Your Blog is Your Business

Mind your business, however, big or small it may be. If you are a serious blogger and want to make money, treat it like a Business. Are you wondering how to drive your business to success? What kind of blogs is guaranteed to grow?

If you have been writing a few blogs every day, however, your blog is not popular enough to generate revenue, thousands of visitors do not visit your blog, every day. Mind your business, else it will not mind you.

Everyone may find a technique or an idea that works well for them while it may not suit someone else. You can benefit from different strategies, it’s trial and error till you find yours. Do something different and beat competition.

My Blog Test

I write a blog, post it on social media to spread the word around and check the number of visitors on my post. This helps me understand my audience well. You will know when they were attracted to your posts.

The number of visitors on my blog grew when:

·        I write something passionate and inspirational

·        My blogs are useful, informational and unique (read my post on ‘I hustle every day’)

It is important to focus on building an audience, wrote a few articles for new freelancers, about things that save time, helps people achieve or solves a problem (read my post on Time Management for Freelancers).

Design Your Blog

If you need more ideas, you can write something:

1.           Newsworthy

2.           First (something you know and no one has written)

3.           Make someone keen

4.           Controversial

5.           Insightful

6.           Fear factor

7.           Prompts the audience response

8.           Makes audience emote

9.           Save money

10.        Opinions

11.        Talk about Resources

12.        Casual or a Story

13.        Interpret NEWS

14.        Create a feeling of belongingness

Rules of Blogging

Rule #1: Once you start blogging, do it regularly

Write at least two blogs every day. Do not think of it as a pastime activity. Before you write your blog, research well. Take action, even if it is imperfect.

Rule #2: Create a Structure for your Blog

Write your blog in a way that teaches people, like a lesson plan. You should structure your articles; the audience will connect and stay connected. If you write something that is not structured well, your audience will lose interest.

If you are writing a longer piece, more than 300 words) add subtitles, outline prerequisites, and deliverables.

Write your blog in short paragraphs and not write large blocks, break them up into smaller paragraphs as they are easy to read, and indicate the beginning and end of an idea.

Rule #3: AIDA Communication model

Yes, this model works.

A – grab your audience’s Attention

I – create Interest

D – build Desire

A – call to Action

Rule #4: Promote your blog

Is it better to own a business and not tell anyone about it? Think! How your business will grow when you do not tell anyone about it? How will you earn money when no one knows about the products you are selling? Your blog is your business.

It is important to promote your blog 90% of the time while investing 10% writing it. If you know your product’s worth and assume it will attract buyers, that is not going to happen on its own. You must advertise and talk about your blog (business).

Rule #5: Write for yourself

I wrote blogs for various companies and products, however, I began thinking why I cannot work for myself instead of someone else?

If you write on popular social media platforms today, they may cease to exist tomorrow. Your website and blogs will vanish too. All your hard work down the drain. I am not saying that social media platforms are not useful, promote your blog on social media.

Rule #6: Grow your email list and market content

To promote your business further, collect email addresses to send out a short email announcing your new post or some information your audience requires. Grow your list of emails so that it delivers a decent ROI (return on investment).

Rule #7: Work in progress

Add information to your blog posts regularly and update your articles from time to time.

A Disclaimer: My post does not guarantee/ warranty your blog will bring visitors 100%. This is not a one-size-fits-all.

4 Reasons Make Freelancing an Attractive Choice for Many

                    

Many professionals today are choosing a freelance career as it is more attractive and doable, hence, they are opting out of the 9 - 5 office job.

Freelancing entails freedom and offers a huge choice of clients to work with remotely and offer services on a schedule that suits them. Here are the various reasons that make freelancing attractive.

1.   The Internet has changed the way we think, learn, communicate and express ourselves. There is an app for everything and social media platforms have enabled freelancers to communicate and offer their services remotely. Some of the most attractive freelance careers in the market are designing, coding, writing, marketing. Freelancers charge a significantly higher rate for specialized tasks. The internet allows freelancers to connect with clients directly for various freelance skills in demand.

2.   Flexibility, freelance offers to the 9 to 5 jobs is significant. There is no place for office politics, distraction, uncomfortable workspace, uninspiring environment, and time wasted. Freelancers work fast and smart, not hard. Everyone has the flexibility to work the way they want and utilize their time in the best possible way. Freelancers are traveling the world while working remotely. It gives them the flexibility to run errands, exercise, socializing and at the same time working remotely.

3.   Work security and fearlessness has allowed freelancers to connect with several clients at the same time and generate income constantly from different sources rather than one. This reduces their chances of complete and immediate loss of income. They hustle every day only because of the flexibility it offers over the pay.

4.   Confidence makes freelancers choose to freelance as they are in-tune with their core strength and in their ability to create a meaningful career. Most freelancers have quit their 9 to 5 jobs because of the way it aligned with their career goal. They are confident that they can make it happen. There are many freelancers who are helping others pursue their independent careers.

The driving force behind freelancers is the work-flexibility, growth, and self-agency it offers while doing what they absolutely love doing.

6 Freelance Skills In Demand - 2017

Are you looking for additional income? Do you wish to quit your 9-5 job for a better control over your career and work experience?

Freelancing is the best option for most businesses are looking at Freelancers as an answer to the rising competition. Moreover, Freelancers are a minimal business risk, as no training cost is involved and saves a lot of time.

According to a survey conducted by Payoneer, a freelancer on an average works 36 hours at $21 per hour with pretax earnings of $39,000 or more.

Brand yourself, promote your work by blogging as well as on social media platforms. This will help you gain trustworthiness, exposure, and business growth.

Here are the top 10 skills you can learn and earn as a freelancer.

1.  Content writing

This is a huge opportunity if you can write well, know your way with words and good at grammar. All you need is to master a few styles of writing, understand your audience, competition, can perform keyword research and write a catchy title.

If you understand the basics of CSS, SEO, HTML, WordPress, social media specialist then you are bound to succeed. You will see your career soaring high.

2.  Blogging

Start your own blog in any niche, like technology, internet marketing, fashion, travel, entertainment, personal finance or anything that interests you and make more than $100,000 every month.

3.  Web development

Since, there are millions of websites, handling the back-end process and maintenance by working a few hours daily, you can earn a significant amount.

4.  Graphic designing

If you are creative and can design graphics on Photoshop and other software you can certainly make a good career.

5.  Social Media Marketing

If you love interacting with people, make a career in social media marketing. All you need is an understanding of the various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, and Instagram.

You need to help businesses interact with their potential customers online and help the brand increase user engagement. You can earn a significant amount in return.

6.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expert

If you know SEO; all businesses need traffic on their website, and they hire SEO experts to consistently rank on page one of the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing as well as social media sites.

If you have some of these skills, sharpen a few and test the waters. You do not need to quit your 9 – 5 job, freelance during your free hours and create additional sources of income. 

There are a few 'more freelance skills on demand', more about them in my next post.

3 Mistakes to Avoid, As a Freelancer

Are you new to Freelancing? Here is your chance to know more and avoid a few mistakes. We know it is difficult in the beginning, and do quite a few things wrong or maybe even a lot of things.

You must be clueless about what to charge or when to say ‘No’ and how.  This may waste some time; you may lose some money or even upset a few clients and learn new things the hard way. Here are a few mistakes you can avoid.

1.    Utilizing Income Wisely

As a freelancer, your income is not regular. Your charges must include, taxes, processing fees, other related operational expenses. This would be about 30% of the revenue.

Pay yourself twice a month when you use an online payment platform, to deposit funds.

2.    Name The Price and Service

Mostly, freelancers succumb to clients and let them name a price. You must not let clients outwit you with phrases like ‘limited budget’ or a repeat business or even the fact that other freelancers are charging lower or a notice to replace you.

Know the average hourly rates in the industry, see what other freelancers are charging and then create your unique price along with what your service includes.

3.    Delegate Time Consuming Tasks

There will be several tasks like invoicing and accounting, tax computing, editing and proofreading and handling social media profiles that can be automated or delegated.

Implement the right systems, stick to them and be on schedule. This way you will build better relations with your clients and trust. Once you establish yourself, evaluate and define yourself. 

Do not fake perfection, when you can learn from mistakes.

Evaluate & Define Yourself as a Freelancer

If you have given up your 9 – 5 job and have begun freelancing, you will come across several challenges as you may be a jack of all trades, master of none. Here is what you must do once you have taken up a few assignments, evaluate and define yourself.

Avoid these mistakes as a freelancer and build a better career.

1.    Find Your Niche

You may be able to a lot of things and applying for several kinds of online jobs creates a confusing portfolio. If you are good at logo designing, content writing, accounting, just choose one particular niche where you are simply ‘outstanding’.

If you are a specialist, you will attract premium rates and high-end clients.

Make sure you deliver good quality work within deadlines to gain a competitive edge. Find your tribe by engaging in a community as it allows you to discover new things and gain knowledge. You will learn strategies and ideas of other successful writers.

This is not to say that those who do not create a niche do not do well as freelancers. It just means that if you create a niche, clients expect you to understand their business model – inside and outside.

A word of caution, do not create a niche in the beginning of a career. Boost your career by exposing yourself to different industries and clients. This will accelerate and broaden your knowledge, expertise and insight of the services you can provide. This will result in a more refined, skilled and competent you.

It is a good strategy to keep testing other domains to be able to write on any topic of a domain. Explore and discover challenges; the experience will help you stand out from the crowd.

Consistently work on it to thrive in the industry, build better connections, gain experience and reap benefits.

2.    Be Critical

Not every job is worth accepting. Simply saying ‘yes’ to, everything will be harmful. Differentiate yourself from a generalist, you will be busy with low-paid work.

Carefully assess all the work that comes to you in terms of  

·       Commitment (Long-term or Short term projects)

·       Time it will take to complete the task

·       Niche project (Does it interest you)

·       Client (How you feel about the client? Can you work with them?)

If you think either one will do you more harm than good and if you think you are not a good match refuse without repenting.

It will save you a lot of time and frustration. Invest your creative energy into projects that motivate you and offer better compensation.

3.    Marketing Yourself Well

Most freelancers have a blog and a website. This is not marketing. How do you market yourself? Marketing is the way you communicate with your customer to sell your services or product, where communicating USP is the key aspect of marketing.

You must learn the art of marketing yourself well. Some of these skills will help:

·       The Web site helps showcase your work and draw clients.

·       The Portfolio must showcase the industries you have worked with by grouping your work by the industry and link the samples to the portfolio.

·       Social media will help you be present where you will meet potential clients. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the most popular. Freelancers must join groups relevant to their niche, ask questions and give answers to the needy. This will help you be popular and post updates anytime you publish a blog on your website.

·       Listen and clearly, understand client requirements, ask questions where required.

·       You must take feedback and criticism positively. It is a good practice to work on improving where required, and deal with criticism positively and boost your effectiveness.

You may be making some mistakes, avoid them as they often become big.
Do not fake perfection, when you can learn from mistakes.

My 10Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge – DAY10

Celebrating Freedom

#10DBC #freedomplan

Celebrating Freedom

Today is the last day of Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge.

Here I am on the last day of the challenge. Today, I will talk of the journey to freedom.

When I started the challenge I just took it up to see what it felt like on this journey. It was perfect timing as I had not written anything on my blog since February'16. Seven long months with no blog. I wanted to test the waters, writing a few words every day once again.

This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 10

My Journey

It has been a fantastic journey, discovering new things with each challenge.

Challenge Day 1 – Finding Focus led me to find ‘fear of acceptance’ and ‘lack of discipline’ holding me back from living the life I want to.

Challenge Day 2 – Discovering your Why led me to identify I belong to freedom and freedom to me. I identified the path of sustainability with the fear of failure cannot be lived and that it is possible anytime, anywhere and anyhow.

Challenge Day 3 – Creating a vision for future that I can conceive, believe and achieve.

Challenge Day 4 – Unlocking your super powers led me to find the fact that I cherished freedom, enthusiasm for things new and individuality.

Challenge Day 5 – Setting yourself up for Success led me to find the reason why I burned out, lacked focus and motivation to work. Burning the midnight oil, not enough sleep was not setting me up for success. I have begun to make a conscious effort in using the Pomodoro technique introduced by Natalie.

Challenge Day 6 – Finding your Tribe made me realize that a tribe will help me hold. I need to find one to collaborate with.

Challenge Day 7 – Beating Procrastination and overwhelm made me realize the importance of taking action even if it is imperfect. No one is born perfect. Life is a journey from imperfection to perfection.

Challenge Day 8 – Choosing your adventure helped find ‘me’ and that I should be part of the freedom lifestyle.

Challenge Day 9 – Location independence showed me how I could work at any location besides home and enjoy at the same time, with a little bit of faith, action, perseverance, patience and time.

The Experience

The challenge helped me reflect on various aspects – some hidden and others known. I enjoyed facing every challenge where the day 7 challenge threw me off balance where it took me time to identify the fact that even an imperfect step is a step towards perfection that I was not willing to take. Pointing at the fear of failure.

Finally, I did take the step. The challenge was like removing leaves on the cabbage and what it takes to live a freedom lifestyle and enjoy it.

My Favourite challenge and Why

Challenge Day 8 – Choosing your adventure was my favorite. It helped ‘find me’ so that I could live a sustainable life I discovered on day 2 of the challenge.

My Takeaway from the Challenge

A little bit of faith, action, perseverance, patience and time will make my dream of a sustainable living come true. I want the people in my tribe to know that it is possible anytime, anywhere and anyhow.

Next Step

Where do I go from here? Letting go of the challenge is important, for this is where I step into the real world without fear and with discipline. Find and collaborate with a tribe and write my blog every day. If I slip, I have the challenge blogs to remind me what I once committed.

A word of Thanks to Natalie Sisson, who was my inspiration all throughout. I must mention a special thanks to all bloggers in the challenge as they were a source of inspiration. I look forward to a new me, with a zeal.

Thank you once again for the challenge, Natalie.

My 10Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge – DAY9

 Work Location Freedom

Today’s challenge is to imagine a month-long working holiday in Portugal (or any other dream destination) and the way to balance adventure and work while on this holiday.

This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 9

I have not visited Lisbon, Portugal. This challenge gives me a chance to daydream and visit this vibrant, cosmopolitan city, with beautiful sunny climate, and sites, magnificent landmarks, museums, hotels, viewpoints where the ‘old’ merges into the ‘new’.

Balancing work and adventure will seem difficult in such a beautiful city. The nightlife is rich, enjoy joyful music and lively atmosphere at the clubs. However, it is possible.

I could plan some weekdays, to enjoy the lively, bustling city and the shopping centers in the day time. Working in the evening and night time in the cafes will let me enjoy some Belém custard tarts, Cinnamon and sugar sprinkled pastries.

Work hours can be interrupted with short trips in the city to absorb the smell of fresh seafood or the fiery sunsets from some of the famous viewpoints like São Pedro de Alcântara and São Jorge Castle.

Work will be wrapped up in the morning and afternoon to enjoy the nightlife on weekends. Castles and beaches can be enjoyed in the daytime by planning work in the evening. I could enjoy wine tasting at the vineyards.

To ensure productivity and efficiency, I would keep all my laptop, apps, tools, emails, Wi-Fi connectivity. I can ensure one blog post each day, composing emails, a few quick calls on Skype if required.

As a freelancer, location freedom calls for a right mix of work and leisure. What is your dream destination? How would you balance your life?

#10DBC #freedomplan