Lately, there have been some pretty big changes happening to the JCM website. Marketing consultation has paid off, and we’ve been integrating a lot of the suggestions for a cleaner site overall. We like the look, we’re still working on it, and anyone who wants to comment on the overall layout and design is more than welcome. After a two-week lapse, we’ll be picking up our regular blogging again. We apologize to anyone we left in the lurch without something to read. The good news is that we’re going to be adopting a more informal
> Read MoreArchives for June 2007
Blog Archives
Enjoy 1,000+ articles geared to your content-marketing, writing, freelancing or small business endeavors. Scroll down for recent posts, select a category, or browse the archives here.
Who Are You Writing For?
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In the virtual world of online business, you have to write for your target audience, but for the whole world as well. Unless a client specifies the audience is located in a certain city, state, province or country, you have to use terms and phrases that are universal to all. While I am American, I don’t feel I have the attitude that the United States is the be all and end all of everything. I know how many other countries feel about the U.S. in this respect, and we have a reputation for being pushy,
> Read MoreHow Effective Is Your Title?
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What’s in a title? Everything. A title embodies the essence of your article, ebook or blog post in only a few words meant to grab a person’s attention immediately. Even as I write this, I keep tweaking my own title to make sure it fits. A catchy title isn’t good enough, though. You can have a great title, but if it falls flat and the reader is left feeling empty, you may have lost a potential sale or future client. If you have a title that does nothing for your article, that’s exactly what you’ll
> Read MoreA Quick How-to for Article Marketing
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Driving traffic to your site is important, and one of the best ways to do that is through article marketing. There are a few dos and don’ts, though, so before hiring someone to write your articles, make sure your article marketing campaign will be effective. Here is a look at what to do – and more importantly – what not to do with article marketing: Have a call to action ready. Your article can sound great and get people interested, but if they don’t know where to go for more by the time they get
> Read MoreHow Much Will This Cost Me?
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The inevitable question of anyone considering buying a product or service is, “How much is this going to cost?” While it would be great to have an easy answer for copywriting, the reality is that what a project will cost depends on the details of the project. Most of the time, it’s easy to set a flat rate for general work. The less specific requirements, the easier the work and the lower the rate. The more details to pay attention to, the trickier the work and the higher the rate. Think of copywriting as building
> Read MoreIncreasing Site Traffic on a Budget
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It’s amazing how many methods are available for increasing website traffic, and it can be difficult to find which traffic-driving strategy works best for you. You want it to work fast and be as cost effective as possible. Cheap is good, but free is better if you’re on a tight budget. There are a few basics of driving traffic that won’t change, no matter which method you choose. Here are a few basic tips for generating free traffic for your website. Content, content, content! Websites are virtual real estate, and content is the scenery on
> Read MoreFinding Legit Freelance Copywriters
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Legit freelance copywriters may be a bit of a challenge to find. As with any profession, there are scammers and individuals who just won’t do a good job, and many who fake being something they aren’t. There are a few ways to track down legit freelance copywriters, though, and there are also a few ways to make sure that what you’re going to pay for will be quality copy. You can start your hunt by using search engines, but keep in mind that copywriting and web content are competitive fields, and you’ll likely have millions
> Read MoreMarketing Critiques
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Many people would love to have someone critique their site. Is it optimized enough? Are the graphics okay? Is the copy compelling? Can people navigate easily? A marketing consultant – and there are a few good ones out there – will do just that. If you ask a marketing specialist to critique your site, you had better believe this person will find something you didn’t do right. Not only that, be prepared to be told that your site isn’t as great as you thought it was. The critics might tell you the header picture is
> Read MoreWhips and Chains: Being Realistic about Turnaround Time
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There are people who want great ebooks to sell or give away and they want them now. Yesterday would be even better, in fact. These are the clients who will firmly state, “This100-page ebook must be completed by June 20,” while still in the initial project description phase. The client hasn’t said they’d like the ebook by that date or asked if I could produce the ebook by June 20. They’ve dictated how long I have to do my job. No ifs, ands, or buts. I haven’t even said a word yet. Oh, and it’s
> Read MoreEffective Downtime
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After you’ve freelanced for a while, you will come to notice a pattern emerging from your workload. Once you’ve placed your bids and gotten the jobs rolling, your activity level will spike considerably. You might reach the point where the work seems like too much to handle, even, and that it’ll never end. But believe me, it will end. Once the projects are completed and sent off, you’re faced with a sudden drop of things to do, and you might have so much time on your hands that you don’t know what to do with
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