Posted by Bizcare on May 26, 2009 – 4:04 pm
Freelancing can be a dream job. You probably work from home, set your own hours, work on different interesting projects etc…. But when it comes to Income, this dream job is not always all gravy. One month you have way more gigs than you can handle, and next month you are struggling to close the tiniest client. To prevent the latter issue, there are a few steps you can take that will help you better market your services and increase your deal flow.
1- Focus on your skills. We all know great developers who are also great designers, and exceptional designers who are terrific content writers. But those polyvalent professionals are the exception rather than the rule. If you are no exception to the rule, please focus on your core skill set. Not only will you be able to do a better job for you clients, but you can now focus your marketing efforts and get new deals faster.
2- Frequently update your website. Most people think SEO is just for content websites and ecommerces. Every one who wants to be found online should optimize their website. One easy way is to add a blog and start sharing resourceful information about your work. If helpful your posts can drive traffic, rank your website for targeted keywords and give visitors an in-depth look at what you do.
2- Create online profiles. The world does not stop at your website/blog. There are several places such as Linkedin, Elance, Odesk where you can add your profile as a provider and allow companies and individuals to find you. Craigslist is also a good place to add your resume. Businesses must pay to list their openings, but it does not cost a penny to post resumes. Just ensure you “pepper” your profile with targeted keywords.
3- Use Search tricks. Searching for contracting gigs can be extremely time consuming. There is a lot of emailing back and forth and that will leave you very little time to do any actual work. To ease your search and avoid going city after city on Craigslist, Elance or any other site simply Google your ” search term + needed + site:website.com”. For example: ” social network developer needed site:craigslist.org“. Bamm!! You just saved yourself half an hour.
4- Pick up the phone and dial. Emails are great, but sometimes you need to get on the phone and talk to prospects. Cold calling is annoying, but if you send an email a couple of days prior to it, you will have a better chance at being listen to.
5- Offer referral fees. You can use your existing network to get more business by sending a well crafted email to all your contacts and ask for help. You may be surprised to see how many people love to lend a hand if given the opportunity to. It would not hurt to mention the couple of hundreds you will send anyone who brings you business as a way to show your appreciation.
Bonus- Offer your professional advise for free. Do not hesitate to share information and tools that others can use for themselves or their businesses. Send them helpful advises they can actually use without having to pay you. If your tips are useful, they will definitely want to know more and perhaps turn into paying customers.
Finding new deals is not easy when you have a team of dedicated sales people, let alone when you are operating solo. Nevertheless there are several tiny steps you can take that will ease this process and help you stay cash flow positive and hopefully grow your practice. Be persistent and Be creative.
Search on Google or Yahoo and you’ll find a whole host of sites that offer inexpensive graphic design and logo creation services.
There seems to be a “how-low-can-you-go” competition going on right now in terms of cost and turnaround time. Some sites offer there services for as low as $50, while others guarantee 24 hour turnaround. Is anyone else starting to see the problem here?
Aside from your products or services themselves, your brand image may be the single most important part of your business. It’s an artistic representation of your company and it serves as a huge influencing factor on consumers.
So given the importance of your logo, do you think that you can trust this job to a website that offers unrealistically low prices? Can $50 really buy the kind of attention and detail that your image requires? Furthermore, can the true essence of your company really be captured and recreated in a mere 24 hours?
Obviously, we do not think so. For that very reason, we recently created Bizcard Custom, the graphic design and specialty printing member of the Bizcard.com family. The philosophy is simple: offer agency quality graphic design and printing services, but at a cost that small businesses can afford. Visit our site at custom.bizcard.com to learn more, view our design portfolio and submit a quote request for your own custom work.
Posted by Bizcare on May 21, 2009 – 11:20 am
When the economy starts going south, many businesses start to look towards the old-fashioned concept of do-it-yourself. DIY tasks that once seemed impractical are quickly making their way to the top of the agenda, even for the people on the top rungs of the ladder.
People all across the industrial spectrum (medical, dental, pharmaceutical, beauty stores, landscapers, etc) are increasingly trying to micro manage every small task. This has led many key individuals in the companies to be bogged down with a multitude of tasks, which invariably causes them to disregard the top-level system view of their business.
Here at Bizcard.com we notice this do-it-yourself attitude among many of our North American clients. One could presume that this mentality is what made America great in the first place — however one might also contend that this attitude is hurting the economy far more than it is helping, even at the micro – or individual business level.
Most high-level executives would agree that creating business cards, post cards and fliers on office computers should not be a top priority for the managing individuals in a company. These companies perform best when executives are focusing on its products and customers. Yet today people still print these products on their home or office computers, with low quality paper and inferior inks.
Your best bet is to keep letting the pros (who have half a million dollar printers) print your marketing materials. Let them make your company shine, with custom items such as embossing, foiling, specialized and industry specific designs. While you’re focusing on getting more clients, improving your business and getting our economy going, we’ll focus on creating the professional quality print marketing that will help make it happen.
Visit www.bizcard.com on how we can handle your marketing for you.
Posted by Bizcare on May 20, 2009 – 11:29 am
We are proud to announce the beta launch of our newest site, Bizcard Custom at custom.bizcard.com.
We created this site in response to huge demand for affordable custom printing and marketing services. Our goal is to provide the highest quality custom design services at prices that any small business can afford.
“Most small businesses cannot afford to pay $10,000 for a high-priced ad agency to produce a professional quality logo,” said Bizcard VP Anita Rezvani. “The skill and experience of our designers allows us to do the same work for a fraction of the cost.”
Visit Bizcard Custom at custom.bizcard.com.
Posted by Bizcare on May 4, 2009 – 5:22 pm
Creating a website can be easy. Creating a set of beautiful web pages that match,compliment your brand, can be a little more challenging. Unless you are comfortable with CSS, HTML, XHTML, Javascript etc..hiring a professional web designer could be a safe bet. But assuming you are being frugal and you are not afraid to play and learn, you can make use of these free templates to come up with a simple, yet elegant website.
Beauty Company
Demo | Download
Greefies
Demo | Download
Strokes
Demo | Download
Simple Life
Demo | Download
Environmental Brand
Demo | Download
Posted by Bizcare on April 24, 2009 – 10:30 am
Customers will line up to receive your business cards. 
To market is to create sales for tomorrow. Unless your product is viral, you will have to invest both time and/or money to promote it. But for a small business investing in marketing can be cheaper than you think. For example with just under $100.00, you can create a decent print marketing starter package that includes business cards, thank you cards and magnets. But why do you need these products?
1- Because it is a business, not a hobby.
Business cards are more than a piece of paper with your contact information. Consider them as pocket-sized billboards. Besides conveying a professional image and creating rapport, you are also ensuring the recipient has the proper information. How many times have someone told you their website /blog URL which you tried a few times before calling them to get it right or finally giving up? Only a few people will have the patience to key-in your phone number, email, twitter id and other contact info on the spot. A business card eases the process.
2-Because you must set your business apart.
One of the areas where small companies can outperfom large organizations is customer service. As consumers we are almost accustomed to a low quality of customer service, hence a tiny act of kindness and appreciation can make the difference. When shipping a product, adding a Thank-you card can differentiate you from other sellers and build customer loyalty.
3-Because you want repeat customers.
A marketing message needs to be sticky, sometimes literally. Using magnets as business cards or notes is the perfect example. They are likely to end up on a fridge or somewhere prominent within the office space. When creating a magnet card, the goal is to make sure recipients will find it interesting, funny, informative or all the above. As long as they are reminded of your business in a positive manner, you are winning.
Marketing does not have to be expensive. By doing a little research, and budgeting wisely you can invest small amounts in print, online, affiliate and other forms of marketing can yield a positive return in both the short and long term.
There is often a tendency to choose fonts based on what serves our preferences. Some people prefer the formality of Helvetica or Times New Roman, while others like to use fonts that are fun and informal.
There is no such thing as the right font but rather, the right font for the occasion. For small businesses, using the right font in your print marketing can be the difference between a strong, memorable brand and one that is quickly forgotten or worse, remembered for the wrong reasons.
Consider the following examples:
In the examples above we have two fictional companies, one a serious company and the other a fun company. As an important investment firm, Davis investment services is not very likely to be taken seriously by affluent, wealthy customers when they are using an informal font. By the same measure, OnlineFunZone.com does not look very fun at all when displayed in a highly formal brush script.
One side effect of the recent economic downturn has been the pile-up of business cards for which there is no corresponding job. This has apparently left some to ponder the question of exactly what might be done with all those obsolete cards.
TheDailyGreen.com has a few creative ideas. Rather than simply throwing the cards away, they suggest a few ways to recycle them by replacing the out-of-date info.
While the eco-friendly aspect certainly appeals to us, as marketing professionals we also have to consider the limitations of such an approach. The question to ask yourself is who exactly are you going to give the cards to? If the answer is strictly friends and family, then you’re probably fine. But if you are going to use the cards for professional networking, or in your new job search, then you may want to consider the effect this might have on your appearance.
For better or worse, a professional appearance is more important than ever. If you apply for a new job and there are fifty other people competing with you for the position, you probably don’t want to be the only one with the bottom left side of your business card torn off.
Sometimes an image is worth a long and well written blog post. This is is one of those times. The Lego business cards.
