July 25th, 2008
Here’s something you can do while business is slow: join Smashing Magazine’s latest guest post writing contest. A great way for the site to receive some great content, and an opportunity for freelance writers as well.
The main idea behind the contest is not to get as many guest articles as possible, but to find talented guest authors who will want to work with us after the contest and get properly paid for their work. If you would like to write for us beyond the contest — drop us a line, we’ll figure something out.
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By Rico -- 0 comments
July 25th, 2008
Developer’s Alarm: 200+ Hotkeys To Boost Your Productivity. Now I understand not all of use will use techie apps like Total Commander (a file manager replacement for Windows). But the sections on Gmail, Firefox, and many others are very useful. Keyboard shortcuts rock, because they allow you to do stuff quickly, without having to wait for the mouse pointer to position correctly.
The Five Truisms of the Photography Business. Dan Heller wrote this way back. But it’s point—that user-generated content (UGC) is the future—should be understood by freelancers everywhere, as more access to information and cheaper technologies are turning everyone into a designer, photographer, etc. While this means potentially more competition, Dan Heller also proposed that businesses should embrace the business-related changes that are continuing even today, and provide incentive for effective and distinctive UGC. In short, a crowded marketplace, but for some reason a greater chance to be rewarded for good work.
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By Rico -- 0 comments
July 24th, 2008
Here are some quick tips to make your personal blog more visible to search engines—and to visitors who can turn into clients:
Interlink. This means linking back to your old posts. Let’s say you wrote about writing for search engines. On a later post, you briefly mention it like this: “By the way, this is also useful when you’re writing for search engines.” That’s a perfect time to link back to your original “writing for search engines” post.
What this does is help people who are looking for more info. “Writing for search engines? What’s that?” *click*. This also helps search engines identify what your original post is about. More than a year after I wrote it, my post on writing for search engines is #2 on Google.
Use Tags. Sometimes you need to categorize your posts under a certain topic. But I’ll also tell you to keep the number of categories on your blog low; the last thing you want to do is confuse a reader looking for specific information. In lieu of using your blog’s categories to group posts, you can use tags.
An example would be my two (so far) posts on effective online persuasion. Now, I can’t create a new category called “effective online persuasion”, for the reason stated above. That’s why I’ve tagged both posts using that phrase. Aside from helping readers quickly find related content on your blog (well-designed blog themes usually list a post’s tag below the post itself), this is another way to help search engines identify which of your posts are most relevant to people looking for certain information.
On Google, my “effective online persuasion” tag ranks higher than my effective online persuasion post. Instead of being limited to just one article, my readers are instead presented with a list of what I wrote on the topic; they have more at their disposal.
In short, the key to attracting more people—and prospects—to your blog is to make the information on it as easily available as possible. Interlinking and tags are quick and easy ways to do this.
Tags: attract more blog readers, attract more blog traffic, attract more people to your blog, blog tags, interlinking, tagsShare This
By Rico -- 0 comments
July 24th, 2008
Steven Snell will help you cure boredom, while business is slow. If you’re between projects, you might as well try at least several of his suggestions over here.
Of note is his summary on PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. Basically, it’s spending some money to make more money. In a freelancer’s case, it involves setting up a portfolio website, and paying for advertisements focused on specific search terms to appear on top of search engines. When a prospect clicks on your ad, they get brought to your site. It’s up to you then to turn them into a paying client through online persuasion, to at least make up the money you’ll be charged for every click.
It’s not as scary as it sounds. You can control your PPC spending by setting a budget per day, which means you can start out small as you experiment. And there are so many resources out there to help get you started, so it’s not exactly a case of the blind leading the blind.
Tags: effective online persuasion, pay per click advertising, PPCShare This
By Rico -- 6 comments
July 23rd, 2008
You’ve pushed your creative mind through all the motions, and yet your idea well is as dry as ever. Looks like you’ll have to admit defeat and:
Ask others for help
To recap, here are the five quick idea-generation techniques I’ve written about over the past few days:
- Remember what you did for the day, and get some ideas from that
- Just create
- Be ironic or sarcastic with your message
- Make having no idea into your idea
- Re-use an old idea
That’s all I could think of. At a certain point, I realize that there are really some times when formulating a creative idea for your next project is next to impossible. Luckily though, I’m not the only person alive.
I ask you, fellow freelancers, what other quick idea-generation techniques are there? I know that you all have different experiences, perspectives, and mindsets; this means you may see what I can’t or know what I don’t (or vice-versa). Our differences is what makes asking others for help so worthwhile, because they potentially lead to different ideas.
In short, I’m asking for help about quick idea-generation, because I’ve honestly ran out of ideas, and am hoping that you’re being different than me means that you have an idea that I haven’t considered; would you like to share?
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By Rico -- 0 comments
July 23rd, 2008
So you’ve tried everything else, but still don’t have an idea for your project?
Re-use an old idea
This shouldn’t prove hard if you keep copies of your old projects. Just look them over, and see what you can use. Every great idea is ultimately a rehash of an older one anyway, so I don’t see anything wrong with using old work to get a new project done.
Of course, I’m not talking about re-using the old idea as it is! Every project has a different set of requirements to meet and challenges to overcome, and you’ll have to adapt what you’ll re-use to match them. Read More
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By Rico -- 0 comments
July 22nd, 2008
If you really, really can’t come up with an idea, try this:
Make having no idea into your idea
For instance, if you have nothing to write about, try writing about how to come up with ideas. If you need to design something, do so with nothing as your focal point (e.g., you could try a minimalist composition).
Granted, this approach may be less effective for clients, who have a relatively strict set of requirements that are supposed to guide your creative framework. But unlike a message that’s so compelling that being ironic about it still works, some clients have a message that needs to be presented as simply as possible. This is where having no idea works to your advantage. Read More
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By Rico -- 0 comments
July 22nd, 2008
Got a good gist of your client’s message but don’t know how to express it?
Turn the message on its head; be ironic or sarcastic
The best example of this quick idea-generation technique applied is the following radio from my country, translated into English:
Now, why would you want to join the [rock-music-challenge]? You have to submit your application by August 15! That’s so near! Then, you have to download the form at [url], what a hassle!
If you manage to get in, you have to fly to Boracay [world-famous white sand beach] for a 3-week class. Isn’t it hot there? I mean, do you really want to study under [famous local musicians]? Isn’t that a lot of pressure? I guess the pressure’s really on when everything’s paid for by the [government educationl bureaucracy]. Plus, if you win, you get P250,000 (nearly $5,000). How will you spend all that?
Then, you’ll have to sign up for record deal with Sony-BMG. Don’t they only take famous artists? Do you really want to be famous?
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By Rico -- 1 comment
July 21st, 2008
You desperately need an idea for a project, so I’ll get straight to the point:
Just create. Write aimlessly, layout elements with purpose, take photos at your whim. Eventually, you’ll find something you can use.
A classic solution for the creatively challenged, just doing it is the simple act of forcing yourself to create, and hope that something useful will come out of it. Granted, in certain fields this is easier said than done; I am hard-pressed to think of any more immediate methods of creation than writing or drawing. So what’s a good way to make sure your aimlessness will be productive? Read More
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By Rico -- 0 comments
July 21st, 2008
Got less than five minutes to come up with an idea for a project? Let’s go straight to the point shall we?
Try to remember what you did for the day, and get some ideas from that
To be honest, a lot of what I’ve written here came from my daily life. As I found solutions to my problems, I tried to see how I could package the solution for others, and share it with them. Actually, with so much happening in my life today, the real challenge is figuring out how to make my epiphanies accessible to an audience exempt from my experiences. Read More
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By Rico -- 1 comment
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