RSS FeedsWhy good content is necessary
Feb 28, 2005 No Comments »
It’s been now more than two years I’ve been writing content for various websites, and I still feel most webmasters do not consider content as important as the layout of the website. It’s evident from the way they want to pay measly for the content writing services, and sometimes don’t even deem it fit to pay even if the content writer has delivered the work.
This reminds of the days when people used to have websites just for the heck of it — “it’s a silly thing, but my client abroad wants to see it,” a client told me once about his need to have a website for his export company.
Content writing is at its nascent state. The situation is not as daunting as it was a year ago. I get to work with clients who really understand and appreciate the significance of the written word on their websites, and hence, are eager to pay good for it. They know the expense is justified considering the return they are going to get.
This is what Frederick Turner thinks of content — The substantive or meaningful part: “The brain is hungry not for method but for content, especially content which contains generalizations that are powerful, precise, and explicit.”
Content is the meat of your website due to the following reasons:
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Staying up and messing around
Feb 18, 2005 No Comments »
Today I learnt a costly lesson. Not sleeping does funny things to your mind. I totally screwed up a writing assignment that could have fetched me a lot of money. First I delayed the work, and then, I worked non-stop for 30 hours. Result: a total mess. Just returned the advance paid by the client.
I’m extremely upset right now, but no matter how miserable I feel, I know there is some good in it. There always is — whenever something happens, it happens for a reason. May be this was a wake up call. I mean, if I want to execute big writing assignments properly, I need to be organized. I need to take care of when I sleep and when I wake up. Greater responsibilities await in the near future and much, much more organization and streamlining will be needed.
I feel bad for the client too. I not only wasted his time, I gave him an impression that I got the work done from someone else because he had hired me after going through my samples at amrithallan.com. This was really ironic, that he couldn’t believe the same person had written both the things.
Hmmm…anyway, there are other projects I must concentrate on now…don’t have time to feel bad.
Work and Email
Feb 14, 2005 No Comments »
It’s amazing what an important role email plays in today’s work environment. We take it so much for granted. In the last 30 minutes I have replied to 4 work queries. Clients write to me all the time and I reply to them all the time. On an average I exchange 10-15 emails everyday.
When I got the Internet connection back in 1997, many people regularly used my computer to send and read emails. I was the only one at that time who didn’t have an email account. So I created one at Lycos.com. I remember I sent my first email to my girlfriend’s brother’s girlfriend’s best friend who was visiting her brother in the US — my girlfriend had jotted down her email on my notepad. She gave a nice reply and we became such good friends that even when my girlfriend and I broke up, we kept communicating.
Then another friend told me I must already have had an email account from my ISP. She gave instructions on the phone on how to configure Outlook Express. The rest, as they say, is history.
95% of my work happens through email. I’m happy to use it :-).
What keeps a freelancer busy?
Feb 10, 2005 No Comments »
A few days ago I had mentioned I’d been keeping a busy schedule (ok, I’m still keeping a busy schedule). A few years ago, just after my marriage (well, two catastrophes CAN happen at the same time!) I got a job in GE (General Electric) in their E-learning department as an instructional designer. This was a turning point in my life because I realized I could spend 14-15 hours (this included almost three-and-a-half hours of commuting) for a job and could spend around 24% of my pay on just commuting to-and-fro. It was a humbling experience: so much effort and so less in return. Within four months I realized the job was not for me. The more time I spent there, the more I realized that even if I spent half the time on my own work, I could be earning double the amount, without incurring travel expenses. I had a talk with my wife, Alka and quit the job.
Although, as stipulated, I earned double the amount working on my own within four months, I still worked for around 12-13 hours everyday. I realized it’s easier to work in an office environment because:
- You mostly do the work you are assigned
Your work in the office is properly cut out and once you are done, you don’t have to worry about getting the new assignment. - There are different people employed to take care of different jobs
Different jobs are designated to different employees in the office. For instance, if you need new software installed, or if you want your hardware replaced, you just need to contact the systems administrator. If you want some graphics work done, there is always someone available - You need to market and sell your skill just once while giving the interview
Once you are in an organization, unless you are totally dispensable, only an extraordinary event can get you out of there. You don’t need to assure them again and again that yes, you can do the job. All you have to is, do the job that is given to you, well.
- Promote your services
- Convince your new clients
- Answer to the email and phone queries
- Do the follow-ups
- Keep track of all the correspondence
- Make sure your computer or laptop is running fit all the time
- Deliver the projects on time
- Keep track of individual payments
- Convince clients multiple times to pay you
- Keep in touch with your old clients
- Take care of tax formalities
- Define an organization mechanism — the better you are organized, the easier it is to reduce work time
- Maintain a schedule — there is always this tendency to carry on working once you start working. Keep a schedule and don’t work beyond that schedule. For instance, if you decide to work 7 hours everyday, don’t go beyond that time
- Outsource whenever you can — sometimes it is better to let other people do work that you find difficult to do or if it is time consuming. For instance, if you can get some work done in 20 dollars per hour and in the same duration you can do some other work for 30 dollars per hour, it is preferable that you outsource
- Keep fixed hours for promoting your work
- Get a self-promoting portfolio — once you have successfully worked for around 6 months, you have enough arsenal with you. Your portfolio should be convincing enough. If you have done good job and still your prospective clients don’t get convinced, then probably they are not looking for you
Taking advance for writing content
Feb 03, 2005 No Comments »
These days I don’t start work without getting an advance and quietly snub the prospective clients who are hesitant regarding this. I think I have enough samples (apart from countless articles of mine one can find on the net) to show that I can either deliver or not deliver. There is no middle path. And if still some clients cannot make up their minds, well, too bad.
Why an advance is necessary?
If you’ve been trying to make a living on the Internet you now it is replete with “get and run” type of individuals. Initially it is OK. I mean, if you don’t have a portfolio to showcase your work, you can charge less and in small amounts to instill confidence in the client. But if you have already been working for a long time, there is no reason you shouldn’t ask for an advance…you can be verified with your work especially on the Internet, but can your client be verified? What’s the guarantee that he or she won’t disappear after getting the work done, or simply not respond? Believe me, I have come across many such clients.
A precious advise
Never work with clients who expect you to charge less than what you should be getting and run away from the ones who don’t respect you enough to pay an advance. An advance is not a favor. After all you spend your time on the work — the time you could spend on the work that fetches you income. An advance makes it sure to a certain extent that the client is serious about doing work with you.
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