Category: marketing

Hi folks, it seems I am writing my last Netsetter post today, as we’ve unfortunately decided to wind this blog up.

We recently tried taking it from solo-Collis blog into multi-author magazine style blog, and while we’ve had some success, it’s been clear from launch onwards that this blog isn’t as useful to the world as some of our other blogs. Utility is something that I think is always evident in the traffic a blog gets. And while there’s been some traffic here, nothing like we’ve had from some of other sites.

Recently I gave a talk at the Problogger meet where I discussed how some blog niches just seem to catch fire like they are giant oil wells of audience demand, while others are like putting a flame to a bucket of water. Well theNetsetter has had fairly small demand, so we’re going to wind it up and use the resources and money to double down on AppStorm and WorkAwesome, both of which have been experiencing some great growth lately.

So as of today, we’re moving our old posts into the WorkAwesome archives, and theNetsetter is no more. Thanks to everyone who has tuned into the site, supported it and linked to it!

I’m sorry to see theNetsetter go, but I’m sure in the long run it’ll mean we get to make more awesome blogs on topics which more people really want to see us blog about.

In the meantime, to all my fellow entrepreneurs, keep netsetting!

Collis

Adriaan Pienaar of Woo Themes fame recently wrote a book, Rockstar Business, about his experiences and insight as an entrepreneur. Pienaar is an example of a successful netsetter, and there’s a lot for budding netsetters to learn from him.

We’re proud to announce that Rockstar Business is being sold on the Tuts+ Marketplace, Envato’s marketplace for educational materials from tutorials through screencasts to books. It’s just $9 and is available right now.

You can head over to the book’s page on the marketplace to find out more and read excerpts using the “Live Preview” button, or you can read the blurb below the jump.

Rockstar Business is a special collection of inspirational stories, thought-provoking reflections, and take-it-from-me advice from author and self-described “rockstar,” Adriaan Pienaar.

For the first time since launching several popular entrepreneurial ventures based in his home country of South Africa, Adii Rockstar opens up to share his principles for living a happier life and reveals rare business insight with readers – many of whom will certainly be customers of the 25-year-old Pienaar’s popular online design companies, WooThemes and Radiiate.

Readers will be thrust into the world of a self-described Rockstar, learning how to embody a similar style of business intuitiveness, trust of the self and of others, and cunning ambition. Adii divulges the latest techniques toward successfully creating a personal brand around one’s name and image while remaining grounded and altruistic in everyday life.

Analytical and inspirational, Rockstar Business not only spans many innovative and cutting-edge pieces of insight that modern entrepreneurs and business leaders are harnessing amid the age of the Internet, but further lays out a comprehensive philosophy through which readers will live a more fulfilling and happy life.

What are the key success factors for entrepreneurs?

The “Making of a Successful Entrepreneur” report, published by the Kauffman Foundation (November 2009), sheds light on this interesting question. The study explored the opinions of 549 successful company founders in the US on the crucial factors that led to the failure or success of their businesses.

Companies surveyed were from industries as diverse as aerospace and defense, to computer services, software and programming. Only companies that had made it past the start up stage were surveyed for the report.

The top three factors that had a major influence on whether an entrepreneur was successful were experience, management and luck, according to the company founders.

Statistics from the Kauffman Report revealed the following:

• “96 percent ranked prior work experience as an “important” success factor; 58 percent ranked this as “extremely important”.

• 88 percent said that learning from previous successes played an “important” role in their present success, and 78 percent said that learning from previous failures was similarly “important”. 40 percent of company founders claimed that lessons from failures were “extremely important” (the factor rated second highest as “extremely important”.

• 82 percent said their management team was “important” to their success. 35 percent said this was “extremely important”.

• 73 percent said that good fortune was an “important” factor in their success. 22 percent ranked this as “extremely important”.”

Interestingly enough, the majority of company founders surveyed in the report were serial entrepreneurs  – i.e. those who had successfully launched two or more businesses.

As a budding entrepreneur, it is vital to learn from projects that have failed or not been as successful as hoped for. It is also important to take incremental steps that will help you progress towards your business goals.

The Report alluded to “good fortune” being an “important” success factor. If this is the case, then a question that comes to mind is whether we create our own good fortune or wait until luck comes our way?

I have always been a firm believer that it is important to take action rather than sit around and wait for good fortune to arrive. If the law of attraction via action appeals to you, it might be time to welcome some “good fortune” your way and get moving on your next business steps.

The Report revealed some of the most common barriers that prevented people from starting their own business. These barriers included the following:

Risk Taking

The factor most commonly ranked as “important” by 98% of respondees was the lack of willingness or lack of ability to take risks. In addition, 50% believed this to be an “extremely important” barrier to entrepreneurship.

Time and Effort

93% of respondees surveyed felt that the amount of time and effort required to launch a successful business was an “important” barrier to being a successful entrepreneur.

Funding

Entrepreneurs tended to use their own personal savings to fund their first business. 70% of respondents had used their personal savings as a main source of funding for their first business.

It was usually not till after their first business succeeded that entrepreneurs considered securing venture capital. On a related matter, venture capital became easier to secure for subsequent projects once the company founder had an existing successful business in operation.

Education

Only 20% of entrepreneurs ranked university education as “extremely important”.

Key Takeaways

The report has been an excellent resource in providing readers with a lowdown on the key factors of successful entrepreneurs. My key takeaways from this report were as follows:

Learn from your failures. Even better, learn from someone else’s failures.

The report suggests that experience is a key factor to success. However, if you were just starting out on your first business venture, you may not necessarily have much experience. A useful strategy to implement is to find a successful entrepreneur who would be willing to mentor you and help you avoid making the same mistakes he or she made.

Be willing to put in considerable time and effort into your business venture.

Be willing to take risks.

Save hard from your own personal finances to raise money for your first successful business venture.

The report has identified savings to be the most common method by which successful entrepreneurs have funded their own businesses, especially first time businesses.

The report identifies a good management team to be a prerequisite to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Consider developing your own management skills to run your business effectively. Each of us is equipped with a unique set of skills, so it is a good idea to identify your current skill set and any gaps that exist. That way, you have the necessary information to take action to develop necessary new skills.

Another good strategy to adopt is to hire people who can contribute good management or specialized skills to your team. As an owner of a start up, you will find out sooner or later that it’s not feasible to do everything yourself.

Don’t get hung up on whether you have an Ivy League university education.

Only 20% of entrepreneurs in the survey felt that a university education was an “extremely important” factor. Looks like coming from an Ivy League school will not guarantee your success as an entrepreneur.

Armed with some useful evidence from this report on what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur, its time to remove your own personal barriers to success and get cracking with your own business venture.

If you are already part way through your business venture, continue refining and improving upon those systems and procedures that will help your business achieve success. Taking intelligent risks, learning from your failures and getting a good management team in place will help you achieve success even faster.

Co-working has become a popular way to find office space without having to pay for a full office, especially when you’re the only one using it. Any space with a couple of desks and wireless access can become a co-working space — all you need are a few other people who need room to work and are willing to pay for the privilege.

But co-working spaces aren’t universal: while many major cities now have them, it doesn’t mean that every city does. And, even in those cities where co-working spaces are already established, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that they’re too far away — one of the benefits of working for yourself is avoiding the commute and if commuting is necessary to get to a co-working location, it can be impractical.

Starting your own co-working space can be the easy solution, for several reasons:

Money

Depending on your finances, a co-working space can be a good financial decision. While many co-working spaces can be started as a collective effort, starting one on your own is typically a matter of a little startup capital. It’s a matter of renting a space, adding office furniture and utilities and getting insurance. The costs can vary depending on where you’re located, of course.

But the pay off can be useful. You can set the prices on using your co-working space to cover the costs of operating the space, allowing you to use it at no personal cost. Free office space can be enough to make your efforts worthwhile, but if your goal is to earn an income from your co-working space, it’s not out of the question. Depending on the space and tools you can place at your co-workers’ disposal, you can charge more than your costs. You may also have opportunities to host events or otherwise share your space that would bring in additional income. You may also be able to set things up so that you turn a profit with relatively little work, compared to many other projects — as long as you collect regular fees from your co-workers and pay your bills, there isn’t much else that needs to happen.

Access

Operating the local co-working space offers some definite benefits if you’re trying to get more involved in the community. Provided you do some marketing to the community, you can easily get involved in a lot of local events — even hosting them — which can provide the networking opportunities necessary to move along your main business. While having your own network in place certainly helps make the process of setting up a co-working space easier, once the ball is rolling, your co-working space can expand your network.

It doesn’t have to be a coldly calculated move meant to get access to the cool kids in your community. A co-working space provides a benefit to locals and, by extension, that means you’re doing something good for your co-workers.

Diversification

Lastly, a coworking center means that not all of your eggs are in one basket, as far as your business efforts go. It’s a relatively simple business to set up — you’ll need to do some marketing to make sure that people keep coming in, but that’s about it.

That means that, while you’re working on other projects, you’ve still got something humming along in the background. It may not be a source of a lot of money, but it can make the difference in many situations. On top of that, it can open up opportunities if you find that your original plans don’t wind up the way you expected. That sort of flexibility is invaluable.

In a previous article, I talked about how interviewing experts is one of the best and most leveraged ways to create high-quality, profitable content for your online business. You can use expert interviews to make products, drive traffic, or build your subscriber list.

But the big question I always get asked is: “How do I find an expert to interview?” And that’s almost immediately followed up with, “And how do I get them to say yes?”

So here’s my 10-Step Formula for finding and securing quality guests to interview:

1. Understand the Expert Mindset

Experts want to share what they know, and promote what they’re currently working on. That’s why they’re experts in the first place: they’ve spent time and energy learning something, and enjoy teaching it to others while getting the word out about their latest book or project. You don’t need to sell an expert on the concept of being interviewed — you just need to convince him that he should be interviewed by you.

2. Establish a Professional Image

Before you even approach a single guest, you need to have the means to convey that you’re a professional and worth his or her time. You can do that by putting together a website with a good picture of you in appropriate attire for the niche, and a description of your project. Include some voice samples, clips from previous interviews, or a list of other guests you’ve got lined up. If you’re going for your first guest you won’t have any previous work to showcase, but you can still make a compelling case for why the project is worth being part of, and why you’ll conduct an informative interview the expert can be proud of.

3. Build your Reputation

Write some articles on the topic that you want to conduct interviews about, and post them on your blog or in article directories like EzineArticles. Showing potential guests your articles will prove you’re knowledgeable, or at least passionate, about the subject matter they’re experts in.

4. Increase your Promotion

Press releases also help you establish credibility and build your reputation, and you can submit them, for free or a nominal fee, to sites like PRWeb. Write press releases to announce the start of your project, each time you interview a new expert, when you’ve completed 10 interviews, etc.

5. Build your Subscriber List

While you’re working on collecting experts, you might as well build an audience too — that way you can tell future guests that you have interested people waiting to hear their interviews. One way to do this is to have a link in your article resource box and at the bottom of press releases pointing to your project’s website, and invite visitors to sign up for the VIP notification list to hear about future interviews.

6. Choose your Target Experts

Not every expert will say yes, so plan on asking more than you need. Make a wish list of 5 to 10 people to start, but keep it targeted and go for the best in the field first. For example, if you want to interview social media experts, start with the best-known visionaries on Twitter. If you want to interview golf coaches, choose the ones who have gotten results for big golf stars.

7. Build your Wish List

If you’re stuck for names, do a search for your niche topic followed by the word “expert.” Next, go to Amazon and look for authors who have written books on the subject, and don’t forget to read the reviews. Also search the Radio-TV Interview Report at for appropriate experts who are looking for interview opportunities, and sign up for RTIR sister site Reporter Connection, which allows you to craft a request and have it sent out to experts who subscribe.

8. Remember Everyone’s Favorite Radio Station

Experts are busy, and you need to convey how being interviewed by you will make good use of their time. Before approaching anyone, figure out how you’d answer the question, “What’s In It For Me?” (that’s WIIFM, which they say is everyone’s favorite radio station). But don’t wait for them to ask the question; tell them upfront. It could be a large audience, or it might be that you’ll let the experts use the interview for their own purposes too.

9. Contact the Experts

Once you have a good list, you can finally start asking for interviews. On RTIR or Reporter Connection, the request process is built in; just keep in mind that they’re created for pros, so be professional in your request: state who you are, what you’re working on, why you want to interview that person, and how she’ll benefit. If you only know an expert’s name, search for her official website. Look for a “Contact Us” link or “Media” area that lists a publicist who takes interview requests; or sign up for her newsletter, and look for contact info when it arrives, which might simply mean hitting “reply.” When sending emails, always put “Interview Request” in your subject line. Also try contacting your expert directly on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook. If printed communication doesn’t bring results, look for a phone number and call.

10. Leverage the “Yes” Answers

Eventually one expert will say yes to an interview, and then you can go back to everyone you haven’t heard from and tell them that their peer has agreed. After you record the interview, ask for a testimonial on how you did as an interviewer so you can use that in upcoming requests. If you’ve landed a well-known expert, it’s easier to leverage more. But if the top names say no the first time around, go back to them later when you’ve interviewed more people. Chances are they’ll finally say yes, too.

This process can be continued over and over until you’ve interviewed enough people for your project, and you can do it again any time for future projects. The good news is, the more experts you interview, the easier it is to leverage more interviews and bigger names.

Ask successful internet entrepreneurs what it takes to create a successful business online, and the majority will say that it takes a great deal of hard work and perseverance to succeed.

Earlier this year, I read Daniel Scocco’s post at Daily Blog Tips on the working methods of 12 top online entrepreneurs.

A successful online entrepreneur himself, Daniel interviewed twelve well known and successful online entrepreneurs to find out what their typical work week looked like, and what they enjoyed doing when not working.

The line up of successful online entrepreneurs included Darren Rowse, Aaron Wall, Neil Patel, Yaro Starak, Chris Garrett and Collis Ta’eed. The interviews revealed that the majority of these entrepreneurs worked over 60 hours a week, 7 days a week. One entrepreneur – Dan Schawbel – works a staggering 110 hours a week.

Being an internet entrepreneur is hard work, and Collis at Envato makes no bones about this in his course on building a blog business. Here’s a few relevant quotes from the eBook, “How to Build a Successful Blog Business”:

“So building a business out of blogging, like any business, involves investment both in time and money.”

“Like any business, it will take hard work, dedication, savvy, and a bit of luck.”

“There are bloggers making considerable amounts of money, and in fact two of the case studies in this book record how two blogs have worked their way into five and six-figures per month in revenue. However, like most things in life, it takes a lot of work.”

Tim Ferris provides a different take on how to succeed as an entrepreneur. In his book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, Tim portrays an enticing picture of the new breed entrepreneurial lifestyle.

The book provides advice to aspiring web entrepreneurs based along the lines of decide on the type of lifestyle that you aspire to (whether it is having mini retirements, traveling around the world, etc), then set up your business and outsource as many tasks as possible to successfully run your business on auto pilot. Tim mentions “outsourcing your life”, which includes the whole kit and caboodle – both business and personal tasks such as hiring a virtual assistant to organize your errands.

Outsourcing parts of your business can be a great strategy, but one that needs careful management.

If your business chooses to outsource some of its activities, a part of your time or someone else’s will still be required to manage projects, and hire staff and/or freelancers to contribute to the business.

As a founder or co-founder of your web business, you have the important task of driving its strategic direction. You wouldn’t want your business to be completely run on auto pilot without any input from yourself.

This brings to question a related issue about what sort of lifestyle an entrepreneur has. Will you have a dreaded lifestyle that consists of working relentless long hours with little time for recreation? Or will you have a leisurely lifestyle that consists of working only a few hours a day?

To avoid ending up with a lifestyle that doesn’t appeal, have a think about your desired lifestyle before starting your online business.

Sterling and Jay at the Internet Business Mastery Academy, well known for their Internet business and marketing podcasts, are keen advocates of teaching entrepreneurs to design their lifestyle before starting up an online business.

The guys at the Academy describe three essential pillars to help you design your lifestyle. They are as follows:

• Decide on your major purpose in life (they use the term “Definite Major Purpose”)

• What are your fulfillment factors?

• What does your ideal lifestyle look like?

Running an online business which deals with local businesses on a regular basis would pose a conflict if your desired lifestyle is to be location independent and travel overseas for half the year.

Another example is where a well known copywriter exited from his lucrative business to pursue a more semi passive web business model. This copywriter cited the loss of family time on weekends, and the constant pressure to meet tight deadlines, as reasons for his decision.

The above examples demonstrate the importance of seeking a good alignment between your web business and lifestyle.

Regardless of the lifestyle you have in mind, it takes a lot of hard work, perseverance and effort to transform a fledgling start up into a successful web business. Consider what your desired lifestyle is, and whether it will match the realities of your online business, before taking the plunge to become a web entrepreneur.

It isn’t always easy to find the sort of connections you need to keep growing your business: if you take an idea that could make a great online business to a traditional networking event, you can spend more time explaining the technology behind your idea than actually networking. There is plenty of networking that can be done online, of course, but face-to-face opportunities can turn into something more. Co-working can give you the type of face-to-face interaction that you need.

Highly Motivated Audiences

The type of folks who work regularly at a co-working center are a cut above the typical entrepreneur in several ways. You’ll typically find a crowd that is more familiar with technology — a co-working space typically relies on online networks to spread the news about availability, after all. Most co-working spaces have a higher number of members with some sort of technical background — while that may range from simply working with technology companies to actually creating a technology startup — that anyone with even a moderately technical project will find good connections.

You’ll also find that many co-workers are more focused on success: they’re already doing well enough that they can afford to pay for at least a little workspace outside of their home. There are many dedicated entrepreneurs and small business owners out there and you certainly won’t meet all of them at a co-working space, but of the people who are at a co-working spaces, you’ll find a higher number that are motivated to move their businesses forward than you might find at more run-of-the-mill networking events.

In short, the people you’ll get a chance to meet in the typical co-working space are ideal networking candidates. Each co-working space is different, of course, but it’s worth it to explore the opportunities in your area.

You’re There to Work But Also to Network

The point of most co-working spaces is to actually get some work done. You need to keep that in mind as you introduce yourself to the other people in the space — interrupting their work is not a way to endear yourself. But everyone has points throughout the day where they need to get up, stretch and take their minds off of work. That’s when you can get more information on what they do and how you might be able to work together.

The types of opportunities you may find vary, based first and foremost on what you do. If your business is focused around providing services, you may find takers at your co-working space. You can also get valuable introductions from your new connections.

Your co-working space can also be an incredible place to find partners for projects. You can get a chance to see a potential partner in action and see how they work before ever bringing up the idea of a partnership. Although the internet does make it easier to work with team members around the world, there are still some benefits to being able to sit down with a partner and hash out the details in person.

The First Step

When it comes to networking with co-workers, the first step has to be co-working. Becoming a part of the community at your local co-working space is a good first step. Even if there isn’t an official space, you can find jellies and other informal co-working groups in most areas. Getting involved is important: the other co-workers in a given space will be more interested in working with you after you’ve been involved with the space for a little while. It’s just like most networking efforts — you only rarely will walk away from a first meeting with a project in hand. Instead, it takes time to build up to opportunities.

I am sure most of you would agree that working full-time on the web from home today isn’t as uncommon as it used to be a few years ago. In my last 2 years of full-time web working, I have seen many of my friends ditch their day jobs and take the plunge into this new world of self-employment.

Having said that, web work shouldn’t be misunderstood for the dream job you’ve been waiting for since…forever. I have also seen people returning to a day job after 2 or 3 months of trying to work online. So, as you can see, not everyone can make it through.

Here are some tips on what one could do to survive, thrive and ultimately flourish as a web worker.

Is Web Work Right for You?

The most important question one should ask before taking the plunge is:

Are you really cut out to work online?

That said, very few think about it. The temptation of working from home, being your own boss and creating your own schedule is enough to shun other thoughts.

But it is essential that you do a ruthless analysis of your traits, strengths and weaknesses before you think about working on the web. Sitting alone all day working on your computer isn’t easy. If you are someone who loves being around people and you enjoy professional company, you might fare well in a regular office job rather than as a web worker.

Choose the Right Profession

Once you’ve decided that you want to be a web worker (and you are certain that it aligns with your traits and interests), you need to choose the path you’ll follow.

The coolest thing about the internet is that there are literally thousands of ways to make money doing things that are legitimate. Be it writing, designing or coding – all real-life skills can be put to use to earn money on the internet.

If you’ve always loved writing, you could set up a blog to start with. Even set up a blog business if you can invest the time and resources it needs. If you’ve been playing around with Photoshop, you could start helping people design banners, websites and more. The bottom line is that it is better to go with something you love to do…and do well.

Home Office Setup

Most of the web workers become web workers to escape from the daily commute and enjoy the freedom of working from home.

Make sure you create your own isolated space in home from where you can work peacefully. Set up your home office like a real office: a chair, a desk, a whiteboard and all that. Don’t use your bedroom as your office. If you do, you’ll find yourself dozing off more often than ever.

Keep your home office clean and tidy. Understand that your home office plays a vital role in your overall productivity as a web worker. A nicely lit and organized home office will make getting your work done easier.

Tools for Productivity

As a web worker, you should hunt for (and use) tools that make you more productive. Try eliminating boring and repetitive tasks through tools and focus on the stuff that really matters.

Here are some tools you should be using, regardless of the work you do.

1. Gmail

Gmail is undoubtedly the most robust and feature-rich email application. Using any other tool for handling email could be a serious waste of time.

2. Google Chrome

Chrome is fast and useful. It is fast becoming the preferred web browser for those who spend the majority of their 24 hours online.

3. Evernote

Evernote is an amazing note-taking and organization tool. It can help you capture and organize ideas quickly and efficiently.

4. Skype

Using Skype for talking and conferencing saves money and also ensures that you can hear someone else’s voice apart from your own every day.

There are many more tools, depending upon the kind of work you do online, you could make use of. I’ll talk in detail about some of them in a future article.

Set Goals and Track Progress

Since you are your own boss now and have no one to answer to every day, it is easy to deviate from the tasks at hand and fall into the procrastination trap. Setting goals and tracking progress can help you avoid that.

I’d recommend that you set small, realistic everyday goals to start with. See if you can achieve them. In addition, track your daily progress in terms of what you thought you would get done, what you got done, and how it will impact your overall work and earnings.

Stay Healthy and Celebrate Often

Finally, it is important that you take good care of your health, especially because there’s a good chance you are going to be sitting on a chair almost all day. The likelihood of gaining weight increases when you work from home if you don’t do what you need to do to keep that weight off.

Take frequent breaks, go for short and long walks, exercise, do yoga or play an outdoor game every day. There are plenty of options for staying fit. You should also celebrate with your family and friends by eating out or doing some other nice stuff when you achieve your goals. That’ll help you stay motivated and drive yourself with more enthusiasm towards being a successful and long lasting web worker.

Working as a freelance writer and in SEO over the past few years, one thing became clear to me very quickly: link-building was going to be a big part of the job. One of the easiest ways to build links is by writing articles that contain anchor text (keywords that contain a hyperlink), and then submitting the articles to websites for publication. Building website links is very easy to do with article writing, but I have always been faced with two big problems.

The first problem is that writing articles for link-building purposes and then submitting them to websites is a time-consuming process and the second issue is that the writer does not often have control over where the content is going to be published. There are generally three main ways to submit articles to websites to build links:

• Submit the articles to article directory websites such as Ezine Articles and Articlesbase.
• Submit articles to blogs that accept guest posts.
• Use an article marketing software or service.

Article directories

Article directories are a good place to start building links, but link diversity is also important. Several links all coming from article directories are not going to be as valued in regards to SEO as incoming links from several different websites that are relevant to your website and that are ranked well with the search engines. Getting articles approved in the article directories can also be a time-consuming process and there are restrictions on where anchor text and links can be placed within the articles.

Guest posting

Guest posting is a wonderful option if a writer can find blogs that allow guest posting, but the search for blogs that allow guest posting is a time-consuming process itself and there is no guarantee that a blog will accept a writer’s articles. Guest posting cannot usually be done on an everyday basis and blog owners will often have the final say over any links.

Article marketing software

Using an article marketing software program or service is good for mass article writing and sending the content out to several different blogs at once, but this solution often results in a lot of duplicate content. Some article marketing services offer writers the use of an article spinner program as well, but search engines have a knack for recognizing spun content. Many article spinners are also very flaky and I found that I was spinning articles by hand more often than I was using the actual spinning program. This was a waste of time and I also did not have control over where content was being published, which often resulted in a lot of low quality websites using my articles.

What I wanted

What I wanted was a program that allowed me to write articles that contained at least a link or two that also allowed me to have complete control over where my articles were being used. I did not want to use a program that resulted in duplicate content and I wanted this application to be in an easy-to-use interface.

After a couple years of extreme frustration, I accidently landed on the Keyword Academy’s website and found some information about their Postrunner tool. The Keyword Academy is run by Court Tuttle and Mark Butler, who through videos, webinars, and articles, teach people how to make money online. As with any make-money-online website, I was a little hesitant, but I really needed to find a good link-building tool and the Keyword Academy made claims about Postrunner that prompted me to try it and I am glad I did.

What is Postrunner?

Postrunner’s interface is very easy to use and is built on the WordPress platform. You sign in with your chosen username and password that you receive when you sign up with the Keyword Academy’s PRO membership. Once in your Postrunner dashboard, you simply write an article in the standard WYSIWYG editor that is at least 300 words in length.

You can include up to two links within each article using anchor text and after the article is written, you then choose a blog that you want to submit your content to. There are blogs on just about any topic in the Postrunner system, ranging from finance to marketing and technology. You are provided with blog links so that you can visit each blog before you decide where you want to publish your content.

Blogs that you submit your articles to range from PR 0 to at least 5 (the highest I have found) and you can submit up to 500 articles per period, which is plenty and you shouldn’t need more than that.

Postrunner takes originality very seriously and does not allow content to be pasted into their system from outside articles. Article spinning is not permitted. Blogs that publish your content are also not allowed to change the links included, but they are allowed to make minor changes to the article and they are not required to publish the content under your name. Most blogs post the content as “guest poster.”

Blog owners can choose to reject articles, but if they choose to reject, they are encouraged to send you a reason why your content was refused. If a blog does not accept an article within 7 days after it was submitted, the article is returned to you and you can then choose another blog to submit it to.

Cost

To access Postrunner, you have to be a Keyword Academy PRO member, which costs $33.00 per month. Postrunner cannot be purchased without a TKA PRO membership, but with that membership, you get access to the forums, webinars, training videos, and articles on The Keyword Academy’s website.

Room for improvement

The search engine ranking of the blogs that you can submit to in Postrunner could be a little higher, but there is a good variety of blogs and their rankings are pretty decent for the price you pay to use Postrunner. However, as more blogs sign up to receive content from Postrunner, it would seem likely that this will improve. It would also be nice if a person could purchase Postrunner separate from the TKA PRO membership or be able to purchase yearly use of Postrunner at a discount, rather than paying by month.

Summary

• Postrunner is an easy-to-use link-building tool that gives you a good deal of control
• You don’t need to have a technical background to use the interface and submit articles
• Knowing exactly where content is going to be posted on the Internet gives you peace of mind; you do not have to worry about your articles showing up on low caliber websites that do not add any value
• If you want to learn how to make money online, you can easily do so using your TKA PRO membership to the fullest advantage
• Postrunner gives helps you get your content out on the web quickly and easily
• If a blog has certain requirements for their articles, they clearly state their requirements when a Postrunner user is selecting where they want their content to be published

Postrunner: http://postrunner.com

HTML5 is not in its final version yet but more and more sites have started using it. HTML5 attempts to meet the requirements of the new Web and to make it easier to publish Web 2.0 content. When HTML4 was in the works, Web 2.0 wasn’t even dreamed of, so you can’t expect HTML4 to be Web 2.0-friendly.

Now with HTML5, this is expected to change. Though, by the time HTML5 is in its final version, we may have witnessed Web 3.0, 4.0, or more, so it will again be outdated but for now HTML5 is more or less an adequate answer to the needs of web developers today.

HTML5 isn’t very different from HTML4 but still there are some important differences to know and keep in mind. Here are some of the differences of general interest to a wider audience:

Simplified Syntax

One of the most notable differences between HTML4 and HTML5 is that now the syntax is simplified – web developers will certainly love this! The syntax in HTML5 is compatible with HTML4, but still there are many improvements. The doctype declaration is much shorter and is just <!doctype html>. Transitional and loose variations of the doctypes are not supported anymore – you need to stick to XHTML syntax or HTML in strict mode.

New Elements

The new elements in HTML5 are the most notable introduction. These new elements are intended to better meet the requirements of Web 2.0 sites and to simplify development. It is not possible to list all the new elements and attributes because the list is very long and if you are interested in the complete list, check the page at the W3 Consortium. Here I will present only some of the new elements and attributes, which in my opinion are the most important:

• <article> – This attribute is used to separate articles, blog posts, and other text content. With so many blogs and article sites, this element is extremely useful.
• <header> and <footer> – These new elements are used for the header and footer of the page and they can replace the <div> elements we use today to identify many elements, including headers and footers. Since headers and footers are present on almost any page, it is good that now they have an element of their own.
• <nav> – Similar to <header> and <footer>, <nav> is a dedicated element for the navigational items that we presently put in <div>.
• <audio> and <video> – Audio and video content is so common and so Web.20-like that it is really great that they made it easier to use audios and videos on a page. The <audio> and <video> elements make it easier to embed audios and videos, respectively.

In addition to the new elements in HTML 5, many new attributes to existing elements are introduced, but their list is even longer than the list of elements. In any case, before you start coding in HTML5, take a look at the list of new attributes for the elements you most frequently use to see if there are changes.

Modified Elements and Attributes

Some of the fundamental attributes in HTML, such as <a>, <b>, or <i> have been modified. It might take you some time and a lot of effort to learn the new meanings. Here are some noteworthy changes:

• <a> – When the <a> element is used without an <href> attribute, this is a placeholder for a link.
• <b> – The new function of the <b> element is rather vague. It is not bold but it is still a way to mark a chunk of text as different from the rest. You can use it for keywords, product names, etc.
• <hr> – The <hr> element is now a type of break (a paragraph-level thematic break, to be more precise).
• <i> – The <i> element also marks a chunk of text as different from the rest but its usage is very diverse. You can use it for names, idioms, technical terms, etc. Pretty vague again – I guess if you continue to use <b> and <i> the way you are used to, this will be a mistake. If you want to have bold and italicized text, you should put them in the stylesheet instead. I wouldn’t call this change convenient for sure but since it is there, we need to follow it. Maybe for SEO these tags are now more useful because they are a way to mark a chunk of text as important without making the text as bold and italicized, but until we get used to the new meanings of the elements, there will be problems. The <mark> and <em> elements can be used as well to mark and emphasize special parts of the text.

There are many other changes to existing attributes and elements but they are more evolutionary than revolutionary and will hardly cause so much turmoil in the community.

Deleted Elements and Attributes

In addition to the elements and attributes that changed from HTML4 to HTML5, there are some elements and attributes that are no longer with us. Some of them will hardly be missed because they haven’t been used much and were just cluttering the language, while others could have stayed. Here are some of the elements and attributes that didn’t make it into HTML5:

• Elements better handled via CSS. The first group of deleted elements includes some very popular elements, such as <font>, <center>, <big>, and <u>. These elements are no longer supported in HTML5 because their place is in the style sheet. This change could cause a bit of a turmoil when you really want to use these elements in your html rather than in your style sheet.
• No more frames. The <frame>, <frameset>, and <noframes> elements were so 1990-ish that it is great we got rid of them. Frames were cool 10 year ago, but since they caused so much trouble and were a SEO and useability penalty, many designers avoided them, even though these elements were not excluded from the HTML specification. This is good riddance for sure and these elements will hardly be missed.
• Elements rarely used. There are many elements that were present in the old specification but were not commonly used, so they have been removed completely. They include <acronym>, <applet>, <isindex>, and <dir>.

As you can see, there are some differences between HTML4 and HTML5 but they are not that fundamental – that is, you won’t have to re-learn HTML from scratch. Still, it might take some time and effort to get used to the changes, especially the modified elements and attributes. The good news is that HTML5 eases many aspects of HTML development and this alone is enough to justify the update.

Once you have found a company to host your website, you will need to select an appropriate content management system (CMS), which is the software used to organize your website, to efficiently produce new articles, and to easily maintain old content. I built one of my first websites using the Dreamweaver CMS, and I later progressed to learning how to use Joomla and WordPress. There are many excellent open source software options on the market such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, as well as paid options such as Dreamweaver.

Your options for content management systems are extensive, so think carefully about your business requirements to narrow down your choice. It’s tempting to get a CMS with all the bells and whistles, but your business requirements may not warrant using such a sophisticated system.

To help you decide, I’ve reviewed the two CMSs that I use on a regular basis: WordPress and Joomla. Both are open source software, which means that they are issued under a license that is generally made available to the public for free, and allows users to make changes to its code as needed.

WordPress

WordPress is a blog publishing platform used by both bloggers and businesses (including large corporate organizations). It has become very popular because it is easy to install, simple to use, and quite flexible. You can use WordPress to publish both blog posts and pages. The blog posts are usually published by date order, while the pages that are not dated are used to provide static business information such as a “Contact Us” page, information on your products and services, a privacy page, and a site map.

Along with its ease of use, you will find a slew of resources and a big community to talk shop about WordPress. You can grab the latest WordPress download from the official site. Updates occur on a fairly regular basis.

– Themes

There are a lot of free WP themes available for your WordPress blog, but one of the downsides of a free theme is that it will probably be used by a lot of other people. For your business, it’s a good idea to invest in a premium theme that helps your website to stand out from the crowd and better promote your business brand.

• WordPress Free Themes – Visit the official WordPress theme directory to select from a range of free themes.
• Woo Themes – For an upfront or monthly fee, access a range of premium WordPress themes.

– Plugins

Depending on the requirements for your website, you will want to investigate the vast range of plugins available. Plugins are additional modules that add to the functionality of WordPress.

Here are some WordPress plugins that I like to use:

• SEO – Optimizes your titles for SEO and automatically generate meta tags.
• Sitemap Generator – Automates your sitemap as you add new content to your blog. A site map allows the search engines to crawl through your website easily and add your pages to their index.
• Ad Networks – If you are creating a blog that displays advertising from the various networks such as Google AdSense, a plugin such as Ad Networks will help you to manage, position, and rotate the ads on your blog.

Other useful plugins are those for tags and clouds, related blog posts, and comments.

Joomla

Joomla is a popular content management system with extensive functionality. It is one of the top open source software systems available for building websites. Joomla had its origins as part of Mambo, and later broke away as a separate software project.

When I first evaluated Joomla several years ago, I found it similar to other tools in terms of features. There has been some debate over the functionality and architecture of Joomla and its rivals, but most people will agree that Joomla is very good at what it does. You can get the latest Joomla download from the official site.

– Themes

JoomlaShack and JoomlArt are both popular places for purchasing Joomla themes. JoomlaShack offers both free themes and options to purchase premium themes, while JoomlArt requires you to join as a member to access themes.

– Extensions

Joomla offers a whole range of extensions if you are looking for additional features for your website. Extensions may consist of components, modules, or plugins and consist of both free and paid options. Some common extensions include tools for building an online community, for adding a forum or chat facility, and eCommerce functions such as shopping carts and payment facilities.

Summary

Choosing a CMS is important because it will determine the look and feel of your website, and will be the interface for your webmaster to update and maintain your web content. While WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Dreamweaver are all excellent content management systems, they do have different strengths and weaknesses that should be taken into consideration when choosing the CMS you want to use to maintain your business website.

Sales is a four-letter word.

Wait a minute, it’s five letters. And it’s that innocent “s” at the end that changes everything. “Sale” is good. “Sales” is bad. At least it is in many a freelancer’s mind. It conjures up images of plaid-clad, cigar-smoking wheeler-dealers who try to badger you into buying something you neither want nor need.

Although some freelancers choose to avoid it altogether (and also wonder why their anxiety level cranks up when rent time rolls around), most see sales as a necessary evil. It is necessary, but it need not be evil. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been selling in one way, shape, or form since you were but a mere child. Do you remember giving your folks your best pitch for the toy you absolutely must have for your birthday? Yup, that was a sell job.

The big problem for many is going about the process in the wrong way. Yes, sales is (or should be) a process. Here are a few of the common mistakes, in no particular order:

• Trying to close the deal during the first phone call
• Not doing the homework
• Talking more than listening
• Not identifying the real decision-maker
• Focusing on features instead of benefits
• Not qualifying prospects

There are plenty more, but these are pretty common. Let’s take a look at how to avoid them.

Don’t try to close the deal during the first phone call

The notion of cold calling business prospects to get clients sends shivers down most freelancers’ spines. A lot of that is due to thinking they must sell their services right there and then. That pressure inevitably results in rambling, talking too fast, stumbling over their words and such.

Relax. A cold call isn’t about selling your services. It’s about setting the first meeting and asking some qualifying questions. It might go something like this (less the prospect’s answers in between):

Hi Ms. Deeppockets, this is Neil with Really Good Web Stuff, Inc. I was researching your company and noticed that several of your competitors are now very active with social media. I have some ideas that may help your company’s visibility on both the web and social networks. Are you the right person to talk to about that? Do you have time for a quick meeting on Tuesday? It won’t be more than, say, 20 minutes. Or, would Thursday work better for you?

That’s a lot easier than trying to describe and sell the wonderful experience of working with you over the phone. Save that pitch for the meeting.

Do your homework

Background research is imperative if your sales efforts are going to be a success. You’ll want to learn all about your prospect’s business, but also their industry, customers, and competition.

In days gone by, researching a prospect took a good deal of time. These days, the web has made it a snap. Well, almost a snap. Here are a few thoughts for your detective work:

• Scour the prospect’s site
• Read their press releases
• Contact them and request brochures, annual reports, and other materials
• Check industry associations’ sites
• Read their trade press (on and offline)
• Request trade publications’ media kits (there’s lots of useful info in those)
• Peruse competitor sites

The idea here is to learn as much about the company and its business environment as you can. This detailed research not only helps you match your products or services to the prospect’s needs and challenges, but it also demonstrates to the prospect that you’ve taken a serious interest in them and they’re more than simply a one-off sale.

Listen more than you talk

When you’re making first contact with a prospect, whether in person or by phone, it’s easy to get nervous and a bit flustered. A normal reaction is to ramble on and on, not letting the prospect get a word in edgewise. Plus, it’s awfully tough to take detailed notes when you’re babbling a mile per minute.

The best sales people listen much more than they talk. They ask probing, open-ended questions and then listen intently to the answers. Open-ended questions are the ones that can’t be answered with a quick comeback such as “yes” or “no.”

Ensure that you stay on track and don’t talk too much by making a list of questions well in advance of your meeting or call. As you do your research, questions will arise about common problems and challenges within the industry. Consider asking questions such as, “What would happen if X doesn’t materialize?” or “While I was researching your industry, I noticed there’s been a marked increase of ABC. What do you attribute that to and how has it affected your company?”

Identify the real decision-maker

It can be somewhat depressing, if not down right annoying, when, after a lengthy courtship, you ask your prospect to sign on the dotted line only to have them tell you that they need to have their boss look things over. You spent a boatload of time and resources building a relationship with the wrong person! Now there’s a good chance you’ll need to start from scratch with the prospect’s boss, CEO, or other decision-maker.

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix that’s so often overlooked at the beginning of the process. Ask your contact, “Who, beside yourself, will be responsible for making the final decision?” This simple question does two very important things. First, it identifies the true decision-maker(s). Second, it’s not uncommon for some folks to try to appear as though they have more authority than they really do. This tactic let’s them gracefully save face.

Focus on benefits instead of features

Features are the characteristics that make up a product or service. For example, features for a service business might be a unique process, specific industry experience or knowledge, and unique skill sets. A product’s features could be the materials that it’s made from, its ease of use, color options, and so on.

Benefits are what those features do for your client and they are usually emotionally based. When you strip away all the layers, they tend to center around things like increasing security, avoiding pain, elevating status, increasing comfort, and so on. It’s key to understand that, although your client might be a company, you’re dealing with a person.

The goal of a project may be to get more sales, increase efficiency, or build awareness. But underlying those goals is your contact’s desire to look good to their boss, feel secure in the decisions they make, and have a stellar outcome so they get a bonus. So during the sales process, ensure that you clearly communicate what benefits your services bring to both the client company and to your contact, personally.

Qualify prospects

During my marketing presentations I ask the audience, “Who needs what you’re selling? Who is your market?” Inevitably, several will say, “Everybody!” Sorry, wrong answer. It’s a common mistake that many make, especially those just starting out. Trying to be all things to all people often makes one nothing to everybody. There’s no differentiation. That’s why having a niche or two is so important. But even within your niche, you’ll want to weed out those prospects who aren’t a good fit for you.

The qualifying process filters out those who don’t meet your specific criteria. Those criteria will be different for various businesses, but here are a few core points to consider:

• Do I have the necessary experience, knowledge, and resources to pull off this gig? Or, will I need to invest time and money to get up to speed?
• Have they worked with a service provider like me before or will I need to educate them (and can I bill for that education)?
• Is this a one-time project or does the prospect have continuing needs that I can fill?
• Does the project have a realistic schedule?
• Does the prospect have a realistic budget?
• Do things feel right? Your gut feelings are usually correct. If they give you the heebie jeebies, it’s probably time to walk away.

Closing thoughts

At the end of the day, sales and marketing don’t need to be frightening tasks or things you dread. It’s simply a conversation. Plus, if you truly believe in the value you bring to the table, you’ll understand that you’re doing the prospect a favor by making them aware of why they need you.

Conducting interviews with experts is one of the best ways to create quality online content that’s highly profitable. But once you get an expert on the phone (or face-to-face), it’s crucial that you know how to ask great questions that will bring out the best answers possible. Otherwise your guest will go into “speaker mode,” just regurgitating what she’s said thousands of times before — that is, if you’re lucky.

You also might end up with sub-par content, because the interviewee is only answering your questions instead of volunteering more information.

In any case, you won’t be inspiring your expert’s imagination, or revealing anything that people can’t get in his latest book. That will likely result in a higher proportion of refunds from people who buy your product because they like that expert, and want something new.

A poorly-conducted interview will also make your guest reluctant to recommend you to any of her peers, or provide a testimonial, so you’ll have to work harder to convince the next person to be interviewed.

Luckily, by following a few simple rules, you can make sure that you get the best content out of your interview. That in turn leads to more expert interviews, more sales, and fewer refunds.

Here are my 6 Rules for Asking Great Interview Questions:

1. Don’t Ask Limiting Questions

Beginning interviewers almost always seem to fall back on asking limiting questions, which take the form of a multiple choice (either/or) or closed-ended (yes/no) question. These encourage your guest to give short answers, and to focus simply on the parameters you’ve set rather than thinking “outside the box” of your question.

As a result, he’ll feel stifled, or that you’re on a cold fact-finding mission instead of in an engaging discussion. The content will suffer, and so will your profitability.

To avoid limiting questions, make sure the first word out of your mouth is not Is, Are, Were, Do, or Does.

2. Ask Open-Ended Questions

When you avoid limiting questions, you’ll be able to ask the best types of questions: open-ended. These inspire your guests to think and use their imaginations, which result in unique, thoughtful answers that are chock-full of valuable information.

The easiest way to know that your questions are open-ended is to start them with Who, What, Where, When, Why, or How.

3. Don’t Ask Loaded Questions

Another common mistake is putting too much into a question, resulting in an overloaded, long-winded, or double-barreled question. If you do that, your guests will be forced to put less into their answers.

To avoid loaded questions, make sure you only ask one thing at a time, and don’t tack on rambling information or commentary before or after you ask the question.

4. Ask Simple Questions

When your questions aren’t loaded, they can be simple. And you know what they say: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid… or, if you prefer, Keep It Short and Simple).

Remember, an interview isn’t about you showing off how much you know; it’s about inspiring your guest to reveal how much they know, so your audience can benefit.

5. Don’t Ask Leading Questions

Leading questions are those that try to get someone to give a specific answer rather than the true answer. They’re manipulative, and they greatly impact your ability to uncover gold in an interview.

If you find yourself making assumptions, trying to get a guest to agree with your opinion or observation, or using emotionally-charged words that are biased or could trigger a reaction, then you’re asking a leading question. There’s nothing wrong with an interview that’s full of emotion, but it should come from the thoughtful answers, not from a poorly-worded question.

6. Ask Neutral Questions

When you avoid leading questions, you can ask neutral questions instead. There will be times when you can express your opinion, or ask about something you’ve noticed — even something that doesn’t necessarily agree with what your guest has just said — but it shouldn’t take the forefront.

Remember, the person in the spotlight is your guest, not you. Let his personality and knowledge shine, and not only will he want to share more, but you’ll be creating a compelling and attractive piece for your audience.

Summary

In case you’re wondering, yes, I do break all these rules sometimes in my interviews. However, after asking questions for years to hundreds of interviewees, I know when I’m doing it, and it’s always for a specific reason.

If you’re just starting out, it’s all too easy to break the rules, and many beginners do so on almost every question without even realizing it. That’s why I recommend you follow these rules as closely as possible at all times until they become the new habit; this will give your interviews better, higher-quality content right away, and you’ll see your bottom line increase as a result.

Your project bid can make or break your chances when it comes to landing a particular client. However, investing too much time in a project bid doesn’t make good business sense: you don’t get paid for the time that goes into creating your proposal. So any tool that can streamline the proposal process and help you turn out a high-quality proposal is worthwhile. And if it’s built on a system that you may already be familiar with — like WordPress — that’s even better.

WPBids is exactly that: a specialized WordPress theme that generates a clean proposal. You don’t have to learn any new software or even build templates of your own, although WPBids has many customization options. All you have to do is add the information for your current project, publish it, and send your prospective client the URL.

Managing the Proposal Process

WordPress offers several benefits for managing the proposal process that may not be obvious. More often than not, proposals these days are handled online. You may be used to emailing PDFs, but offering your client the ability to easily look over a proposal on a web page and comment right there is convenient. It’s also a far easier format to work with if your client depends on a mobile browser for handling email and other communication. And if you’re presenting your proposal in person, you only have to worry about internet access — not having all the necessary files.

Hopefully, you need to manage multiple proposals at the same time. WPBids creates a home page for your proposals, so you can take a look at everything you have on your hands at the moment. Because you’ll likely build up an archive of older proposals, you can sort by the date, client name, and other criteria, so you can quickly find old proposals.

One of the major concerns with putting proposals online is how secure they are, both from your competition and your other clients. WPBids has built in the ability to password protect bids. You also have the ability to print out a version of each bid formatted for the printer if you come across a client who wants you to mail or fax a proposal.

Taking Your Proposals to the Next Level

The truth of the matter is that most proposals are built off of templates: no matter what sort of services you provide to clients, there are many similarities between what you’ll do for a client tomorrow and what you’ll offer next week. That means that you can rely on a template that you simply customize to each prospective client. WPBids makes it easy to turn an existing proposal into a template that you can rely on. It’s also very easy to go back and edit an existing template — as easy as editing a post in WordPress.

Within WPBids’ tools, you have many options for customization. The theme comes with four different color options for your proposals. But modifying WPBids beyond a simple color change is easy. By using WordPress’ built-in ability to use child themes, you can quickly roll out even more customized versions. With WPBids comes the Photoshop PSD originally used to build it, so that you can modify the graphics in the design quickly. The developers even include a stripped down child theme so that, if you’re inclined, you can recreate the theme in your own style.

Making Use of WPBids

To use WPBids, you do have to have your own domain name and hosting — but if you have an existing domain name, you certainly won’t need to buy another just to run WPBids.

WPBids is available for $59. For that price, you can use it as many times as you like, on as many different domains as you need to. And if proposals are important to your business, that’s a bargain.

At the start of every month, we’ll be rounding up the best posts from the business network of blogs and directing you to them. Here’s the best of business in August, including articles from WorkAwesome, the Netsetter, and FreelanceSwitch.

The Netsetter

An Effective Marketing Plan: Getting Started

Neil Tortorella: A well-conceived and properly implemented marketing plan is the foundation for your business’ success. You might be the best at what you do, but if nobody knows about you and your offerings, and why they’re of value, then that shingle you hung up is going to come tumbling down.

Just How Popular are List Posts?

Collis Ta’eed: Magazines have always known the power of a good list. Look at the covers on your local newsstand and you’ll see plenty of “5 tips to shed your winter pounds” or “10 ways to save on your home loan” type headlines. This style of content just works, and if you’re a blogger, you’d be wise to pay attention.

Does More Posts = More Traffic?

Collis Ta’eed: Yesterday in a post discussing the popularity of list-style posts in blogging, a commenter asked me to look at the frequency of post types in relation to the traffic they bring. Following this comment I put together some statistics and ended up wondering a slightly different question, does having more blog posts mean you end up with more traffic?

How to Search Engine Optimize WordPress

Abhijeet Mukherjee: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to making your website easily accessible to search engines, and helping them understand and read the content so that they can rank it high up in their index.

How to Get Started as a Web Entrepreneur

Collis Ta’eed: In the last four years of building up Envato I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about growing and building web companies. So I decided to put some of my learnings into a presentation I gave at WebDU 2010 earlier this year.

WorkAwesome

Making Ideas Happen with Scott Belsky: Book Review and Interview

Scott Belsky has been making ideas happen for some time now, whether it be at Behance, through the annual 99% Conference or with the creation of tools like the Action Method. He’s now made a book happen as well.  Peter North not only does a review, but conducts an interview with the author in this article.

Why I Stick to Pen and Paper for Goals and Tasks

While some people are right at home electronic organizers and smartphone apps, others find technology either daunting – or even inconvenient – resulting in a slowdown in productivity. Ana Da Silva discusses why she sticks to the tried, tested and true productivity tools known as pen and paper.

Should You Switch to a Health Savings Account?

Health care has been one of the hot-button issues in the United States over the past year, and there’s a lot to consider when choosing how to manage your (and your family’s) health. Bob Bessette offers his own insights as to whether or not you should go with a Health Savings Account – and why he did just that.

28 Creative PowerPoint and Keynote Presentation Designs

Powerpoint and Keynotes can be boring. In fact, they often turn out that way. We’ve collected some of the best presentations on the web to help you make sure that yours don’t.

7 Reasons to Switch to the Dvorak Keyboard Layout

Ever wished you could increase your typing speed? Wondering why you end up pecking at the keyboard instead of churning out words at a decent pace? It might not be you that’s the issue – it could be the QWERTY keyboard layout that’s holding you back.  Red Tani offers seven reasons why you should switch to the Dvorak layout in this piece that has drawn a lot of comments…both for and against the notion.

FreelanceSwitch

What to Do When a Client Kills a Project

So, there you are, working away on a project, and oh, is it a good one. You’re having fun, the client’s loving your work, and then…

…the whole thing comes to a screeching halt

How I Learned to Stop Worrying, Love My Job — And Leave It

Ever wonder how your fellow freelancers ended up where they are today? What goes through your head when you realize you’re not happy in your traditional career? Cassie McDaniel tells her own inspirational and surprising story on how she made the jump from full-time employee to freelancer.

Real Home Offices from FreelanceSwitch Readers

Forget the pristine glass surfaces and spotless, useless office set-ups. We take a look at home office photos submitted by fellow FreelanceSwitch readers–find some real world inspiration for your own home office!

14 Resources for Free and Premium Fonts

You can’t deny that typography is important in design. You could have the most beautiful illustrations in the world, but if you use a font like Jokerman, your entire design will look iffy. Use these tools and resources below to help you find the perfect font for your next project.

When to NOT Invest in Your Freelance Career

There’s no shortage of opportunities to invest in freelancing, whether it’s in coaching, e-courses, college courses, books and e-books, or even retreats for entrepreneurs. But not all freelancers are good candidates for these products and opportunities, and not all times are the right time to invest. Here’s when not to spend your hard-earned cash on career development.