I have profiles on several of these sites and get their job listing through my email or RSS reader. For the last six months I have been bidding on at least 10 projects per day. You have to go through hundreds of listings to find ten projects that seem worth persuing. This alone can be time consuming. I personalized each bid outlining how my skills would be helpful to their particular needs. If they listed a website or name, I would research it before I placed my bid.

What happens then? Through a series of private messages with the Buyer, more details are discussed about the project and what is expected of you, the Provider. If you haven’t found out earlier, it now becomes clear that they want $500 of your time for pennies, your knowledge for FREE or they want you to SPAM for them.

I accepted work from one Buyer and I thought I was being careful. Most of the Freelance Job sites have a policy that all communication between Buyers and Providers would be through the job board website, at least until the project has been awarded.

The Buyer awarded me the project on the job boards private message system and sent his email address and instant messenger ID. A week later I became aware that he never notified the job board that I was awarded the project. So all the communication I had with him was considered against the job boards policy.

Was this intentional on his part? One of the reasons I accepted the project was because of the comments from others who had worked with him, so I don’t know. Either way, I let it happen and the end result: I worked three weeks for $4.00 an hour. A raise, I should feel lucky. Live and Learn!

Increase sales

Posting about the benefits and features of your products or services allows you to expand your selling points and in doing so, convert leads into sales.

Add value to your products and services

Your blog is a great place to tell customers about extra features and added benefits of your products and services. As well as adding value for existing customers, this is also sales material for prospective buyers.

Open a dialogue with your customers

Blogs provide the perfect environment for genuine conversation with your customers. One of the most important features of a blog is the readers ability to interact with the author through comments. It can be a great way of receiving feedback about your products and services, as well as finding out what your customers really want.

Raise brand awareness of your company, products and services

Bloggers link to each other. Having your blog linked to and commented on by other bloggers can spread your message virally.

Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise

Demonstrating your professional knowledge and positioning yourself as an expert in your field is a great way of raising your trust factor and business profile.

Provide customer service and support

Using your blog as part of your customer service can be a great help to you and your customers. You can use your blog to provide answers to frequently asked questions and to alert customers to product issues as they arise.

Drive traffic to your website

Search engines love blogs. Blogs are search-engine-friendly and since blogs are updated regularly, search engines will “crawl” them more often. A continuous supply of frequently updated content is the key to improving search engine rankings.

Public Relations

With a blog, you have the potential to develop stronger relationships with your clients/customers. Blogs provide an approachable “human face” for the business and a means to transmit your company news.

Reputation Management

Blogs allow you to control your company’s reputation and provides a forum to discuss and respond to any media coverage you receive, good or bad. A blog is a valuable tool for crisis management, as it enables you to provide instant updates about any negative situation you may find yourself in.

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No matter what your business, no matter what product, service or expertise you are selling, you need the right words to sell. Of course, in this “Web 2.0” world, there are so many places and platforms that need relevant and persuasive words – blogs, press releases, Squidoo lenses, articles, newsletters and bios/profiles for Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, to name a few.

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