Business.com

Business.com

10 Books You Need To Boost Your Freelance Writing Career

Posted: 04 Aug 2019 08:05 AM PDT

There's much more to a freelance writing career than creating a blog, setting your own hours and working full-time from home. It can be one of the best decisions you make for your life and overall wellbeing, but too many people start their freelancing journey only to realize they know a lot less than they thought.

In 2019, there are more than 62 million freelancers working in the U.S., and that number continues to increase year by year. Freelance work isn't going anywhere as more people are discovering they'd rather indulge in a flexible work lifestyle than sit in a chair inside a cubicle 40 or more hours per week.

Reading about what you're interested in is the best way to figure out if it's right for you as well as sharpen your skill set and prepare for what's ahead. In this post, we're going to look at books that cover the following:

  • The basics of a freelance writing career and what it takes

  • How to write excellent content 

  • The process of finding and landing clients

  • Maintaining a healthy work-life balance

  • How to manage your finances as a self-employed worker

Here are 10 books you must read before launching your freelance writing career this year.

The basics

1. The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing: How to Write, Work, and Thrive on Your Own Terms by Zachary Petit

There's a lot that goes into a freelance writing career that someone new to the idea will, understandably, have tons of questions about it. Petit does a great job of diving into the basics and does so by explaining things in a way that anyone can understand. This book covers multiple facets of freelancing life which include how to build a writing platform, which niche of writing to break into, and how to conduct interviews.

2. The Freelancer's Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Have the Career of Your Dreams―On Your Terms by Sara Horowitz

Another great read to devour when you're just getting into freelance writing is this book by Sara Horowitz, founder of the Freelancers Union. It's not only for those new to freelancing but also gives valuable insights to those who are already self-employed. Every freelancer is going to come across challenges while building their career, and Horowitz outlines how to do all of those things even though it's overwhelming at times. The book delves into topics like setting up a home office, creating contracts, negotiating with clients, and much more.

Writing excellent content

3. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Hadley

If you're going to make it as a freelance writer, you better know how to write and do it well. Ann Hadley's novel goes into great detail about how to create content that sells. Content marketing is how you market to your audience without them knowing that's what you're doing, but only good writers are able to master this art. Communicating through writing is an absolute necessity in this line of work and will determine your income, so it's best to read up on how to perfect your craft so you can be a successful freelance writer in your niche.

4. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Though this book doesn't specifically cater to freelancers, it's a must if you want to learn more about writing for an audience and writing well. Many writers go into the industry with unrealistic expectations failing to realize that it's a real job that takes real hard work and dedication to master. Lamott doesn't shy away from sharing the truth about writer's block, horrible first drafts, and how you can be your own worst enemy standing in the way of your success. 

Landing clients

5. Warm Email Prospecting: How to Use Short and Simple Emails to Land Better Freelance Writing Clients by Ed Gandia

Anyone who's self-employed will tell you that the most crucial step to success is landing the right clients for the right price. Part of that process is being able to write excellent emails to prospects. Email marketing is an essential part of any business, but it especially applies when freelancing because it's how you make your money. You pitch ideas, make network connections, and speak to clients all through email, so if you aren't well-versed in the craft, you'll be left behind. Gandia takes you further into "warm email prospecting" where he teaches you how to email clients like a pro.

6. Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling by Michael Port

Being a freelancer means learning to sell yourself to others, especially when just starting out. When you're new to freelancing, the most challenging part is convincing clients to take you on when you have little to nothing in your portfolio. That's why self-promotion is so important, which is what Book Yourself Solid teaches you how to do. In this business, you need to learn how to sell all sorts of things, including your reputation, image, skill set, expertise, and more. It also includes information on how to build a positive self-image, how to create brand credibility, and how to perfect your pitch.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance

7. Lead With Balance: How To Master Work-Life Balance in an Imbalanced Culture by Donnie Hutchinson 

When you're your own boss, it can prove difficult to achieve a work-life balance that leaves you feeling rejuvenated to get back to work while being able to take time off without feeling guilty. Donnie Hutchinson does a good job of breaking down how to achieve your business goals without sacrificing your mental and emotional health. It doesn't cater specifically to a freelance lifestyle, but emphasizes prioritizing your social and personal life even when work feels overwhelming. 

8. It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson 

This day in age, if you aren't working yourself into the ground, you aren't getting closer to achieving your goals. Fried and Hansson argue that working long hours, losing sleep, and taking on excessive workloads is unnecessary to reach success. Solopreneurs, contractors, freelancers, and employees alike struggle with taking on too much work. This book outlines a strategy to embrace a calm work life without feeling like you're falling behind. It uses practical insights to guide you through having fulfilling workdays that don't leave you feeling burned out. 

Managing self-employed finances

9. The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed: The Only Personal Finance System for People with Not-So-Regular Jobs by Joseph D'Agnese and Denise Kiernan

Knowing how to manage your finances as a freelance writer is perhaps the scariest part of the entire endeavor. You're the only one responsible for saving enough while trying to live comfortably. This read guides you through how to build your finances as a freelancer so you don't have to worry about how you'll pay the bills and make enough to live off of. What's even better is that it's written by two freelance writers with first-hand experience and expertise.

10. Working for Yourself: Law & Taxes for Independent Contractors, Freelancers & Gig Workers of All Types by Stephen Fishman J.D.

If you're going to commit to the life of a freelancer, you need to learn the technical part of managing your finances. When you work for yourself, you become responsible for the legal requirements that come with your business. You have to file your taxes differently, set up legally binding contracts, and perhaps even hire a lawyer to make sure your books are set up correctly. Whether you're freelancing as a side hustle or doing it full-time, this book is necessary so you aren't sued or end up in legal or financial trouble down the road.

Over to you

If you're going to take on the life of a freelance writer, you need to read up on it as much as you can before you take the official plunge. Freelancing isn't for the faint of heart and reading up on it will give you insight into if it's the right decision for you and how to get there successfully. What books do you recommend for freelance writers this year?

Top E-Commerce Challenges Facing SMBs

Posted: 04 Aug 2019 08:00 AM PDT

  • Cybersecurity, competition and order fulfillment are the top three challenges facing e-commerce businesses.
  • The average conversion rate for e-commerce sites is less than 3%, so driving relevant traffic to your site is crucial.  
  • E-commerce has exploded, meaning there's more fierce competition now than ever before. 

As an e-commerce business, you might feel like things are more of a struggle for you than if you ran a brick-and-mortar shop, and that may be true. As an e-commerce business, there is a different set of rules and regulations you must follow ‒ cybersecurity becomes more important, both to the function of your business and its longevity.

Editor's note: Looking for the right e-commerce website design service for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

buyerzone widget

We spoke with industry experts about the challenges e-commerce small businesses must contend with and how to overcome these hurdles.

What are the big e-commerce challenges for SMBs?

1. Cybersecurity

Victor Congionti, chief information officer and co-founder at Proven Data, knows that small e-commerce sites need the proper cybersecurity practices and tools in place. 

"Small businesses that focus their attention in the e-commerce space need policies and procedures to create a solid cybersecurity framework for the organization. In the case of a cyberattack, a small business cannot afford to have downtime in operations and sales, because every transaction is a marginal financial success that the business depends on," said Congionti. 

Because a small business depends on that income, Congionti said business owners need the proper cybersecurity framework to keep data safe and secure while helping employees at the company feel empowered and safe to implement policies and tech to combat cyberattacks. 

Businesses, added Congionti, must have an incident response plan in place that establishes what to do in the event of a cyberattack. 

"In the case of a ransomware attack, the organization might not be able to access files and data that is necessary in providing service to customers (such as inventory reports). Having a response plan can help the business reduce downtime in operations and continue providing service to clients through other means (such as phone sales)," Congionti said.

2. Competition

Competition comes in many forms for small businesses, especially in the e-commerce space. You have to keep up with competitive pricing, products and service. 

"As a small business, you can overcome price competition by having a very clear company value proposition that consumers can't get elsewhere," said Calloway Cook, founder of Illuminate Labs. 

The e-commerce space has become so saturated that standing out from other e-commerce businesses is really difficult, through no fault of your own. 

"Distinguishing yourself from your competitors is crucial to standing out and attracting new customers for your business. This can be accomplished by making sure your website looks professional and is optimized correctly to suit today's Google algorithm," said Harsha Reddy, co-founder of Small Biz Genius. "Also, by providing a unique product or service, you can focus on a smaller demographic, making it easier for you to increase your domain authority."

3. Order fulfillment

Not everything has to fall on the back of the small business owner. You could be inundated with more orders than you are prepared to handle on your own. 

"Order fulfillment should be outsourced to a third-party fulfillment company whenever possible for increased efficiency," Cook said.

4. Customer experience

As a primarily e-commerce business, or a business that has an e-commerce site as a secondary means of selling its products, figuring out how to offer your customers the same experience they would get in a brick-and-mortar store can be challenging. 

"One of the most overlooked areas of the customer experience in moving to e-commerce is pricing and customer segmentation. Customer experience is especially important when launching an e-commerce initiative, because customers expect to be treated as well or better online as they are face to face," said George Dunham, CEO of epaCUBE. 

Dunham said that companies struggle to meet these new demands because it requires very precise handling of pricing, analytics and customer segmentation. Successful experiences in the e-commerce space require the same, if not greater, clarity in product offerings, pricing and more, as is required in a face-to-face buying process. 

"In a world where everything is happening online, your customers expect more, and they also know more about your products, prices, and competition. They expect to be treated the same way online as offline, so if they can get a certain price in person but can't get that price online, they get frustrated and purchase somewhere else," Dunham said. 

Consistent and profitable pricing is a requirement these days for an e-commerce venture to succeed.

5. Quality website traffic and visitor conversion.

Building, designing and running an e-commerce website is hard, but receiving quality converting traffic is even harder, according to Lisa Chu, owner of Black n Bianco. Philip McCluskey, commercial director at One erTH, said that average conversion rates globally are less than 3%, making driving relevant traffic to your site a sticking point. 

"To turn your traffic into converting customers, you must have a website that is modern, clean, user-friendly, trustworthy and virus-free. Every industry is different, so understanding your audience is crucial to designing a website that resonates with your audience," Chu explained. 

Designing an attractive website is just the beginning, though, Maximizing the content on your website through SEO is the next, and maybe most important, step. 

"Extensive short tail keyword research should be conducted to ensure you are optimizing your pages for relevant search terms. It is likely that the competition for these terms when [they are] just starting out will not realize immediate web traffic; therefore long tail keyword research should be conducted to understand the relevant 'what,' 'how,' 'who,' and 'where' within your niche," McCluskey said. 

Shirley Tan, partnership manager at Verizon Media, said many businesses used to take the approach of, "If I build my online store, customers will somehow discover it." 

"Today, that is no longer the case. When there were fewer e-commerce stores, they may have been able to rely on a 'stumble-upon' effect, but now the internet is too crowded and noisy. Therefore, engaging the customer and getting their attention has to be more meaningful and impactful," Tan said. 

To combat the noisy e-commerce space, Tan said e-commerce SMBs need to understand who they are targeting, so they can create a select group of customers who will be their constant source of revenue and their loyal shoppers.

6. Visibility

How are you supposed to get quality traffic to your site and turn visitors into customers if people can't find your site to begin with? It's a big issue for e-commerce businesses, and one that could make or break a business. 

"If the company doesn't show up on the first page of Google's search results for relevant keywords, then it's unlikely that prospective customers will find them," said Michael Anderson, marketing and SEO specialist at GeoJango Maps. "The best way to overcome this challenge is to invest in SEO. E-commerce companies should conduct keyword research, implement on- page SEO best practices and work on building high-authority links to their website." 

Anderson continued to say that if all of the above is done correctly, it will lead to higher search visibility and an increase in qualified leads. 

"For clothing businesses, influencer marketing works very well, but if your e-commerce business is based around a product that solves a problem, getting your website to rank on Google for keywords related to that problem through SEO efforts might be your best bet," said Nicholas Rubright, digital marketing specialist at e-commerce market research firm Zik Analytics. "Understanding your audience is key to figuring out which marketing channel will generate traffic that actually converts into sales."

7. Return/refund policy

Having a good return/refund policy could be the difference between success and failure. That sounds extreme, but it's true. 

"If you want your brand to stand tall, then customer satisfaction should be the first priority, and whatever you're selling should be the same as what's advertised," said Syed Ali Hasan, digital marketing manager at Film Jackets. 

In an ideal world, yes, there would never be an issue with the product you're selling, but that's not always the case. Sometimes the purchaser has buyer's remorse, or it wasn't what they thought it would be. 

"Be transparent and create a smooth, fast and easy return policy. Make it easy to understand and not too strict so the customer won't have to go through hassles [to return an item]," Hassan said. 

Rubright said that if you don't have a good return/refund policy, people are less likely to trust you're selling something worth the money. 

"When a site says 'no returns or refunds,' it makes the customer much more likely to think it's a risky purchase, or worse, a scam, since online businesses can be less known," said Rubright.

8. Finding the right market

"The first step of any business is to find product/market fit, and e-commerce is no different," said Rubright. "Product-market fit is the degree to which a product satisfies market demand. The easiest way to find that fit quickly is to build a product that solves a problem you have." 

Finding the right market for your product isn't the easiest task, though. Rubright offered insight into how to make it easier. 

"If you haven't figured out your ideal customer yet, I recommend making some assumptions as to what your target market is and running Facebook ads to this audience. When you finally do make a sale, try and understand everything you can about who bought your product and find more of those people by any means necessary," Rubright said. "Once you have product-market fit figured out, then you can figure out the best way to reach your ideal customers."

9. Making/increasing sales

Once you have your products figured out, your website set up and your marketing set, the next step is making sales! It seems like a no-brainer; however, it's not always that straight forward. 

"To increase sales, e-commerce SMBs need to have the right product at the right price and ensure they are top of mind when the customer is ready to make a purchase," Tan said. "This traffic can be hard to get; to drive sales, it's important a brand endears themselves to their customers." 

Aside from customers already having you in mind when they need something and feeling positive about your product, your website plays a big part in how many sales you'll make. 

Tan suggested asking yourself the following questions to determine the efficiency of your website: 

  • Is the website layout easy to navigate?
  • Is the checkout experience simple and easy?
  • Are there coupons that can be applied when customers send a certain amount to get a discount? 

"Website functionalities like these can greatly increase conversions and make the customer experience more enjoyable," said Tan.

Posted by: at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)