Freelancing Tips for 2014

With 2014 drawing near, it's only natural to look back on the past year and look ahead to the one forthcoming. The world of freelancing is witnessing rapid changes like never before.

Today, more and more people are leaving their regular jobs to "go freelance" or moonlighting a freelancing career as a secondary means of income. Because after all, what with the job market still not fully recovered and of course the dream of working from home and being your own boss, freelancing is more than ever the destination of choice for those looking for work.

Apart from the traditional offline freelancing practice of subcontracting, the online freelancing world is dominated by less than a dozen major websites. We have global freelance "marketplaces" like Elance, Fiverr, Freelancer, Guru and oDesk as well as more unconventional destinations like www.craigslist.org, www.freelancewriting.com, www.microlancer.com, www.seoclerks.com, www.99designs.com and other more specific niche-oriented freelance websites.

So looking forward to the year ahead, what are some great tips that freelancers can apply? We at Frontier Freelancing have come up with the Top 10 Freelancing Tips for 2014 below:

Wordpress Basics for Websites

The most popular content management  system (CMS) used by websites and blogs throughout the world is no doubt WordPress. It's used by well over 50% of all blogs and websites in order to create, modify, edit and publish text, videos and links on the internet.


CMSs are basically computer programs that can be accessed and run through a central interface. Most CMSs have their own 'dashboards' enabling users to control every aspect of content management. The 3 most popular CMSs in use today are WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.

When it comes to running your own blog or website, using WordPress is

The Top 5 Web Hosting Companies for Businesses

After last talking about the right web host for your specific needs, we now focus our attention on some of the best web hosting companies for businesses out there.

As a rising freelancer, internet marketer or small business, you need to be sure that the web hosting service that you sign up to will guarantee what you are looking for. Of course, you want to make yourself and your website look professional, neat and attractive for your clients and visitors to notice and go 'wow.' Based on the price plan that you choose, you would either be focusing on affordability and ease of use or performance and therefore expect greater costs.

Below, is Frontier Freelancing's list of the Top 5 Web Hosting Companies for Businesses:

1. HostGator

Known around the globe for its affordable plans, abundant features and reliable customer service, HostGator is

BREAKING NEWS: Elance and oDesk to Merge!

I just found out today through email that two of the giants of the online freelancing community are all set to merge into one monstrous entity. Ironically enough, I got the news email from BOTH the Elance and oDesk websites signed by the two CEOs themselves.

This is obviously big news for anyone following the freelancing industry as well as for those actively practicing freelancing themselves. After all, we are talking about two of the very biggest freelance websites out there!

What makes this merger particularly significant are the numbers involved. Elance has

How to Find the Right Web Host for Your Business

In order to carve out your very own place on the internet, it's important that you first establish and set up a domain from where you can announce, inform and persuade others about your ideas and products. Whether you're a growing business with a lot of potential, an entrepreneur seeking fortunes through internet marketing and affiliate programs or just a lone freelancer who wants to get noticed professionally and be taken seriously, then you NEED to start thinking about developing a blog or website to shelter your content, thoughts and products.


For affiliate marketing in particular, you need to establish a credible base by which you can attract visitors with useful content and then later encourage them to click through your affiliate partners' links and buy from their company websites. Blogs can also be leveraged for affiliate programs, but just don't have the same power as your own independent theme-based (niche specific) website.

Below are a list of steps (not necessarily in chronological order) that you can expect when finding and signing up for the right host for your business.

1. Choosing Your Domain Name

To begin with, you need to first find the right companies providing domain names. You must decide whether you will be going for a custom or top-level domain (for example, www.amazon.com) or a sub-domain name using the names of the service providers like Blogger, Wordpress, Weebly, Geocities, etc. (like www.frontierfreelancing.blogspot.com). The choice is up to you. However, as a rule of thumb, if you want to go for the independent and professional look, then buy your own domain - after all, for any growing business, you want others to take you seriously and have the conviction that you can at least pay to keep up your site!

For searching available domain names, you can either use

How to Sign Up for Affiliate Marketing Programs

Taking off from where The ABCs of Affiliate Marketing left off, we now turn our attention to how to join some of the major affiliate programs on the web.

To begin with, we should first understand that the internet is chock full of hundreds of possible affiliate marketing programs for you to join. What’s important however, is that you select the ones that are most appropriate for your situation and that you feel most comfortable with. Note: though every affiliate program out there will promise you good returns, only a few can actually live up to their word – so browse wisely!

Major Affiliate Programs

For example, if you run a website or blog about pets, then the ideal way for you to go is to

Frontier Marketing debuts on Wordpress!

Hello all,

Recently, we have decided to launch our new Frontier Marketing blog on Wordpress to take advantage of its unique features and community.

This will complete Frontier Freelancing by providing fresh and fantastic content dedicated exclusively to internet marketing.

Please visit our new blog and help spread the word. You will leave bored or without learning something new about internet marketing and freelancing, guaranteed!

Until next time, au revoir!

The ABCs of Affiliate Marketing

Sometime or another, we've all heard of affiliate marketing. In a nutshell, it is one of the core elements of internet marketing whereby affiliates representing companies are rewarded for bringing over visitors to said company's website. Also called cost per action/acquisition (CPA) marketing, it is one of the oldest forms of marketing extant on the web.

The four essential components or "players" of the system include: the merchant (the retailer/company that wants to sell products); the affiliate network (intermediates between the merchant and affiliate); the affiliate (or publisher); and the ultimate customer.

To advertise and promote the products of their merchants, affiliates use a variety of means ranging from organic search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) using Google's AdWords or Microsoft's AdCenter, email marketing, content marketing (including article marketing) and also offline, physical display advertising in the form of fliers, banners, etc.

Probing PayPal

Baby boomers and Luddites excused, who among us has not heard of PayPal - especially with the near saturation of e-commerce in many markets?

Before delving into the technicalities of PayPal, it's best if we understand a bit about the company's history.

PayPal's history begins with the inception of the internet financial services company X.com founded by Elon Musk among others around 2000. By March of that year, X.com acquired Confinity (founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin) and the rights to its PayPal system (the gateway was launched only in October 1999). The company renamed itself as PayPal on June 2001 to focus exclusively on internet transactions - particularly on the popular e-shopping portal eBay.

In February 2002, PayPal became the first tech company to go for an IPO after the 9/11 attacks. On 3 October 2002, eBay acquired PayPal for a brisk $1.5 billion - thereby consolidating eBay's hold of online payments and seamlessly integrated the preferred payment means into its shopping portal (as early as April 2000, over 1 million eBay users were already using PayPal for transactions).

Today, the gateway boasts an astounding 100 million active accounts with coverage in over 190 countries around the world. However, the availability of accounts, payment options, fees and other particulars varies from country to country. For that, do refer to their official policies: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/country-worldwide

For starters, PayPal is the internet's largest and most popular payment gateway. Payment gateways, or e-commerce payments systems, are essentially online portals that facilitate electronic transfers of money for online transactions. Gateways serve as alternatives to traditional payment methods like cheques, credit/debit cards and have even swallowed some of the pie away from internet and mobile banking.For companies like PayPal, they act as intermediaries between those who buy (whether individual consumers or businesses) and those who sell (individual or business). PayPal and other gateways (don't forget banks) use sophisticated encryption software involving "tokens" to facilitate money transfer.

Back from Sabbatical

After a month-long break, I feel it's high time to get back to blogging and start enlightening others (myself included).

So from today onward, I shall commit to once again writing about fresh and relevant internet marketing and freelance-related articles for your viewing pleasure!

Until then, bon voyage!

Top 5 Social Networks to Boost Your Business

Social networks today are an inseparable part of our lives. Whether it's for socialization or commercial purposes, the reach of social networks is virtually limitless. They constitute one of the essential modern inbound marketing techniques used by businesses to increase web traffic and internet sales.

In this article, I'll outline some of the major social networking sites and how they can be most effectively leveraged by businesses big and small to drive traffic and sales through social media marketing.

The last few years have witnessed an explosion of social networking sites crop up online. Today, there are literally thousands of social networks each vying to cater to a different audience and/or provide differentiated services to members. However within the increasingly saturated pool of existing social networks, there are only a few dozen that have genuine mainstream commercial potential and can be utilized by businesses to significantly boost traffic and sales.



Below is a list of the top 5 social networks that can boost your business*:

Freelance Finances - Getting Down to Business

Hi everyone,

When it comes to managing your payments while freelancing, sometimes it can get quite confusing and frustrating to deal with. You have to figure out what type of job you're looking for (job category, fixed vs. hourly), job skill requirements, the amount/rate, the hours, the output expected, turnaround times and how exactly your going to receive payment. For the novice freelancer, it can be a lot to handle in the first few months.

In this article, I will humbly outline some of the major online financial payment systems available to both freelancers and clients alike which facilitates the transfer and receipt of earnings.

Freelancing Payment Methods

Once you have nabbed a job or two, you are then ready to establish a payment gateway to receive your funds. Before diving in and highlighting the major freelancing payment methods available to you, you should first understand the differences between fixed jobs and hourly jobs, work schedule and work week and marketplace guarantees and liability exclusions (for payments, performance, dispute resolution, etc.)

The Wonders of Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a truly wonderful concept. It's so potentially powerful and effective to leverage for businesses that it can easily outperform traditional outbound marketing methods with a fraction of the cost. So then why don't all businesses harness this tool and why are most people unfamiliar with the term? I'll try to demystify this priceless concept in this article.

For starters, let's first look at what constitutes the 'old way' of how companies market their products:

• Traditional marketing (also called outbound marketing) is a 'push-based' system that uses paid methods like TV ads, direct mail, cold calling (synonymous with telemarketing) and trade shows to bring attention to the minds of potential leads. 
• It's often costly, out of the control of the paying company and generally hard to measure in terms of effectiveness and response.
• Communication is usually one-way
• Customers are sought out (often without permission)
• Marketers are not motivated to educate and entertain

In contrast, the 'new way' of marketing products deals with:

• The careful use of online tools and technologies like SEO marketing, content management, email marketing, video/podcast management, RSS feeds and social media engagement.
• It's cheap, easily to implement and can be more readily measured and tracked
• Communication is interactive and two-way
• Customers approach YOU through search engines, social media and referrals
• Marketers are more motivated to educate and entertain

So what are some of the tools used in inbound marketing and how can they improve your site's traffic/online sales?

1. SEO methods aim to improve a site's visibility on the pages of a search engine with inbound marketing companies actively seeking to rank their pages higher based on their keyword sets. 
2. Content management deals with generating fresh, unique and interesting content for visitors to the site in the form of web articles, blog posts, infographics, ebooks or other value-added content. It's often meant to educate and entertain and is also the best way to organically improve your SEO ranking.
3. Different from the more traditional cold selling email blasts, I'm talking about the careful use of newsletters and bulletins within your site. It's a great way to ensure that visitors are constantly returning back to read new and relevant content, establish relationships as well as potentially convert leads into customers.
4. Nowadays it seems that people are more interested in learning through watching than by reading. Therefore, by embedding relevant videos (Youtube, Vimeo, etc) into your site or by uploading regularly-updated podcasts, you can reach out to the new generation and keep them hooked and coming back for more.
5. Probably the cheapest and most effective means of inbound marketing today is the use of social networking sites to drive traffic to your site. By regularly updating your Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Linkedin, Pinterest or Reddit accounts, you can better solidify relationships with both existing and potential customers and clients.

As I've outlined, in stark contrast to traditional outbound marketing that relies heavily on 'pushing' goods and services to the customer's doorstep, inbound marketing is subtle and requires the customer to be 'pulled' to the company. The very foundation is reversed on its head.

Today the very paradigm of how businesses do business is different. Before, companies were in control, but now, it's the user that has greater control and are themselves actively involved in content creation and publication. The lines are becoming increasingly blurred.

Inbound marketing is here to stay and is rapidly becoming an essential tool for any business with an online presence. It's a brave new world in the marketing arena where change is the only constant, so if you are a budding blogger/webmaster/freelancer that can't adjust to the changing dynamics, then you'll find yourself quickly eating everyone else's dust and losing steam.

Don't fall behind, embrace the inbound marketing wave!

10 Tips for Writing More Effective Copy

Hello everyone,

When it comes to writing compelling, informative and original copy, it can often become tough to figure out where to start first. As freelance copywriters, we are expected to deliver 110% each and every time we write up new content. So when it comes to improving our game, what are some tips that we can apply to write more effective copy?

I have prepared a modest list of 10 tips for your viewing consideration to make you (as well myself) more proficient in writing copy - whether it be for marketing, informational, academic or any other purpose.

Below are 10 tips for writing more effective copy:

10. Grammar - as a prerequisite, you should know where semicolons belong, where to place exclamation marks and the best times to use contractions. Basic English is a must to advance to better copywriting.

9. Avoid cliches - you should at all times expect your audience to be seeking only relevant information and content that's entirely original and genuine. So try to not quote Shakespeare or Hemingway the next time you write up a professional copy and instead make up your own quotes or at least use something more relevant and up to date!

8. Use action words - whether your writing a sales letter, PR email or padding your personal resume, you should include a few power words like "challenge," "succeed," "delight," or "love" - among others. Be sure to check specialty websites that provide loads of lists relating to actionable words and verbs used for copy.

7. Be wary of jargon - try to avoid using technical language and jargon as best as you can. You don't want to alienate readers. However if the situation warrants, then use it moderately so as to not sound too pretentious or full of yourself.

6. State the facts - avoid inserting value judgments and personal opinions into the copy as doing so will undermine any credibility that you seek to attain. Instead, use concrete, reliable sources for supporting your argument and validating your conclusions.

5. Be flexible - any decent writer can write on a wide variety of topics with ease. However, it takes a good writer to write topics using different angles and styles. Good writers can write an article humorously, tragically or in a totally stone-cold no-nonsense manner with no emotion whatsoever. What's important is that the angle must be the most appropriate for your audience.

4. Generate feeling - you wan't your audience to relate to you and express sympathy, affection or support. Whether it's to urge them to a call-to-action or sign them up to a newsletter, you need to captivate readers and make them some desired emotion(s).

3. Know your audience - even before putting pen to paper (excuse me for the outdated cliche), you need to first figure out who you are writing to. This helps you tailor your writing more to the interests of your target audience better by making the content more relevant and worthwhile for their viewing.

2. Mind the formatting - if your content looks sloppy and unprofessional, then the chances of the audience reading on will drop significantly. You'll have to familiarize yourself with the basics of copy formatting whether it's: optimum sentences per paragraph, where to place bullet points and lists and how many, choice of titles and subtitles and use of summaries before the main article. Basically, you want your copy to look as amazingly eye-catching as possible to entice your audience to read it and take action.

1. Have a goal in mind - what's the purpose of your copy anyway? Is it to provide information? Is it to generate goodwill? Or is to sell your company's products? Having a clear goal in mind before writing your copy will help to ensure that your final draft will have the correct call to action and will maximize you and your company's targets and objectives seamlessly.

So there you have it. A humble list that you can reference to hone your article writing and copywriting skills. Frankly speaking, I myself am still learning a great deal about the fine art of copywriting and am acquiring something new everyday. There are practically HUNDREDS of tips out there that promise to improve your copywriting so in no way is my list comprehensive. What's important is that it should serve as a foundation for improving your writing and copywriting abilities.

For my next article, I will dabble on the mystical nature of inbound marketing and it's important for online (and offline) businesses.

State of Copywriting circa 2013

Hello everyone,

We all know that what we read and what we see around us all relates to marketing. Whether it's reading the newspaper, skimming through a magazine or gawking at a billboard, we are all exposed to marketing media. Apart from the pictures and colours embedded into the media, an equally powerful element of any marketing communication is the wording - that is, the copy of the content. Those people (like myself) who specialize in creating unique and compelling copy are by profession called copywriters. However, today most of us are no longer entirely dependent on physical forms of communication like we once were. With the internet and Web 2.0 at our doorstep, convenience and customization matter more to us than authority and reputation.

Copywriting wordcloud

With the continued onslaught of digital technology seeping into our lives, it's no surprise that since 2010, internet news sources have overtaken traditional print newspapers in terms of news consumption. That means more than 50% of all Americans and Britons rely on online sources like RSS feeds, news aggregators (News Republic, News 360) and social media postings (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and blog sites) to keep updated on local and international events. The situation is obviously even more tilted in favour of online content three years past.

What does that mean for the copywriting industry? It means quite a lot of things. Namely:

• Online copy is fast replacing traditional print copy. This has been driven by technological advances, the increasing saturation of internet usage as well as greater environmental and 'green' initiatives to cut down on paper consumption and production.
• More and more attention is being devoted to social media outlets both major and minor. Nowadays, it seems that every other company has a Facebook page, a Twitter account or a LinkedIn company profile to broadcast company and industry related news and events. Obviously, it's copywriters who are responsible for creating such promotional content.
• Extensive use of audiovisuals. You can't turn a newspaper ad into a 3-D graphic or start making the ad talk to you (at least not yet). But it's definitely possible online. Besides the actual copy for an ad or article, companies and individuals alike are more inclined to apply more elements into their content to attract more visitors and customers. It's common practice nowadays to see images, videos and links being attached with an article or ad simply to catch more of your attention and interest.
• Greater use of online marketing tools and terms. As an online copywriter, you need to be familiar with a host of terminology that at first, can seem a bit bewildering. Buzzwords like affiliate programs, AdSense, Analytics, backlinks, indexing, keyword density, link farms, meta tags, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine review pages (SERPs) and Wordpress are commonly used among those 'in the know.' However, it doesn't take a genius to get the hang of it and can easily be grasped over time.

Well I've outlined just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how modern copywriting is transforming in the face of technological and social upheaval. The future is one that will be increasingly dependent on digital forms of content - whether it be news, messages (think of email and SMSs), work (digital memos and software) and play (online & mobile games). It's no use trying to resist the changing dynamics - rather, we should try to adapt and take advantage of the changing conditions to reap the plentiful opportunities that abound for not only for digital copywriters but for any freelancer interested in doing work online.

For my next article, I will be discussing some useful tips and strategies that aspiring copywriters can apply in order to be more successful online.

Making Money through Blogging - Part 2

By: Red Rahman aka the Frontier Freelancer

Hi everyone, sorry for the hiatus. I've been busy the last few days writing up assignments for various clients. Classes take up some time too.

When we last left off, I talked about how Google AdSense helps provide an essential source source of income for blogs and other web content. It is, as already mentioned, the primary source by which bloggers and webmasters monetize their content and earn income from their online sites.

However, apart from AdSense there are other, lesser known (and used) alternative sources of earning income from your online content. I will now explain some of them in greater detail below:

1. Sponsorship 
Businesses are increasingly relying on advertising their brands by investing in greater social media engagement. Advertising on Facebook, Google +, Twitter or any other social website is no longer trendy but necessary. Blogs too, are now riding the wave as more and more companies are finding value and opportunity in advertising in general and specialist blogs. Depending on the nature of your blog, whether you are into photography or enjoy roller skating, niche companies will pay generously to have their ads placed on your blog if you can show them that you have a sufficient audience and that you are a dedicated and regular blogger.A more nuanced version of sponsorship is when companies pay you to discreetly mention their brands or products within your posts or as embedded links.

2. Affiliate programs
If you are already member of a commercial website with a user-affiliate program, whether it be Freelancer, Elance, Amazon, Linkshare, etc, then you can cash in on their specific referral-based payment schemes whereby you get paid for each new qualified referral referencing your account. If you already have a sizable network or audience, then this is definitely an attractive option.

3. Proprietary content
Apart from cooking up new and unique blog posts, bloggers can also create other online content or digital assets ranging from newsletters, e-books or videos. It's also possible to link up your blog with your own personal website to both increase your audience base and cross-sell your products seamlessly.

4. Merchandising
Similar to proprietary content, except that here you are partnering with a designer/manufacturer to produce physical products like T-shirts, mugs, bags, etc. The more popular or distinct your blog is, the greater the potential reception.

5. Online communities
By joining one of the many blogging forums or general freelance writing forums/groups on the web, you can take advantage of new job recommendations, offers or tips that can lead to making some extra cash.

6. Donations
Who doesn't mind receiving some charitable contributions for their hard work? Although traditional and unreliable, donations remain a decent way to receive some cash for your blog or website.

So as we can see, your options of making money through blogging are not limited at all. Although AdSense dominates the internet landscape in terms of coverage and usage, you can still rely on secondary sources of income to further capitalize on your digital content.

On the next article, I begin a series of articles related to digital copywriting and freelancing.

Until then, bon voyage!

(Red Rahman is a business student by day and a frenetic digital copywriter and freelancer by night. He can be reached by Twitter@ReduanRahman)

Making Money through Blogging - Part 1

By: Red Rahman aka the Frontier Freelancer

Before I dive in to the juicy methods available for tech-savvy bloggers to start earning money online, we should first clarify what blogging actually is. Literally, the term blog is simply a contraction of ‘web log.’ Basically they are web-based personal journals written by individuals that are usually updated with new content frequently. Blogs can be about just about anything – from accounting to playing xylophones or from zoo keeping to agricultural economics. The variety of topics covered by blogs (collectively called the ‘blogosphere’) is nearly as vast as the reach of the modern internet itself. In fact, two of the internet’s most active websites being Facebook and Twitter, are in fact ‘micro-blogging’ sites that also have multi-author blog (MAB) systems embedded within. Then of course, there are professional blog outlets like Tumblr, Wordpress and Blogger that are incredibly popular and frequently used and accessed by web denizens.

Blogs are created by different people to serve different purposes. Most blogs on the net are personal blogs that serve as personal spaces for people to provide social commentary, express their opinions, write about personal feelings and events (sort of like a diary) or to simply source content from other blogs or websites. Increasingly, large and small businesses alike have found relevance and profit in establishing their own social networking profiles whether it be a blog, Facebook, Google +, Twitter, Linkedin or YoutTube accounts. Organizations and groups, just like individuals, understand the importance of reaching out and communicating with others whether it be friends, customers or the public at large. All blogs usually have standard elements and generally have textual elements and may also contain images or links.

Now we move on to the meat of the article. So how exactly can you expect to make money from blogging? Lucky for you and me there’s more than one option to start earning cash while writing about stuff that’s fun and interesting to you. Below is a list of popular methods by which you can earn money:

1. Advertising programs - AdSense

By harnessing the strength and scale of Google’s AdSense or lesser known programs like Yahoo’s Chitika, you can start monetizing your blog right away.

Owing to its broad popularity, I will only discuss AdSense in this article. Using Google’s super-powerful and uber-popular Google search engine, Google can place advertisements within your blog based on your site’s content, your audience’s geographical location or other factors. Essentially AdSense is a contextual advertising program whereby Google places ads on your blog related to your subject matter. The ads can include automatic text, images, videos or interactive media advertisements that are carefully targeted to the blog’s site content and viewers. The application of AdSense is usually a default choice for anyone starting a new account on Google’s Blogger site but covers all publisher mediums within the Google Network. The program also provides income through input of a Google search site tool as well as referral tools. The main channel by which revenue is generated is either through a per-click or per-impression basis.

Today, it is the internet’s most popular advertising network for websites - used by around 15% of all websites and controlling over 75% of the total advertising network market (1). For individuals and small businesses, it is an especially crucial means for generating income owing to lack of available funds for developing advertising sales programs or hiring sales staff. There are a variety of means by which webmasters (the owners of a website) can maximize their AdSense revenues. To keep this article brief and relevant to the titular topic, I will cover this important topic in the future.

My next article will focus on the other lesser-known ways to earn money through blogging.

Until then, bon voyage and stay tuned!

(Red Rahman is a business student by day and a frenetic digital copywriter and freelancer by night. He can be reached by Twitter @ReduanRahman)

Prologue

Hello everyone!

The purpose behind creating this blog is to educate and inform others (as well as myself) about the exciting and fast-changing world of online freelancing and internet marketing. I will also cover other related topics like blog and article writing, copywriting, general marketing concepts and trends as well as search engine optimization (SEO) topics.

As a business student studying marketing, I'm in a pretty good position to grasp and understand the fundamentals of marketing. I'm also quite handy when it comes to other marketing and management skills like branding, communication, copywriting, promotions and strategy. Apart from my 'formal' skills, I am constantly learning day by day about online freelancing and its various technicalities and operations as all its associated concerns like online article writing, blogging, social networking as well as SEO.

I hope to be regular with posting new content and will try to make it fresh and interesting. My goal is to captivate readers like you and keep you hooked and wanting to come back for more.

My first real article of a series of articles which I hope to post here soon is on Making Money Through Blogging - Part 1 (AdSense).

Until then, stay tuned and be prepared to read and experience something new and refreshing!