In 2009, only 69% of B2B marketers said that generating high quality lead was the toughest challenge for them, but in 2010 78% marketers said so. Similarly, generating high volume of leads was big challenge for 35% of marketers in 2009, and it threatens 44% marketers in 2010.

In the study it was found that 2010 has been more challenging year for B2B marketers on every front, with an exception. In 2009, 37% marketers said that generating perceived value in “cutting edge” product benefits is a challenge. It remained unchanged in 2010 as well. Rest posed more threat. See image for example.

The study concluded that the marketers at large organization who have access to huge chunk of quantifiable data said the effectiveness is growing, whereas, their counterparts in smaller organization with less access to quantifiable research data said that e-mail marketing is no more effective.

Not only that the marketing agencies are not very positive about the effectiveness of email marketing campaign. Marketers themselves, but, shared different opinion about the effectiveness of an email campaign. See image for the study report.

You do not need any experience to start with your freelance writing career. All you need is writing ability and determination to make it big. You need a lot of determination because I know many freelance writing aspirants who left the field just after a handful of failures.

No, it is not tough to break into this career, but it takes time before you start making significant sum of money. Initially, the growth rate may be slow, but eventually it will pick up. This is not the right career choice for those who want overnight success, as success comes slowly. I think it happens in every legit field.

What role does experience plays?

Although it does not matter if you have any experience of writing or not, but experience does play a part in your freelancing career. Experience does two things:

1. Get you higher pay rate.
2. Help you complete the assignment in significantly less time.
3. It also helps you know beforehand how much time one project will require. You can use this knowledge to properly bill your clients.

Lack of experience will only result in lower rate and more assignment completion time. And I think, when starting out you can adjust with this. Do not give up, if your rate doesn’t increase in a month or 2 month or may be even in 6 month because the more time you are spending in this career the stronger is the chance of your success. Do not quit it now.

And who said you do not have experience?

Even if you have not written professionally, you must have written a lot of stuff—term paper, assignments, school and colleges essays, or even for school or college publications. Won’t you call it experience? I certainly will. After all, writing is writing is writing, no matter for what you write.

In terms of writing ability, you may already have what it takes to make it big in the freelance writing. If you are not sure then show your written pieces to someone whom you know is good at writing, and go by his opinion. If he says you need improvement then work on it. Nothing is here that you cannot do. All you need is sheer determination. Keep pushing, you will soon be there.

For your free writing success!

-Make sure that you have a good schedule, and that you stick to that schedule.  If you’re a writer that works from home, the biggest part of making that transition is remembering that this is still a serious job.  Just because your environment is the comfort of your own home, doesn’t mean you can slack.  Schedule out your projects and stick to them, in the long run this will help you feel like you’re in more of a professional environment, and you’ll be more apt to get your writing done.

-Know when you need to take a break.  Because writing is so creative, sometimes you need to take a break to keep the creative juices flowing.  Give yourself 5-10 minutes when you’re feeling especially unproductive.  Take a moment, go outside and get some fresh air, then go back to work.  You should feel calmer, and more willing to resume normal duties.

-Don’t get down on yourself, or bully yourself into writing.  Everyone goes through phases where they don’t feel like writing.  You just have to stay confident and positive, and keep plugging away.  The feeling will pass, but don’t give in and stop working because of it.

-Finally, try making a reward system for yourself.  If you have a lot of articles to do, map out the articles and make up rewards for completing a certain amount.  Like if you desperately want to take a break, set a goal to finish four of those articles before you do.  If you’re hungry and really want to eat lunch, make sure you complete another two beforehand.

I am narrating here my discussion with him because I want to tell the readers that no matter what, feedback given by your client “about your work” matters a lot. His reaction to your personality may not matter, but for the work you have done for him, it does matter.

Having said that, I must say that your client’s feedback is not the final word on the quality you are able to produce. It is just a reflection of the kind of work you have produced for the client. You need to ask yourself where you have erred, and you should try not to repeat the same mistake again with another client. One feedback may not hurt you, but quite a few will blow a serious dent in your reputation.

How to avoid negative feedback?

1. Ask as many questions as you need to ask in order to understand the full details of the project before you start working on it.
2. Ask for the deadline, and verify if it is realistic or not. If you feel the time frame for the completion of the project is not sufficient tell him that. And also tell him what according to you should be the deadline for the work. Stick to whatever deadline is fixed.
3. In case you need extension, tell him days in advance. Calling him on the last day for extension may give you an extension, but will take away your reputation.
4. Do the best for each of your client. No matter how low or high one is paying. Always remember it was you who accepted the low rate, client did not put gun on your face to do so.
5. Ask for feedback.

Always keep your eyes and ears open, and welcome feedbacks with open arm. This is how you will grow.

In this article, I have tried to provide a workable “feedback seeking system” which you can use to get a proper feedback. You can also modify the system, if you feel something is missing.

Step 1: Define your feedback goal

Why you want a feedback and on what? The answer to this question matters a lot. A generic feedback like, “all is good” or “there is some problem here and there, but the rest is good” will not do any good. Set a target for why you want a feedback. If you have written something then the feedback you can seek could be related to your writing style, coherence, grammatical and punctuation errors, or overall understandability. You can subdivide your work in this way and ask for feedback about the particular thing you want to know.

Step 2: Qualify your feedback source

Do not seek feedback from anyone and everyone. It will do no good. A proper feedback should come from a qualified source. Ask your senior, your client, your boss, your teacher, or anyone who is more qualified than you are on the subject for the feedback. A washerwoman’s feedback on the structure of your SQL database will serve nothing.

Do not ask your family or the closest friend who knows everything about your project for the feedback. Good or bad, it will never give you the feedback that you can use.

Step 3: Ask targeted question

Ask questions relevant to the feedback goal you set in step one. Do not pose generic question, as it will not fetch desired answer. Ask a targeted question and listen patiently for the answer.

Step 4: Promise anonymity

If feedback sought is for something or someone else then assure your source that his or her identity will be kept hidden if he or she wishes to do that. And if the feedback is about you then tell the feedback source that his or her honest opinion will not tarnish your relationship. This is very important.

Conclusion

Do not lose heart if you do not get positive feedback from all quarters. No matter how smart your source is, he or she can still be short-sighted or wrong. Show confidence in your ability.

So it’s important to take time and care when writing your self review.  Allow yourself plenty of time to get the work done.  That means setting aside time everyday for a few days to work on the self evaluation.  This way you aren’t stressed, or rushing at the last minute to complete the project.  This also gives you time to go over your responses a few times, and make sure that you’re satisfied with what you’ve written.  Don’t turn in a review that you aren’t happy with.

Make sure that you’ve been compiling a list of your accomplishments, as that is a necessity for your self review.  Highlighting accomplishments accurate is a great statement in itself.  Not only do you have the great examples of your importance, but you also show your attention to detail by having the accurate records.  Both are fantastic traits magnified by the self review.

Remember to be honest when assessing the areas where you need improvement.  Nobody is infallible, and if you review suggests that you are, it’s a sham.  Your manager already knows that skills that you need to work on, and wants to see that you agree.  By being honest, and putting your actual weaknesses, you show that you are aware and are working to better yourself.  That’s what a boss wants.

Like me, millions of readers out there convulse at the sight of poorly written web content. No one likes bad content, no matter where your visitors are coming from. This is one thing that could be blamed for the increase bounce rate from the website. You may lure visitors to your website by applying the best SEO techniques or by buying the coolest keyword in the SERP, but you cannot retain your visitors if you do not have quality content.

Attracting visitors is one thing, and retaining them and making them come back again and again to your website is entirely different thing. You may use short-cuts like buying keywords in Google, Yahoo, Bing, or whatever, and even you can bypass the SEO security measure to use black hat techniques. But there is not any short cut to bypass the need of quality content.

Why you need quality content

• Well-written high quality content help you interact with your target audience at equal level, which in turn builds trust.
• A well-written product review can be persuasive.
• Good content gives the reader a reason to talk to you.
• It builds excitement, hope, and makes the reader think.
• It gives them the reason to keep coming back to read more.
• It helps you sale more.

These are the benefits that were at the top of my mind. I am sure, you also have a lot more benefits to add. Let’s discuss the issue here.

Always have a complete list of every client and contribution you’ve made in your career.  These come in handy so that you can have a comprehensive guide to tailor a resume to any given position.  If it’s a job writing about entertainment, you want to have your entertainment examples handy, and so on and so forth.  Always have a complete list for your reference, but limit what you put on the resume to the best examples of your work, as they relate to that job.

Practically everyone is going to ask for a brief summary of your writing experience, and usually about yourself personally.  This serves as a guide to your experience, as well as the sort of writer you are.  Usually you’ll end up writing a few paragraphs to satisfy both, and these will serve to give them a taste of your writing style.  So make sure they are concise, easily read, and reflective of the style in which you write.

Try to make the information about you as interesting as possible.  Think of an interesting professional story that you can tell, that defines your character and ability.  Then tell the story in a riveting way.  Something that keeps your target engaged in what you written.  You want them to be dying to talk to you more about the job, and certain that you’ll be a great fit.

It is where when we need writing prompts to help us get out of this rut. Writing prompt can be anything that can make us write. It could be a picture, a word, a phrase, a quotation, an illustration, a person, a place, or anything. Anything that prompts us to write can be called writing prompt.

You will need writing prompts a lot in your writing career, hence I will ask you to maintain a list of writing prompts that can pull you out of the writer’s block. If you think, you are not going to face writer’s block in your career then either writing is not something in which you are going to make your career, or you are not planning to write much, at least not regularly.

How to use writing prompt

1. Make a list of writing prompts that will help you get out of the writer’s block. Always remember, writing prompt for a fiction writer cannot be same as writing prompt for a non-fiction writer. Writing prompt used by a self-help writer cannot be same as writing prompt used by writer writing on health-related issues. Hence, see what works for you and make a list of it.
2. Like anything else, writing using prompts also depends upon practice. The more you practice the more quickly you can get out of the block.
3. When faced with the writer’s block. Start with choosing any random prompt from the list, and then write on it continuously for 10-15 minutes.

In the next blog post, I will tell you how to build your own list of writing prompts. Till then practice what you have learned.

One good way to develop a little bit of money easily is through writing articles online.  There are a variety of websites that pay decently for articles.  You can find them fairly easily through any search engine, or job search engine.  They don’t usually pay enough for you to make a living from the articles alone, but they are quick to complete and pay a decent rate.  As these pile up over the years you’ll find your savings growing, and writing is a lot of fun.

Try blogging on for size.  A blog is a great way to build up a little money through advertising.  As long as you write quality content that keeps people reading, you’ll be successful.  Just network yourself, and use a program like Google’s Adsense to make the most out of your money.  They pay fairly well, and a successful blog could end up making you more money than your day job.

Finally, if you put in the work in article writing or blog writing, another great way to make extra money through those is through affiliate marketing.  This is where a company actually pays you to talk about their product.  You have to have a fairly popular blog, or be renown for your articles, but it’s a fast way to earn a lot of cash quickly.  Plus usually you get free products so that you can try them out before you write about them.  That’s a win-win scenario, and it puts more money in your savings account.

1. Not following submission directions.  This is a huge negative before you’ve even got your foot in the door.  Not following directions makes you look unable to follow directions, and not many people are interested in hiring a difficult employee to deal with.

2. The dreaded typo.  Spellchecker is your friend, but isn’t 100% accurate, so always, always proofread.  Read everything at least twice, and once backwards so that you can ensure all mistakes are completely eradicated.

3. Listing non-job related information.  The hiring manager that’s handling your resume doesn’t care about the info that doesn’t apply to that job, so don’t waste their time by adding unnecessary fluff.

4. Improper format.  All resumes basically follow the same exact format, and most corporations use this format to quickly scan through their masses of resumes.  If they find one that doesn’t follow the guidelines, usually they lose interest, as being different in the corporate world is never a good thing.

5. Don’t refer to yourself.  Whatever you do stay away from words like “I” or “me”, as referring to yourself on a resume is unprofessional, and makes you look bad.  It’s your resume, they already know that it’s about you.

6. Don’t make yourself look well-rounded.  Most people think that if they seem to have a broad skill set, there will be more availability for you at a particular corporation.  This isn’t true at all.  You want to describe a very specific skill set, as that’s what the job you’re applying to is looking for.

7. Writing too much.  Most people make their resumes much too long, loading the page with senseless facts, or worse, droning on for more than one page.  Your resume is supposed to be a short document to introduce a potential employer to your work experience, emphasis on the short.  A hiring manager’s time is valuable, they don’t want to read through pages of content, they want to get a feel for you as quickly as possible.

8. Inappropriate email address in your contact information.  There are a plethora of sources which offer you an email address for free, take advantage.  If you have something controversial, or possible offensive in your email address, don’t use it when you’re applying for a job.  You’re expected to be professional, an inappropriate email isn’t exactly that.

Start out by just paying better attention to the label on the products that you buy.  Most stores, like Office Max or Office Depot, will offer a list of products located at the store that are considered more environmentally friendly.  Try to stick to these lists for anything you purchase, as these products are usually much less harsh on the environment to produce, and tend to biodegrade faster.

For your printer, either use a reusable printer cartridge, so that you can just refill it when you run out of ink, or purchase remanufactured printer cartridges.  Either option is recycling and will save a ton of extra plastic from being just wasted and dropped into the local landfill to rot.

Concerning the paper for your printer, try to stick to PCR, post-consumer recycled, paper.  This way you are using paper that is almost 100% recycled content, and as long as you remain good about recycling the paper that you use, you are greatly reducing the amount of resources lost producing and then maintaining that paper.

Finally, try to cut out using paper at all.  Purchase an external hard drive, or even a big flash drive, as a back up device for your important information.  This way you can protect your information without burning through a lot of paper to keep your sensitive info on file.

Firstly, think about changing your computer’s power use settings.  If you don’t do a lot of work, or leisure activities that require a lot of your computer’s processor power, consider setting your computer’s level of use lower.  This way you’ll conserve power without compromising performance.  Or if that is not an option, configure your settings so that your computer will go into hibernate/sleep mode when not in use, thereby greatly reducing the energy you use to keep your machine turned on.

Try to print paper less, as no matter how many people are good at recycling renewable resources like paper, there are far more that aren’t as good about conserving resources.  Consider options to use less of that paper in the first place.  Try to send as much of your paperwork as possible digitally, through email or the internet, so that everyone is still receiving the documents that are needed, but without using up any of the paper resources that don’t need to be consumed.

For any software upgrades, or if you purchase videogames for your computer, consider downloading the programs online, instead of buying a disc from a store.  Most companies offer downloads through their websites for software, and there are many services for downloading videogames.  This way you’re still able to buy the software you want, and you can avoid wasting any of the resources that don’t need to be wasted in the form of the boxes/discs that you’ll just end up tossing at some point anyway.

Finally, watch out for your power draining peripherals.  Some peripherals like speakers and computer monitors continue to draw power in their standby modes, even when your computer is off.  So make sure that you turn all devices off, or just switch off the surge protector that everything is plugged in to, when your computer is not in use.  Not only with this conserve a lot of energy, you’ll also be saving money either for yourself, or your company.  And saving money is always a good thing.