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freelancing tips
on May 21, 2010
As a freelance writer, I am constantly working on develop my home business's platform through networking and marketing activities. Building a platform means building an audience and a following that allows work to come to you.
©
k_hargrav
A platform, or a marketing platform, or a networking platform, as it is sometimes known, is about working smarter, not harder. It means that you develop marketing tools that help your business grow and be known rather than simply seeking out individuals, asking them for work, and seeking out more individuals. This can mean more clients, more income, and more productive use of time.
Here are a few things you can to today to build a platform.
- Comment on a blog post of a potential client or read by potential clients with a link back to your website.
- Link to a blog post of a potential client or read by potential clients with a trackback address so that a link to your blog post appears in the comments section of their blog post.
- Get started on a free ebook to give away to potential clients.
- Submit articles to article marketing websites or publish them on your website and allow readers to republish the articles with a link back to your website.
- Join in on discussion boards and forum threads that potential clients participate in.
Building a platform isn't a one-time effort, it is consistent work toward your marketing goals. So get started today! Please, leave a comment and tell us how you're building a platform for your home business or ask a question about platforms.
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marketing
on May 19, 2010
Last week, we talked about doing market research with a SWOT analysis in the blog post Get Organized to Write your Marketing Plan. Today, we're going to use the information from our market research we gathered in our SWOT analysis to plan marketing strategies and tactics.
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Editor B
Use your SWOT analysis to find areas of focus. You'll need to play up all of your strengths and find ways to discredit / improve your weaknesses. Using this information, set at least three marketing goals.
The objectives to accomplish these goals are your marketing strategies and tactics. Research the strategies and tactics employed by your competitors and brainstorm methods of your own. When you have a long list of potential strategies and tactics, evaluate which would work best for your business. Then start planning how to employ these tactics.
As you market, you'll want a system for tracking all of your efforts. Tune in next Wednesday for a marketing small businesses tip that outlines the components of marketing tracking system and how to make decisions from raw marketing data.
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business ideas
on May 17, 2010
Today's home business idea is a business as a freelance editor.
©
desmorider
A freelance editor works with other freelancers, book publishers, and businesses to provide editing services to ensure the highest quality of content for all parties.
Think freelance editing might be a good business for you? Read on as we examine this home business idea.
This home business idea is a good fit for you if you are attentive to detail, have excellent knowledge of grammar, usage, and mechanics, and you like to work with words.
To get started with this home business idea, ask friends and family members for referrals. If they are in school, they can hire you to proofread their paper. If they are involved in their community, they may need a community newsletter edited. They might know business owners that have mistakes in their marketing collateral-these are all potential clients.
Now, let's talk start-up costs. This home business idea would require a very low start-up investment of approximately $2,000 to set you for the entire year. Here's an estimated breakdown of these costs:
-computer: $400
-cell phone: $120
-Internet connection: $600
-basic office furniture (desk, chair, and filing cabinets): $500
-file folders: $15
-printer: $80
-printer paper: $20
-printer ink: $50
-business cards: $50
-letterhead: $50
-envelopes: $5
-stamps: $50
-website hosting: $60
-domain name: $10
-word processing software: $200
If you're interested in this home business idea, or any other you';d like to hear about, please drop me a comment and I'll do my best to help answer your questions or find someone who can. I'm a freelance writer, not a freelance editor, but I can tell you that it is an important and interesting business to be in. One point of interest is setting your rates: in this business, everything is variable. My suggestion is that you set an hourly rate, get new clients to pay for one to three of these hours to sample their work, and then you provide an estimate of the hours necessary to edit their work. Also, be very clear on the level of editing you'll perform-revision, editing, or proofreading (or all of the above).
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freelancing tips
on May 14, 2010
Freelancers, especially freelance writers, are notorious for hanging out with their colleagues, other freelance writers. Networking with other freelancers is great, don't get me wrong: you can get referrals that way and improve your career. But the primary networking audience you should focus on making time with is your target market.
For example, my target market, as a freelance writer, is professional organizers. However, until very recently, my Twitter profile included following and having discussions with writers almost 90 percent of the time. Now it is 100 percent my target market that I follow and that I converse with on Twitter, and that's because it is a networking tool, not my water cooler.
Think about the forums you belong to, profiles you have on Twitter and LinkedIn, blog posts that you write, professional associations that you join: are you connecting with colleagues or are you connecting with your target market? Connecting with your target market when you network is what will get you more business as a freelancer.
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marketing
on May 12, 2010
Before you write a marketing plan, you need to perform market research, and to perform market research you want to write a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a simple chart that has four segments, like an equal parts cross across the page, with each box comprising the SWOT acronym.
Strengths: Your strengths, in comparison to your competitors'.
Weaknesses: Your weaknesses, in comparison to your competitors'.
Opportunities: The opportunities created by your strengths.
Threats: The threats created by your weaknesses compared to your competitors'.
If you'd like a free SWOT analysis template with an example, please visit All Freelance Writing for this freebie.
Disclaimer: I, Jessie Haynes, blog editor at The Home Business Blog, am the staff productivity and organization blogger at All Freelance Writing. I am compensated for those monthly posts, and only for those monthly posts. I have in no way been provided with an incentive to link to this freebie, and am only doing so to benefit The Home Business Blog readers.
Thanks for visiting The Home Business Blog. To further help you market your business, be sure to visit every Wednesday as we put together a cohesive marketing plan and implement it, step by step, each week.
Questions? Comments? Don't be shy, drop me a line. I'll be happy to answer any questions or find someone who can.
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