When a lot of people think of brand image, they mistakenly think of slogans: “Taste the rainbow.” “Have it your way.” “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.” While a good slogan can go a long way toward achieving brand recognition, developing a brand is about much, much more than taglines: It’s about creating a consistent message about your product and the experience your customers can expect when they choose your company to solve their problems. As an article on Forbes.com cleverly noted, “Brands are psychology and science brought together as a promise mark.”

Since brand development is such a critical part of any business’ success, it’s no wonder big corporations pay huge sums of money for the marketing agencies that help them develop resounding brand images. Fortunately, even if you have a very modest budget your company still can build a strong and memorable brand by following one simple guideline: Hire a freelance writer.

Freelance writers are an inexpensive solution to full-time marketing departments and agency retainers, and they can be just as effective in developing the all-important brand message. If you decide to take the plunge and hire a freelance writer for your branding, here are a few tips that can help you get the most of your working relationship:

· When working with your writer, make sure you clearly explain the vision you have for your company and the service or product it provides. If you’re like most business owners, you probably have some pretty strong ideas of the how you hope your business will be seen by consumers. Those ideas can form the core of your brand so it’s critical you explain that vision to your writer.

· Expect revisions, especially in the beginning. No matter how much guidance you provide, you may still need to have at least some of your copy “tweaked” so it meets the concept you have in mind. In general, the more experience your freelance writer has, the fewer revisions you’ll likely need.

· Provide constructive feedback. Again, depending on the experience of the writer you use, your freelancer will probably have had experience working with editors and they’ll be willing to listen to your positive feedback. Of course, if you offer reasonable feedback and your writer balks or becomes downright peevish, it’s probably a good sign the writer is not the best choice for your needs.

· Ask your freelancer for their input. Many freelancers have written a wide range of marketing collateral, from static webpages to blog content to press releases and more. If you’re stumped for the best way to communicate your brand, consider brainstorming with the writer to develop new approaches and refine your brand voice.

Remember: Building a brand takes time. Work with your writer to be sure your message is consistent across all your collateral and you’ll find that over time, your brand can be as effective and powerful as those developed by agencies – but at a tiny fraction of the cost.

Karen Z is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

When sending out dozens of pitch articles without hearing one response is becoming the norm, many writers breathe a sigh of relief when they find good content marketing services. These virtual employment marketplaces are the ideal way for writers to work with many different clients without spending hours pitching titles and sending emails. Your profile is the first and only impression you’ll have with potential clients here, so you need to tailor it to make the biggest impact. Learning what to put in and what to leave out can make a difference between getting hired and being passed over.

Things to Include

• Your writing history. Potential clients want to know how much experience you have with their particular type of work. Highlight the work you’ve done most often, but don’t forget to touch on subjects you’ve just begun to try. If you’ve been content writing and ghostwriting for three years but have just begun your first copywriting job, feel free to include that as work experience. You’ll look more well-rounded as a writer.
• Special expertise. If you spent 20 years managing a small business or grow a giant organic garden each year, let potential clients know about it. Someone looking for a business or gardening writer will be more confident hiring you, knowing you have a lot of knowledge to back up your research.
• Awards and recognition. If you were runner-up for a prestigious writing prize or if you were chosen as top columnist in your area by a newspaper chain, make sure to add this to your profile. Nothing succeeds like success, and potential clients will feel confident knowing others agree with their decision to choose you.
• Clips or samples. Think very carefully before adding these. Choose a good variety of topics, if possible, and always showcase your best work. If you don’t have any current samples online, write something special as a way to show off your talent.

Things to Avoid

• Never include links to ghostwritten work unless you have the expressed permission of your client.
• Skip your employment history if it has nothing to do with your writing. Odd jobs and part-time work don’t influence anyone, and are irrelevant, in any case.
• Don’t include links to your blog if it’s filled with personal commentary, embarrassing pictures or posts in questionable taste.
• Avoid linking or posting work with controversial subject matter, such as politics, abortion or religion, even if it includes excellent writing. You may find potential clients looking for this subject matter, but wait until asked to show your opinions.

The bottom line on your writer profile is to put your best foot forward. It’s easy to appear casual and familiar online, but this is a business transaction. Imagine if you were applying for a brick-and-mortar job. If the kinds of things you are sharing are inappropriate for that situation, odds are they don’t belong in your writer’s profile, either. Add a little bit of personality, but stay professional in what you offer clients.

Victoria B is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

At one point or another, every business/nonprofit may need the services of freelance writers for hire. The services may pertain to different needs: website content, white papers, organizational/staff profiles, employee handbooks, blogs, SEM traffic-building articles, etc.

Regardless of the reasons for hiring one, it pays to hire writers that are experienced, skilled/talented, and capable of completing assignments according to specified deadlines and guidelines. The “right” writer can help you achieve your goals; the wrong one can cause unnecessary delays and hamper progress.

Fortunately, hiring a writer does not depend on luck; rather, it hinges on finding professionals with the right qualifications:

Verifiable references

Who has hired this writer in the past and what do they have to say about him? If you keep hearing glowing compliments, then that’s a good sign—however, if the opposite is true, maybe it would be wise to keep looking?

Formal education

A writer who claims to be an expert in IT subjects will sound more believable if, say, he has a BS in computer science or has formal training/work experience from an information technology setting. The more formal education a writer has, the more depth and technical capacity she is likely to possess.

Portfolio of finished works

Every writer should be able to provide, upon request, a comprehensive collection of works already completed. These manuscripts need not be of published works but they should accurately represent writing ability and depth.

Published?

While being published on the Internet is fine, being published in an established literary hard copy magazine, newsletter or newspaper is even better. Hard copy magazines (most of which now have electronic versions) have traditionally had the highest writing standards.

Professional attire and mannerisms

While people who dress in sneakers and blue jeans are often highly competent, writers who take the time to dress more professionally to a meeting should be taken more seriously. This goes for how they present themselves on social networking sites, emails, and in their websites/blogs.

Easy accessibility

You should be able to get a hold of your writer without too much trouble when you need her. Writers who don’t answer their emails and phone calls promptly are either disorganized or have bad professional habits.

Internet presence

How often and how well is the writer mentioned on the Internet? If, when conducting search, very little pops up, you should ask the writer why that is. Busy, well-regarded writers get lots of attention and coverage.

Professional association affiliations

What organizations does the writer belong to and for how long? The most serious, well-established writers belong to one or more professional associations.

Notable achievements

What has the writer accomplished, preferably related to a writing career? Being awarded a plaque, for example, for pro bono grant proposal writing is a wonderful testament to one’s character.

Writing versatility

Specializing in something is fine but being able to step out one’s shoes is an even better indication of professional capacity. Has the writer, for example, published a book of poetry, in addition to being a good technical writer?

Conclusion

Finding the best-qualified freelance writers should not be difficult. It’s a matter of accurately assessing capacity, experience, education and talent. Using such criteria, the best writers, like oil in water, “rise” to the surface.

Fred F is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

Storytelling is the heart of a good business blog. What does that mean? Some companies look to build a brand and use content marketing blogs to get there. That would technically be branded content – people don’t mentally connect with the blog, just the company that produces it. That approach lacks finesse. You’ll get the occasional passerby looking for tips on how to clean a hard drive or make effective use of cloud technology. Yeah, I’m yawning already.

What Steve Jobs Got Right

“Do you want to spend you life selling sugar water or do you want to change the world?” Steve Jobs understood the power of a good analogy. He had zen in front of an audience. To create a content brand with your blog instead of branded content, you have to get in touch with your inner Jobs. Look at a site that Time magazine lists as one of the 25 best blogs online – NeverSeconds.

This is the story of a young Scottish girl who decided to talk about school lunches. Fans from all over the world now send pictures of their lunches to her. This little girl eating fish sticks is a food critique that big names fear. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver actually tried to have her shut down because she was hurting people’s feelings. The girl has unknowingly created a content brand.

What Do Fish Sticks Have to Do With Business?

If you apply that same basic logic to a business blog, you come up with Mashable. Even people who consider themselves tech illiterate might know the name. This site doesn’t just pick up trending topics and write about them. They create the topics that eventually start trending.

Mashable is a content brand. Their writers create quality stories that do more than just list facts. Each one is crisp and worthy of the reader’s time. That is what makes them the site other bloggers look to for answers.

The Best of Both Worlds

Former hotel conglomerate CEO Bill Marriott has mastered the best of both worlds. He spent his life fostering a business brand via Marriott International and has a content brand with his blog Marriott on the Move.

Bill uses storytelling to drive his points home. Posts like “No Boring Annual Reports Here” create focus that makes a statement without putting readers to sleep. Marriott instills a lot of himself into the writing. He doesn’t just cover business topics or service industry news. He lets readers in and shows them the things he cares about beyond his family empire. The virtual world can be cold – a personal touch matters to the Internet population.

If Steve Jobs had stood on stage and quoted statistics without ever telling a story, undoubtedly Apple would not be the company it is today. It was pioneered by a man who appreciated people’s need for innovation and creativity. Don’t settle for branded content. Make your business blog a brand in itself with powerful storytelling. That power will overflow to bolster your company brand, as well.

Darla F is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

A picture is worth a lot more than a thousand words if it drives online sales. Images resonate with viewers much quicker than copy, so they’re an essential variable in your landing page’s optimization formula. When used creatively, pictures can increase landing page conversion rates. When used poorly, they can actually drive traffic away.

Some brands expertly incorporate images into their landing pages and are rewarded with higher conversion rates, more leads and higher profits. To connect with your audiences, draw upon these lessons as you build your sales pages.

Lesson One: Quit using generic pictures of businessmen shaking hands.

Staged stock art used to be cutting edge, but that’s no longer the case. Anyone who’s spent more than five minutes searching the Internet can quickly spot canned images. While they’re inexpensive and easy to access, they point to a brand lacking in vision and identity. Stop relying on tired photos of happy “business people” smiling at imaginary “business reports.” Instead, use authentic images that provide a visual touchpoint for your brand.

McAfee‘s homepage is a good example. The dominant photo may in fact be stock art, but it seems genuine rather than contrived.

Lesson Two: Evoke an emotional response.

Don’t just show the product. Show someone wearing it, using it or interacting with it. Doing so will generate an emotional response and drive the viewer to action. Here’s a good example of a brand that shows how its products are used. The images convey comfort and relaxation. Potential customers who want to feel the same will take action to learn more.

Lesson Three: Put a human face on the page.

It may be tempting to include pictures of beautiful landscapes or cute kittens on a landing page, but people aren’t as likely to respond. Research shows websites with human images seem more trustworthy. The tactic worked for MedaliaArt, which sells artwork online. The company replaced photos of art with pictures of the actual artists and experienced an impressive 95 percent increase in landing page conversion rates.

Lesson Four: Offer a third opinion.

Potential customers want to know they’re making the right choice before they give up their credit card information. Customer testimonials are a great way to increase prospects’ confidence, but they must be credible. Try using professional photos of satisfied customers prominently on your landing page. Identify your brand disciples by name and title which lets savvy prospects know they can verify your claims.

Lesson Five: Highlight your key messages.

Use images to direct viewers’ eyes to the message you want communicated. In this example, the model’s eyes were shifted so that they look directly at the product being sold. The change got 84 percent more eyes on the actual product. While it doesn’t directly measure conversions, making a move like this certainly helps brand engagement.

Images can make or break sales page conversions. Make sure you’re using photos effectively to get the best return.

Chelsea A is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

Effective landing pages are designed to be simple: a web page with the sole purpose of spurring your web visitors to perform a desired action. Designing a successful landing page is much more difficult than most marketers anticipate. Successful landing pages:

• Encourage visitors to subscribe to an email newsletter
• Promote a downloadable report or eBook
• Sell a product or service

Here are some landing page optimization tips to help you avoid the most common design mistakes:

1. Unreadable copy

This is a prefect exemple of what to avoid. Bad spelling, poor grammar and nonexistent or incorrect punctuation gives every literate visitor a valid excuse to click away. It really pays to hire a professional writer or editor to check your copy.

2. Crowded landing pages

When your page is crowded, it is difficult to determine the purpose of the page. Most of the information that your visitors need should be located above the fold. However, don’t crowd everything above the fold. People tend to scroll, so placing lower priority activities and information below the fold is okay.

3. Mismatched headline and text ad

Your landing page headline and Google AdWords text ad should match for a couple of reasons:

• Matching your text ad copy with your landing page headline improves your landing page quality, raises your quality score and lowers your Google AdWords cost-per-click.
• It reduces confusion. If your text ad copy says, “4 Ways to Jump Start Your Writing Career” but your landing page headline says, “What You Need to Know About Grammar and Slang”, you are going to confuse your reader.
• Meeting reader expectations lowers your abandonment rates, which pleases Google.

4. Boring headlines

Is your headline attention grabbing? Will visitors be intrigued enough to keep reading? 80 percent of your design time should be spent creating the most compelling headline possible. It is so important; you should seriously consider paying a professional to write it.

5. No clear call to action

Tell your visitors what to do. Use buttons with active verbs such as “Download” or “Subscribe” in the most compelling, concise language possible.

6. Hidden call-to-action buttons

How can your visitor buy, download or subscribe, if the call-to-action is hidden? According to Social Media Today, the rule that a call-to-action must be placed above the fold is a myth. It’s more important that your button stand out, wherever it is placed.

7. Trust issues

There will be no sales if your landing page doesn’t inspire trust:

• From Facebook likes to Twitter followers, social media popularity stats imply your landing page has credibility.
• Include mentions from high-profile websites or blogs that have given favorable reviews.
• Provide certifications from organizations like the Better Business Bureau and VeriSign.

Once you have designed your perfect landing page, don’t stop there. Test it to find out if your message is hitting its target. Test out different headlines and call-to-action copy until you find the one that delivers the optimal conversion rate.

Patrice R is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

According to Conde Naste Traveler, Walt Disney World receives 51 million visitors a year. Can you imagine if your website or blog received that many hits? With five resorts, 11 theme parks, endless cruise ship vacations, a private island (Castaway Cay, in the Bahamas), movies, merchandise, toys, collectibles, and the marketing promo tchotchkes that every kid remembers pulling from the bottom of a McDonald’s Happy Meal, Disney is the most visible brand in the world. The skeptics, however, trash the entertainment megalopolis for being crass, over-the-top and vulgar, a homogenized, prepackaged experience in the guise of a childhood fairytale.

II.

In 2004, Fred Lee wrote a book entitled “If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently.” Lee challenges popular conceptions about the healthcare industry, focusing on how hospitals need to provide patients with an experience, like Disney, and not just a service; an experience, Lee claims, is the competitive advantage that leads to greater patient trust and loyalty. An on-site barber for long-term patients, accommodation for loved ones, and better food are the types of amenities Lee cites as being more about experience and less about basic service.

If Disney, healthcare and content marketing seem like an unlikely trio, well, they are. Still, following the Fred Lee model, here are 5 1/2 things Disney would do differently if it ran your content marketing blog.

1. Artwork and animation. If you’re going to turn your blog into a theme park, then we think you’re going to need some visual spectacle. It has long been said that pictures are better than words, and we agree. Videos, infographics, hashtag images-throw them all into the mix. Just don’t over do it. You don’t want the viewer to feel as if he’s navigating the blog on a Tron Light Cycle.

2. Whatever we might say, it’s NOT a small world after all. According to the Nielsen Company, there were 156 million public blogs in 2011.

3. From young kids to adults, we aim to make everyone happy. You should do the same. Forget all that talk about finding your niche. Of the 51 million visitors tourists that visit us each year, 50 million go home happy.

4. Sadly, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, an attraction based on the children’s classic The Wind in the Willows, was shut down at the Magic Kingdom in 1998 and replaced with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Many of us at Disney protested. The man who played Goofy on Saturday morning even lit himself on fire like a Buddhist monk; don’t worry, he’s ok, albeit no longer playing Goofy on Saturday morning. What’s the point of this anecdote? There’s no blog topic or marketing idea that’s too wild.

5. Don’t forget the links. Measuring roughly 40 square miles and 25,000 acres, Walt Disney World is a big place. We realized early on we’d have to link, say, Fantasyland to Tomorowland. Hence the monorail system.

1/2 If you want success, you need the equivalent of a Happy Meal toy. Run a social media contest and give away some freebies. We know you still have that Happy Meal set of Disney Millennium Glasses in your cupboard.

Damon H is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

Successful content marketing is more than simply posting a blog post and sitting back to watch the traffic flood in. If you’re working with a savvy content marketing agency, it can help you tease a single piece of content across multiple platforms in order to maximize exposure without appearing redundant or tone deaf to the medium. Remember, this isn’t just about reposting until the likes come home; the goal here is to creatively divide up your content to best fit each of your many social media platforms.

Picture This

The rise of visually driven social media is a great place to start parsing out your content. Say your company posts a blog post about a new product or service you’re planning to offer. Post the accompanying image on Instagram, Flickr or Pinterest, then use the caption function to place a link driving readers to the original blog post. Be sure to maximize the use of hashtags on Instagram to add in some humor and subtle branding for your company.

The Teaser Tweet

There are several different ways to tease content on Twitter. If you’ve got a blog post with a short, snappy opening sentence, post it, along with a link to the full post. If the lead-in is less than stunning, simply write a few words to describe the post and aim to drum up a little controversy or intrigue in your description to urge people to click the link. Comedy is king on Twitter, so never underestimate the power of a funny teaser that gets people laughing and looking for more content. One word of caution: be sure that the content delivers on the promise of your Twitter tease. No one likes a bait-and-switch, so be sure the link is worthy of the clever invitation to read more.

Video Boosted the Blogosphere Star

The use of video via YouTube, Vimeo or even Vine is becoming more and more prevalent in the content marketing world. Short, well-crafted videos are a great way to get your message out and stand out amidst a sea of text battling for our attention. You can use video to drive customers in both directions, either by posting a short video with an embedded link to a blog post, Facebook debate, or other written content on your site, or, teasing the release of your new video via a text-based site like Facebook or Twitter.

The key here is to figure out how each piece of your content is best suited to the many platforms you use. By thinking creatively about how to share content, you can present a single piece of high quality content in several different ways to generate a steady stream of traffic from several sources to one place, ultimately boosting that content’s value, relevance and credibility.

Caitlin C is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

When you need a service for your business – landscaping, office cleaning, computer repair – you may be used to finding it on your own. Chances are, however, that a personal recommendation or online review led you to select that particular company. Creative talent can provide you with a portfolio, but finding unbiased background information when hiring writers can be difficult. Before you place a classified ad or put out a cattle call, do what the pros do: turn to a writer management site. These sites offer a significant advantage over advertising for talent in venues such as want ads, including:

1.) A narrow area of expertise. Veteran writers seldom go wading through the classifieds because they’re just as likely to find endless pages of work-at-home scams as they are to find legitimate gigs. Writing sites only attract the talent you’re looking for – not graphic designers who “may” write a little or managers who might be able to hack out a paragraph or two if they’re pressed.

2.) Only the best make it in. While some sites offer varying levels of skill for clients to pick from, you can always be sure that the level you select is the level your writer has tested for and passed. Entry exams typically include tough questions on grammar and spelling as well as a coherency/flow test via an initial article or sample. Periodical reviews of accepted writers keep output at a consistent level and ensure that you get your money’s worth. Forbes also recommends that you direct project-specific questions to potential writers prior to selecting them, as well as read their writing samples for ideas on tone.

3.) Constant writer access. When hiring writers, getting many eyes on your project at once will give you the best chance at snagging great writing talent. On writing management sites, freelancers typically spend most, if not all, of their working hours constantly checking for new projects to claim. This translates to a quickly completed project for you and the potential for a solid, ongoing work relationship with your new writer.

4.) A self-keeping record system. When you elect to use a writing site to hire a writer as opposed to an open ad, you’ll be able to access information like payment history and orders placed, a great benefit for your business records or taxes. You will also be able to communicate with your writer and request changes or offer guidance, an excellent tool for securing a great finished product. Even if you work with multiple writers through a team setup, sites also make it easy to pay all of them with just a click.

The entire reason that a business hires creative talent is that it doesn’t have the expertise or time to handle it in-house. If you’re looking to your budget and sacrificing time to find a writer, it’s only logical to look to the places that congregate the talent you seek. Even if you’ve been using an ad placement system to find your writers, there’s no better time to check out a writing site like the present. Once you experience the difference, you’ll wonder why you stuck with the old fashioned route for so long.

Delany M is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

Search engine manipulation for marketing has been around for years now, but the advent of widespread smart devices has changed the digital marketing game again. Now, people with advanced devices carry Internet access with them, literally searching for local services as they travel. That brings to the forefront local search marketing. However, just blanketing search engines with a business’ general presence doesn’t do the trick. The local search marketing needs to be intentionally targeted so that it creates the best value for the effort. Local targeting includes:

• Building presence
• Building awareness
• Getting involved with the business and local social community to gain referrals

Presence

The basic search engine principles between local marketing versus general SEO marketing remain the same: use good SEO coding as well as linking and provide valuable content that becomes responsive to search queries. However, when a consumer needs to find an auto part store on the east side of Roseville, California, or a good Thai restaurant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the responsive website needs to also go a step further to be found as a viable local query. This means creating a presence and awareness of the business locally. That also means the use of specific local keywords that a consumer would use in the area to find a given product or service, not just general keyword tags.

Building Awareness Socially

Increasing business awareness maximizes search engine connections with relevant, local content for a business. That means a company has to become engaged with social forums as well as enhance its own website to increase the chances that its business has more presence on the Internet, and ideally good content at that. As a result, an emphasis on regular local content that is relevant for the area should be written and produced frequently on social media sites. The business should also ask customers to produce feedback comments, hopefully good material, on local consumer rating sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor for example.

Improving writing and description content on Google+ and GoogleMaps is a key activity as well. Businesses should be confirming their status on GoogleMaps and enhancing it with improved written detail through public search information repositories. Google MapMaker offers a viable tool for editing as well as seeing map results that appear in local searches.

Build Relationships

People respond to referrals and relationships, and they also spend their money accordingly as well. Businesses that want to be referred to in local areas need to establish these referral relationships across the community so that everyone locally is directing consumers to the business as a local answer to their need. Without those relationships to act as a regular referral, a business can lose traffic potential before it’s been even recognized.

In Summary

Building local marketing results involves far more than just sticking a bunch of SEO tags into website content. The business has to rely on people and connection to enhance and bring those Internet connections to life. That way, when someone visits the local town and searches on his smartphone for where to find brass doorware, local Joe’s Hardware comes up every time on the search rankings before the local big box store 10 miles away.

Tom L is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.