going from freelance to agency

7 Things to Know Before Converting Your Freelance Efforts into an Agency

By on April 25, 2017 in Freelancing

I’ve been working for myself eight out of my ten plus professional years. I dove directly from college into freelance copywriting and have been doing it on my own almost constantly ever since (with a brief stint at a New York agency).

Today I run a comprehensive digital marketing agency that focuses on persona development and content strategy for B2B businesses. It’s a long way from freelance articles stuffed with keywords about male pattern baldness products.

So, I understand the urge of many freelancers to get out of their current situation and into a much better one as soon as possible.… Read More

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7 Tips to Becoming an Incredibly Efficient Freelancer

By on November 28, 2016 in Freelancing

I’ve been freelancing or consulting for 80% of my adult working life. In fact, as of writing this, it’s been almost exactly 10 years since I resolved to quit my job and start working at home, having absolutely no idea how to actually do it.

Over the course of that decade, I’ve worked with hundreds of clients in dozens of countries, and have learned a lot about business, marketing, and productivity. If you want to succeed working for yourself, especially once you have a family, you don’t really have a choice. But it wasn’t always like this. I wasn’t always able to take time off midday to take my son to the dentist or go see a movie when he’s home for an in-service day.… Read More

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How Narrative Helps Communicate KPI Performance

By on October 6, 2016 in Agencies

For two years I worked at a large and very active agency in New York City. It was both difficult and very impactful in my career because of the grueling pace and demanding nature of clients who were used to seeing easily measurable results. In many industries, success is static. You either do what you say you’re going to do or you don’t. There’s little grey area.

But in digital marketing, there’s a lot of grey, because guarantees are difficult to provide and even more difficult to back up. It’s risky to promise a client you can improve their rank in Google for specific keywords within a specific amount of time.… Read More

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7 Things to Do After Launching a New Blog Post

7 Things to Do After Launching a New Blog Post

By on August 30, 2016 in Freelancing

You’ve just written an epic blog post that you’re certain will go viral in a matter of hours.  You hit “Publish” and wait for those hits and “shares” to roll in.  Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple for most of us, and a few extra steps are required to make sure that your efforts weren’t in vain.  On WordPress alone, there are over 2.2 million posts per day, so you’ll need to find a way to make yours stand out from that crowded field.  Here are seven things that you should do after you launch that well thought-out blog post.

Optimize Your Internal Linking

Whether you do this before or right after initially publishing your post, optimizing internal linking is incredibly important for several reasons. … Read More

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5 Tips to Protect Your Calendar and Remain Productive

5 Tips to Protect Your Calendar and Remain Productive

By on April 11, 2016 in Productivity

It’s great to say you’re going to remain productive despite distractions, but work doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

There are outside factors. Phone calls. Meetings. Emergencies. Family.

You can’t control everything in your life, and when a curveball comes your way, it can throw your schedule into disarray.

I can’t help you control life. Sometimes, things will hit the proverbial fan. But I do have a handful of tips to help minimize how often your calendar gets bombarded with unexpected requests, so that you can remain productive through it all.

1. Say Yes Only When You Can Follow Through

The “yes” syndrome is a major area where you can cause problems for yourself.… Read More

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Why a Boring Marketing Strategy is a Smart One

Why a Boring Marketing Strategy is a Smart One

By on March 21, 2016 in Inbound Marketing, Sales & Marketing

There are a lot of really cool things online – tools, services, and techniques that other entrepreneurs and businesses are using to create incredible experiences for their prospects and customers.

When I see someone doing something new and exciting I take note – literally. I have a Notebook in Evernote filled with all the awesome stuff I see and notes on how I might be able to implement the same tactic as part of a client’s marketing strategy, and sometimes make it better.

But I don’t often make it back to that list.

It exists and if I ever need a shot in the arm for a project, there’s a big list somewhere with enough ideas to launch a half dozen startups in stealthy, creative ways.… Read More

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6 Five-Minute Tasks to Increase Web Traffic

6 Five-Minute Tasks to Increase Web Traffic

By on March 14, 2016 in Inbound Marketing

Increase web traffic. It’s one of the most frustrating things a marketing director can be told, because let’s face it, it doesn’t happen overnight.

That’s why so many companies turn almost immediately to search engine marketing as a solution to their traffic needs. Why invest countless hours and resources in figuring out the byzantine mazes that are the Google and Facebook algorithms when you can just pay for web traffic?

If time is of the essence, this makes sense, but there are some other quick tricks you can use to drive new traffic to your website. Here are six that take less than 5 minutes and will result in at least some new traffic.… Read More

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How to Diversify Your Marketing Basket

How to Diversify Your Marketing Basket

By on October 22, 2015 in Inbound Marketing

There are a lot of really cool things online – tools, services, and techniques that other entrepreneurs and businesses are using to create incredible experiences for their prospects and customers.

When I see someone doing something new and exciting I take note – literally. I have a Notebook in Evernote filled with all the awesome stuff I see and notes on how I might be able to implement the same tactic, and sometimes make it better.

But I rarely make it back to that list.

It exists and if I ever need a shot in the arm for a project, there’s a big list somewhere with enough ideas to launch a half dozen startups in stealthy, creative ways.… Read More

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Three Steps to Restructure Habits When Life Changes

By on September 6, 2015 in Productivity

I’m a person of habit. I like things to be structured in a certain way so that I don’t have to think about the little things. Repeatable, automated tasks make me very happy because I can then focus on the big stuff – solving problems, building awesome new things, and writing.

So I’ve gotten pretty good over the years at identifying the structure in my day, defining my routines and building habits that allow me to get a lot of things done in a short amount of time (practically required with two young children).

Every now and then, though, something comes along and throws a wrench in the works.… Read More

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Five Elements of a Successful Authority Article

By on July 5, 2015 in Inbound Marketing

When I first work with a client, their content strategy is in one of two places – it’s either non-existent with the core of marketing efforts focused on offline tactics and old school sales methods, or it’s focused on quantity over quality.

For those that fall into the latter camp, the issue is often one of planning. Content marketing is all about writing quality content that attracts attention from key prospects, right? But when someone doesn’t know what type of content will successfully make that connection, they compensate by writing more.

I am equally guilty of this. Read my blog from 5-6 years ago or the blog posts on my former agency’s website and you’ll see a whole lot of content and not a lot of focus on solving problems of our readers.… Read More

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