pay you less at the beginning of your career as a freelance designer. When you don’t have testimonials to show, it’d be difficult for clients to hire you as it can prove to be risky for them.
3. Build a network
When you go to school or college, you make friends or network with your classmates. Similarly, when you start as a freelance designer, it’s necessary to get in touch with others in your industry or niche. Building a network with people is important for various reasons, and some of them are:
Meeting potential clients– As we discussed earlier, your personal network is a good place to look for clients. You never know who can be your potential client in your network or even introduce you to new clients.
Information about conferences– Attending conferences and workshops related to your niche is an excellent way to improve your industry knowledge. When you are in touch with people from the same niche, you get information regarding such conferences near you.
4. Collect payments on time
When working as a freelancer, you don’t have a finance team or accountant working for you who would inform you and keep records of your income. It’s all upon you to handle. As we already discussed, you are the one who’s going to manage the invoices and proposals, and payments.
One thing to keep in mind when working as a freelance designer is that business is business, and asking for your payment is only a part of the profession. Never feel shy or awkward when asking for payment as you have earned it through hard work.
Softwares like Freshbooks doesn’t just help you to create invoices. It also collects payments and reminds people when their payments are due. It’s a part of your work to collect payments on time, and as a freelancer, you must do it.
So, are you working as a freelance designer? Are you a student aspiring to be a freelance designer, not knowing how to succeed in that field? Well, this guide will help you do all the things right. Make sure to follow all the above-mentioned steps to be a successful freelance designer.
What is the first thing you notice whenever you see an advertisement or a business page? It’s the content, right?
As the world evolves, it takes a lot of planning and talent to create compelling content. A contentcreator creates appealing and robust content for the viewers.
“Content is the reason search began in the first place.” – Lee Odden
About Content Creation
Who is a Content Creator?
The content creator is responsible for generating exciting ideas and creating content that connects a brand or an entity to its target audience. The content can be either educational or entertaining enough to grab people’s attention to develop an interest and visit their page regularly.
Content creation includes copywriting, designing, production, and other media that provide value and connect you with your audience.
How Should a Good Content be?
Good content must positively impact people and attract them towards the business concerned. Content is not always about educating us. It is about entertaining; for instance, the memes and jokes that make us smile are also a kind of content.
What do Content Creators do?
A content creator’s job is to produce work on different platforms such as social media, blogging sites, podcasts, case studies, video platforms, infographics, and many more.
Though, the responsibilities of content creators vary from each other depending upon which platform they are working on and who their audience is.
Some of the tasks that you have to do as a content creator include:
Generating ideas: You must make your brain cells run in a way that helps you come up with creative ideas for your content. It takes a lot of brainstorming to produce content that delivers positive results.
Research work: Before creating content, one needs to do a lot of research work as per their needs. Only after studying various articles and studies can you deliver impactful content.
Brand analysis: Before you start creating content for a company or a brand, you must evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and competitors of that brand or company.
Editing: This is an essential skill you must possess when creating writing, videography, and designing content. If you notice the flaws in your work and cut them down to make the content well polished, you will successfully keep the clients and audience happy.
Design and creativity: A content creator must be creative and good at designing, as well designed and creative content always attracts the audience.
Project management: You often get the task of managing the projects for which you are creating content. So, you must be good at management to become a good content creator.
Videography: Platforms like YouTube have opened new paths to connect with our audience. It is one of the ‘must-have’ skills for a content creator as it helps a company or entity promote its brands through a video demonstration.
SEO: This is significant, especially for web content writers. They should be knowing the basics of SEO so that they can apply them to their works and articles for better visibility.
What Kind of Jobs do Content Creators Get?
The content creators find jobs in various agencies, companies, and in-house teams. They can even work as freelancers, per their comfort zone and choice. You will find different jobs within these categories, such as videography, photography, and content writing.
Here’s an insight into the kind of jobs you can find among various categories:-
In-House content creation
In-house content teams work for both one company and a group of companies. It offers you many benefits and a stable income. Under this, you will be focusing on one industry only, but if it turns out to be the one you are interested in, it could be great for you.
In-house content teams will allow you to have greater control over the content-related strategies and closer collaboration with other groups in the market. However, the minus point is that you will get less content variety and less place for creativity.
Content Creation agency
Those agencies provide you with great opportunities to work with a wide range of clients and help you sharpen your existing skills even more. It also offers the benefits of a salaried job and stability. The income is better than those who work for in-house teams, due to which there’s more competition as well.
Freelance Content Creator
Freelance content creation is a good option for those who value their freedom more than stability and income. They can either work for others or promote their own media channels to earn their living. A great example of freelance content creators is the social media influencers who are so much in trend nowadays.
Freelance content creation has its perks as it facilitates flexibility, allows you to create a variety of content, and lets you set your price. However, they do not get any employee benefits that regular employees get.
How to Become a Content Creator?
There are a lot many ways to become a content creator. You have to find the right path for yourself. While on the one hand, you need to have relevant marketing, writing, or designing degrees and experience as per the need of your content creation field; on the other hand, you need less experience and degrees to be a freelance content creator.
Before starting your career in content creation, you must get to your specializations and then choose the field accordingly (be it writing, videography, technical SEO, content marketing, or some other area). You must apply for both paid and unpaid internships to improve your skills and experience.
Always try to maintain your brand through blogs, podcasts, or social media accounts, as it highlights your expertise and helps you find new job opportunities. To be a content creator, you must have the ability to give shape to your thoughts and ideas to showcase your creativity.
Try to be connected with the industry through online and in-person networking events related to your field. You can even join various social media groups about content creation to know the industry.
You should always keep in mind an important thing is never to stop learning. We learn something new every day, which helps us grow and enhances our knowledge about things in particular. Keep learning new things about content creation to have a better grip on your career.
7 tips to Become a Successful Content Creator
1) Do not Sign with an MCN or Agency in the Beginning
Remember that when you start your career as a content creator, never sign up with a multi-channel network or a big agency too early. They might claim to help you make money overnight, but it can become a massive disappointment, as in a big agency, their expectations from you will be too high, which might make you feel burdened.
Just try to grasp new information and learn everything about content creation like editing, videography, writing ideal content, creating thumbnails, negotiating brand deals, etc., on your own first.
After you become well versed with content creation, pick the right agency of your choice to work with. The right people and agency will never make you feel suppressed but instead cooperate and collaborate with you to ensure your progress.
2) Never be Unidimensional in Terms of Content
You can be a successful content creator only when passionate about it. When entering the content creation field, remember that you are a content creator because you are interested in that industry, and you are not there to be an influencer but a creator.
An excellent way to ensure success as a content creator is to be active on more than one or two platforms. Don’t limit yourself to a single content creation field as no platform is unbeatable and has its shelf life, so you should always have a plan-B in another content creation field.
One must build audiences on multiple platforms to be successful. As a successful content creator, you should always have a goal to be an independent content store instead of choosing the influencer’s life.
The more variety of content you create, the more success you will achieve, and the more you will earn money through your various forms of content.
3) Be Up-to-date
Always be up-to-date about all the facets of your industry to succeed in content creation. Do not just keep yourself limited to the knowledge relevant to your field, but rather be aware of other related areas as well. Keep all the information regarding your industry’s innovations, rules and regulations, trends, opportunities, and threats.
The more you know the industry, the more valuable content you will create according to the market needs. You should understand that change is a constant and keeps happening in the industry, so you have to bring changes according to your content. You should read others’ content.
Keep in mind that a good content writer is always curious and looks for topics that their target audience cares for.
4) Always Look for Ideas
Brainstorming and putting your brain cells at work can be fun at times, but at the same time, this is the most challenging part of content creation. An excellent way to brainstorm is to look for inspiration in other relatable content and get ideas from your competitors’ strategies (not to copy).
If you wish to become a successful content creator, rely on existing ideas. Keep striving for more new and creative ideas all the time. A good content creator should always think differently and find new ways to produce content.
5) Know Your Industry Completely
Take a step closer to your success by learning your industry inside out. Look at it as your priority to get to know everything about the content creation industry’s past, present, and future. It becomes more critical when creating content for the field you are unfamiliar with, as you must have the necessary knowledge before writing about it.
You should do research even when you are familiar with your field, as it will only add to your knowledge and help you create better content once you know the industry. A good content writer produces content that is forward-thinking and up-to-date with the industry’s latest trends.
6) User-intent Should Always be your Priority
Before creating content, the creator must completely get to know the target audience. Keeping in mind the audiences’ needs is the sign of a good content creator as they can only create relevant content.
When outlining the ideas for content, the end-user should always be the priority. You can be a successful content creator only when you think about what the audience is looking for and give your best to satisfy the intent behind their search through your content’s ideas, order, and design formatting. For this, you should also know about SEO and other important things.
7) Analyze the Results and Learn From Your Mistake
Before you start creating content for a client or take up a project, you must decide what kind of success you want for that particular client or project. After you are done with it, start analyzing your actual and potential performance and compare it with your expectations.
When you create content, its success can be measured in many ways, like increasing website traffic, the number of links it generates, its conversion rate, etc. You must analyze your work after you are done with it, and if you find flaws, you must learn from them.
A successful content creator is the one who picks apart what is working and what is not. They should always look for improvements in the future to achieve greater heights.
So, now that you are well aware of everything regarding a content creator’s job, are you excited to try it? Are you ready to be a successful content creator? Well, my best wishes are with you. Keep all the points mentioned above in mind, and nothing can stop you from creating great content.
Starting a business is no child’s play as it takes a lot of effort and time. Before starting a business, you have to undergo various steps such as planning, decision making, market research, and legalities. So now, are you ready to start a business?
Undoubtedly the idea of entrepreneurship seems fascinating to many people, but when you take to start a business, it can be overwhelming. Each business is different, in various terms, from one another. Still, every business requires enough hard work from you to be successful, and that’s why the question of ‘Are you ready to start a business always comes to mind in the beginning.
All the industries work differently, but it takes similar steps to make them successful and achieve greater heights. So, if you plan to start a business, you must be aware of some essential things.
Are You Ready to Start a Business? Here are 11 tips
1. Working on Ideas and Determining the Type of Business
Before starting a business, you must be having an idea about what you are going to sell. That is to say, you need to determine the type of business beforehand. You must decide which industry or market you want to enter and look at other existing companies for inspiration. After all the decisions, it’s finally time to decide ‘Are you ready to start a business.’
Once you are sure that you can deliver something that other companies cannot, you can take further steps.
“Always start with why,” says Simon Sinek. You don’t just need to determine the type of business; you must have a clear idea about why you want to choose that field.
Always choose a field about which you have enough knowledge. Your business must have the ability to fulfill market needs.
Many people jump into launching their business without working upon their ideas, leading to disappointment.
2. Market Research
If your answer to the question ‘Are you ready to start a business’ is yes, then it’s about time to move to the next step.
After you have decided the type of business, you must make sure that you can make money through your niche. An excellent way to do this is to conduct market research to understand the trends in the market and economic behavior.
If you do market research before starting your business, it lets you add things that add to the success of your business and eliminate the risk factors.
You can either use existing sources to know the market or research yourself by talking to the consumers. Though using current sources saves your time, the information provided by them might not be entirely accurate.
If you research yourself, it gives you a more nuanced knowledge about your industry and audience. Though it requires time and effort, the result received is more accurate and solves your business-related queries quickly.
3. Choosing a Location for Business
When you know the answer to the question ‘are you ready to start a business, you must first choose a suitable location for your business.
Picking the right location for your business also plays a vital role while starting a business. The business location determines the zoning laws, taxes, and rules and regulations that your business must abide by.
Your decision to choose a business location depends on the site of your business partners (if any), target audience, and personal preferences.
When deciding the location, it’s necessary to consider the costs, state taxes, and expenses, depending upon the location, as it makes a significant difference.
4. Business Plan and Exit Strategy
Just because your answer to the question ‘are you ready to start a business’ is yes doesn’t mean your job is done. You must have a good business plan and an exit strategy before starting a business.
Writing a Business Plan
One of the most significant steps before starting the business is to write a business plan, as it lays down the foundation of your business. A business plan is a record that covers all your business details.
A good business plan gives the guide you need through all the stages of starting, managing, and making your business successful. Moreover, it helps you get funds, brings new business partners, and convinces other business owners to believe and invest in your industry.
No right or wrong format is there to make a business plan. It just requires you to meet your needs. Your business plan should include all the necessary details about your business, such as a description of your company and product, ways of management, sales strategy, marketing plans, financial plans, and a summary of everything regarding your business.
Exit strategy
It’s always a great idea to keep the future in mind. Whenever you start a business, plan the exit strategy, making you a good entrepreneur. An ideal business owner holds both success and failure in mind.
Whenever you enter something, you get to know where you are supposed to exit from. Just like that, you must be knowing beforehand what your strategy would be if you don’t get successful.
5. Business Structure
While answering the question ‘are you ready to start a business, you must answer one more problem regarding the business structure.
Before starting a business, you must decide the business structure. It influences everything in your business (be it the day-to-day operations, risk factors, or taxes you pay). Always choose the business structure that suits your business.
You can even convert into a different business structure in the future, but you may face restrictions based upon your location. Some common business structures that you can choose from are:
Sole proprietorship: This means that there will be a single owner of the business. It is easy to form, and you have full control over your business under this structure. But, you will be the one liable for the risks simultaneously. This implies that your business assets and liabilities are not different from your investments.
Partnership: This business structure has two or more owners of the business. It is of two types, i.e., limited and limited liability. Limited partnership businesses have one partner with unlimited liability and other partners with limited liability.
On the other hand, the Limited liability partnership has all the partners with limited liability.
Limited liability company: This one has the benefits of both the corporation and partnership business structure as it provides legal protection of a corporation and at the same time allows tax benefits of a partnership. It is one of the most common structures for small businesses. LLC can be the right choice for a medium or high-risk business.
6. Funds and Expenses for Business
Say yes to the question, ‘are you ready to start a business when you have enough funds to bear the expenses.
You need money to start a business, and funding your business is one of the essential things before launching your company. You need to decide whether you have enough means to cover the costs and support your business or do you need to borrow or find investors.
If your business runs out of money before making a profit, your business will fail—the funds you have affect the determination of the company’s structure.
Self-funding
You can self-fund your business if you have the required amount of money. You can even ask for help from your friends or family.
You get complete control over your business when you do self-funding, but you have risks too.
Loans
If you don’t want to share the ownership and control over your business, but at the same time, you are not able to self-fund your business, you can take a small business loan from the bank.
To secure the loan, you must have a business plan and financial projections ready so that the bank knows that they can believe in you and sanction your loan.
Investors
When you cannot self-fund all your business, you can get funding from venture capital investments from investors. In return, venture capital generally offers an ownership share and an active role in the industry.
We are aware that everything has a price. If you need investors to invest in your business, be ready to share control and ownership of your business with the investors.
To get funding from investors, you first need to find interested investors, share your business plan with them, and discuss all the terms and conditions. Only after they know and believe in your company will they invest in your business.
Crowdfunders
This is yet another way to get funds for your business. If you do not want to share the ownership and control over your interaction with others, this is an excellent way to help you. Crowdfunding means raising funds for a business from many people (called Crowdfunders).
They are not investors as they don’t receive share or control over your business. Crowdfunders don’t expect financial returns on their money as well. They expect a ‘gift’ from your company to return their contribution. You can either give them the product you will sell as a gift or give them their due credits.
Crowdfunding has a low risk for the business owners as you are not obliged to repay the crowd funders if your business fails.
While funding your business, keep in mind one thing that you must not overspend money when you are just starting your business. Make only those necessary purchases for the business and enough to help you achieve your business goals.
Keep a record of your expenses while starting your business as you don’t want to regret and incur a massive loss if your business fails.
7. Business Name and Registration
Are you ready to start a business? If yes, be prepared to give it a good name and register the company.
After you are done with all the planning and funding, it’s time to decide on a name for your business. Every one wants a business name that reflects your brand and is different from others.
After you choose the business name, you need to register it, and there are four different ways to register the business name to protect it:
Trademark: It protects your business’ name, goods, and services at the national level. Entity Name: This protects the name of your business at the state level. Your entity name is the way the state identifies your business. DBA: Doing business as DBA doesn’t provide any protection, but it might be legally required in a few states.
Domain Name: Everyone wants an online presence of their business nowadays. Your domain name must be registered so that no one can use it as long as you are using it.
After you choose a business name, get your business registered. The registration of your business depends upon your business location and structure. If you have a small business, the registration process is as easy as writing the business name.
On the other hand, there’s no need to register your business at all in some cases. If you plan to conduct your business as yourself, using your legal name, then there’s no need to register it.
8. Open a Business Bank Account and Get a Tax ID
Are you ready to start a business? Well, then be prepared to open a bank account and get your tax ID.
Once you are done registering your business, apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) straightaway, as it’s free of charge. Your EIN is your federal tax ID. It’s mandatory for your business if you need to hire employees, pay taxes, open a bank account, work with certain types of organizations, and apply for licenses and permits for your business.
When you are ready to accept and make payments, open a business account as it helps you stay legally protected. Business accounts generally include savings accounts, checking accounts, credit card accounts, and merchant services accounts.
You can open a business account after you get your federal EIN. Choose the right bank to open your business account in. Opening a business account is easy as you need the required documents.
9. License and Permits
If you can perceive the answer to the question ‘are you ready to start a business, then be prepared to get all the required licenses and permits as well.
After your business registration, you need to apply for all the necessary licenses and permits. Most of the small businesses require licenses from both federal and state agencies.
All the requirements and fees for getting a license and permits vary based on your location, business type, and rules. You need to get a federal license or permit if a federal agency regulates business activities.
Not only this, you need to get state licenses, as states regulate more activities than the federal government. The state licenses and permits vary in every state based on the rules and regulations of the state concerned.
10. Insurance
Are you ready to start a business? If yes, then start finding measures to protect it from risks.
Many people ignore this step while starting a business, but purchasing an insurance policy for your business is essential. Whenever you start a business, there’s always a risk of expected and unexpected damages (be it theft, property damage, or some natural calamity).
If you initially buy a suitable insurance policy for your business, you’ll be protected appropriately. You should always choose the right approach for the type of business you start.
11. Build your Team, Launch your Business and First Product and Market your Business
When you say yes to the question ‘are you ready to start a business, then be prepared to build a good team for the success of that business.
Building a good team for your company is one of the most critical factors that determine the business’s success. Unless you plan to run the business all by yourself, you need to hire talented and efficient employees and workers for your business.
After you have a team, you are finally ready to launch your business and serve the target audience. You can keep hiring more people after the launch, according to the needs of your business.
After the final launch of your business, you need to launch your first product and make it available to your audience. We all know the saying, ‘First impression is the last impression.’ Ensure that the first product of your business is powerful enough to attract more clients to your business. Always keep consistency in the quality of your product.
Before selling your product, you need to brand yourself and market your business and product. Create a logo so that people can identify your brand and use the same logo across all the platforms.
To market your business, you need to spend money on advertisements. Make sure that you don’t spend much. A good marketing plan must be present to advertise your business and attract an audience.
So, now that you know how to start a business successfully. Are you ready to start a business? It might seem a bit challenging initially, but everything takes effort, and to start a business, it requires a lot of hard work, knowledge, and dedication.
Remember that it’s okay to make mistakes initially as we learn from those mistakes so that we don’t repeat them in the future. You may face a few obstacles in your way, but it’s all about how you handle things while starting your own business. Just make sure that your answer to the question ‘are you ready to start abusiness‘ is yes, and then follow all the steps given in this guide.
Can you build a successful career as an SEO expert? The answer is yes. Read on to find out how you can become an SEO expert and pursue a successful career.
Become a Successful SEO Expert
About Search Engine Optimization
What do you understand when you use the term ‘SEO expert’?
Well, a search engine expert or specialist is someone who optimizes websites (through analysis and reviewing) to make them achieve higher search engine rankings.
In other words, we can say that by improving page rank within search engines, an SEO expert maximizes the traffic to a site.
Why should you start an SEO company?
In the present time, the importance of SEO experts and companies is constantly rising as all businesses rely on getting discovered by people on the internet. SEO services are an excellent way to help other enterprises to improve and grow.
The primary reason there’s a great demand for SEO Agencies or SEO experts is that it helps improve business’ visibility in the search results online to increase website traffic.
As a business owner, it will be highly profitable to start an SEO company, as the field’s recurring revenue is good. Most SEO services are delivered monthly as they require consistency, so it helps the owners have a predictable and steady book of work.
Moreover, it makes the hiring process more manageable when you expand your SEO business.
Stay away from misconceptions.
Be it any field or industry; misunderstandings are everywhere. The first thing to keep in your mind before starting an SEO business is to stay away from misconceptions regarding the industry.
You don’t have to know every term in the SEO glossary to run a successful SEO business.
On the contrary, if you know a few core SEO ideas, it’ll be sufficient for you to explain the basics of SEO to your clients.
Remember that as an SEO expert, your work is not to give in-depth information about how you will show them the results.
You have to help them achieve good service engine ranks and more traffic on their website. A well-laid plan is all you need to help your clients in the SEO business.
You need a team of hardworking, efficient, and trustworthy partners and employees to make your SEO agency successful. Teamwork is always better than a solo effort.
This doesn’t mean that you go on hiring so many employees and spending money, as some of them might turn into unused assets later on.
Just have enough members in your team so that you can complete your projects as an SEO expert.
In such cases, you can even provide SEO services to your clients by choosing a good White Label SEO service provider from the industry.
White Lable SEO Service Provider
It is also known as SEO reseller services. We can define it as a search engine optimization partnership among two or more companies.
The alliance embodies at least two companies who agree to share sales and marketing responsibilities of an SEO product. It fulfils the demand of other companies.
The achievement of any newly formed SEO company depends on the potential of the search engine optimization services you provide to the client. It also depends upon the skills and expertise of an SEO expert.
Always look for an efficient White Lable SEO service provider to profit from. It offers SEO services to agencies without taking credit for completing the work.
Are you planning to start and build your business as an SEO expert? We all know that starting a business is always tricky, but things start getting easier once you know the basics and get a hold of the industry.
Let’s get familiar with the requirements for starting your SEO business.
Skills Needed to Start an SEO Company
1. Business Discernment
The first skill needed to start any business is to know about it. Before starting your own SEO business as an SEO expert, you must possess business discernment.
It means that you must have the ability to understand the industry and make sound judgments for the growth of your business. If you don’t have this skill, you will have a hard time in your business.
2. Basics of Digital Marketing
If you want to work your way towards becoming an SEO expert, you must know the basics of digital marketing. No client would trust an agency with zero basic SEO and digital marketing knowledge.
You can learn the basics on your own to better your business. There are many online resources that you can easily access just by signing up on various sites.
3. Legalities
Starting a new business comprises a lot of legal steps. Every decision in your business has to be guided by specific rules and regulations.
First of all, you need to get your SEO agency registered, and for that, you have to determine the business structure. It can be of two types:
Sole proprietorship– When you register your SEO agency as a sole proprietorship, it means that you will be running your business with a single owner. This can be a good option for those business owners who want to operate their business as freelancers.
This structure provides flexibility and a simple setup, but at the same time, it comes with a few risks as the agency will be liable in case of any damages.
Limited liability company– When you register as an LLC, it implies that you can have more than one owner for your business.
This structure possesses fewer risks, and one of those is that you have to pay business tax and personal tax separately. This structure also provides the business with legal protection.
4. Payment preparations
Setting up payment methods
As an SEO expert of a new SEO company, you must decide and set up the methods of payment that you’d prefer. There are various methods available nowadays, which include:
Credit card payment: This is one of the most commonly used methods for payment by businesses. Most clients prefer this method, as transactions through cards are way more manageable.
Digital wallets: This is the method that’s evolving continuously in the present times. PayPal, Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe are some well-known apps used nowadays for payments.
Automated Clearing House transfers: In this method, clients send an electronic money transfer from their bank account to a US-based business bank account.
5. Creating SEO Contracts
An SEO contract is significant as it binds your company with your clients. It is a kind of agreement about what is expected from both parties. An SEO contract has all the details about how your agency will handle projects.
6. Invoice templates
Preparing invoice templates for your SEO business is one crucial step when starting your business as an SEO expert.
Invoice is proof of the transaction between your company and clients, which helps you track accounts to ensure that your agency is getting paid as per the payment terms and conditions.
Your SEO invoice must include the charges with clear descriptions of all the services provided by your company. Not only this, the due date and payment method should also be mentioned in the invoice.
7. Business name and logo
When you start your SEO agency as an SEO expert, your first goal is to develop your brand. The name and logo are the most significant aspects of your brand as your company is recognized by it.
Deciding on a name and logo for your business is essential as both of them go into all the business cards, brochures, websites, advertisements and other digital resources.
8. Deciding the target audience and choosing your niche
After selecting a name and logo for your business, you must decide on your target audience to know the ideal clients you want to attract.
When you decide your audience and define their personas, you can easily understand their goals, expectations and the digital marketing solutions that they need.
When you choose your target audience, you must select your niche as an SEO expert. This is where many SEO agencies fall short and face disappointment due to the ‘provide services to everyone’ approach.
Deciding your niche makes a big difference as you know what kind of clients you will serve beforehand.
When choosing your niche, in the beginning, go with an industry you’re familiar with or start with your social circle. Before finalizing your niche, do market research and then choose accordingly.
9. Website Building
Almost all brands and agencies have their websites nowadays, as the internet is an excellent medium to reach the audience.
When you start your business initially, it doesn’t matter whether the website is as attractive and stunning as other established business’ websites. What matters is the one you have, helping you reach your target audience.
10. Developing a Methodology
To make your SEO business successful, you must develop your methodology as it highlights the expertise and strategies to provide value to your business.
Being an SEO expert and then establishing your industry shows your expertise in the field. You can either build an in-house team or outsource the work to other experts.
11. Ability to Manage Projects
SEO is an incessant project. To make a website advanced and famous, one needs to keep upgrading the website. For this, it is essential to learn project management to manage the enterprise.
The two points we all need to focus on while managing a project are planning and fulfilling.
Planning includes investigation, judgment, and strategy. This helps build the foundation of your SEO campaigns, so you have a clear direction of what and when to do things.
After planning comes to the execution stage, it goes beyond the delivery. It’s a process of implementation of our plans.
12. SEO tools
Starting an SEO business requires basic knowledge about Google Analytics or Google Search Console, as that’s when you can be called an SEO expert.
Both of these tools provide you with good results. But a robust SEO methodology needs more SEO tools.
Many SEO and marketing tools are designed so that they can accomplish other tasks, such as keyword research, as well.
Various free and paid tools available are online for the same, and some of them are Google Data Studio, Moz and SEMRush and more.
13. Getting Clients by Marketing Your SEO Company
After you set up your agency, it’s upon you to make it successful and take it to new heights. If you want your agency to be the top choice for businesses, you need to market your agency.
You can market your agency to get more clients through many practices. Some of the most effective ways for marketing are:
Search Engine Optimization: You must also serve your own business for what you are about to serve others. As you know that SEO is an effective way to build your online presence, you better work on your website’s on-page and off-page improvements.
Ensure that your website is working properly, has a good loading speed and gives a good user experience.
Reviews: This is another way to attract clients to your agency, as having reviews on top sites and your website makes others able to understand your expertise in the field.
Ask your clients to review your company (without being forceful), as their reviews will add to your agency’s value.
Adding your business on listings: You can add your SEO business on relevant business listings so that you get more clients when they check those lists of business companies.
While doing this, make sure that your business name, address and contact number are correct and consistent.
Social media: There’s no business in today’s era without a social media account. After starting your SEO business, create an account on various social media platforms and publish posts regularly to reach more people.
Content marketing: This is a way that every company uses for marketing their business. When we talk about content marketing, it’s not always about blogging.
You should look for the questions people have regarding your agency and then create topics through these questions. After that, create content that to make your clients understand your agency.
Paid advertising is one of the most common ways to market a brand or business. Paid ads are ideal for attracting your target audience as you can highlight all your specialties and offerings in those ads to make people look at you as their primary choice.
You can either make Google ads or remarketing ads to get displayed on other sites and your website.
Attending conferences: Other than so many online ways to market your business, there are offline ways, and attending trade shows, and business conferences are some of those ways.
It gives you an excellent opportunity to get introduced to a lot of people and connect with prospects.
Through all these methods, you can reach your target audience and attract many clients to choose your agency for getting SEO services for their businesses.
Retail your clients: Your work doesn’t end when you attract business owners to choose your agency for SEO services. When your project and prospect end with a company, it doesn’t mean that you have to break all ties with them.
Instead, you should try to build desire consistently so that they stay with your SEO agency in the future.
If you stop trying to build their desire to work with your company, you lose your clients that very moment. Having good relations with your clients is a crucial feature of a successful business agency as it helps your agency grow and achieve more success.
So, give your best to retain your clients even after completing their projects.
So, after getting well-versed with the steps to start your SEO agency, are you ready to give your career and business a great start? Are you prepared to take your SEO business to new heights?
Nothing is impossible. You need to understand the basics and know the right steps, and this guide gave you knowledge about all of it. So, my best wishes to all the aspiring SEO experts planning to start their agencies.
Being a freelance writer, you always need continuous improvement to be successful. A freelance writer is a full-time professional writer who works as a contractor for various clients.
As a freelance writer, you are your own boss and not a staff writer for some company.
In this profession, you may have to work across different genres while writing for a topic assigned by a client.
Your Journey to Become a Freelance Writer
Freelance writers are not restricted to a single type of writing, they have to work upon different kind of write-ups. Some of them are Short stories, creative writing journals, news articles, magazine articles, and editorials. You can even work as a content writer or copywriter for your clients.
Freelance writing: How does it benefit you?
A freelance writer has proven to be such an excellent profession for someone who is a passionate writer. Nowadays, many people are using freelance writing instead of writing a full-time job for a particular company.
If we have a look at freelance writing in contrast with other professions, it has many advantages and benefits.
When you work as a freelance writer, you are not supposed to work under anyone or listen to anyone. You are free to decide your hours of work and can fix your schedule and timetable accordingly. You’ve even got a chance of working from home if you please.
But along with having all those advantages, freelance writing requires hard work, and one must be good at time management. You must be energetic and ready to find new customers and clients, as needed by you.
Although it requires much effort to be a good freelance writer, every profession seems difficult at the beginning. You need to establish a steady and consistent customer base, and you’ll notice that it’s a good career choice.
The returns you receive from this kind of writing can be useful, you just have to become familiar with this field. It is essential to focus on various things for your continuous improvement in the field of freelance writing.
Freelance Writing: Guidelines for Continuous Improvement
1. Opt for your area of focus
You decide the topics that you want to try writing about as per your appropriate expertise. Picking the right niche throughout your freelance career as a writer makes things easier for you, and could indeed prove to be appropriate for your continuous improvement
You should not just write about everything that comes in front of you, instead, it is advisable to dive into some particular writing type or field. Selecting an area of focus makes writing effortless for you.
Once you have begun your career in freelance writing, try writing about multiple subjects and fields in order to understand which one suits you the most.
Try to recognize if you are into medical writing, technical writing or something else and then sharpen your skills for that kind of writing.
When you opt for your area of focus, it improves your writing and makes you feel at ease. This is because you are writing for identical clients or audience every time.
When you master a genre, it prompts the clients to choose you over others.
2. Associate with others in your field
Another recommended way for your continuous improvement as a freelance writer is to associate with others in your field. No matter the field; it is always a good idea to learn from those who have mastered the art.
Though it might appear as if you are communicating with your competitor, it’s necessary for your success.
Whether you get information about the rates in the market or the clients, it always helps to grasp knowledge from those who already know everything. It develops you personally and professionally.
Connecting with others provides you with updates about the recent information and news. Moreover, it helps you be successful as a writer.
If you are looking for freelancer writers to network with, you can search on social networking sites and other freelancing websites.
Getting in touch with other writers helps in the continuous improvement of your reputation.
3. Editing
Good editing skills are complementary when you talk about writing. When there is a writing agency or company, they have a special team of editors.
While working as a freelance writer, it becomes your duty to edit the write-ups yourself because you don’t have any other person to do that.
When we talk about the basic skills one must-have for freelance writing, editing tops the list. A well-edited and error-free article becomes more powerful and helps in the continuous improvement.
Following the right pattern makes your editing more impactful.
a) Editing the composition: The first thing you should do is to check whether your article or content is correctly formed or not. Ensure that the writing scheme and arrangements are correct, and all the sections are coherent.
You write up should be divided into three major parts- introduction, main structure, and an appropriate end.
b) Edit the way of writing: You must look deeper into the style of sentence formation in your write up. Your paragraphs should also be in a good shape.
Change all the incorrect compositions in your written work.Moreover, it’s also necessary for you to follow the client’s desired writing style.
c) Edit the grammatical mistakes: Checking for all the grammatical mistakes in your article is very important as it showcases your fluency and proficiency in the language and field.
4. Generate ideas and ask questions
No matter if you are engaged with some clients presently, you must keep thinking of new concepts daily as it helps in keeping the brain cells running.
You must keep writing as per your field of interest; in this way, you can save your writings for future use.
If you keep generating ideas, you’ll be having better opportunities to find clients. Moreover, you might not generate the same ideas, that you are getting now, in future.
You are not just expected to generate ideas. You should also keep communicating and asking questions from the client, as it contributes to your continuous improvement as well.
Once you start working for someone, you must clear all your doubts related to the kind of written work they ask from you.
In freelance writing, the primary objective is to write according to your client’s expectations as only then you can get a good reputation.
If your content is appropriate, you will become your client’s first choice, and they’ll keep in touch with you even after your assignment is completed.
5. Start Blogging
Blogging is another brilliant way for your continuous improvement in this field, as it is a creative activity that sharpens your skills.
An interesting way to encourage yourself to start blogging is to writing blogs on things or activities you are passionate about (be it cooking, travelling, skiing, or something else).
There are various pros of writing blogs:
Online presence- In the present generation, the internet is a powerful medium, and writing blogs gives you an online presence. SEO strategies can be used so that various clients can reach you.
Improvement in way of writing- “Practice makes a man perfect.” You must have heard this saying, and writing blogs is like practice when it comes to freelance writing.
Writing regularly organises your style of writing in a better way. Moreover, there won’t be any grammatical mistakes and spelling errors.
Helps in reaching the customers and clients- When people will read your blog, they might get hired if they like it. In the field of freelance writing, getting more clients is an important thing, and writing blogs helps you with that.
6. Write good pitches consistently
As a freelance writer, you should keep writing well-crafted pitches on a regular basis. Even if you get to work for one or two clients, in the beginning, you still need to keep pitching because clients will not come to you all at once on their own as it takes time.
It is necessary for you to write pitches, so, think of the customers or clients, newspapers or journals for whom you are interested to write.
You are expected to set your aim for that and try to achieve them, as it is essential for your continuous improvement.
You should search for various sites such as Mediabistro to look for companies and clients to write pitches for, in case there are no clients in your mind.
After you find a suitable client, it’s your responsibility to prepare a good proposal to make them hire you.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea to write pitches, but it surely is important in order to hone your writing skills, as it lets you get customers to write for.
It is used as a kind of proposal, based on which a client decides whether he should hire you or not.
7. Keep Writing to Improve Your Odds
When you do something on repeat, you soon become a pro in that particular activity, which leads to your continuous improvement. It is almost similar in freelance writing as well.
When you write constantly, you gain more expertise in writing. This is why freelance writers with a regular writing routine are more successful as it is excellent for continuous improvement.
You must not make it look as if writing is your hobby by writing occasionally or whenever you please, you must instead, take writing as a profession. You must hone your writing skills in order to attract more clients.
Keep writing about various topics even if you are out of work. It’ll build a healthy writing habit in you that’ll make you more productive and efficient.
8. Time management and keeping the due date in mind
Ability to manage your time efficiently is a key requirement to be competent in the field of freelance writing. When you learn how to handle time, it helps you improve continuously.
Some clients might assign you a week to write a short article, while some might ask you to write a 3000-word article in just two days. You have to monitor your time according to your client’s expectations.
The key to managing your time is to decide how much time you spend on different steps. You must attempt to manage how much time you spend while searching for new opportunities, performing research on the current assignment, and writing your content.
Remember that versatility is a very important feature in the field of freelance writing that contributes to your continuous improvement. Not only that, you must also be good at organising.
You should always be aware of your work deadlines, as late submissions create a bad image and reputation for your clients.
To avoid overloading work, you can start making plans and schedules to complete your tasks and work on that basis.
9. Change in Workspace
The mind of each person functions differently. No matter what sort of job you do, the world around you changes tremendously, and it sometimes needs to improve constantly.
You get the advantage of selecting your working area as per your will and needs while you work as a freelance writer.
It’s pretty cool if you are allowed to work from anywhere. Be mindful that your productivity is enriched by a good workspace.
As a freelance writer, you have to know what the atmosphere is for you, whether you like to work in silence, or at a place with some noise.You should take your time and learn what sort of workspace makes you more profitable.
Find your comfort level, but bear in mind that you should continuously change your workplace as at times environmental change helps produce more innovative ideas.
One day in a busy cafe, another day in a park, you might write fluently. Some days in your own home, sitting alone, you can be more imaginative.
Only pick your workspace and suggest changing your workspace if you can’t compose in a particular setting effectively.
10. Improving Productivity
Time is a precious commodity we all know. It must be one of your key purposes when you are a freelance writer to complete your tasks in time to maximise your productivity.
You can’t just carry on writing a short article of 600 words during the day. You are slowing down by doing so.
It is your responsibility to balance the time you offer to a particular project. Devote more time to the comparatively longer articles.
Ideally, you should split your time by writing and editing to maximise your productivity. As an independent writer, you must be mindful that writing and editing are two entirely distinct processes, so you never attempt to slow down the pace at the same time.
Another important method of increasing efficiency is the Pomodoro technique. It also helps in your continuous improvement.
According to some researches, it makes you more effective and productive if you take strategic breaks or intervals. In accordance with this Pomodoro method, the role must be divided into diverse intervals and short breaks.
11. Develop an impactful writing voice
You must build an effective writing voice to be a good freelance writer, as it helps in your continuous improvement.
Your writing style allows your work to be remembered. Your work would be better if you have a special and sincere writing style.
You might think that an effective written voice is difficult to create, but it is not. You have to write in the voice of your reader, and it is interesting to write.
Your words and phrases affect your speech greatly.You have to write in a manner that it seems as though you speak to the readers directly.
As a career, freelance writing is quite interesting. You absolutely need to know how to develop your skills in freelance writing.
You must use these ideas to be successful in the field of freelance writing if you are a freelance writer grappling to better yourself in the industry. These measures will definitely help in your continuous improvement.
Almost every occupation has ways to perform a particular job more efficiently. This guide will contribute to your continuous improvement, and allows you to achieve freelance writing success.
As you become more efficient and know the right ways to work, you become the first choice for your customers. Not just this, you will get more projects.