Jun 06
When it comes to advertising, innovation or creativity is key, here are some good examples.
Jun 05
Zappos is a company that is embracing the future by putting to work the one thing all consumers want. Good customer service. Watch this video and if you have time read the article here.
Apr 07
Transform Stress, Struggle & Overwhelm
Are you ready to move past stress, struggle and overwhelm into JOY, vitality and freedom? Did you realize stress is still the number one reason people visit a doctor’s office? As if the regular stresses of too much to do, in too little time (and too little sleep), aren’t enough, now we have conditions like techno-stress. You guessed it – techno-stress comes from all the technological multi-tasking activities and pressures resulting from email, Iphones, pda’s, and cell phones. Here’s a take charge suggestion: only answer emails two to three times a day at regularly scheduled times.
The opposite of stress, struggle and overwhelm is balance and it’s a daily practice. Stress wires us up, but exhausts us at the same time. To keep going we often go for a quick trip to Starbucks, or stop and get an energy drink at the market. Ah…a little sugar and caffeine – now we’re ready to keep going for a couple hours. Then, boom, we crash, because the sugar has worn off and our blood sugar gets low.
Next time you need an energy boost, try some protein. I like to keep hard boiled eggs on hand or a handful of almonds. These are great to eat around 3:00 to 4:00 pm when your serotonin levels (and energy) naturally dip. You won’t get the high from the caffeine, but your energy will be more sustained and no crash.
Mar 27
At the advice given in the book, “The 4 Hour Work Week” I decided to make some changes to my auto-responder that is currently attached to my email accounts. One thing I find myself doing is checking email way to often. My Mac makes it’s little “bing” noise and I open the mail app in anticipation of great things, only to see it’s a Urban Outfitters or Amazon.com ad. This breaks my concentration. A quote that really made me think about how often I allow things to penetrate my attention is: “Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?” I often find that happening. I invent the need to check my email often, answer every phone call, read some blog posts, or surf online when something pops into my head. I digress, but I want to share with you my auto-responder. I highly recommend putting something like this into effect with your email. The people who contact you usually are not expecting a response within 1.5 seconds. They understand what breaking concentration is and will honor your desires to be more productive. Try it and see.
Greetings (name),
This is an autoresponse generated by Jerad’s Robotic Productivity Monkey. Your email has been received and Jerad will be getting back to you shortly. Jerad is currently checking his email three times daily.
Mar 26
I get very excited when I check in on my clients and see them doing well in the search engines. I designed and launched Brollico.Com, a website for a client of mine. Not but a month or so later Brollico is #1 under the search term “Residential painter in Modesto,” which is exactly what he is. Brollico also places as the first business listed under the search “residential painting contractor in modesto.”
You may be thinking, wow those are long search terms, which is correct. People do not search for something by typing in one word. They use keyword phrases. About.com describes keyword phrase searches as a search that contains more then one word. To find a web designer you would not just type in web designer if you wanted to find somebody in your home town or region. You would search for “web designers in modesto” a search term that lists me on the front page. I work hard to get good results on keyword phrases I believe my clients customers would be using to find them.
Mar 17
This seems like a really subtle thing but it’s something that I’ve tried to do and that is establish a personal brand and maintain it throughout all of my online activities.
Maintaining a personal brand using your own name or alias can actually be easier than maintaining a corporate brand, especially when it comes to social networks or blog comments. Using a company name within blog comments or setting up Facebook groups for a company often has that “spammy” feel to it. You look like your trolling for links instead of being an unbiased contributor to the conversation.
I have always battled with this because my name is unique but not at the same time. Jerad is but Hill is not. It does not flow, at least in my opinion. Never the less I have always chased the idea of a business name. I have came up with a few but never implemented them. I just decided to stick with my name and it has worked well for me.
Here’s a quick list of things you can do to help maintain your personal brand online:
Mar 14
1. He Calls Himself a “Webmaster”
Any web guy that calls himself a “webmaster” probably isn’t a master of anything. The term “webmaster” has become a translation for the word “amateur.” The web has diversified into so many different realms that webmaster is no longer meaningful (was it ever though?)
2. He’s a FrontPage Expert
Any developer / designer with a degree knows that Microsoft FrontPage most definitely isn’t a professional tool. FrontPage will pass for Mom and Dad who want to create a website dedicated to their dogs, not someone who’s trying to do business. I’d argue that a solid Web Developer should work at code level.
3. He’ll Submit Your Website to [Inflated Number Here] Search Engines
Submitting your website to hundreds of search engines would be great…10 years ago. Websites are indexed by relevant search engines by how rich their content and keywords are. Search engine optimization is big business and submitting sites to search engines simply isn’t the way to get to the top of Google.
Mar 14
The creator of 43 Folders did a talk on taming your inbox. This is a great video, I highly recommend you give it a watch and then head over to the 43 Folders website and take a look at the Inbox Zero Series.
Mar 07
I admit it. I hesitated to sign up for Twitter. See, every time I sign up for a new social networking site or tool I get totally sucked in and work suffers. I can be quite social, especially when I don’t have to leave my chair. So, despite everyone else’s encouragement I put off signing up. After being hounded by a few online friends I gave in - and it proved to be a wise choice.
Lots of New Friends
I made lots of new friends thanks to Twitter. This is a good thing as new friends always mean new experiences. If I have a question or there’s something I don’t understand, I throw it out to my Twitter friends and receive a response in seconds. Likewise I try and help when I can. I follow a lot of people with similar interests in the internet world.
Mar 07
Another great article from the Wakeuplater blog.
As a solo freelancer, the easiest and most consistent way to find work is to connect with design or marketing firms who are looking for reliable contractors. In fact, over half of my own clients are firms who use me as a website contractor. So over the years, I’ve had a good share of conversations with clients concerning their frustrations with other freelancers (usually resulting in more work for me). Interestingly enough, the most common problem these clients have with freelancers is not related to talent or skill, but rather communication. In fact, a client told me this week that he’d happily take a sub-par freelancer who communicated well over a talented freelancer who did not. So here are a few points to consider for any freelancer:
Answer emails quickly, even when an answer seems unnecessary. Never forget that the whole reason a client has hired you is because they don’t have the time or skillset to do something themselves. In other words, they need you and if they can’t get in touch with you, their helplessness increases exponentially. Imagine trying to get a client to pay your invoice and you only get ambiguous responses days after you ask. Even if you don’t have an answer to their email or you can’t complete their task for a week, at least email to let them know you got their email. Yes, this seems unnecessary at times, but you’ll be amazed at how often clients interpret the lack of email acknowledgement as freelancer laziness or apathy. See yourself as the expert and let them feel that they’re being taken care of.
Stay proactive in your communication. Again, be willing to email clients even when it seems a bit redundant or unnecessary. If you’ve told a client that you’ll start their project next week on the 11th, then when the 11th rolls around, email them again and assure them that you are now beginning the project. Often, freelancers only email when they have questions and when the project launches. Some clients are fine with this methodology, but to be honest, most clients don’t like the idea of placing all their faith in a freelancer’s deadline promise. Don’t take this as an affront to your trustworthiness — they just want to see progress along the way. So keep the initiative on your side during a project and your clients will trust you more down the road.
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