Today’s featured resource is Paul Callaghan of Freelance Writer NZ. Paul Callaghan is a freelance writer, content strategist and SEO and social media consultant.
He has been publishing online since 1997 and in print since the early 1980s. Most of his work has been landing pages, articles and blogs and he also write email campaigns and advise on or manage social media and content strategies. He writes fiction for fun. In 2010, he decided it was time to give up his day job as Head of English at a New Zealand high school in order to set up Freelance Writer NZ and write full time.
Read along as Paul describes what he does and why he does it:
Q. What is your passion?
A. I have always been passionate about words. What I love about the freelance lifestyle is the way it allows me to write for so many different people. I could be writing articles about cloud computing one day, and landing pages for jewelry or commentary on American politics the next. It makes for fascinating work.
Q. What are the primary keys to a successful web business?
A. SEO, search engine optimization, is one of the keys to a successful web business. In the years that I have been online I have seen SEO develop from a time when just about anyone could stuff a rough article with a few keywords and the search engines would pick it up. These days there is a lot more to it than that. While keywords are still important, search engine improvements like the Google Panda update mean that quality is what counts. It’s often said on the web that “content is king.” These days that should be “high quality content is king.”
Q. Where does social media fit into marketing in today’s market?
A. To improve your search engine rankings today you must also have a social media presence. It is likely that what happens off your page is as important, or sometimes even more important than what is on the page.
Many businesses start out with high hopes for their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts. After a few months, they feel they are not getting enough ROI from the time expended and either give up or barely post. That’s why it is important to have a clear strategy for your social media and any other content you publish online. And that includes on-going reviews of what works and what doesn’t.
There’s a lot of talk about the difficulties of online marketing. I like to keep things simple: regular high quality content backed up with an interactive social media campaign will lead to preselling your products or services. Once presold, the customer will head for your landing page where high quality copywriting makes the conversion from potential to actual customer.
It’s all about quality. Successful businesses know that.
Paul Callaghan is a freelance writer, blogger, copywriter, social media advisor and content strategist. Words are his passion. You can contact him through his website at www.freelancewriter.co.nz