The ICanFreelance Blog

I thought it would be worth looking at a practical example. I keep hearing from various freelance journalist and writer friends that it is tough finding commissions these days - not just journalistic work but also PR and general copywriting. It occurred to me that perhaps they could put their writing talents to good effect by testing the water with some PPC advertising (this presumes of course that they have a blog or website - and that it is properly set up to capture and convert traffic).

Here’s a quick look at some fairly obvious keyword terms - the first figure shows the search volume in the UK for June 2008 and the second figure the expected cost per click for a 1 - 3 ad position.

Copywriting 33,100 £1.29
Copywriter 14,800 £1.02
Media training 8,100 £2.01
SEO copywriting 1300 £2.76
Web copywriting 1,000 £1.85

Clearly not all of these searches will be from people seeking paid-for copywriting work - but surely some of them will be. Even gaining a tiny percentage of response from some of the more popular terms would hopefully convert into work that would justify the ad spend (I’d certainly suggest setting a nominal initial budget and test from there).

The media training result was also interesting. I know a number of journalists offer media training services - over 8000 searches in the UK last month suggests there is clearly a lot of interest in it - and surely a percentage of that must come from people seeking to buy media training?

On a different tack, I looked at a few phrases containing “How to start a (insert company type)”

The results below are the searches for last month along with the trend:

How to start a publishing company (73) Falling
How to start a record company (46) Falling
How to start a clothing company (36) Rising

I wonder who those 73 people are out there dreaming of starting their own publishing company? I wonder how many journalists are in that number? However, it would seem the current trend is down - as is starting a record company (no surprise there I guess). Though rag trade interest seems to be rising - albeit from a very small base.

ICanFreelance.com Members See Increase in freelance jobs
New freelancer jobs become more available as more internet savvy users create new internet opportunities and businesses
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New York, NY - July 23, 2008 - ICanFreelance.com, an online freelancing and outsourcing website has noticed an increase of new internet startups. This is most likely the result of tremendous job losses and an increase of work at home professionals since the USA announcement of a recession early January of this year.

“More and more people are turning to the internet for a way of financial security” said Geoffrey Jones Owner of (www.coremega.com) Coremega Inc an online marketing and website design firm located in Brooklyn, NY. This is resulting in an increase of job searches and new business opportunities online.
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With ICanFreelance.com, businesses can post projects needing completion by a certain date, see freelancer work samples, or buy projects that have already been completed through ICanFreelance.com. This variety of choices gives Employers and new business starters a comprehensive view and enables them to network with freelancers that can complete their projects and research.

About ICanFreelance.com:
ICanFreelance.com (www.ICanFreelance.com) is growing to become one of the world’s largest online marketplace for freelance talent. Created in 2007, ICanFreelance.com’s web-based marketplace directly connects businesses with freelancers globally who specialize in over 300 professional categories including the following: website design, programming, graphic design, business consulting, and administrative support, research and reports to jobs that non professional work at home parent can do. It is free to get quoted from professionals for employers seeking professional expertise. Professionals seeking work register as a free members and register their skills and resume.

One of our users just posted this in our forums and I think its very interesting.

I make over $550,000 a year freelancing online. I only started freelancing for about three years when my last job decided to fire me after 5 years of hard work and labor building their business for them. I feel a job is never as safe as your own business. In my fist year I made about 75,000. My second year I topped 150,000 and this year I already made over 370,000 and only half the year is over.

Well let me give you some great tips.

1. I never forget to keep my clients happy which always has them coming for more. Don’t think about the money too much when dealing with a client always think of a client as am opportunity. Then when they need you they will be willing to spend more to someone they trust can get the job done and be honest.

2. I always tell them of other services that I offer. So I sell them on other things that I have. If they trust me with programming their internal systems what makes you thing they wont trust me when I sell them my hosting package.

3. Never forget to keep the client happy at all time. Money is not everything in life. But making a new friend is.

4. Never accept a bid that is way to low for the work to be done. I mean it. Even you India programmers should not do it. Trust ma a client doesn’t want a shitty job just as much as a freelancer doesn’t want $20 for an entire website design project. If a freelancer is getting paid a fair amount for a job, they will feel more indulged to put their best work in for a client that cares for them. Even if that means tightening up the code and implementing security features that the webmaster never even asked for.

Most webmasters need to understand that programming and design is the same as art. You will never get anywhere if you think you will get services for cheap. Let them know you want to get creative. Remember, just like a lawyer, you the web designer are in charge. You are the one that they need. Let them know up-font “You pay for what you get”. If they take care of you, you will in return take care of them. Remember this!

For those webmasters that do not have a lot of money to start building their ideas, try to negotiating. A webmaster can offer sales incentives and commissions off sales for a cheap upfront payment for design work done now. Webmasters will often keep their promises, cause they know you will be the one that will take their business to new levels.

I found myself having to negotiate with webmasters a lot especially if they didn’t have much to spend. But in the end both I and my client ended up with working together for the long term. I did my best job for them knowing that it was going to pay off and it did.

Reference: I make over $550,000 a year freelancing online.
URL: http://www.icanfreelance.com/freelancers/forum/post167.html#p167

We have just launched the ICanFreelance blog to Technorati. This means a lot of great things are going to start happening here on ICanFreelance.com. First off it will bring a lot more members to the community and give icanfreelance a wider exposure on the web. Our main goal is to be one of the greatest resources online for freelancing. We want ICanFreelance to be a place where anyone can find decent work at home, get paid and enjoy working from home. Also we want to cater to those who want to take the extra step and start their own business. Sign up anytime and enjoy the fact that you CAN make money from home and grow your business online. ICanFreelance will make that happen.

Getting freelance work referrals is easy. Just satisfy every desire that your clients need. If your clients ask for a little more whats the harm in doing it for free. Hey! This is your chance as a freelancer to make a friend that will refer your services to others. This is an opportunity. Don’t miss it. When they have had all of their needs satisfied they will feel more inclined to give your information to people they know. This is all you need to give your new freelance business its great start.

I beleive that referrals are the best clients that you can receive for anyone running a freelance business, and trying to make money freelancing. Think about it. If you are looking for somone to do something for you wouldnt you ask a friend. If this is the case you want to be that person your friends refer. Make friends out of your clients and you will never regret it.