In 2011, SEO and writing is going to change big time as the rules of SEO game has changed and so has the readers’ mindset. People have stopped paying attention to copy that looks crappy, as lot of bad content has been littered on the Internet.

Not just the search engines, but users even are a lot more conscious of the value your content adds to his or her life, and after the introduction of snapshot feature in Google SERP, it has become more difficult for badly written content to make its way to the customers’ computer. Even when it gets a chance to get there, they are quickly thrown out.

So how to make a content interesting both for people and machine?

To make your content interesting for your readers you need to do the following:

• Use the language that your visitors converse in.
• Provide them the value they are looking for.
• Do not just write anything. Do a research before delving into the actual writing process.
• Read blog comments, forum posts, and watch YouTube videos to see what your customers are getting and what their requirements are.

Following the handful of tips given above will take your writing business to all new height, but how to make the same content accessible for machines (search engine bots).

If you are new to the field then the fact that you have to write content for machines as well may make you cringe, but this is what we all have been doing since always in the name of SEO content. We have been working to satisfy the needs of machine, so that it could display our websites when visitors come searching information on the topic we are writing.

To make your content standout with machines you need to do the following:

• Do not write for the machine. Even it does not want anything to be written exclusively for it.
• Place important keywords and other related terms at appropriate places.
• Do not go overboard with optimization.
• Write with audience in mind and SEO should be the secondary thought.

Content written for the two groups that we talked about above should not be mutually exclusive. You need to write content that meets the needs of both of them. This is not very difficult, all you need to do is practice.

I am asking this question because these are the things that stop most of the people from making it big in the freelance writing career. Let’s examine each one of them so that we can get idea about what to avoid, and make it big as a freelance writer.

Do not know enough

This is a classic trap that engulfs everyone who has self doubt about one’s quality. It makes you believe that you are not qualified enough for the job. You should, therefore, stay clear of the job, and should never even try to get closer.

I have this to tell you about “the skill” problem: no one is too qualified or too less qualified for the freelance writing job, or for any other job. We all, indeed, have shortcomings, but those are mere matter of proper training, and some research, which is easier these days than it ever was in the history of mankind.

I have no time

This is another classic excuse. People always complain about lack of time for following their dream. They say they are too busy working in the offices, managing their families, and securing better life for kids and spouses. Sure they are very important, but these things could not be a reason for your “I do not have time” mindset. What is behind this “no time” mentality is the lack of organization and schedule. Make a schedule for writing, and stick to it. When I say make a schedule, I do not mean to suggest making a schedule for writing daily. It could be for weekends as wells.

There is no future in it

This is a very short sighted reply I have heard from the freelance writing quitters. They say why join freelance writing. There is no future in it. I will suggest them to look outside the window, take binoculars if needed, and see how the media is operating — online as well as real world. They all source content, and a large portion of content is sourced from freelance writers. They is future in it, dude.

What else is stopping you from taking a freelance writing career? Waiting to hear from you.

There is another fact, and it is related to objection handling. No matter what objection your clients have, or what problem they say they have, you can handle it and that too by following a set of steps given below.

Sincerely listen to what he has to say

Do not object or stop your client from speaking his heart out. Cutting him short is a sign of weakness. Let him speak not only and try to understand his point of view on the matter at hand. More so because he may himself tell you the answer to the objection he has raised.

Make him talk

If your client is not the kind who bares his heart out then make him talk. Ask questions that will make him reveal more about the objections. More often than not clients reveal the solution when talking about their objections, so make them talk.

Ask questions related to the objection your client raised

Ask questions to unearth the reason behind the objection raised by your client. Quite often, the issue raised by the client is mere a disguise (or external appearance) of the real objection he has. You need to ask relevant questions so that you can unearth the real reason behind his denial to make a purchase now.

Do not try to prove them wrong

Proving your clients wrong is the worst thing you can do in a sales situation. You are not there to win a debate, so do not go with that mindset. Let you client speak about his problem, and except that whatever he says is write, after all he is the one who is there stuck in a problem.

Be gentle to him, and even if you have to say that your client is wrong, say it in a way that it does not hurt his ego. It should not appear that you are playing the one-upmanship game. Make him realize that you are trying to solve his problem by understanding his point of view of the situation.

Take notes

This is vital, and notes taken when the client was talking will also help you in addressing his concern. Take notes, but not in a way to break is stream of thought. Your note taking should go undetected.

The things I have discussed above about objection handling are very important. You need to cultivate yourself in such a way that the above given objection-handling technique becomes part of your nature. Inculcate these into yourself, and practice it until it becomes your nature.

Once the above parameter is set, you need to do some quality check so that the sweetness of memory you have captured in the pictures does not get soured by the low quality of print’s output. You need to determine certain things before you give any company the responsibility to print your memories on pieces of papers.

For home users

Before finalizing a spectrum digital printing service provider, always keep in mind that it is not just the photos that you are sending for print, it is a piece of memory that you want the digital printing company to cut up on the finest piece of paper. If you approach a printing company with this mindset then you definitely will succeed in finding a good Digital Printing service provider.

For business users

You should adopt the same approach that has been suggested above for home users when searching for offset printing services providing companies. This helps you keep your needs and requirement in the center while deciding on a printing company. It also saves you from getting lured by the freebies and frills offered by the printing company, which in fact, will not do you any good if your business suffers because of the bad quality of printed marketing materials (flyers, business cards, brochures, and catalog, etc.).

Printing Services Checklist

Personal or business, whatever kind of printing requirements you have, you should first filter the available options using the questions written below before you choose a company for your printing job.

• For how long the printing company is in business?
• What kinds of printing services do the company offers?
• Are the technicians employed by the printing company qualified enough?
• What kind of paper will the company use?
• Does it have experience in printing the kind of work you have?
• Can the service provider show you the work it has done in the recent past?
• Is the company charging too much?
• Can the high price be justified by the quality of printing it provides?
• Which image format (TIF, TIFF, JPG, EPS, AI, PSD, or PDF) does it accept?
• What color modes does the company accept?
• And what image resolution does the company accept? Does it matches with the image you have?
• How many days will the company take to complete the assignment?
• What kind of clients does the printing company has? (This question becomes more important, if you are looking for an offset printer to get your marketing materials printed.)
• Can the company give reference to any known business unit in your locality that has used its services? (This is also important for business users).
• Does the company offer image enhancement and photo optimization services?
• How Far is the printing company from your location? If the unit is far away, will it offer pick-up and drop?
• Can you send large images files in e-mail attachments?

The Digital Printing service provider that passes the test with maximum “yeses” should be given the preference. This test is very important; therefore, I will suggest searching the Internet for reviewers who reviews Printing Services, if you cannot find time to run the company through the checklist yourself.

As much as 58% Americans do not believe that the economy is going to improve in coming year — 33% thinks it will stay all the same, but 25% fears the worse has yet to come. 10% of the respondents said they are not sure of the state of the economic affair in the United States. And only 32% showed confidence in the recovery. (See picture)

If we alter the timeline a bit then the figure is even more disheartening. Almost 80% (combined) of Americans believe the economy will not improve in the next six months — 50% believe the economy will not change in the next 6 months, whereas, 29% fear the worse may happen.

It is on the administration and regulator to falsify the belief of more than 50% of Americans. They need to work hard to prove the skeptic wrong.

In which group I fall?

Well, I am an optimist.

To keep things simple for you, I am providing here a news writing framework that will help you craft a piece of interesting to read news. This framework will help you make the news interesting to read. Fill the details in the following boxes and then just interweave them to give it the shape of a piece of news.

Mantra 1: Prepare to fail

Nothing tastes sweeter than success, and nothing prepares you for success like failure does. Success in nothing but a journey from smaller failure to a bigger one with a scope for introspection and analysis at every juncture. If you want to succeed then do not abstain from failing. The more you will fail the more experienced you will have.

Mantra 2: Persist

What turns a failure into a success? Is it skill or is it tenacity? Be tenacious and exercise persistence until you succeed. A person is not a loser or cannot be deemed  as a loser until he quits.

Mantra 3: Grow

People who are afraid of growing never succeed. To succeed in your chosen field, you need to keep yourself apprise of the knowhow of your field.

Mantra 4: Dare to do

Do not get caught in the analyzing mindset. There will no better time than “NOW” to take action. Do not become victim of analysis or paralysis.

Mantra 5: Help others

There is a difference between one who touches the sky and the one who sniff the soil all their life. And that difference lies in the willingness to help. Keep helping people, and you will learn many things in the process.

Mantra 6: Network

Helping others selflessly is how you build network of trusted friends. Be willing to give, just asking for something in return will not help you build a network.

Mantra 7: Do not lie

Be honest to yourself and others. Do not brag or lie.

Mantra 8: Avoid overpromising

Nothing backfires as strongly as does overpromising and under delivery.  Do more and promise less.

Mantra 9: Own your mistake

Indulging in a blame-game is a typical mindset of loser. If you have erred, accept it, learn from it and move on. There is no point in playing blame-game. As it is, no one is going to believe you.

Mantra 10: Learn to say no

Saying no is very important. If you do not know how to effectively say no without antagonizing the recipients then you will either end up having more foes than friends, or you will end up wasting time doing things that does not matter to you.

As the definition suggest, positioning can only be done in reference to other brands present in the market. If there is no other brand in the market you are serving, you do not need to position your brand. If you are the only player in the market then the entire market is yours, but as soon as the second player enters the market, you need to convey your buyer about the benefits, the brand attributes, brand  personality, brand standing in the market, and the value your brand deliver. You needed to differentiate your brand because you do not want to confuse your customer. If you fail to differentiate, your customers will not buy from you. You need to give your customers the reason to buy as no one likes to do business with a me-too company.

There are many ways to position a brand in the market, and which strategy you will choose depends not only on the nature of the brand but it also depends upon the nature of the competitors as well as the available slot in the mind of the consumer.

The concept of positioning is as applicable for the online products as it is for a product sold in your local supermarket. Both are vying for the customer’s attention, which is getting scarcer. In the today’s world of hyper-competition, just positioning your brand on any attribute will not fetch much result. To get a substantial result, you need to power-position your brand. You need to explore and express the connect between your brand and the customer’s mindset. This can only be done if you are aware of the customer’s changing need. While saying so, I assumed you already have a thorough understanding of your brand. If this is not true then your work should begin with understanding your brand, and finding the community that is more likely to swear by it. If you have a really good product then finding this key will not be difficult, but if you are just another brand in the category, I will suggest changing the business or building a key differentiation in your brand.

Consumers are hyper-active these days. If social bookmarking and social networking have made it easier for you to reach your customer then these services also minimized the distance between two customers. You should keep this in mind, while attempting any trick on your customers. It could mark the end for your brand.