Year-end Hustle

With less than a week left in it, 2009 looks to close out very well for me.
But with a couple days left here, I am going to see what I can get done.
Will report back.
I wish everyone a great holiday season, and better New Year.
Cheers.

Online Reputation Management - Local Style!

I have a client right now who is suffering from some bad reviews appearing online. The problem is that when you search on his company, the bad reviews are forefront - and this is not good for his board of directors to see.

Unfortunately, I am not sure how much I can really do to help.

The problem is, if there are no legal issues, having a bad review removed from a site is pretty difficult. Google believes that this gives a clear picture of the business and helps the consumer make an informed decision. Conceptually they are right, while in practice it is usually much more messy. Why? Because angry people take vengeance, and can do so with their power to review.

So how do you manage your online reputation?

Get Listed
Local search listings tend to pull their information from data centers. If you cover the major data centers, your listings are often well represented on many different sites.

I by no means am a local search expert, but I know enough to submit to the following data centers when needed: Yelp, Superpages.com, insiderpages and infoUSA. These are 4 of the most trusted data centers (as far as I know anyway), and they distribute their data to many other, smaller players. The result can be lots of listings for less effort.

In addition to getting in the data centers, you want to get mentioned on other sites where your business is named in conjunction with uniquely identifiable information about your company.

These listings are often referred to as "citations." While conceptually, they are easy to understand, I found this definition by Bill Slawski that does a good job of explaining what you aim for:
"A local document - one associated with particular geographic area, which can be associated with a location, by one of the following means:
* A document may mention a business at the location,
* The address of the business, and/or;
* A telephone number associated with a business."
So this means, in local listings, you don't really have to have a link back to your site...the mention, with the included specific information about your business helps strengthen your power.

Optimize It!
Before you go to the data centers, you want to make sure that you are taking advantage of what you can do with the listings. Most won't let you do much with the name of the company (don't try to spam it), but in your descriptions, you can use keywords that give power to your site. Make sure that you provide all of the information you can...it depends on the specific listing, but some allow you fatten up the profile pretty nicely.

Back to Our Story
So how does this get back to my client with the bad reviews? Because like I said, you really can't do much about bad reviews...but you can make them harder to find. My plan to help my client is to go thru the basics first (noted above: I will make sure he is represented and optimized as much as possible). Then I will get more positive press out there for him to try to force the bad crap beyond anyone's searching patience. Will it work? Hope so - this business deserves it.

It underscores that managing your online reputation is not necessarily difficult, but it does warrant some serious focus and attention. You might not be able to stop bad press, but you can make it a smaller part of what people find about you online.

New Ideas

I have been developing some new ideas with a couple guys located on the other side of the world. The cool thing to me, is our ability to communicate in real time on the specs...them being in London and me being in Atlanta makes no difference.

So it makes me think a little more concretely about deadlines and such like.

And it makes me sure now, that I need to rebuild my site, because it is an embarrassment. I actually have started to do so - but it has taken me years.

With the new site, I am going in a new direction. New ideas are everywhere - just trying to see which ones fit.

Balancing Writing and Webwork

In the last week, I have been shifting from a mostly writing perspective to a mostly building one. It is the desires of my clients - I am simply going where there is a need.

This brought to mind a question from one of the Emory students a couple weeks ago, when I was up there mingling with them at a mixer. She asked, "Do you think you have stayed busy because you have more than writing to offer clients?"

I had answered yes, because I do think it is my ability to do more than just write that creates this little niche of mine. I could, probably, focus more concretely on writing and turn the tide, but I don't know that I ever would.

One of the reasons I like doing more than writing, is that I like doing more than writing. I know people who don't, and they focus much more solidly on writing gigs. To me, there is a lot you can do if you know what to do with the writing and the end result, because it helps you close the gap. Instead of me handing my content to someone else to develop, I finish it off. In many cases for me, it allows me to offer way more to the client for less.

So while this week is more building than writing, I do know that is only this week so far. For the last 3 months, I have not built as much as I wrote. Yin/Yang. Balance.

How Did I Get Started as a Freelance Seo Writer?

Perhaps the most common question I am asked, especially by college students, is how I got started as a freelance seo writer. This was again the situation in my last couple visits to local Atlanta colleges like Emory and Kennesaw State.

Let me answer that by giving you a short scenario. The writer will be played by me, the cold faced marketing director will be played by a Vietnamese dwarf named Miss Gengy, who has a peg leg, false teeth and a horrible disposition.

Scene: fade-in to an eager young writer, briefcase (new) stuffed to the brim with fake collateral from pretend gigs. See sweat on brow, and fidget in chair as another marketing director sees through the BS, and is perturbed at spending time in this meeting.

Writer: {clearing throat to speak} ...um...

Cold Faced Marketing Director: (Rising to leave) I think we're done here.

Writer clumsily gathers crap pile and stumbles blindly from office, a sadness in his heart but a stern look of determination on his face. Zero in his pocket. Rocky theme begins, and writer opens door, stepping into a world of uncertainty, more stupid than brave, more willing than not...

I make jokes, I laugh and kid, but I seriously went into meetings I was totally unqualified to be in, waving my arms like a monkey to try to get noticed. I was aggressive, and I was unstoppable. That is how I started as a freelance SEO writer - by my unwillingness to be anything else.

Sometimes, it can be that simple.
It was for me.

Thanks, Emory

Had a good time last week speaking at Emory University at a little career mixer.
The Career Services Center out there put it on, and it seemed like a rousing success. I was one of about 20-30 writers, all covering a variety of niches.
We mixed around with a bunch of students, and just talked.
I met a lot of really nice people, all in different stages of needing help, or mixing it up professionally.
I had a good time talking to them, and offering whatever I thought might help.
I told them I had work if they wanted it - I have not yet had someone hit it up. But I have connected with about 8 of the writers/students I met, and am offering a little help, if I can.

So thanks Emory, and Paul and the staff over at the career Services Center. It was a good time, and I will add a few posts in the future based on the questions I was being asked.

Personal and Professional Balance

I write a lot in here about the balancing of freelance seo writing and your personal life. This last week, I was again faced with this situation...but this time in a much more negative way.

I had a family crisis, and it pulled me out of commission for 4 days. It ended today, and now I am way behind.

A personal crisis can pull anyone out of a routine, but as a freelancer, this can be deadly. Gig-smashing. It is too early to tell if I did any damage, be it temporary or permanent. To the gigs I mean - the family is fine.

Priorities Depend on Circumstances
One thing I am finding more often this year, is that priorities are really dependent on the surrounding circumstances. Last week, my family was the most important thing in my schedule. This, sadly, is not always the case. More often, they know I need to keep working, and don't have near the time I would prefer to simply hang out. They're good that way.

But when the priorities shift a bit, it is important to take the time to really identify why it is you do what you do. Keeping control is sometimes as easy as articulating your direction.

I stay true to my business ideals, which is why most of my clients last for a long time...many times, moving from job-to-job themselves. My priorities are therefore handed to me, based on serving my ideals in being a freelance seo writer. And these ideals are pretty simple:

1. Offer creative, solid work with a focus on the ROI
2. Be honest, and lead with respect
3. Don't miss deadlines
4. Communicate
5. Don't miss deadlines

So you can see how this last week is wrenching with my own business ideals - by concentrating on family, I missed a bunch of deadlines. A shift in priorities.

Balancing the Personal and the Professional
For me, much of the lure of freelance seo copywriting is an ability to allow shifts in priorities. My family always comes first - they are why I work. But some gigs don't allow you enough time to be with your family as much as you might like. For me, freelancing must do it.

While it is true, this is a cool perk of freelancing, it also makes it less stable than other options, like a day gig. So you want to know whether or not you are cut out for this,what your personal thresholds are.

Ultimately, balancing personal and professional efforts is an ongoing dance. On a tightrope. With greasy slippers. Juggling weights and french fries.

Be prepared.

Handling 301 redirects

Here's a seo copywriter tip: understand what a 301 redirect is.
I just moved a pretty decently big site (250 pages), and had to make sure I did not slip in the search engines.
The site is a totally new way of presenting content to the world from this company, so I am tasked to make sure anyone who is used to coming here can still do so as they have been, and that new ones can find it as well. lots of new content, so lots of change and freshness to attract some attention - or at least, retain it.
Enter the 301 redirect.

Simple Explanation of 301 Redirects
If you don't already know, there are different codes that computers use for different types of commands and errors. Some of these commands are pretty universal across any computer, like a 404 error means a page can't be found, a 302 redirect is a temporary redirect to a different URL, and a 301 redirect is a permanent redirect of a URL.

You have a site, and want to move it. You want the old URLs to still find the new pages in the new place, so you push them forward with a little bit of code. The 301 redirect does this for you.

Conceptually, they are easy to understand.
Let's say, in the new site structure, what WAS a folder named "images" has had its content shifted to a new folder named "assets." Using a 301 redirect, you force requests for the old URL to find the new one. 301 simply means that permanently, this old URL will forever be this new one. The intent is that in time, the old URL will disappear, being replaced by the new one.

Your 301 might look something like this:
/images/my_image.jpg redirect /assets/my_image.jpg

You replace one url with the new one. In this example, I am using relative paths instead of absolute paths. It depends on how you deploy the 301 redirects as to which syntax is most appropriate for you - but whether it is best for the absolute or relative paths to be used, it is pretty easy to do this correctly.

The tricky thing about a 301 redirect, it the way that you handle it will depend on the server type and the kind of website you have built.

Lots of times, a simple solution is available. For example, on a Linux server, you can use what they call an ".htaccess" file to handle these commands for you, and very few things are easier to create that this file full of redirects. There is plenty of information on creating this file correctly out there. If you find you are using a Linux server and can use a .htaccess file, I strongly suggest getting to know this file, and what it can do for you.

Other times, like if you are using a Windows server or a technology that does not use a .htaccess file, you need to find what works within your situation. The variables you bring specifically will determine how you create and deploy this effort (one size will not necessarily fit all here).

In my case, once again I was not so lucky...this was not a Linux server. It was a Windows server, moving to another Windows server and a rather complex CMS/Portal solution. I had to find a different way to create my 301 redirects, and it was very important to get it right.

Research What Works
My best advice to an SEO writer to make the most of what a 301 can do, is know where to find answers for different situations you will encounter. Learn very specifically how a 301 works, and then learn how to code it in a couple different ways. Base your efforts on the ways that you usually code sites...be it in .php, .asp, .NET, or whatever. If you have a tendency to move sites to a specific type of web server, learn more about how to control and protect the information held by that server.

In my case, I asked the programmers what the server specs and site specs were, and found I could do my 301s most effectively using an XML file, which would be handled in a specific way by the CMS/portal we had in place. We tested a few urls, and created a snippet for me to work from.

I collected all known URLs, and connected them in a spread sheet to their new counterpoints. I wrote it in a syntax that would work for the CMS, creating the actual commands in the file using notepad, saving the final as an XML file...this was the researched and tested solution. The final 301 redirect sheet pushed more than 200 URLs to new locations.

In the end, I was able to protect my client's site through this very large-scale change.
I also created specific error page content to handle anything I did not repoint more specifically.
They were pleased the move went smoothly, and were glad I showed them all the links were working as we desired. It was all good.

Why is this important to a freelance SEO copywriter? Because the more you can offer to clients, the more valuable your services become to their projects. Show them continued, repeating value, and work then finds you. Cold calls will slow down as a necessity or even stop, and if you get lucky, you can get to hand-pick your clients.

I'd say that's worth it.

Please: Bring Me More Spam

I have to laugh.
Maybe just to keep from crying, but I have to laugh nonetheless.

In the year or more that I have run this blog (very quietly), I have dealt with probably 80-90 spam attcks.

This blog has no juice.

It is an intentional silo - unlinked, and unloved.

But thanks to search engine magic, it gets spammed at least once a week.
Because blog comments count!

Idiot search engines.

Make blog comments count, and automated blog comments are completely your fault.

Make blogs in general count, and they too, will be automated.

Put a fraction of a penny somewhere in the mix, and let the games begin.

So I'd like to thank the search engines for bringing me countless worthless visits, from bots and little automated scripts written by kids too scared to leave their Mom's basement.

As a freelance seo copywriter, this is all I could ever hope for, and so much more.

Thank you.

It's Something Personal

So in the past couple weeks, I have been really busy. But then I had some family members come into town, so I dropped everything and hung out for a while.

I have 4 live contracts right now, and one longer-term commitment. I have been writing and coding like a fiend - cranking out some of my best work ever.

So when these people came into town, I had to decide - stay on track, and keep slamming the deadlines, or take a few days off, go see some touristy things and spend some time with my family.

I opted for plan B here.

The Reason You Freelance
There might be many reasons for someone to get started in freelancing. For me, it was a way to build myself professionally while also retaining a sense of freedom in what I do, maintaining an ability to never stop enjoying life.

The past week had me at a fork in the road. I have been working like crazy lately - doing a ton of work for some great people. But my family doesn't make it to where I am too often, so I had to decide: do I risk my work flow, and possibly rock the relationships with my clients just to claim some "me" time?

Proud to say, the answer was yes. I was absolutely ready to risk what I was building for what I believed in. I felt this was a clear illustration of why I do what I do.

Besides, there was a Monet exhibition at the Atlanta High Museum, so I took my parents and we really had a time of things. I made big meals, we played cards and talked for a couple days in a row. It was wonderful, and I didn't even crack a laptop once the whole time.

Not Without Guilty Pangs
While I was enjoying time with my family, I didn't think much about work. But when I came back to it, I was pretty stressed. I had let my clients know that I had unexpected guests in an email to each of them. Two had responded pretty quickly and did not mind at all, but the other 2 were pretty quiet.

In fact, I didn't hear from them for 2 days.

What this did, was start the waves of guilt. I don't typically put my needs before the needs of my clients, so I was feeling a little guilty about doing it, even though I had tried to let them know. I was working on all 4 contracts again, but the fact that only 2 were acknowledging the fact I was a few days behind was messing with my head.

Then, on the third day, I heard from one more client, who was also fine with the delay. It so happened to be that he was out of town for a few days, and did not care at all that things were a few days later.

That left only one. And the buckets of self-loathing I was now sweating every day.

A Happy Ending
Glad to say, it all worked out fine. Better than fine, really...because I was reminded why I do what I do as a freelance seo writer - it's worth it helping good people.

As the week wore on, though I was working on 4 different projects, I dove particularly hard into the one client's contract. The guilt was now a sea, and I was far, far below the surface.

I was wondering if he was thinking of me as a guy who made excuses. I was wondering if he forgot that I had written many great pages for his website already. I even started wondering if he hated me, and thought I was not worth the efforts. (yes, it was pathetic)

But experience has shown me this is just in my head - and I need to simply relax, and let things work out how they will. I at least know now, not to do anything until I mellow out. It passes very quickly, and it is part of why I can do great work, because it matters to me, freelance seo writing is something I take very seriously. I take my work very personally.

And sure enough, in came his email.

The Pay-Off
This client reminded me why I hand-pick my clients now. He said, of course he understood, and he was glad I took the time off. He mentioned that my choice is the same one he would have made, and even though he wants his work done, he certainly wants me to be happy - so all was well.

The moral of all this, is I take what I do personally. This means some ups and downs, some anxieties and some celebrations. It means I am more than likely to occasionally demand some "me" time. Unfortunately, sometimes it means that I bring my personal baggage into the arena. I am working on making this not happen, but we are what we are, right?

And my clients are great folks. My folks are great folks.
And there is plenty of room in my life for all of them.

Freelance SEO Copywriter Tip: Blend Your Sources

Had a couple things recently on the gig that made me remember that blending the sources of information can be a crucial safeguard to freaking-out.

The first was a client with a SERP fluctuation for one keyword. I reported the slip for this keyword the day I saw it, and we have been watching it do some weird things (mostly bad). It basically fell from page one to page three for no apparent reason, and was a keyword this client had been actively building on for more than a year.

The owner was a little bit freaked, seeing his most targeted keyword getting dinged in Google. This is a relatively new client - I have only been helping them for a couple weeks so far. But in that time, I have not known them to freak out unnecessarily.

But experience told me not to join in the panic, and to look deeper into what could be happening.

I looked at some recent changes we had done, and nothing leapt out as unusual. I looked at the analytics of the web traffic and saw some interesting things, the most important one being, that visits were not down, and nor were conversions. Read that part again - it was the meaty bit.

Referrals were actually continuing to rise, and so though there was definitely less traffic coming in on this keyword, it only seemed to affect a direct match to this keyword...the long tail stuff was all intact. And more importantly, it was only visible in Google. Yahoo was holding steady, and Bing was cruising on fire.

The point is, I blended the information from a couple different sources, and did not let the one bad indicator make me believe it was all in trouble. Now this is not to say that I won't try to fix it. I actually believe it could be improperly weighted anchor text, and am taking some steps and continuing to watch it.

But the tip here, is once I was able to see, and make the point that the business was not suffering - just changing - the client was calmed down, and we can continue to try to find the issue with a coooler head and therefore a more detailed and methodical approach.

Story Two: A Slanted Source
The other illustration I had recently was a client who was tracking his site's ranking using a pretty outdated methodology. The source he was using was understandable, as it is pretty visible, and some people seem to value it (or did a few years back). But once you know how it collects its information, you know that this is a very limited option.

So in this case, it was not that the information he was reviewing was incorrect - it was simply one still frame of a larger moving picture. Nonetheless, it was making him a little sad to see a competitor overtake him. I don't like it when good clients are sad, so I asked him how he came to understand this competitor was doing better than him. The answer was this outdated technology told him so.

The thing I did, was show the client the small print in the software he was using to show where some of the shortcomings were later identified by other sources I trust. I showed my client some newer versions of the one he was using, as well as additional ones he could strategically employ in his SEO evaluations - many were free, and others had fees equal to or less than what he was used to paying.

What it did, was show him that one source of information is not a holy edict. None of the tools I showed him would necessarily be the single answer he needs either - but by blending a bunch of the information from a variety of sources, he'll get a much more clear picture of what is happening out there.

And that seemed like a perfect thing to offer you here as an seo freelancer tip...find multiple sources of data that you can trust, and learn the value of using the information together.

Work Again Postpones Work

Landed a couple of great copywriting gigs. One is pretty SEO-heavy - building out a catalog of really nice product descriptions. The other is more generalized - I am doing some press releases and content pages for a retailer.

But both gigs are the result of cold calls from the site. The site is old, and I was in the process of updating it...but now I am sidetracked again with other things to do.

Unfortunately, this is a trade I have had to make repeatedly over the last year or so....but I will get to my rebuild sooner than later. It is a personal goal more than anything else, because professionally this old site seems to do just fine for me.

Knowing Your Limits
So the SEO copywriting tip that best applies to my situation here, is to know your limits. For instance, I know, with the 2 newly signed clients, one other new one I have starting later this week, and the existing clients I serve regularly, I am pretty much at maximum capacity for the next 3 months. This is great - I look forward to the new work, and the money will be nice when it is all said and done.

But at this point, I need to be really careful in balancing my workload and managing my client's expectations. If I am not careful, being busy becomes being frantic, and that hurts the copy and that is never good. I know my limits, and I am about there right now - very comfortably busy, but not frantic or harried. I don't want it to go any further.

However, freelancing experience tells me that when it rains, it truly pours. So I expect more of this - more cold calls and existing relationships asking for favors and projects. And I'll need to determine when enough is enough.

Usually, I determine whether or not I can do more work based on the creative demands I have during any given day. To me, most site building and code maintenance is pretty easy to do on auto-pilot, while writing can be much more mentally demanding.

And there is a definite sway of the dollar to consider. If I have a client that I know pays well and is responsive, I am much more inclined to do all I can to keep them wanting more. If a client is a demanding, cheap, pain-in-the-butt (and believe it or not, there are a few) I feel no anguish in letting them find someone else.

I will end up picking the jobs I most want to do, and either delaying or passing completely on the rest. I do my best to be judicious in evaluating the demands of each experience, so I can feel like each is receiving my best. My clients are paying me to make sure of it, and I don't disappoint.

But I do so often get a little too happy with my commitments...Iwant to do everything for everybody all the time, so I might get a little overwhelmed if I am not careful. I will do my best to follow my own advice here.

And I will also take the problem of being too darn busy...it is a really nice problem to have.

Collecting those Cold Calls

The past 2 weeks has been pretty busy fielding calls from new potential clients. While I typically get a few every month, just last week I had 4 which seemed a little on the busy side.

This tells me that people are probably looking for some relief from this economic crunch. Revising or building new stuff is a great way for them to improve their businesses.

The cool thing, is that of the cold calls I have received, only one has been from here in Atlanta. I can see by my web traffic analytics that I get people from all over the world looking at my stuff.

In the past 3 years, I have maintained almost 70% of my traffic from the organic search engines. And these recent inquiries prove it: I am hardly local.

Why It Matters
The fact that I get people from wherever calling me about business means that I want my message to reflect this. While I don't think it necessarily does at the moment, as I revise and rewrite my stuff I will need to keep this in mind. Much of what I do has no geographical specification, but I want to purposefully remain aware of what my message might mean, depending on who is reading it, where.

So for you, o' my aspiring freelance seo writer, this means a couple things:

1. NEVER underestimate the power of the Internet and a decent site on it. Remember: I am not reaching out to these potential clients, they continue to find me. And my site is old, pretty weakly written and was only halfway optimized over 4 years ago. But it still works!
2. Remember: you are likely talking to more people than you realize, and many messages you might think are short lived will actually find a way to stick around for years.
3. Start early with good habits regarding refreshing your own content. I am horrible about this, and so my site doesn't as accurately represent me as it could. So while I may be having some great calls lately - how many am I missing? How many more could I get?

Hopefully, a few of these calls turn into new relationships. I liked the people I have been speaking with - we'll have to see if I make the right fit for them.

In the meantime, I am starting to revise and reform my own messaging. And my new direction will assume that I can get people from all over the place to see it, and that it might live much longer online than perhaps it should.

This week, I was wrapping up 3 clients websites, and realized I will finally have time to restructure my own site.

It's funny - I started this blog over a year ago, when I realized too much time was passing without me attending to my site. But time hasn't magically appeared - I have less of it than ever. So be it- work comes first for a freelance SEO writer.

But now I am back around to that starting point again - I am looking at rebuilding/redesigning my own site as soon as I can cut these other 3 loose. It is both daunting and exciting - I am looking forward to rebranding myself and my company.

How it has Changed
A lot has changed about the way I do business in the last 5 years. 5 years ago, I was very heavily a web copywriter. My gigs rarely strayed from me cranking out content that was put into other people's sites. Business was great, and I was fat and happy.

Then, as time wore on, my own interests ranged more toward the strategy and development sides of things. I was building more, involved more in the concepts and execution of larger initiatives, and stretched my wings a bit.

Creatively, this was great. While writing was still my strongest suit, being able to develop strategies and plans and technically execute them was becoming really attractive (and lucrative) for me.

Cut to now: In the past couple years, open source code is changing the way people develop websites. My ability to use various open source solutions, to modify and optimize a variety of solutions, is again changing what I offer my clients. So it is time to reflect this in my marketing, particularly in my website.

So in the next two-to-three weeks, I will be rebuilding the Articulayers site. I will be blending open source code with my own tweaks, and will build something that has modular growth as part of the design. I will be catering to aspiring SEO copywriters, as well as giving my clients a menu of related services that I can offer. I will have some advice, some case studies, and some freelance seo tips.

Great fun!

More Common than I'd Like to Admit

Having a situation with a client that is a little more common than I like to admit.

The issue is that when money starts getting tight, THEN they want to know what we can do with the search engines. While there are certainly some strategies you can lube with a quick investment and get quick results, business owners in a panic do not understand (or choose to ignore) that search strategies (particularly organic) take continued investments of both time and money.

Now let me be clear - I am glad when any business starts looking at the Internet for the opportunity and possibility to grow what they are doing. This is a good thing. But this business has chosen to invest much less in the internet than was suggested (by me). I have had contact with them for a number of years, but our engagements were typically a little strange.

In almost every case, budget restrictions on money and time limited plans from finding their true potential. Money was rolling in and there was a lot of growth, so there was not that much concern with additional organic growth. There was work to do, but we did not often take full advantage of the opportunities as they presented themselves.

Fast-forward to now. Like many businesses today, this business is feeling the economic crunch of consumer apprehension, and is making less money on all fronts. Still well in the black mind you, but simply less of it coming in.

So they start examining channels, and the "How's our web presence?" discussion comes up. Questions flail out about SERP positions, social media, pay-per-click, video and everything "Internet" that has been reported on in the past 2 years.

The irritation comes from the fact that I had posed many potential paths for success when times were good, but it was determined a very low priority. Now, when the priority shifts and expectations need to be reset, some uncomfortable situations can occur.

Buck it Up
So it's a lame situation, but I am an SEO copywriter with a longstanding relationship on the line - so I am up for the challenge!

I go into my own files, and retrieve all of the reports and the proposals I had delivered in the last 2-3 years. I sort these into projects we had done, and ideas that never quite materialized. The second pile turned out to be smaller than I thought, and I was happy to see in front of me, the concrete proof of lots of progress.

I re-read the reports and suggestions, and realized I had plenty of material for re-pitching an SEO plan. Better still, I now had a few years of data stored up in analytics programs, so I could use real numbers to support my efforts to-date, and give a little more fact to my proposal.

So this week was spent looking over miles of analytics and reports from the past, spinning it all back into an action plan. It was at times frustrating and exciting - because I could see what might have been had we moved back when, but I was excited at the idea of making lots of headway armed with this information.

I do think we can get some great momentum going, because suddenly everyone in the company (that matters to my longevity here) is curious as to what I am up to now.

This is the common thing that I have seen - when things are good in a company and money is rolling in, there is like a fountain of cash spraying all over everyone. Lots of vendors in on it, lots of contracts and stuff happening. Less about scrutiny, more about reaching out into as many opportunities as possible.

Then, as money starts getting tight because this kind of spending simply does not make any sense, every stone is upturned in a panic, looking for answers. Under the rocks are dirt and slugs, but every business digs deep, hoping a few diamonds are unearthed.

All's Well, That Ends With Me Working
To continue this metaphor waaay too long, I am going to be this business' diamond. I have numbers, I have stats. I have newly refreshed strategies, and I can project a solid ROI. I can run lean and strike hard - needing only a little budget and some uninterrupted time. I can't work miracles, but I can build a stronger, deeper online presence. I can increase the money coming in from the website. I can reach more people than I am at present - in a thought: I can help.

Though this started off with me feeling pretty whiny about how good ideas often don't receive the attention they deserve until the panic has started, it ends with me being pretty grateful that I am called in to offer solutions again. There is every likelihood that I will pitch a strategy that will not see the light of day, or may be co-opted by someone else in the company. So be it.

Times are tough right now, and people are looking for answers. I do think a solid web strategy is essential for today's businesses. However, I don't think enough business owners see the web as they should, as a place to deploy small, continuous and comparatively inexpensive growth strategies. This means continuing to grow, steadily and with purpose, no matter how the economy is behaving.

I am going to put this all behind me for the minute, and go cut my grass outside. It's a beautiful day here in Atlanta...I want to go be a part of it.

Time Off: the True Lure of Freelancing

Freelancing in any field usually has a lot of perks to consider. But one of the biggest is an ability to take more time off than "normal" folks - this was certainly the case for me.

But it hasn't been working out that way lately.

I only blame myself for the inability to take more personal time, but it comes from a freelancing mindset, and I would think I am not alone in this thought pattern.

Fighting Those Unnatural Urges
By nature, I don't really consider myself a workaholic. I have a million hobbies, a great family and lots of friends to keep busy with, so I look forward to time off.

The rub comes from freelancing for a living.

A freelancer is never really sure where the next gig is going to come from. They don't know how regular the money will be, even if the work is happening. For me, there is always a sense that I have to be getting some new work coming in, or I am going to be royally screwed.

So this is where I am finding myself at times these days - unable to relax and enjoy what I have earned, unable to revert to my natural state of contentment. I have these unnatural urges to keep working and it is making it hard to play...which is a shame. It'll make my life shorter if it continues, I am sure of that.

So even though I believe a freelancer should always be looking for new challenges and more work, I am going to also suggest that there is huge value in occasionally ignoring this advice. Take a breather once in a while, and go fishing all day. Go window shopping. Travel somewhere. Hit a museum, an art gallery, or whatever it takes to reconnect you to the world.

Life is never all about work - even for a freelancer. The lure of SEO freelancing is not sexy because you put in more hours than if you were in another line of work. So while you look for new clients, more work and better opportunities, take the time to take a guilt-free break. Your mind, body and soul needs it, even if you feel like you simply can't get away.

A final thought on this before I move on, too - my clients are RARELY, if ever, as concerned about the project deadlines as I am. I don't miss deadlines, so why would they care? They set them, and I meet them...but in between, I often fret more than I should. Like I said before, this is my fault, and it wasn't always like this. I used to relax a lot more than I seem to any more.

Maybe I need to take a week or 2 off and do some soul searching?

Naaaahhh...too much work still to do out there.

Sticking to Your Guns

One thing I sometimes struggle with as a freelancer, is doing too much for what I am paid.

This is not usually the case with bigger companies, but it almost always is a concern when dealing with small business owners. Why? Because larger companies have budgets, they have multiple projects running simultaneously, and they are used to paying vendors what it takes. They make take longer to pay, but they don't flinch or suffer sticker-shock.

Small business owners more typically are pretty tight with the money, are not used to paying vendors for "intangible" work (is there something more magical or esoteric to explain than SEO copywriting?), and need to stretch every project as far as it can go.

My problem is that I am at a point where I don't usually have to do work for a business or business owner that I don't like. While it's great that I truly like and care about my clients, it also means I am more than willing to do whatever is needed - which can mean unpaid hours, which ultimately makes me pretty mad at myself. I don't blame the clients most of the time - it is my fault for not properly setting the expectations and limits.

How to Fight the Urge to Give it Away
Of course, you never sit down and say "How can I give away some of my skills today?" and yet, it happens. However, by taking a few precautionary steps as a project begins, you can reduce the likelihood of it getting out of hand. The following 2 points are probably the easiest way for you to manage this situation.

1. Clearly define a starting point and an end point - avoid open-endings, like "When you are solid" or something equally as murky and undefined. Be firm - we start on this date, check-in on this date, and our targeted end date is this. Come up with a contingency if the schedule does exceed initial expectations - but do so BEFORE you get there. In cases where a longer relationship is expected, it is a good idea to set a check-in point that allows you to assess and review everything with the client, or perhaps structure the project in different phases (giving each phase a specific timeline).
2. Clearly define all deliverables - other than time, "stuff" can really get quickly out-of-hand if you are not careful. For example, you might agree to develop a logo, but once the logo is done you might be asked to create document templates, stationary, etc. None of it is a big deal, but all of these little things take time and can add up to some frustration. Many times, I clearly outline all of the deliverables and then set an hourly rate for any additional work...when I do this at the outset of a project, when a request comes for something not identified I can simply mention "Sure I'll do it - but since that is outside our original agreement, I will have to bill you separately for it." Most of the time, they are fine with that, and it makes this situation much better for you as the contractor.

In the end, I believe in giving more than you ask for. This is why clients like me, but my wife can get a little touchy at the end of the month as we pay our bills.

To keep the peace, I have learned (the hard way) to make some difficult decisions, and make sure I am getting paid for the time I am spending on clients...for as an SEO copywriter, if I am not getting paid for my efforts and expertise, my wife has every right to be angry that I am giving away my time instead of doing more housework.

And frankly, I hate housework.

Many Paths Might Bring You There

This week, I was again reminded how many different ways you can do something.

I was building a new site for a client. So I was trying a couple different ways to get it done. But there were trade-offs for each decision made. When I went for options that allowed the client more long-term editing control, I lost some degree of visual control.

I am sure in time, I could manipulate the CMS-type options to work as I want them to but time does not allow me to do trial and error...we have a launch date to hit.

So I went back to the client, suggesting we concentrate on establishing a solid web presence to build the business. In time, we can look at rebuilding the site using more technological toys (like a good CMS tool), but it makes more sense to the business plan to get a site out there more quickly.

But even then, once I decided to code it from the ground up, I had to decide what language to use. I want to condense some of the repeating elements, so using server side include files made sense to think about. So I narrowed it down to either asp or php, for these are 2 languages I work with, and both can handle the scripts I wanted to write.

Point of all this is, there were many different ways I could do this project, and all of them might have been right. But my client is entrusting me to look at the options, narrow it down based on her criteria, and then help her make a decision.

And what makes it possible for me to offer this sound, sage advice?

Experience. Years of it. Hundreds of sites under my belt.

So get on it. Every site you work on matters. Every writing assignment should have something to be gained. Every meeting should teach you something. The lessons are there if you let them.
Pile it up, dive right in. Nothing gets work faster than experience, and experience tells you to never be afraid to seek out more experiences. Pretty cool the way that works out.

A Great Week

If I can say so myself, I had a pretty great week.

Created 2 new corporate sites, able to launch one. The other has some tweaking to do. Put out another site page and helped to launch a blog for another client, and I think she'll be a great blogger. Enabling good content a proper means to reach an audience makes me happy.

But the real icing was checking in on a site I launched for a client about 2 weeks ago. Did some spot checks on targeted keyphrases, and had over 8 #1 spots for them. Good ones too - regional searches with big term punch. I haven't yet even created the master list to monitor progress, but the early reads are all extremely positive. Makes me happy to see it all work as planned.

So it's not always about work. Lots of times, it is about something else entirely. But this week, it was about work - lots of work. I like to think I met it all head-on, and came out shiny.

It was a great week.

SEO Copywriter Tip

Been a while since I shared an honest to goodness seo copywriting tip. Here's a good one: don't work too hard.

I don't mean don't spend all of your time writing - we both know how foolish that would be. I mean instead, to simply write good pieces and don't sweat the seo tweaking...at least not right away.

If you're writing an article, do a little research so you can pull in some quotes or links that punch up the validity of your argument. Links out to other resources are good SEO practices, and they help your article too. Why? Because if you build the validity of your argument, you build your validity (over time) in the search engines.

Of course, the competitiveness of your niche matters a lot here. But from an seo copywriter's perspective, the approach is always from the same point of origin: reaching the audience in a unique way. So the SEO copywriter tip is don't spend too much time on SEO copywriting tricks...spend it on reaching audiences through the power of your writing.

Blending Strategies
Here's another SEO tip for Writers: Don't Underestimate Press Release titles
I had an experience a few months ago, where one of my clients was blasting a press release written by another PR firm. They asked my opinions on some of the potential SEO value we could get-we had a couple days to look at it before the scheduled release. So I worked with the PR firm to revamp the title, and the edit the first few lines of text. It was a few simple, but strategic changes, bringing some specific keywords to the front of the piece.

This was a good example of blending team strategies to reach a better conclusion for everyone. Knowing this article was going to be blasted and then heavily scraped (and it was), we were able to re-tool the title and introduction and get lasting results for the targeted keyphrases. The PR firm were experts at what they did, and my clients made the right move by bringing me in to help when they did.

9 months later, a direct-match search on the targeted keyphrase still shows 8 of the top-10 Google results are where this article was picked up--my client's site being in slots 2-3 at the moment (it varies in the top 12 slots). Many of these scraped articles have the links I embedded in them, many are instead straight up text. But the point is, for this key phrase a user is likely to read about my client 8 out of 10 times on the first page. And by having this article on some very reputable news sources, my client gets instant credibility and direct connection to the keywords I placed in the title.

I don't normally search too deep, but I am certain I have a really nice chunk of the top 100 slots for my client in some way here.

So this project, a press release, was really a huge success because the client had the foresight to bring in the elements they needed as they needed them. The event was covered by a PR firm, experienced in spreading the news. It was tweaked by an SEO Copywriter to get a little more mileage from the effort. The client probably spent about $2,000 to pull it together.

The results are traffic, links, and a direct match for this valuable keyword that will likely last for a good long time. A related conversion can be worth tens or even hundreds of thousands to this client, so even one sale more than justifies the cost.

So, the tips I leave you with are to work on a piece of writing to make it effective. When it is a solid piece of writing, look back over it with more of an SEO slant. Weave in a few keywords, if possible, to the title and first few paragraphs...but don't sacrifice readability for keywords. You're better off with a tighter, simpler article than one forced into answering objectives involving word count, keywords, or anything else sometimes evaluated by SEO writers.

Show the value of your skills by blending into team situations. Respect project hierarchies, but don't be afraid to suggest changes based on your expertise and experiences...it is usually why you are in the room to begin with. When you can seize an opportunity that offers long-term value, don't be afraid to make an investment, or to jump in with both feet.

SEO should stand for Search Engine Opportunity, if you ask me.

Changes in Attitude

The search engines change. All the time. Rank for something today, and 3 months from now, you might be nowhere to be seen.

So as a freelance SEO copywriter, what does this mean to you?

Change. Because you must to survive.

How To Change
If you know you must change to keep up, the question then becomes how to do it.

There's not really a good, clean-cut "it always works like this" answer for you here. Some changes (like the always increasing value in links, or specific links from specific sources) are relatively easy to see, and easy to accommodate. But most often, changes in the search engines are really pretty subtle, so if you are not watching them all the time, you may miss out.

Crank Out The Pages
A freelance SEO copywriter needs to know what works (as far as textually) better than other options when writing a webpage. So it is imperative to have lots of active sites going at all times, in various niches, so you can tweak them and play around and see what happens.

Blogs are good ways to test change, because they tend to get lots of traffic, you can crank out different types of text to see what sticks and why. You can host them a number of different ways too, which can tell you a lot. And perhaps best of all, they can be free...so you can launch a bunch of them (all with different objectives) and feel free test your theories.

If you don't have theories to test, you may be in the wrong profession.

What It Is
Most often, I am simply given a list of keywords to develop. It's my job to create something from nothing, and I rarely get much direction from most clients...they don't know how to express what they want other than they know they want new pages.

In the past, it was all about page/word count. For instance, right up until early last year, a client might have given me a list of 500 keywords, and want a page of 250 words devoted to each with specific keywords in them...it was a lot of bread-n-butter gigs to say the least. And I stayed really busy doing it, too -- I made a great income by simply being literate, so my wooden pages were grammatically correct and not nauseating.

Many times I knew little about what I was writing about and had no time to research, but the clients didn't care as long as there were keywords in the pages, I matched their company tone, I was on top of the sentence structures and all the keywords from the list were handled. Good for them, better for me - I switched on auto-pilot and spit out thousands of pages.

Fast forward to now, and that strategy doesn't work.

Now, I still get a list of keywords but the clients tend to want more solid materials, because lowest common denominator stuff stays below the fold. So if this was the only thing I knew how to do (filling up hollow pages with hollow text), I would be really screwed right now. But I am not at all screwed, because I know what is happening in the engines, and am pleased to say, it is much better to write solid, meaningful work and build links to it than to simply pile keywords into bland filler. I appreciate the shift anyway...for even though many experts always said this was true about solid SEO techniques, it was far too easy to manipulate the engines with repetition for most people to care about the actual VALUE. Those people are likely watching their cherished rankings fall now, because there is no structure under their efforts, no meat to go with the potatoes.

I don't see the search engines moving backwards. Instead I see them continually trying to refine the ways to determine a page of content is worthwhile...using links and other references is not new, but it is a much stronger part of the algorithms than it used to be.

What It All Means
What this all means to you, dear SEO copywriter in the wings, is that you need not concern yourself as much with what the search engines want, and just need to be a good writer. The money train for pap and fluff has stopped, and it won't be starting back up.

Are keywords still important? Hell yes. But relevancy, and craft, and solid writing are FINALLY much more apparent to the engines than it was in the past. This is a golden opportunity for a good writer, because you can focus much more on your craft, and leave the tweaky manipulative things to someone else. It wasn't always this way...I was there a couple years back when it was all about keywords, and knowing how many to hit and how hard to hit them. I was part of the mess that is now on the Internet - sorry, there were mouths to feed.

But sometimes, a little change is the best possible thing you can hope for.

So get lots of sites going...don't belabor them, just create platforms on which you can write. And write, and write and write. See what is working, and what doesn't. See what creates an audience, engages readers, and encourages traffic to build. Study traditional copywriting, and learn those lessons well.

But just keep writing -- it is, after all, what an SEO writer does for a living.

A Weird Week

It was a week of balance.

The Bad
One client was unhappy with some of the stuff I did. It was one guy on a team of directors, just happened to be the guy with the most say. My tone was off from what he wanted and we had to sort it out. It ended up fine, but it was unusual. I don't like missing the mark, so while this may have ended up okay for the project (I am still working), it is still pretty heavy on my mind.

The Better
But then I ran reports for two other clients, and both projects are shooting through the roof. They are both really new sites, but both are solidly indexed in less than a week, and results are showing tremendous promise. Many top-10 results, and both clients are simply glowing.

I also had 4 new offers for gigs this week - two fell of pretty quickly (tire kicking), but the other two are developing nicely. Again, very positive, very promising. One is a brand new client, one is a returning client I have not worked for in about a year or 2. All 4 calls made me pretty happy.

Also got a decent check in the mail, and one project that ended I was asked to continue for 3 more months. All really great things.

The Balance
So the balance comes because I am still pretty wigged out about the bad experience. I am not diminishing the great things happening, but the bitter ones stay for a while. My position as a freelance SEO writer has allowed me to get past it, and there's too much work to let me sit and stew. But still, it's simply not in my nature to allow failure to happen lightly.

So when you think about this as a career move, make sure to consider that you won't make everyone happy. Copywriting is pretty subjective. But still, you don't have to make everyone happy all the time. You could easily die trying.

The Takeaway
If this client and I didn't settle our differences, we could have parted ways pretty bitterly.

Instead, I listened to what they said. I did not argue or make excuses...just listened. I acknowledged their concerns, and allowed them to redfine what they wanted.

I saw where I was wrong, and offered to fix it for free. We all left the meeting satisfied that we'd be okay, and no damage done. But it was a little uncomfortable for a minute, that's for sure. Turned out, we just had a failure to communicate.

And then, the rest of the week it rained golden puppies of love.

Go figure...such is the life of balance as a freelance SEO copywriter.

Unremarkable Lessons Learned

So the reason I started this blog was to check a few things. I wanted to throw some pages out there, and test some ideas I had. From that aspect, this has worked well, and continues to do so.

But if I were to ever offer you any advice, it would be to not do what I have done out here with this blog.

What do I mean by that? Simply that I never had any intention of making this a remarkable resource. None at all. And if you are not trying to differentiate yourself, not trying to be remarkable and unique - you are better off not doing a blog. This goes further than that - you should probably not be in business at all if you don't strive to make a difference somewhere.

I used this medium because I could launch and delete stuff quickly. I used it because it was attached to Google. I had other reasons and other things I wanted to test as well - but in all of my reasons, NEVER did I intend to create something of lasting value here. I think I have succeeded there, too.

This is not to say there aren't some good moments in here - I do think that I did flip out some decent pages from time to time. But the point is, I was never really trying to offer something special, so this never became special. I was never concerned with creating value, so value never magically appeared.

The lesson here, is directly stolen from from Seth Godin. Be remarkable, he urges. Do something special, something unique. Offer something of value to create something of value.

Or, use a free platform to test your ideas. Whatev.

Looking Ahead

Ok.
New Year, new stuff to do.

I want to ride my Vespa more during 2009.
I want to play a minimum of 5 gigs...don't care which instrument.
I want to build sites for more of my musician pals, and help them promote themselves.
I want to attend 2 distant conferences (minimum), more if possible.
I want to rebuild my site before the Summer.

More than anything else, I guess I simply want to keep enjoying what I do.
Let that take me where it may.