Statistic Number 1: According to a March 2017 study, more than 80% of the respondents used a search engine to look for a local business.

Let’s get real reader, this means you need an online presence irrespective of what kind of business you are into. A website is an absolute must-have for all businesses to reach their audience and vice-versa. But creating a website is not enough. It’s more important to create a positive user experience through your website.

Positive user experience is based on a multitude of factors including the overall design, the user interface, the simplicity, credibility, and conviction of your content, and of course, the website speed, to name a few. Let’s look into the latter.

Statistic Number 2: A staggering 57% of online visitors will likely leave your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, while 80% of the online visitors will probably never return to your website.

Clearly, reader, the speed of your business website plays a significant role in the quality of your user’s experiences and inevitably their choices.

A slow-loading website can frustrate online visitors and make them look for the same service elsewhere. And if you’re a freelancer, that spells catastrophe. Now you might think, “Isn’t it better to focus on improving my service or product? If it’s a good product or service, wouldn’t people want it?”

The answer is no. Not unless you’ve invented the time machine. Whether you are running an online retail shop or are a freelancer, a slow business website can kill new prospects for your business.

To what end, you ask? Let’s look at exactly what a slow website could mean for your business.

1. Impact on sales

A recent research study found that nearly 79% of online visitors never revisit slow or poor-performing websites, while 44% of those users caution other potential users by sharing their negative experiences with them.

Studies have shown that slow loading can result in a serious increase in unsatisfied consumers who are not buying any of the offered products or services.

This undoubtedly has an adverse impact on your sales and conversions, especially if you are a freelancer with limited work-time.

2. Impact on web traffic

At a time when Netflix was consuming 15% of the Internet traffic globally, they decided to perform basic compression on its website’s bandwidth. It resulted in a 43% drop in outbound traffic.

Clearly, a fast-loading website encourages users to spend more time on your website, leading to increased conversions and additional traffic to your website.

3. Impact of bot attacks

There are Good bots that help in improving a website’s SEO. When you search for a website or its products and services, the search page lists the appropriate results- which in turn is made possible with crawler bots or search engine bots.

But there also exists Bad Bots. These bad Automated Bots currently make up a whopping 50% of the total web traffic! PriceMinister-Rakuten, a popular French E-commerce website, found that 75% of its website traffic came from bots. These Creepy Crawlies can make your wallet as empty as their hearts- they reduce your website’s processing power, increase its load time, and can even shut it down!

To prevent bad bot attacks, use WordPress security plugins like MalCare.

A security plugin developed by the team at BlogVault, MalCare can safeguard your website from unwanted bot traffic and attacks, preventing website compromises and shutdowns. Powerful security tools like MalCare identity bad bots and prevent them from accessing your freelance website.

4. Impact on search engine ranking & bounce rates

Image source

A slow-loading website could lead to a high bounce rate, and this is what Google interprets from it- “The user left too soon. The user isn’t happy. Other users probably won’t be either.”

And, there you have it reader, the truth. While many other factors also determine the Google search engine ranking, Google frowns upon slow website speed as it makes the user’s experience unpleasant which basically means a lower ranking.

A faster website enhances the user experience and engagement pushing users to spend more time on your website. In turn, this improves your page views and search engine optimization (or SEO), which basically means a better search engine ranking.

5. Impact on mobile users

Compared to desktop users, mobile phone users (especially, online shoppers) have lower attention spans and patience levels. This is why, from July 2018 (surprise), Google has made website speed an important ranking factor for searches made online from smartphones.

A 2018 statistic by Stone Temple revealed that more than 58% of the website visits globally were made from mobile devices.

Google reported that a web page that takes more than 3 seconds to load on a smartphone notes 53% of its visitors leaving the page.

Since websites are usually optimized for functioning well on a desktop computer, they may perform sub-par on a mobile device. Online users are thus, less inclined to engage with companies with badly designed mobile websites.

Now, that we have seen the extent to which website speed can affect your business, it’s time to answer a simple yet persistent question.

So what are the best website speed optimization tips to get more leads and brownie points from Google?

Let’s put our thinking hats on.

Website speed optimization tips for a freelance site

1.  Optimize your Images

Size matters. The file size of an image is often much larger than it needs to be.

Just compressing your images can go a long way in reducing the load time. It is also important to use the right format for images.

You can reduce your image size by nearly five times with the right combination of file format and compression type.

However, you’ll need to experiment with each image or file format to see what works best.

Here are some more tips-

• Use fixed-width and auto-height to make your images responsive.
• Prioritize the quality and source of your images. Original high-quality images will make you stand out in the search results than images from a stock site or a low-quality image. Put up pictures of your previous work, if possible. Not only is it original, but it also goes a long way to act as social proof of your capabilities.
• Use JPEG images wherever possible. Their file size is lesser than those of PNG images.
• For logos and icons, use PNG format to save up on those dearest bytes.
• Try to avoid using GIFs, BMPs, and TIFFs.
• Make the file name of your image descriptive of its contents by using appropriate keywords.

You can use Image Optimization plugins such as TinyPNG, Imagify, and Optimus as well.

However, I would suggest using ShortPixel*, a WordPress plugin that automatically optimizes the images for you after upload. You can also tweak the settings to adjust image size and format to your liking.

2. Scrutinize those plugins

Considering that WordPress powers 1/3rd of all websites, it’s important to address the various hindrances to the speed of WordPress websites.

First, identify what is causing your website to slow down.

There are many plugins that can improve your website load speed, however, too many plugins or a large, heavy plugin can do the exact opposite.

Use a Plugin Performance Profiler to identify those plugins that are outdated and/or bringing down your speed. Delete these plugins.

Secondly, evaluate your plugins in terms of functionality. What value are they adding to enhancing your user experience? Remove the plugins that aren’t significant.

Alternatively, you can install widgets or find lightweight alternatives for plugins. If it’s too complex to handle, get a WordPress management solution that will help you optimize your site’s speed.

3. Avoid complex themes

Choosing the right WordPress theme that fits your requirement is integral to shaping the user experience.

As a freelancer, it is important to focus on how efficiently the theme helps you to convey the quality of your services than just how it makes the website look. Choose a theme that adds functionality efficiently.

Keep in mind that using graphics-heavy themes will drive down the value in terms of sales numbers, particularly in the case of e-commerce websites that need a large number of product images. This happens even if the UX is selected to suit your exact needs. Do not forget, every second count.

4. Fewer Ads

Revenue generation through ads may be tempting but the adverse impact on the overall UX deserves serious contemplation.

Remember, the user is visiting your site to see what you have to offer, not someone else.

The negative repercussions of an ad-heavy site clearly prevail over the monetary benefit of selling your online real-estate.

In some cases, pages may even simply refuse to load in case of any service interruptions caused by the ads.

Interrupting pop-up ads aggravate your customers to get irritated and easily ready to churn.

In addition, a user clicking on an ad on a page will be lead to a different web page. In essence, you are pushing them to leave your site. This would invariably lead to a lowered interest in coming back to your site simply because it is not on the top of their head.

Alternatively, focus on making your content more convincing by providing social proof of your service or product. And if you are placing ads, make sure they are at least relevant to your product/ service.

5. Use better fonts

Readability and typography play a crucial role in enhancing the user experience.

Evaluate which character sets are supported while picking a font. If your page calls for the support of multiple languages, use a font that can deliver a balanced experience to your users. Foregoing a “full” web font and compressing web fonts results in delayed text rendering.

Also, do not use fonts that are over-the-top. Make sure your users know you mean serious business. Ensure you have clear, appropriate headings and subheadings and a proper structure to your website.

In the online space, speed sells. Frankly, the real sign of how well your website is performing is your sales performance.

Saving those precious bytes automatically drives up your website speed and lets you continually deliver an unparalleled user experience in the online market.

Google, Walmart, and Amazon also continually test their performance considering the importance of speed in today’s fast-paced world.

Are you ready to follow these website speed optimization tips

Video summary created using InVideo.

Simple tasks like the website speed optimization tips above will unfailingly help you serve content that increases user engagement by removing the problem areas. Speed sells and it sells effectively.

Website conversions are equivalent to user site experience and a seamless website loading speed can go a long way in reigning in those conversions.

Visitors come to your freelance website looking for a service that you can deliver; the faster you deliver it to them, the more likely they are to come back.

Naming your business is an important part of launching your brand as a freelancer.

It is very frequently the first thing that your leads will find out about your business.

It needs to be compelling and engaging so that it will draw clients in while also summarizing your brand and identity.

Although naming a new freelance business can feel difficult and challenging at first, it should not have to feel like you are stepping off the edge of a cliff while wearing a blindfold.

With these steps described in the article below, you can improve the organization of your ideas and get the most out of your freelance business name.

Naming your freelance business: Everything you need to know

Before we begin, I would like to introduce the writer of this post: Grant Polachek of Squadhelp. Here’s his bio:

Grant Polachek is the Director of Marketing at Inc 500 company Squadhelp.com, the worlds #1 naming platform, with nearly 20,000 customers from the smallest startups across the globe to the largest corporations including Nestle, Philips, Hilton, Pepsi, and AutoNation. Get inspired by exploring these good names for your business.

So if you have concerns with coming up with a name for your freelance business, don’t hesitate to reach out to Grant and Squadhelp!

Also, I’ve edited the article to make it better. Nothing but the best for my dear readers 🙂

So, let’s begin!

Build your brand

When choosing a name for your freelance business, it is useful to gather all of your branding ideas in one central place.

If you make a handy document, then you can check back to it throughout the entire naming process.

On your document, write down some of the things that you want to be central aspects of your freelance brand.

For example, you can answer questions like:

• What do you do?
• What are the values of your brand?
• Why are the freelance services you are providing important?

If others don’t feel that you are passionate and invested in your own brand, then they will likely begin to question why they should care about your freelance business either.

Writing down a number of existing freelance business names that you think are effective can help you brainstorm names for your own new business.

Make it a point to take down notes on each of these names and write down what do you like about them and if you want to try to achieve a similar feel or vibe.

Keep writing down existing freelance brand names that you like until you end up with a list of eight to ten of your ideal names.

After you have gathered the top names then you can start to dissect them.

Go through this catchy business name list to give yourself a head start.

Write some notes in the form of bullet points that describes what exactly you like about each of your favorite names and why they work so well for their company.

Analyzing and dissecting your top existing freelance business names in your field can be a great exercise to give you some direction for the naming process.

Think about your audience

Another thing that you should consider when launching your freelance brand is the audience you want to appeal to.

For example, a clothing line targeted at older, accomplished, and professional women will have a very different voice and tone than a fashion line for women in college. And there’s a good reason for that!

Your brand name needs to focus on who you are appealing to and more than just you.

Most of the popular brand names have a target audience in mind and connect to them through shared values and emotions that resonate with them.

Take, for example, the investing app Robinhood.

This app helps people make the investment process free and simple for the typical person, not just the ultra-rich.

Their brand name for their business not only encapsulates their values to a tee by utilizing the story of the heroic bandit Robin Hood.

Robin Hood is a great choice for a narrative because it appeals to the millennial audience.

The name is both fresh and fun and also aligns with the values of convenience and fairness that millennials hold in such regard.

Look into the future

Where do you want your freelance brand to be in five years? What about ten years down the line?

If you are planning on starting a freelance business that might grow into different areas in the future, be wary of selecting a name that pigeonholes your brand.

At the beginning of launching your business, you may be creating a sock brand. You may feel that the name SuperSocks could be a great fit for your business.

But if you want to expand into other territories later on such as hats or gloves, SuperSocks would no longer a suitable name.

This means that you would have to change your established name which could confuse customers and ultimately lose business. Planning ahead can help you avoid a costly rebranding process down the line.

Try to capture your mission and values in just a couple of short project statements like these:

• We need a name that captures our young, unique approach to selling high heels.
• We need a name that establishes us as a traditional and trustworthy brand.
• We need a name that hints at our animal-friendly business practices.

You can begin by writing a couple of project statements for your own freelance business.

Make Tough Choices

Now that you have put all of your ideas in one central place and have figured out what the type of name that you want, you can begin the process of coming up with name ideas.

One of the most important decisions that freelancers need to make early on when coming up with a name for their business is whether or not use their real name or a brandable name.

While there are merits to both of these options, it is typically preferable for freelancers to incorporate their own name into the business. This helps solidify the connection between the business and yourself.

Especially if you are the only freelancer working for your business, incorporating your own name into the brand name will make it clear to clients just who they’re working with.

On the other hand, if there is any possibility of expansion down the road, separating your name from your company name is a must.

Collect some names

Now, it’s time to put your thinking caps on.

Jot down every name you can muster that might work with the brand you are creating.

Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box, and don’t judge any of the names that you come up with at first.

Even if you don’t like it now, you may find that one of your brainstormed names could really resonate with your target audience.

Continue writing down as many names as you can think of because the more you have to cross off the list, the better idea you will have of the type of name that you are looking for.

When coming up with names, you must start broad.

Some names can be descriptive, intellectual, poignant, or classic. You can merge words to form a name or use two separate words to summarize your business’s appeal.

One helpful way to come up with brand names is by writing down an example for every type of name you can think of.

Getting out of your comfort zone when coming up with names will help you in the future and give you a variety of names to choose from.

Cut down your options

Finally, it is time to start making some decisions by cutting down the number of name options that you have brainstormed.

Start removing freelance business names that you know won’t work for you until you have only five or six favorite names remaining on your list.

Now that you have some great options to move forward with, this is a great chance to start getting second opinions from your friends and family. Another group to get feedback from would also be your target audience!

When asking questions about your name choices, don’t just ask, “Which of these names do you like the best?” Make sure you frame your questions more neutrally by asking something closer to, “Which of these brands would you be interested in learning more about?”

Lock down your domain name and assess your risk

A solid domain complements a great brand name. This is because your website is where your prospective clients will find out more about what services you offer.

So, it is best to have as close of a match to your name as possible.

[mks_pullquote align=”left” width=”720″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#333333″ txt_color=”#ffffff”]Editor’s note: Now hold up, playa!

Signing up for a domain name is another problem altogether. In fact, it deserves a post of its own.

However, instead of making it difficult for you, here’s what I suggest:

When signing up for a domain name, go with Siteground*.

It’s a web hosting platform that offers domain registration.

So why Siteground?

Simple: It makes your site load faster and respond better for your visitors.

After signing up for a domain and a hosting plan, you can build a WordPress site within minutes and enjoy its blazing-fast servers and excellent customer support!

Again, click here* to sign up now and set up your freelance business website so clients will come knocking on your door.

[/mks_pullquote]

Trademark validation for your freelance business name is another great way to secure your name.

Run a trademark risk test so that you can rest assured that your brand name isn’t already in use by a similar freelance business.

Being proactive in preventing trademark risk will help you avoid any complicated legal issues.

Naming your freelance business is no walk in the park!

Video summary created using InVideo.

Coming up with an effective name can feel like a daunting task. So much of your success rests upon a name.

It is the crux of your freelance brand’s identity, and it is the first connection between you and your clients.

You might think that all of the best names are already in use, or that you lack good ideas, but don’t worry.  The perfect name for your business is out there and if you follow the steps then you’ll find it in no time!

Being in the SEO game for a long time, you know the value that great SEO article writers bring to the table.

They help rank websites for their target keywords by observing the best on-page SEO practices on the articles they write.

Ultimately, they convert fairweather site visitors into customers with their compelling writing style.

So, if you’re:

• an aspiring writer who wants to turn his/her passion for writing into a profession
• website owner or agency looking to hire talented writers to help their business

Then you’ve come to the right place!

This post discusses the skills and discipline that the talented and most sought-after SEO article writers have. If you want the full process from keyword research to publishing, my complete SEO content writing guide covers it step by step.

By knowing these skills, you can build your writing business on these foundations or find a writer who meets these qualifications.

What separates good SEO article writers from the bad ones?

Before we start, this post is written by Rana Tarakji. Here’s a short bio about her:

Originally from the U.S., Rana Tarakji is an SEO analyst, the founder of One SEO – a multinational link building company -, and author of Off-Site SEO Guide: A Hands-On SEO Tutorial For Beginners & Dummies, who now lives in Beirut, Lebanon. Rana’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications in print and online, including Life Hacker, Upwork, Christian Today, Newswire, and many other outlets.

Also, I’ve edited the post and added my thoughts to make it more useful to you dear readers.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Let’s begin!

Researches for keywords strategically

One of the main factors that bring visitors to a website is when the content matches the keywords they searched on Google.

For professional SEO article writers, they never write content without a target keyword in mind.

This means they conduct adequate research prior to using keywords in their articles.

They dig deep and find out which words to best use if you want to rank for a niche.  Professional article writers in the SEO scene also learn about SEO trends and use them to their article’s advantage.

For example, people expect voice search to dominate SEO in 2019. Therefore, writers optimize their content for long tail keywords to rank for spoken (versus typed) keywords when the time comes.

Addresses user intent

The best professional SEO article writers know that behind every keyword possess an intent.

For instance, if you want to rank high for a keyword, you need to understand why users are searching for that keyword in the first place.

You can classify user intent may be classified as:

• Navigational – Do they want to learn more about the brands specific to that keyword?
• Informational – Are they looking for information about that topic?
• Transactional – Do they want to buy something that relates to the search phrase?

As you can see, for each type of intent, users have a corresponding agenda!

Professional SEO writers take the lead here by producing content that is most fit and helpful to the user intent behind your customer’s search query.

By imagining a preset persona of your target customer, they can generate articles that can offer a solution to each search query.

In turn, users get more enticed with every targeted solution your site has to offer them.

And the more users your writers attract with this intent-based strategy, the better your site’s organic traffic can become!

To learn more about intent-based keyword research, read this post at Search Engine Land.

Establishes content credibility

Creating content that matches your customer’s needs is one thing. But SEO article writers also ensure that each write-up they produce mirrors niche authority and credibility.

A mark of content credibility is its uniqueness and how insightful it is to readers. Regarding the latter, SEO writers research for information that can help back up their claims in the content.

Aside from fact-checking and source-citing, professional SEO article writers also take time to thoroughly proofread their work.

This is because they know that SEO-wise, well-written and error-free articles always attract natural links and stand a greater chance at ranking on top as opposed to those that are poorly written.

SEO article writers produce content that is readable and engaging

Professional SEO writers aim for the readability of their articles.

They are aware that engaging articles are the ones that are clear, organized, and, simple.

They lessen “fluff” and go straight to the point.

Every word and sentence on their articles are deliberate and purposeful.

That means simplifying industry jargons to help their target users understand the article.

The more logical and smooth-flowing the article, the better!

Aiming for the top (via featured snippets)

Another secret that professional SEO article writers keep is their constant goal of getting to the top of SERPs.

Your typical SEO strategy already addresses this with the usual on-page and off-page SEO campaigns. But professional SEO article writers may take a different route.

Remember the trend of voice search and the rise of search assistants (think “hey, Google”)? SEO writers aim their articles to respond to them through their articles.

So, when a user asks Google via voice search, their articles can turn up at the topmost part, also known as a featured snippet.

All they have to do is to make your site’s articles structured to a voice search-friendly format.

They do this by answering queries in a direct to the point manner. They can also make use of bullets and numbered lists so that the assistant can read the information one by one.

Finally, they fill their articles with statistics and facts to back up their content.

Maximizing content length

SEO article writers take time generating high-quality content. That also means (but is not exclusive to) lengthier content.

This hits your SEO goals in two ways.

One, it appeals to web crawlers and search engines more since longer content means a better chance to spread and utilize your target keywords.

Two, it enhances user experience. Assuming the content is comprehensive all throughout its 1,000-2000-word length, then you give more value to your site’s visitor as you offer him with more information.

Adding the right images

Professional SEO article writers know that articles are not just all about the text. They know that adding visual content like images and videos can help keep their focus.

This is because they understand that your site’s readers respond well to SEO best practices of including images within text posts.

Apart from providing a break from paragraphs, images can also help clarify the information that your articles convey.

For example, infographics and diagrams can help customers understand a complex concept that can otherwise be too wordy to elaborate.

But they do not just dump images and add an alt text tag to make it more SEO-friendly. Professional SEO writers attach images that are appropriate to the content.

When it comes to infographics, they either create one or choose a pre-made version. In any case, they include the ones that will increase your site’s organic traffic and not drive them away.

Creating catchy titles and headlines

Aside from ensuring that the title, headers, and tags of your articles contain your target keywords, professional SEO article writers make it a point to make the article titles catchy.

Titles are also a factor when you click on a search result. An article with an ambiguous and keyword-stuffed phrasing is less appealing than the one with wit and flair.

Leveraging social media

Professional writers who create content for SEO purposes use social media for SEO advantage.

Because social media feeds like that of Facebook are full of attention-grabbing content, they write posts with click-worthy headlines to gain traction to their social media followers.

They leverage the power of likes and shares to build better brand recall and recognition for your business.

They never fail to include a link of your site’s website URL on every post, so their followers can visit their site for more information about them.

Advantageous use of analytics

Aside from their content, professional SEO article writers also take their time to review the results of their content.

The information you can gather from platforms like Google Analytics contains useful SEO insights that SEO article writers can leverage.

Take for example data from bounce rate analytics.

A professional SEO article writer can infer which posts entice more users and which ones need improvement such that users stay longer in the page.

They then tweak the content of their articles to lower the bounce rate of each page and aim for more conversions.

Knowing what to avoid

Finally, what separates professional SEO article writers from others is how they keep track of which methods lead to penalties.

They don’t stuff your articles with keywords for the sake of optimizing them!

They know better than to use exact match keywords repeatedly and go for latent semantic indexing (LSI) to boost your overall SEO strategy.

They also avoid stale and old content and produce articles on a regular basis to keep their audience in the loop.

Lastly, these SEO writers know which tactics are useful and which common SEO mistakes to avoid.

Wrapping it up

These are just some of the things a capable SEO article writer can do.

Now, if you want to become one, then you need to take these tips to heart as well as their content writing advice.

Let’s face it – creating great articles are not enough in this day and age.

You need to get your articles that extra “oomph” that clients are looking for.

In this case, you need to hone your SEO skills to help your clients rank higher on SERPs.

Moreover, integrating SEO into your writing will help you land more clients in the future!

As for businesses, all you need to do is refer to these habits when looking for a writer for your blog or website.

Granted, there aren’t a lot of talented SEO article writers out there. But don’t give up and keep looking, they’re probably just around the corner!

Or maybe you’re reading one of their posts!

At this point, all you need to do is just ask! 🙂

So you just kicked off your career in freelancing.

You now that gathering contacts and getting the word out about the services you offer can be a challenge. You may have skills that people would pay for. However, finding leads who would pay for your skills is a different story.

This is because, as a freelancer who is just starting out, your network is still very small.

But don’t fret. Getting out from this predicament is not as hard as you think. You just need to use the right tool.

This is where email marketing comes in.

Why do you need email marketing?

It’s simple, really. Email marketing is not just affordable and easy to use. It is also an ideal investment and solution if you’re in for the long haul.

With email marketing, you can do the following:

Grow your list slowly but surely

It’s important to integrate email marketing into your contact-gathering strategy. But you need to remember that it is not an overnight solution. You don’t send out emails today and expect thousands of subscribers tomorrow. Email marketing doesn’t work like that.

Email marketing is a long-term investment. It will help grow your subscriber list and customer base. But it’s going to be a gradual, steady process.

Once you do get more subscribers and prospects, it’s much easier to make them stay.

Foster better and deeper relationships

Email isn’t the same as face-to-face interactions with your prospective clients. Still, it’s a whole lot more personal than paid ads, which a majority of users consider annoying.

People email one another using laptops and smartphones. Despite its cold nature, you can still personalize your emails as if you are talking to the reader directly. Some basic techniques include using the subscriber’s first name in certain areas of the email, such as the subject line and greeting.

Turn subscribers into clients

Email marketing is the perfect medium for showcasing your skills in order to get more clients.

Prove that you are an expert in your field and entice subscribers to hire you. Do this by promoting your best content pieces that provide your audience with valuable insight via email.

Let’s say you’re a freelance writer who specializes in writing informative content centered around tech. Your goal is to reach out to the managers of tech companies who might be interested in your services.

First, you must create a lead magnet about technology

Create something that will interest decision-makers in the tech industry. You may need to do extensive research about tech topics and provide unique insights into the niche. Generic topics about tech that have been done to death won’t work.

Once you’ve produced the lead magnet, it’s time to set up an email form. Ask readers to fill out their name and email so they can receive the exclusive content. In exchange, their information will go straight to your email list.

From here, you can craft a drip email campaign to email subscribers for your writing services. This will only work if the quality of the lead magnet is great. If so, then your chances of converting them into clients are high.

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what you can achieve with email marketing. You can accomplish a lot of goals with too—as long as you properly plan and execute your email campaigns.

How to start with email marketing

If you are ready to go on your email marketing journey and want to have a successful career in freelance, then you have to start email marketing the right way. Here’s how:

Find the best email service provider for you

With countless email service providers (ESPs) available, narrowing down the most suitable one for you can be a daunting task. After all, choosing an ESP does involve making certain considerations.

This doesn’t have to be the case, though. You just need to do the proper research in order to make an informed decision.

First, think about your budget.

Email marketing does not have to be expensive. Pricey ESPs work best for companies and enterprise. There are affordable platforms for freelancers on a budget.

Also, don’t subscribe to an ESP just because people are raving about it. It’s best to try out the tool first and form your opinion from there. You’re the one using the tool, so what people say shouldn’t matter.

Some people leave sour reviews about free or cheap ESPs. However, if they work like a charm for you, then use them! There’s no accounting for taste, really.

Next, outline all the features you’ll need in an ESP.

Not a design expert but want to create emails that grab attention? Then you need an ESP that comes with a range of beautiful templates that you can tweak in an instant.

Do you want the ability to analyze and measure email performance on a regular basis? Then you need an ESP that offers useful analytics.

Good customer support is also crucial for freelancers. Your ESP’s customer support team should be able to quickly assist if you simply need help with the service. This is so you can focus on working for your clients.

Looking for an ESP that has all these features and more? Then look no further than Campaign Monitor, an ESP that gives you the power to design beautiful, professional-looking emails, create highly personalized customer journeys, and analyze and monitor email data.

Make it easy for people to subscribe

Your ultimate goal is to gather contacts who you’ll hopefully convert into paying clients. Therefore, make signing up to your email list as convenient as possible for.

Provide visitors with several ways to sign up for your email list. Place CTAs on various pages of your website like your homepage, your blog posts, a dedicated landing page like this one Elna Cain’s website.

(Source)

Make the process simple for your prospective clients. It will incline them to subscribe to your newsletter and learn what you can offer.

Get to know your subscribers

Ask people for information from your subscription forms that will help with your personalization and segmentation efforts. Aside from their name and email addresses, your form should also contain the following:

• The industry that the potential subscriber is in
• Their position in the company? (Junior Marketer, CEO, Business Owner, etc.)
• The type of newsletter content they’d like to receive

You can ask more questions depending on what service you offer. Ultimately, this information will enable you to:

• Personalize your email templates according to the receiver (different templates for different industries)
• Segment your lists and deliver unique content to each list (content for CEOs is different from content for marketers)
• Deliver relevant content that your subscribers want to know.

Automate your emails

Being a freelancer means juggling the work for multiple clients all at once. This will likely leave you with very little time to do anything else. However, your ESP can do the work for you.

Automating your emails saves you time from manually sending emails to each and every one of your subscribers. Set up your email automation once as well as the triggers and rules that determine when to send the email.

If done right, then all you need to do is sit back, relax, and watch the engagement rate skyrocket!

One of the easiest (and most effective) emails to automate is your welcome series. Set up the trigger on your ESP and it will send your welcome email to every new subscriber automatically.

The timing of the email matters too. Research has revealed that it is best to send the email within the same day that a subscriber signs up.

Here’s a simple yet attention-grabbing welcome email you can use for inspiration.

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Other emails you can automate include:

• Client inquiry emails – Send an automated email to subscribers who inquire about your services or asks for a quote. In the message of your email, tell them you’ve received their inquiry and that you will be getting back to them within a specific timeframe. This will make them feel more valued as clients.
• Thank you emails – Send an automated thank you email whenever you receive payment from a client for services rendered. It shows that you appreciate their business, which builds loyalty and develops your relationship with them.
• Birthday emails – If the subscriber indicated their birth date, you can offer them a freebie or a discount for your services.

So do you know now how to start with email marketing?

This post is by no means an extensive email marketing guide. The purpose of these tips is to simply to help you get the best start you can with email marketing. If you follow the advice above, then you won’t waste your time, effort, and hard-earned money.

Getting a good grasp of the fundamentals will also make improving your future campaigns and strategies much easier for you.

That being said, you have to keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all email marketing strategy that applies to every freelancer. Your strategy will depend on numerous variables such as your budget, the type of service you offer, the industries you cater to, and so on and so forth. This means that your strategies will differ from other freelancers.

There is one thing that will be the same for you and every other freelancer out there. You all need to master these email marketing basics.

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