Credit: OpenSourceWay on Flickr
Yes, you can troll Craigslist and puzzle over Google AdSense. (Actually, trolling Craigslist is what got me my most current freelance writing gig, so far be it from me to knock the go-to job rabbit hole of fun.)
But if you’re a creative professional who gets a lot of your leads from the web and social media, and you’re in no mood to do a keyword search for your next blog post, here are 5 things I did this week during my pockets of downtime that are already generating returns:
1. Brush up on your grammar.
I don’t give a shit what Penelope Trunk says. The same woman who thinks you need to peruse a Barney’s catalog to dress for your career makes a rather feeble argument for why learning AP Style is unnecessary. I don’t grasp how bad grammar is different than a wrinkled, mismatched pantsuit, but both make you look stupid at your own peril. If you can’t stomach handbooks and grammarians, you’re in luck. We have internet. I read (or listen to) Grammar Girl and Copyblogger at least 3x week to answer specific questions and generally improve my skills (and I’m a writer by trade).
2. Fake what you need to succeed.
I learned this advice from one of my favorite writing bloggers of all time, Julie Rhodes. If you don’t have the portfolio you need to nail the client and add to the portfolio… make it up.
You don’t have to fabricate a pretend ad for Gucci or write a fake book. But you could build a website you don’t need to show off your skills, or create a layout for a fictional client, or pull together a sample press release. I do this whenever I need to prove I can deliver something I don’t already have in my portfolio.
3. Join a professional association.
No, I’m not telling you to change out of your pajamas yet. I’m telling you to join a professional association. I just joined the National Association of Independent Writers & Editors, because I needed inexpensive but continuous access to a library of resources that would otherwise be too expensive for me at this stage in my business. And I want to start adding to my credibility by building my skill set and finding associations that can help me help my clients. I was kindly reminded of this by the writer Carol Tice.
4. Provide better payment options for your clients.
This one is obvious and the oldest trick in the book. My online buddy Melissa Breau just wrote a kickass post about creating three-tiered pricing for all product types, including writing products, which is an old business trick but one we don’t take advantage of often enough as soloists or small-time entrepreneurs. Genius stuff. I’m working on an eBook right now, thanks to Melissa’s advice. But in the meantime, I’m offering my clients PayPal invoicing so they can pay instantly for services using their credit cards. This means I can green-light a project instantly, which I just did with a brand-new client this week. Yes, there are fees, but if you’re doing small volume like me, they are well worth adding a few bucks to your price structure.
5. Problem-solve your online presence.
There are a zillion ways to do this. I am only going to offer a few, the specific things I’m doing or have done this week, that you too can handle in a small time window (say, 20 minutes to an hour) and that will directly impact your success:
- Site stats: Set up and school yourself in either Google Analytics (complex but customizable) or an easy statistical analysis of your traffic, bounce rate, and search presence with StatCounter. You can’t fix it if you don’t know what’s broken.
- Understand your site’s functionality. This is not for everyone, but those of you with some experience in HTML, CSS and Javascript will appreciate the endless fun (and information) provided by the Firefox plugin Firebug. You can drill down on almost anything about a site, too, not just its code, and spot what’s bogging down your load time.
- Make sure you have a search. If your blog theme or website doesn’t have a search, and it does have content, you are making a big mistake. For a relatively painless blog-oriented solution (that has earning potential too), try Lijit. I just talked to Grace Boyle this week about it, and I now understand why this is a good solution, particularly for bloggers.
What am I missing? What else is a great under-an-hour, easily-implemented, no-leaving-the-house tip for improving a small, solo, or freelance business riiiiight now?
5 Easy Things You Can Do to Boost Business in Less Than One Hour…
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
First thanks for the link.
Second, my 10-minute-tip: Review your own website. Do you have a solid brand that comes across in every aspect of your copy?
My favorite writer website is Natalia’s – InkyClean.com
As writers, we sometimes forget to do for our own sites what we do for our customers. You know why it’s important for them – those are the same reasons it’s important for you.
Agreed. In fact, overhauling my own copy is one of the “big picture” tasks I’m taking on next. I modified all of my pages and will eventually go back in and modify posts.
Then, I’m tackling all the widgets I need to make this blog better and better. Funny thing is, since we don’t pay ourselves, we tend to get lazy on our own stuff. Which is counterproductive to say the least!
[...] Donner About: The blog of writer and editor Lindsey Donner Great post: Five Easy Things You Can Do to Boost Business in Less Than One Hour Twitter: [...]
This is such a great blog post – you combine so many important growth factors and tips that I think a lot of people really overlook.
Brushing up on your grammar is a great tip. I am so turned off when I receive an informal e-mail with typos and mistakes. E-mail has become to loose and so has grammar. It should never die, in my opinion.
Thanks for mentioning Lijit. I love learning about what my readers are searching for on my site, as well (via the Lijit stats).
Thanks Grace. I am retweaking this site and implementing Lijit is on my list.
Fully agree with you about grammar in emails. If it’s a professional communication, BE PROFESSIONAL. Not everyone can master comma splices but they can reread for the basics. :)
@Lindsey – if everyone could master comma splices, we’d be out of our jobs…
Melissa Breau recently posted..Planning for a Freelance Future
[...] Lindsey Donner: Five Easy Things You Can Do To Boost Business In Less Than One Hour [...]
Melissa, I have my doubts about this. Bad writers abound. As the Catcher in the Rye scene with Holden and Stradlater first instructed me, putting the commas in the right places won’t save your butt. :)
Lindsey Donner recently posted..Tales from the Robe- How I Became a Copywriter
Good collection of thoughts. I think it’s also mandatory to do a couple of other things on a regular/frequent basis. (1) Build a close network of people whose opinions you respect and to whom you can turn for advice as needed; (2) get out of our wire/wireless silo and meet real people somewhere else. You can neither receive or get consistently good ideas in 140 characters; and (3) I’d reiterate the importance of associations for resources, networking, training, and, yes, fun. And doing just join, but be involved. Do. Learn. Organize. You learn a lot. My involvement with 3 or 4 associations over the last 15 years has built this business more than anything else.