Organization for Freelance Writers

By: Yvonne Perry
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:41:48
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher |

Rating:

 

One of the most important marketing things I did was to have my website redesigned by a professional web designer who knew what the search engines liked and didn't like. I actually had things on my pages that were repelling the searches--things like pasting text from MS Word into the editing page of MS Frontpage. If you want a clean page that the engines will read and find easily, you need to use code language. That was something I knew very little about so I hired a web designer. Once my site was cleaned up and redesigned, the business leads really started coming in and I had more than paid for my investment in a professional designer.

The organization method I use is very simple. Keeping a list of contacts and resources is very important, so I create a “contact” in Microsoft Outlook for each person who emails me. In the blank box of the Outlook contact, I paste the text of their email so I can later recall what we discussed.

I keep all major appointments in Microsoft Outlook. I write a daily to-do list for the next day in a journal that I keep on my desk. Not only is this a good way to remember those little things that need to be done (simple reminders like go to post office to mail book, find article on so-and-so, call this person, Google such-and-such) it serves as a record keeper. I use the journal when I am on a call with a client and I jot down notes about their project as well as their email address, phone number, URLs, etc. I don't take the journal out of my house. It contains too much personal info on my clients and is too valuable to me to risk leaving it in a public place. Instead, I carry a small pad and pen in my purse that I can use when I meet a client. I take notes (including the tax-deductible mileage to the meeting) and then transfer the info to my journal when I return home.

My marketing plan is so complex I can't completely explain it, but networking is my one of my favorite tools. I keep notes in a hardcover or spiral-bound journal.

I put URLs in "my favorites" in Internet Explorer. At least once a month, I visit these sites and remind the site owner of who I am and what I have to offer. I want to keep our relationship alive, and one way to do that is to offer to swap links to their website.

I have meeting and daily pop-up reminders in Outlook like "post to Suzanne's blog", I read all the newsletters that I have subscribed. I click on the links provided and respond to anything that interests me. This is one way I meet new people in the writing and publishing business. Give it a try!

Article source: Expert Articles