#i have. at least 90 minutes to write 500 words and edit it. i can write 500 words in 20 minutes. i’ll be fine

[navysealt4t]

y’all. it’s midnight. i have an essay worth 70% of my semester 2 ap credit due tomorrow by 2:15 pm. i have about 300-500 words left in the essay one paragraph. should i stay up until i finish it, and spend my study hall editing it. or should i sleep and finish it during study hall and edit during lunch and beginning portion of ap sem (the class period where i have to submit the essay?

[gracekelsen]

Her face was pale, bloodless.

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[shireness-says]

So you asked me on a Saturday, so I feel like I can ask you on a Saturday (😘), but I saw Devra's ask about 500 a day, what is that? Have you promised yourself that you'll write 500 words per day? How do you keep on track?

I’ll allow it. Let’s go.

500 words a day isn’t a promise that I’ll write 500 words every day (you know, except when I’m coming up against a deadline and I really gotta put my nose to the grindstone), but it is my little personal vow that when I do write, it’s in increments of at least 500 words. There’s a couple reasons for that, and for why 500:

a) I’m very goal oriented. It’s like a competition with myself. Setting that goal makes me actually get some work done on my story.

b) 500 words doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is. 500 words, for me, is about an hour if I buckle down - maybe an hour and a half if I’m stressing over every word or very very distracted. But it adds up! If I do 500 words a day every day for a week, that’s 3500 words. That’s basically an entire chapter of some of my shorter fics, like Swan’s Seven. When I was working on Wherever You’re Going, I’m Going Your Way, that would be halfway to my month goal. Regardless, that’s really good progress for a week.

c) 500 words is a goal that, at least for me, tends to result in even more than that. It’s not always the case; sometimes I’ll barely make 500. But I’ve found that, as miserable as the first 300 words are to write, I’ve usually hit my groove by the 400ish mark. I start figuring out really what I want to say in the section I’m writing, or get into a pattern with dialogue. Oftentimes, I’ll end up blowing right past 500 words because I’m finally on a roll and end up with something closer to 700 or 800, which feels really great.

I fully admit that this mostly works because I’m an author who doesn’t edit much - I write what I write and I agonize over every word while I’m writing and then it goes to the beta when I’m done - so by and large, I have entirely forward progress that I can track with the word count. But it’s really worked out well for me, and now for @ohmightydevviepuu!

(Other things that work well for me: having my beta set stupid low goals that she slowly increases - “Bet you can’t write 90 words in the next 15 minutes”. Because I’m stupid competitive and blowing past those goals and writing 150 words in the 15 minutes feels great.)

It’s Fic-Writer Friday Saturday! Send me asks about my writing process, wip/fics, or headcanons!

[linlearnskorean]

Studying for the TOPIK with a habit calendar

Recently I’ve been feeling a little aimless in terms of my Korean studies (and really my life in general). Now that I’m intermediate level and can survive easily while living in Korea, I’ve gotten super lazy. I haven’t really been studying this past month AND I stopped watching/reading/listening to Korean content.

I figured maybe the problem was that I lacked a tangible goal. So I’ve decided to take the TOPIK this January 2019. It’ll be my first time but right now I think I’m about level 3, so my goal is to get 4 and maaaaybe 5. Who knows.

I also have some other goals I’d like to work on like reading more in general (literally only been watching TV for months), writing fiction and exercising, so I made a little habit tracker calendar thing this past weekend:

So the point is to do just small baby steps everyday. In the past, I’d assign myself huge daily targets like “read 100 pages a day, write 2000 words a day, etc” which is just not sustainable for me with a massively energy-sucking full time teaching job. No wonder I always ended up quitting.

But some tasks don’t need to be done everyday which is why I separated the calendar into daily and weekly tasks.

Daily Tasks

The way I found my “baby steps” for the daily tasks was by doing each of the tasks I wanted to make into habits during the weekend when I had all the time in the world. I timed myself and then set my daily goals to be only that which I can do within 45 minutes per task.

For example, on average:

Reading 1 chapter of an English book = 5-10 min

Writing 500 words of fiction in English = 15-45 min

Reading 1 chapter/section of a Korean book = 10-20 min (the book I’m currently reading has short sections of about 4-5 pages)

Writing 1 “essay” in Korean = 20-30 min (it’s not really an essay. It’s just a new way I’m trying out for studying vocab because I’m so sick of flashcards and Anki. Everyday I’ll write 1-2 paragraphs using at least 5 new vocab words, and at the end of the week, I’ll re-read them all. If I can’t remember the meaning of the words, I add them back in the list to be used again for the next week’s essays.)

Meditating for 20 breaths = 2 min or so

So at the very most, my daily tasks can all be completed within 2 hours a day, which is very doable for me. I usually split it so that I do my English reading and writing in the morning and my Korean reading and writing in the evening. And I meditate right before bed.

In terms of studying for the TOPIK, for this month I’m taking things slowly, so my only focus is input (reading/generally consuming Korean content) and output (speaking and writing in Korean) everyday. Next month, I’d like to start doing practice tests.

Weekly Tasks

I put the number of boxes in the column for the number of times a week I want to do those tasks. For the ones with 1 box, I can do it whenever as long as it’s within the week. I enjoy the flexibility instead of trying to do it on a certain day of the week.

All except one of my weekly tasks are centered around studying Korean. The last one is my exercise goal. My aim is to get fitter and more toned hence the strength and HIIT focus. I tend to do this in the morning after reading but before writing.

Effectiveness?

It’s actually been super effective for me so far, and let me tell you it has NOT been easy. Literally 2 days in I caught a nasty cold (I’m still in the throes of it writing this in a daze so excuse me please), which has made it hard to complete the tasks.

But since the tasks are so small, I’ve been managing to still fit them in even though all I want to do is sleep ahaha...

The visual aspect of the calendar is the key to its effectiveness for me. I have it posted in an area of my apartment where I see it 90% of the time (I live in a studio so this is super easy to achieve). I keep thinking about how I’ll have to stare at this calendar for 1 whole month and I don’t want to be constantly reminded of my past failures in the upcoming weeks by having blank spaces :P

So it’s been rather motivating to say the least.

Make Your Own?

If anyone would like to make their own version of this, here’s a link to it on Google Drive. This version is view-only. So what you have to do to get an editable version is go to File > Make a copy (this will copy it to your Google Drive account) or File > Download as... (to get it as a Word doc or something else).

Change it as you see fit to help you keep track of your goals. Plus, you can change it month to month. At the end of each month before making the next month’s calendar, you can evaluate how your past month went and if your priorities have changed, tweak accordingly! That’s what I plan on doing next month.

[kcl-teaches]

365 Writing Challenge

New year, new writers! Here are 365 challenges to take you through each day. The stories don’t need to be long, they don’t need to have continuity, they don’t need to be good. These are all exercises to help you be a better writer; some of them I stole from my former creative writing classes. Have fun with it!

Edit: Please tag me if you do any of the prompts! I want to see your progress :)

1. Write a story about a character after a New Years' Eve party 2. Write a story using only dialogue. No description. Dialogue only. 3. Write a story with absolutely no dialogue. 4. Write a story with no characters. Let your scene tell the story. 5. Write a story in the style of your favorite author 6. Write a story in the style of an author you hate 7. Write a story in first person 8. Write a story in second person 9. Write a story in third person 10. Make a moodboard for your story or one of your characters 11. Make a playlist for your manuscript 12. Reblog writing from 3 other writers. 13. Leave a comment on 3 other writer's pieces. 14. Write a description using all five senses 15. Write a story based on five things you find in your pockets or purse 16. Write a description of what you see outside of your window 17. Put your music player on shuffle, or turn on the radio. Write as long as two songs last, and write according to what you hear. 18. Write a fantasy story 19. Write a sci-fi story 20. Write a story set in a time period before your birth 21. Write a story set in modern times 22. Write a romance story 23. Write a scary story 24. Write a mystery 25. Write about what happened after dark 26. Write about what happened in a storm 27. Free write for 20 minutes. It does not matter what the words on the page are. Do not stop writing for 20 minutes. 28. Write 500 words today. One of them will probably be good 29. Outline a story. Enjoy deviating from that outline later 30. Take a walk and write about something you saw on the walk 31. Take a shower or bath. Write about the idea you got there 32. Write about what happens the day they showed up 33. Write about love 34. Write a story. Don't let any sentence be more than five words. 35. Write a story. Don't let any sentence be less than five words. 36. Write about your favorite smell 37. Write a story set in winter 38. Write a story set in spring 39. Write a story set in autumn 40. Write a story set in summer 41. Write about someone who hurt you 42. Write about someone who made you happy 43. Write a story about where that smell is coming from 44. Drink water. You probably forgot to today. Write about being thirsty 45. Write a story that involves a cat 46. Draw one of your characters. It doesn't matter if you can't draw. They can be a stick figure. Draw them anyway. 47. Write about what your character wore to a funeral 48. Write your character's death 49. Write your character's birth 50. Write about the noise you heard in the middle of the night 51. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Let it out slow. Repeat five times. Write something relaxing 52. Write a story set by the sea 53. Write a story set in the mountains 54. Go back to an old prompt. Repeat it. See which version you like better 55. Write as badly as you possibly can. Break every writing rule. Spell everything wrong. 56. Go back and edit that worst possible writing. Try to make it as polished as you can. 57. Treat yourself because you had to edit terrible writing. Then go back and edit it again and see if you can make it even better. 58. Like 3 other writer's pieces 59. Talk to someone you don't know today, online or in person. Write about something unexpected you learned. 60. Write about someone who made a bad decision 61. Write a story about someone who is not where they belong 62. Look inside of your refrigerator or pantry. Write a story involving three items there. 63. Write a story about an unusual day at work 64. Write about your favorite holiday 65. Write a bad memory. Write it on paper so you can enjoy ripping it to shreds later. 66. Listen to the playlist you made for your manuscript. Write 500 words. 67. Write a story that features the color blue 68. Write about your character's children. Write about why they don't have children. 69. Write about someone who is the opposite gender of you. If you're non-binary, pick a gender to write about. 70. Write about someone of a different sexual orientation than you. 71. Write about someone older than you 72. Write about someone younger than you 73. Write about yourself 74. Write in the style of another writer on tumblr. If you're feeling daring, tag them in it 75. Write a fanfiction 76. Write something original 77. Write about being late for something 78. Write about a volcano 79. Look back at the moodboard you made. Do you still like it? How would you change it? Is it because the character changed or the story changed? Take some notes 80. Eavesdrop on a conversation. Use it in a story. 81. Write about an apology 82. Write about the scent of the earth after rain 83. Eat a snack. Write about being hungry. 84. Describe one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse 85. Look up the definition of a word you don't know. Look up a synonym of a word you do know. 86. Write another 500 words 87. Write another story using only dialogue. Which one did you like better? What did you learn? 88. Write a horror story 89. Write a love story 90. Write a story that has aspects of both 91. Write about what started the whole thing 92. Describe panic 93. Free write for 20 minutes again. Do not stop. I see you looking at tumblr. 20 minutes, no stopping. 94. Did you forget to set your timer? Did someone interrupt you? Do another 15 minutes of free writing. 95. Write about lightning 96. Write about the time when it hurt 97. Write using your opposite hand. If you use a computer, try to type with your eyes closed. 98. Write about why the chicken crossed the road 99. Write about an idiom. 100. Write about reaching a goal 101. Write the first line of a story. Write the last line of a story. Try to connect them 102. Write about being scared 103. Describe something powerful 104. Time is short. Write what happened in under 20 minutes. 105. Go back to another piece you have written. Edit it. Bonus points if you don't cry. 106. Write something that would make your readers cry. Bonus points if it makes you cry. 107. Describe a field of flowers 108. Describe what's hiding in the field 109. Write a piece that English professors would want to analyze. Use as much symbolism as possible. Nothing is real. Everything is a metaphor 110. Write a list of metaphors and similes. 111. From that list, pick your favorite and write a story using it 112. Write about a flood 113. Drink water again. Write about someone forgetting something. 114. Did you remember what you forgot? Spend the day thinking about what else you've forgotten. Write any plot ideas down. 115. Start a dream diary. Keep a notebook by your bed, and write down what you can remember of your dreams when you wake up. 116. Describe what's in your character's bag 117. Write a story set in Paris 118. Write a story about the cliff 119. Write a poem 120. Write a story about a fight 121. Remember that dream diary? Write a story based off of one of the dreams 122. Describe something you would see at the zoo 123. Write about the first day of school 124. Write about the first day of work 125. Write about the last day of work 126. Describe the smell of fall 127. Listen. Write about what you hear 128. Write your character's dream 129. Find a faceclaim for one of your characters 130. Outline a story. 131. Take a walk. Write about whatever you thought of while walking. 132. Write about the first time someone saw a giraffe 133. Write about an extinct animal 134. Describe the sound of bells 135. Write a story set in space 136. Write a story about something soft 137. Describe hands touching 138. Describe what anger looks like 139. Describe what happiness looks like 140. Write what was behind door number one 141. Get a deck of cards and draw a card. Write about the card. 142. Flip a coin. Heads, write about winning. Tails, win about losing. If you don't have a coin handy, write about cheating. 143. Write a story about someone getting caught. 144. Describe fire 145. Go read one page of a book. Write the next page. 146. Find another writer online and send them an ask about their story or characters 147. Get up and stretch. Write about why someone's joints ache. 148. Write about anticipation. 149. Find another writer online and comment on their work. Make their day. 150. Describe the feeling of disappointment 151. Are you still keeping that dream journal? Did I tell you to stop? Write about a dream. 152. Go back to any other prompt and repeat it. And probably drink more water. 153. Write about a mom 154. Describe how you feel when someone you love is near you 155. Write about a cliff 156. Write about your zodiac sign 157. Write about a misunderstanding 158. Describe something underwater 159. Write about your least favorite food 160. Do a chore around the house. Bonus points if it's washing dishes or something equally menial. Think about your manuscript while you do it. Did you get any ideas? 161. Write a story set in Egypt 162. Describe the color red 163. List as many words as you can think of that start with the letter Z. No cheating. Use one of those words in a story. 164. Look into a drawer. Write about what's inside. 165. Write about why someone deleted their social media 166. Describe winter 167. Write about the heat 168. Write what you want to write. Make sure it's at least 500 words. 169. Write about a fairy 170. Describe the feeling right before you fall asleep 171. Drink water. Write about someone's chapped lips. 172. Write about flying 173. Write a story about someone who made a mistake 174. Write about a superhero 175. Describe home 176. Send an anonymous message to someone on tumblr and make it positive. Write about their reaction. (or lack of reaction!) 177. What language have you always wanted to learn? Write about how that language sounds. 178. Write a story about a magician 179. Write a story in first person 180. Write a story in second person 181. Write a story in third person 182. Look back at your first, second, and third person stories. Edit your favorite. 183. Write about a pillow 184. Describe the feeling of pins and needles 185. Write about anxiety 186. Write about someone strong 187. Write about someone weak 188. Have them meet 189. Write about someone who had too much to drink 190. Describe restlessness 191. Free write for 20 minutes 192. Write nothing at all today. Think about your manuscript. 193. Set yourself a new writing goal 194. Write a story without using the word “the” 195. Write a story about a character with no gender 196. Write a story about a character who is asexual 197. Reblog writing from 3 other people. Make sure you leave a comment. 198. Write about a bite 199. Describe New York City 200. This is prompt number 200. Go back to another prompt with the number 2 in it, and repeat it. 201. Write about frustration. 202. Describe the feeling of someone watching you 203. Stretch. Write about someone who exercises too much 204. Drink water. Write about a mermaid. 205. Write about a monster 206. Write a story with a happy ending 207. Write about why someone pops bubble wrap 208. Describe a character's clothing in detail 209. Turn on the radio or shuffle your music. Write a story based on the first song that comes on 210. Write about the moth attracted to the flame 211. Go back to one of the pieces you've written and edit it. Let the red ink flow. 212. Describe someone stepping on a Lego 213. Write a sci-fi story 214. Write a fantasy story 215. Write another story with absolutely no dialogue 216. Write a story about an animal 217. Write someone's surprise party 218. Take a walk. Write about how you got there. 219. Describe a haunted place 220. Write about the grim reaper 221. Write about someone who is not in control 222. Describe how your character breathes 223. Write about snoring 224. Write a funny story. Bonus points if you laugh while writing it 225. Give feedback to another writer. 226. Direct another writer to this prompt list. (Kidding.) Write about someone being self-serving. 227. Free write for 20 minutes. Is it becoming easier yet? 228. Write in five 5 minute increments today. Were you eager to go back to writing? 229. Write a story that takes place in a courtroom. 230. Describe the smell of a tree 231. Write about a werewolf 232. Write another description using all five senses 233. Describe someone salty (Erotica writers, it's your time to shine) 234. Still keeping that dream journal? Write about another dream 235. Write about pain 236. Write a story using as many long words as you possibly can. Make it pretentious. 237. Pick a name that you dislike for no reason. Name a character that, and write a story about them. 238. Kill a character. 239. Save a character. 240. Drink water. Redo another prompt. 241. Your character can no longer say any curse words. What do they say instead? 242. Write a story that has a bad pun in it. 243. Describe a reflection 244. Write a story set somewhere hot 245. Describe your character's scars or tattoos. If they don't have any, give them one. 246. Describe someone else's character. Tag them in it if you feel bold. 247. Write about someone avoiding their past 248. Write a story about someone who does not want to be there 249. Write a story in the form of text messages back and forth 250. Write about a phone call 251. Stretch. Do something you've been putting off doing. 252. Describe your character's hair 253. Write a story in the style of someone who doesn't understand the correct definition of words. Their, there, and they're must all be used incorrectly. To, two, and too, too. Which deer is my dear? Remember, English steals words from everywhere, so it gets confusing. 254. Fix that story. Feels good to edit it, doesn't it? 255. Write a story in the form of twitter posts. 256. Write about someone of a different nationality than you 257. Share a piece of writing 258. Write about unraveling 259. Write about why your phone won't stop ringing 260. Describe lights reflecting on a car window 261. Free write for 20 minutes 262. Write about what you found in your closet 263. Write about what you found under your bed 264. Describe something soft 265. Describe something hard (Erotica writers, here's another free pass) 266. Write about a scandal 267. Like 3 other writer's pieces 268. Drink water. Write 500 words today. 269. Find out something new about a time period you're interested in. Try not to lose yourself in Wikipedia articles. 270. Write about what you found out. 271. Describe a sunset 272. Try to write like an author from your childhood 273. Describe an item in a museum 274. Write badly. Laugh at yourself 275. Stretch. Look up the best stretches for writers. 276. You thought I forgot about the dream diary? Look back at some old dreams 277. Write about a nightmare 278. Write about an exhale 279. Write about someone being saved 280. Write banter between two characters 281. Write fanfiction. Write bad fanfiction—try to make the characters as opposite as possible. 282. Write about joy 283. Describe something sticky (Erotica writers...) 284. Repeat a prompt, but write it from a different perspective. Can be stylistic, or simply from the viewpoint of a different character. 285. Write the beginning of a story 286. Write about why someone killed 287. Describe a character wearing facepaint 288. Write about success 289. Write about failure 290. Write about something that is both 291. Describe what jewelry your character wears 292. Outline a story. 293. Write at least 500 words 294. Boost another writer. Give them encouragement, reblog their writing, leave a comment, send them a prompt. 295. Drink water. Write about the ocean. 296. Describe music 297. Write about someone waiting 298. Write about someone who said the wrong thing 299. Describe someone who appears intimidating, but is actually a cinnamon roll 300. You've reached 300. Redo another prompt that includes the number 3. 301. Write about why someone wears gloves 302. Describe a kiss 303. Write what your character does for their favorite holiday 304. Write about something disgusting 305. Write using slang from another generation. Tubular, dude. 306. Draw your character. No eraser necessary. 307. Take a shower or a bath and plot. 308. Describe the scent of a candle 309. Free write for 20 minutes 310. Go back to your playlist. Pick three songs, and write a story based on those songs. Write for as long as the songs last. 311. Boost another writer. You know the drill by now. 312. Take a deep breath. Take a few more. You are a good writer. You are getting better every day. You can do this. 313. Write about being tired 314. Write about someone who has missed something 315. Describe the sky 316. Write about someone named Oliver 317. Describe what was left after it happened. 318. Write about someone with a lot of money 319. Go back to another prompt. Do it again 320. Write about a bird 321. Write a story that includes the word “plant” 322. Write about a heist 323. Describe the smell of a wedding 324. Write about a mythical creature 325. Write about what's behind door number two. 326. Which door was better, number one, or number two? Think about it. Write about it. 327. Boost another writer. Support the community. 328. Write about gratitude 329. Describe someone who can't get to where they're going 330. Write about the stars 331. Write something about a dystopian future 332. Describe a theater seat 333. Write about a character who cannot sing 334. Describe what your character does when they are bored 335. Go back and edit one of your other prompts. 336. Drink water. Describe what your character goes for when they are thirsty. 337. Write about getting something for free 338. Write about not getting something for free 339. Write your character's worst day ever 340. Ouch. Why don't you make it up to them? Write something good happening. 341. Boost another writer 342. Write about someone who helps another person 343. Finish a task you've been putting off. Does not have to be writing related. 344. Describe hands not touching 345. Write about a bruise 346. Write about the reason why someone stayed 347. Write something that makes you uncomfortable. Delete if afterwards if you need to. 348. Take a deep breath. Relax for 15 minutes. See what happens 349. Write about goals for the next year 350. Write about a Viking 351. Describe the dark just before the dawn 352. Write about the number 29 353. Make a new character 354. Write as badly as you can. Is it getting harder or easier to write badly? 355. Go back to your dream journal. Write about a character who has a repetitive dream 356. Describe what your character wears on a date 357. Describe something green 358. Drink water. Write about an angel 359. Describe someone trying not to be seen 360. Write about someone being discovered 361. Repeat a prompt. Do it better. 362. Write about nearing the end 363. Write the end. The End. Big E. 364. Boost another writer 365. You've made it! Celebrate by sharing some writing.

[fourteenacross]

6 for the writers ask thing, maybe?

6: how do you get through writers block?

Gosh, I wish I had an easy answer to this question!

First off, I feel like there are a couple different kinds of writer’s block. There’s “I don’t know what happens next” writer’s block and there’s “I don’t want to write this scene” writer’s block and there’s “my brain won’t let me write words” writer’s block.

For the first kind, I try to outline more-or-less comprehensively. Before I start, I jot down bullets on each section of the story and what needs to happen to move the plot forward. Sometimes there are bullets that say something like “idk something happens,” and that’s okay. You’ll get to those eventually. Then, I’ll take those bullets and group them into scenes and write sketch overview of each of those scenes. From there, I start writing the thing. This tends to help with an issue I used to have where I would write just the bits I wanted to write or just the images in my head and then lose steam because I didn’t know what to write next.

For the second kind, I kind of loosen my outline a little. If I’m stuck on a scene and I just do not want to write it, I’ll skip to the next one or to another one further along. If it gets to the point where I’ve written everything but that scene, I write down the garbage sentences in my head to sketch it out, usually dialogue and very little narrative, and move on. I always find it way easier to go back and make a sketchy dialogue-only outline like that into a real scene in my second draft than to force myself to write the whole thing out straight off if it’s being difficult.

And the third kind…well, straight up, I go through days at a time when I don’t write anything because my brain won’t focus on words. I open a document and I sit and I stare at it and suddenly it’s three hours later and I’ve mindlessly refreshed tumblr but written no words. Or, if I’ve turned the wifi off, I’ve fallen asleep at the table. Or, if I’m in a cafe or something, I’ve zoned out and am people-watching.

It happens. And it sucks. But it happens. Sometimes I can trick my brain by setting a timer and writing for X minutes and then allowing myself to watch teevee or take a walk or take a nap or whatever. Or, “I’ll write my daily minimum of words for the day and then I can goof off.” And sometimes that works! Sometimes I do that and hit my stride and keep going, and sometimes I write for those ten minutes and then close my document and do something else for the rest of the day.

But sometimes it just…doesn’t work. Sometimes, no matter what I do, I cannot make words happen.

And, you know, that’s okay, too. Because this isn’t a job and I’m not getting paid and while I’m desperate for validation and want to get these things out into the world, I’m also not doing it for anyone but myself, and if that means that sometimes I need to spend a whole day napping and coloring and watching teevee and not getting 1,200 words down like I want to…sometimes that’s what has to happen. And usually, eventually, once enough of those days pile up, I sit down with a timer and it does work. And I get those ten minutes done, or those 500 words down and the next day it’s a little easier and then after that, I’m off to the races and back on track.

Some other things that tend to help:

Stop writing when you still know what’s going to happen next. Sometimes that’s the middle of a conversation or the middle of a scene or whatever, but if you stop mid-action, that means that you at least know what the next few sentences are going to be, and sometimes it’s easier to keep going once you get started than to sit down and say, “Okay so, we left off with the end of that scene and the next scene is going to be…..um……”

I used to try and get up an hour early to write in the morning before work. My schedule changed and now I have to get up a little after five to catch a bus and, as much as I love writing, I am NOT getting up at 4am to get those words in, so that doesn’t work for my schedule any longer. But I liked it because I was just tired enough to write down all sorts of shit I might second-guess when I was more awake. Stuff I wrote at five am needed a lot of editing in the end, but it flowed much more easily than stuff I try to write AFTER work.

Similarly, understand when there are times that it’s just not going to work for you. 90% of the time, I can’t write when I get home from work. I can’t. I’m just too tired and there are too many distractions. So I don’t beat myself up if I don’t get anything done in the evenings.

Leaving the house is frequently helpful for me. A change of scenery and NOT being in my familiar relaxing place makes me focus better.

All of these things are SUPER subjective. There’s no universal writing advice because everyone’s brains work differently. I’ve had friends try to do the 5am writing thing and hate it, and I’ve had friends who can write a zillion words once they’re off work and their brain is out of office mode, and I’ve had friends who can’t work in coffeeshops because it’s too loud. Everyone is different! But, if you are struggling, these are some things to try to see if it helps any.

[ssminibang]

FAQ

So… what exact is a Reverse Mini Bang?

Oh good, an easy one to start with!

A Reverse Mini Bang is basically a reverse of the “Big Bang” challenge, and on a smaller scale. Artists basically have free reign (within the theme of the Bang) to create a piece of fanart, which is then matched by the mods to participating Authors who have similar tastes and preferences. The Authors will then write a fic (3,500 words minimum) based on the artwork they’ve been assigned.

Which characters can be used?

As long as at least one Inner Senshi (i.e. Sailors Venus, Mercury, Mars and/or Jupiter) and at least one Shitennou (Kunzite, Zoisite, Jadeite and/or Nephrite) are featured in your art/fic then the sky’s the limit (ok, not quite, there are one or two itty, bitty limitations… see below for those). You’re also welcome to include as many of the other Sailor Moon characters in your work as you like.

Do I have to stick to traditional pairings?

There’s no obligation for the Senshi and the Shitennou to have any sort of romantic attachment to each other, but if you do choose to link them romantically, there’s also no obligation to match them into traditional pairings (e.g. Venus x Kunzite etc.) It is worth noting, however, that rare-ships might be a little harder to match up than the more popular ones, as welcome and fun as they might be (if it’s really what you’re inspired for, though, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure something out).

Basically, as long as you have one Senshi and one Shitennou in there, the rest is up to you!

Do we have to follow a certain canon?

As for which source material you can use, the choice is yours - 90s anime, Crystal, PGSM, the musicals, the manga… all are permitted. You’re also free to choose which timeline you’d like to set your work in: Silver Millennium, modern day or Crystal Tokyo. 

Setting your art/fic in Alternate Universes and Realities is also permitted but unfortunately, crossovers with other fandoms are not (as it might be too difficult to find a suitable artist/author match up), e.g. fanart and fics can be set in a fictional version of the Middle Ages, with the characters being members of an important political dynasty, but you can’t make Kunzite a secret Targaryan who challenges Cersei Lannister for the Iron Throne and rides Drogon into the sunset, burning all of Westeros as he goes.

Because this challenge is open to and inclusive of all Sailor Moon characters and ships (so long as there’s a Senshi and Shitennou present), we would like to remind all participants that absolutely no shipshaming or kinkshaming will be tolerated. Please respect each other and the all-inclusive tone of the Bang.

What’s the timeline?

Artist and Author sign-ups open: Tues 18 April 
Artist and Author sign-ups close: Mon 1 May 
Artist check-in: Mon 15 May 
Art drafts due: Mon 29 May 
Art drafts assigned to Authors: Thu 1 June Check-in for all participants: Fri 23 June 
Author check-in: Fri 21 July 
Posting period: Mon 14 August - Fri 18 August

Pinch Hitting posting period: Saturday 19 August - Sunday 20 August

How do I sign up?

Sign-up posts featuring a Google form will be posted on Wednesday 18 April 2017. You can sign up using your Tumblr or AO3 account, or any other platform you prefer, as long as we have a valid profile url and email address through which to contact you.

There will be one form for Artists and a separate one for Authors. Both Artist and Author sign-ups will close on Monday 1 May. 

Is there a limit to how many works I can submit?

There’s no limit to how many pieces of art or fics you can submit, but if you do intend to submit multiple pieces of art or fics, then you must email the mods BEFORE the sign-up deadline (Monday 1 May) to discuss the issue (ssrevmb at gmail dot com). 

Can I co-create my fanart with another Artist or my fic with another Author?

Sure! But please email us to let us know. You must also ensure your co-Artist and/or co-Author receives sufficient credit for their work.  

Can Artists/Authors choose their own counterparts in the Reverse Mini Bang?

Not this time, unfortunately… but if this thing takes off, then it’s definitely something we can look into in the future!

How will I be assigned an Artist/Author counterpart?

When filling out the Sign Up forms, you will be asked a series of questions about your preferences (this is for us as mods to get a general idea of who we can pair with who later on). Once all the artwork has been submitted (Monday 29 May), we will then match up Artists and Authors with similar tastes. 

Authors, please bare in mind that we might not be able to meet all of your requirements exactly, but we will do our very best. One of the main aims of the Reverse Mini Bang is to get Authors inspired by the work created by our talented Artists, so there’s a lot of creative freedom for all, with plenty of room for some good collaboration (and who knows, you might even make new friends!)

Can I sign up as both a Artist and an Author?

If that’s your jam, who are we to stop you?! Just fill in both the Artist and Author forms. 

Rules for Artists

Artists can begin working on their pieces from the moment they sign up.

Fanart can include (but is not limited to) drawn or painted artwork (both traditional and digital), comics, digital manipulations, fanvideos and fanmixes/playlists. Craft art is perfectly acceptable as long as the final piece can be photographed and submitted to us via email. If you have any other ideas for your artwork which has not been mentioned here, please email the mods at ssrevmb at gmail dot com.

As Artists, the point is to inspire your Author, so give them as much information as you can about your art and why you’ve chosen to create such work. Your work needs to capture their imagination - after all, they’re weaving a story out of the world you’ve created, so help them along! Collaboration is actively encouraged!

Art Submission Info

Submitted art files must be at least 400 by 600 pixels in size. Fanvids must be at least one minute in length. Fanmixes must contain at least 8 tracks as well as front and back cover art (minimum size 500 x 500 pixels). Links to the songs must be included with your submission.

Submitted artwork should be at least 70% done (art is to be completed entirely before the posting period of Monday 31 July - Friday 4 August), with enough detail that authors can clearly make out what’s going on in your picture.

Art submissions must be emailed to the mods at ssrevmb at gmail dot com by Monday 29 May along with the following information in the body of your email:

Artist username: Tumblr profile url: Email: Art number ?? of ??: (if submitting more than one) Artwork title: Rating: (G - NC17) Featured Characters: Sailor Moon Canon: (Manga / 90s Anime / Crystal / Musical / Hybrid) Timeline: (Silver Millennium / Modern Day / Crystal Tokyo / AU / AR) Highest fic rating: (G - NC17) Additional details/requests: (This is where you put all the details. What the artwork is about, what you’re hoping for the Author to use, what inspired you etc.) E.g.:

“Would love something with plenty of fluff and a hint of angst. I’ve got some headcanons and would love to brainstorm ideas with the Author.”

“I’m a total Venus x Kunzite shipper, but I have this secret love of Mercury x Kunzite. No gore please.”

“I had this super angsty reason why Nephrite’s glowering in this piece, but maybe you could come up with something specific? Or just interpret it how you like!”

“I just really wanted to see how Rei, Nephrite and Michiru would interact together, since they’re all sort of psychic.”

Place “Art Submission from [username]” in the subject line of your email.

NB: Art pieces created for this challenge are NOT TO BE POSTED ANYWHERE ELSE before the posting up before the Posting Period (Monday 31 July - Friday 4 August).

Rules for Authors

After the art work has been assigned on Thursday 1 June, Authors will have approximately 8 weeks (until the Posting Period: Monday 31 July - Friday 4 August) to write a story with a minimum of 3,500 words. There is no maximum word limit.

The fic must be original and related to the artwork assigned. Collaboration between Artists and Authors is actively encouraged. There is no obligation for your Artist to create additional art unless they wish to. Please work closely with your Artist to talk through interpretations of the artwork. Keep in mind that elements in the artwork need to be present in your story. If there is a pairing specifically shown or suggested, then that is the pairing you should focus on. We also encourage you to discuss any squicks before you start writing and to respect these throughout the event.

Where does all this glorious creativity get posted?

Authors will post their work to the SSRevMB Collection on AO3. If you don’t have an AO3 account yet, please make one at some point before the fic submission date. We will create and moderate the Collection, but control of the fic is entirely yours to upload, edit and delete.

Artists who do not have an AO3 account should send their Author the finished piece/give their Author the links to the fanmix or fanvid BEFORE the Posting Period (Monday 31 July - Friday 4 August), which can then be placed within the fic itself or in the notes section (with full credit to the Artist and any additional links the Artist requests).

Artists who do have AO3 accounts can post up their art on the official submission date allocated to them during the Posting Period (Monday 31 July - Friday 4 August) to their own account. The Author and Artist can then exchange links to their respective works for posting purposes.

Am I required to have an AO3 account?

Authors must have an AO3 account as they will be posting their own work to the Collection. We don’t require Artists to have an AO3 account, but we definitely encourage it.

Can I post up my art/fic anywhere else?

Until the date allocated to you during the Posting Period (Monday 31 July - Friday 4 August) please DO NOT post your artwork or fics anywhere else.

After your official submission date has passed, and once you have posted up your art/fic on AO3, then you are free to do as you like with your work!

Have a question left unanswered by the FAQ?

Any questions or issues can be addressed to the mods at ssrevmb at gmail dot com or by sending us an Ask.

[ghostwriterguild-blog]

What’s it like to be an American academic paper-writer?

I'm a professional paper-writer with Doctor-My-Document of Boston.  My favorite thing about working as an academic paper-writer is how smart it’s making me.  I research important topics all day, every day!  It doesn’t even feel like work. Most of the time, I’m writing papers in APA format.  My clients are nurses, teachers, or students of Business Administration. Some of them are bilingual/multilingual English learners with language barriers, and others are busy professionals who don’t always have enough time to write papers. My second favorite thing about being a paper-writer is making my own schedule.  Usually I work only 3-4 hours in the morning and 3-4 more hours in the afternoon.  I think that’s reasonable.  It gives me the option to bring my laptop to one cool work atmosphere in the morning, go somewhere else for lunch, and then do my second work session in a different cool work atmosphere in the afternoon. When I first started working as an academic writer-for-hire, I could only complete a few pages of writing each day. I’m a faster paper-writer now, but even when I was writing very slowly it was a big step up from the job I had previously.  When I switched to writing papers, it gave me money and had more freedom. The paper-writer lifestyle The best work day I’ve had as a professional paper-writer was a trip to the casino.  I was working on a research proposal for a dissertation.  I’m not going to say what my client’s topic was, because that’s top-secret, but I can tell you I was designing the kind of research study where the researcher interviews people to get their opinions about something.

My job was to write a review of research articles about my client’s topic and write about their research findings. Then, I could come up with a research question for my client to try to answer in her dissertation. I started my day with a morning run, and then I called an Uber to bring me and my laptop to Union Station.  I got on a bus with about 20 senior citizens who were going to spend the day at Foxwoods.  On the way there, I skimmed through several research articles and wrote about 500 words. When we arrived, I continued my work at a breakfast restaurant inside the casino. I challenged myself to write at least 1,000 more words before playing any of the slot machines. I reached that goal, and then I kept writing for 90 more minutes because I had so much momentum! Something about being in the high-energy environment of the casino gave me a lot of inspiration and ideas for how to write about these research studies I was reading.  When I finally allowed myself to gamble, I limited it to $100.  But after putting just $20 in a “progressive” jackpot machine, I won $700!  Right in that moment, I made a decision to ignore that win and go right back to my paper-writing.  I didn’t put a single dollar of that money back in the machines. Instead of reinvesting my winnings back in the slots and losing it all, I went to the Atrium Bar to drink some coffee and finish writing my client’s paper.  I wanted a Bloody Mary, but I didn’t order one because I have learned that a single sip of alcohol takes away my ability to write.  Seriously.  I lose all my paper-writer mojo if I try to have a drink while I write.  I know William Faulkner was able to get hammered and write, but I need to be sober. I stayed at the casino hotel that night and had an awesome time.  It was a Friday, so a few events were happening, and I met people from all over the world.  Around midnight I finally got that Bloody Mary and talked with some people from Australia. That’s a typical workday in the life of an American academic writer-for-hire. Advice for someone who wants to work as an academic writer-for-hire? An academic writer-for-hire needs to spend a lot of time researching, writing, editing, and revising each paper. The research is what takes the most time.  But over the years, I learned to catch myself each time my attention started to wander.  "You are only making money when you hear the clicking of the keys," I often remind myself.  Now that I know how to manage my mind and my time, I can complete several hundred words in each work session. ***If you need to hire an academic paper-writer, you can email Help@DoctorMyDocument.com and ask for a $15 TRIAL.   Read the full article

[severesongnacho-blog]

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[minnievirizarry]

Product Marketing | How to Reach #1 on Product Hunt [Case Study]

If first impressions last, then NinjaOutreach should have been doomed by our bungled product marketing long ago.

We first launched NinjaOutreach on Product Hunt—a popular app curation and discovery platform—in 2014.

I wasn’t part of the team yet at the time, but our founder, Dave Schneider, did admit the launch could have gone better.

Granted, we still managed to get featured as #10 on Product Hunt’s homepage—and on our first attempt at that.

Fast forward to 2018, with new team members, a significant rebranding, fresh look, and copy, we relaunched NinjaOutreach version 2.0.

And this time around, even with a small team and a low-budget product marketing strategy, we made it to #1 on Product Hunt’s homepage.

We eventually ended the day at #2, but compared to our previous rank of #10, that was a significant jump!

Of course, we didn’t achieve all of this without a plan.

And in this article, we’ll share our product marketing strategy for how we made our comeback and reached #1 on Product Hunt.

Background story

“It’s a ‘90s software for a 2016 price.”

Such was the comment of one unimpressed user who never made it past his trial period.

Despite those harsh words, we couldn’t deny that although we had more customers than most of our competitors, we were definitely behind when compared to their sleeker designs, cohesive branding + content, and smoother UI.

As Dave said, NinjaOutreach started out as a “desktop app that everyone hated.”

Ultimately, this lack of harmonious branding, coupled with clunky UX both in-app and on the website failed to adequately convey the true value and functionality of our tool.

Also confirming this theory was an in-depth study from a firm Dave hired, which found that potential customers rated us low in trustworthiness.

Why so?

Apparently, this was because (surprise, surprise) they didn’t find our “look” particularly trustworthy.

Fortuitously, this came at a time when I, along with our Head Copywriter, Daphnie Loong, was already pushing (short of nagging) the team for a redesign.

And with all the new supporting evidence, the ball was in our court.

It was time make the shift, and we were finally ready to give NinjaOutreach its badly needed makeover.

The rebranding was a monumental effort that led to monumental changes.

Save for the official business name, everything about NinjaOutreach changed. And not just changed, but taken to a whole new level.

Excited to spread the word about these upgrades, Dave and the marketing team thought it would be a good idea to relaunch NinjaOutreach on Product Hunt.

So, our Asset Manager Evgen Schastnyy assembled a small team, and with the guidance of Dave and our co-founder Mark Samms, operation Product Hunt Comeback was set in motion.

About Product hunt

What is Product Hunt?

For the uninitiated, Product Hunt is an online community, app curation, and discovery platform where users share app news and recommendations with each other.

It’s essentially like a Quora or Reddit for apps, where apps are curated and either get upvoted or downvoted by the community. The platform also allows commenting, so each thread comes with relevant discussions about each app.

How Product Hunt Works

Members who post app recommendations are called product Hunters, so to post an app is to “hunt” it.

App developers are called Makers, and they can also hunt their own products.

Aside from typical audience engagement and upvotes, Product Hunt has its own algorithm which determines how an app gets ranked and whether it gets featured on the homepage.

Product Marketing Tactics We Used to Generate Buzz

In a moment, we will share a detailed step-by-step guide to our product marketing strategy.

But for the impatient, here is a snapshot of the product marketing tactics we used to generate buzz for the app.

Social Media Banners

As Dave mentioned in his Reddit post, social media buzz was key to our product marketing campaign’s success.

Before we launched, our design team already crafted customized banners reflecting our new brand. Each one was tailored for Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Additionally, we had special “milestone” images designed for celebrating if and when we hit 100, 300, and 500 upvotes.

Below is a screenshot of the images we used on our Twitter page.

In-App and In-Site Messages For Long-Time Customers

As an app that’s been around for over three years, we’ve accumulated our own loyal bunch of customers and site visitors who were more than happy to support us.

To help mobilize these long-time users, our Head Copywriter Daphnie edited the templates announcing our launch along with a section to fill in with the link to our listing.

We used Daphnie’s final copy on our pop-up message for returning site visitors as well as in-app notifications for customers logging in.

Eventually, we updated these notifications to cover each new milestone that we hit.

Newsletter Announcement

Daphnie also published our Product Hunt announcement through our weekly newsletter, where we have over 10k subscribers.

Team Member Support

To widen the reach of our product marketing campaign, everyone in the team went through their own networks to share the news.

Here’s Dave’s post on his Facebook.

Now that we’ve shared our main product marketing tactics, let’s move on to a more detailed breakdown of how we executed our strategy.

Our How-To Product Marketing Steps For Reaching #1 on Product Hunt

Dave and Evgen organized a list of tasks into a spreadsheet and made this accessible to all the team members involved in the product marketing campaign.

They divided the sheet into three tabs for each chronological period related to the campaign:

Pre-Launch

Launch Day

Post Launch

Each column contained instructions on what to do, where to store any files involved with the task, who is responsible for it, and a section to indicate the task’s status.

Pre-Launch Product Marketing Task Checklist

1. Find a Hunter Who Will “Hunt” the Product

There is an ongoing theory that Product Hunt’s algorithm puts less value on apps promoted by their own Makers.

Product Hunt has since pointed out that this is false and that in fact, Makers can hunt their own products.

However, we found out that certain Hunters have special privileges where a product they post makes it straight to the front page instead of the less-trafficked “new and upcoming” section.

So, we erred on the side of caution and decided to find another Hunter for our relaunch.

It’s a good thing that in all our marketing campaigns, we managed to develop warm relationships with some of our prospects.

Because of this, our Asset Manager Evgen only needed to send out a couple of emails until we got a “yes” from at least one of them.

Once Evgen found our Hunter, (special thanks to our friend Chris!) he provided the necessary info our Hunter needed to post about our product.

That included our:

Product name

Product tagline

Link to the product

Handles of the makers

Blurb for the maker

All product screenshots, GIFs, and other necessary images

Youtube link to our product explainer video

After setting our launch date and time, Evgen packed all these into a Google Docs folder (you can also use Dropbox) and sent it to our Hunter.

(Tip: If you prefer to find a Hunter for your product but don’t have warm connections, you can try a cold pitch.

Most profiles of Hunters on Product Hunt are connected to their Twitter account.

If you see people with a good following hunting a similar product like yours, try and reach out.

You can also use aggregators like 500 Hunters.)

2. Brainstorm Ideas for a Special Launch Day Promotional Offer

To encourage more people to try out our product, Evgen and the product marketing team brainstormed ideas on the best special promotional offer for the launch day.

It was a delicate balance between giving a significant discount and not selling our product too short.

In the end, the team decided to offer 10% off the first month for new registrations.

(Tip: We don’t advise this for newer products with no prior fan base, though. In that case, it’s a better idea to offer something ridiculously low at first. That way, you can get the most out of your launch.)

To make sure that every Product Hunt user will see that offer, we added a banner on the top of our product pages specifically for any visitor traffic that arrived via Product Hunt.

(Tip: We used a free-to-use tool called Introbar which let us set up our Hello banner in a few minutes.)

3. Write the In-App Message for Ninjaoutreach Users

A loyal customer base willing to leave glowing comments is a great asset for any product marketing campaign.

There’s just no better social proof than those coming from long-time, paying (and happy) customers.

So, Daphnie finalized the template for an in-app message to go out to any NinjaOutreach users logging online on our launch day.

She also edited other versions of the template so that Evgen can modify our Product Hunt announcements to match the milestones of the day.

For example, if and when we get the #1 place on Product Hunt’s homepage (which we did!) our message would look like this:

4. Draft the Email Template for Ninjaoutreach Subscribers

An email list is a powerful resource that you can leverage if you want to promote a product to a warm audience.

These are people who already trusted you enough to subscribe to your emails, after all.

In our case, we had over 10k subscribers. And for our weekly newsletter, Daphnie edited this template for Dave.

Related to this, next to-dos on our list were to:

5. Prepare the Email Template for NinjaOutreach 2.0 Beta Testers

Here’s the product marketing template that Daphnie edited for Evgen.

6. Set up the Tweet Template for Reaching out to Product Hunt Influencers

And here’s the template that Evgen prepared on Twitter.

7. Update the Knowledge Base with Screenshots of the 2.0 Version

Since our 2.0 version comes with a new look, we made sure to go back to our old tutorials and update our Knowledge Base with screenshots that reflect our tool’s improved interface and design.

8. Prepare 2.0 Branded Medias Tailored Specifically for the Launch

A rebranding won’t be complete without promotional media, so our design team got these ready as well.

These media included:

Branded social media images for:

Each team member profile

All company page profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram

Milestone posts:

Launch

100 upvotes

300 upvotes

500 upvotes

Thank you post to end the day

Demo video of the new interface of the app

9. Create a List of Related Slack and Facebook Groups and Join Them

Evgen also prospected some relevant Facebook and Slack Groups where he could join and eventually post announcements of our launch.

Of course, he made sure that the material fits the groups’ requirements and that the members already showed interest in getting such announcements.

10. Assemble the List of Product Hunt and Twitter Influencers to Reach out to on Launch Day

Social media, as we said, is crucial.

To make sure we have as many people know about our launch as possible, the team assembled a prospect list of the audiences we wanted to reach out to.

These people came mainly from 3 groups:

Current NinjaOutreach users who we approached via the live chat message

NinjaOutreach mailing list

Twitter users who liked NinjaOutreach on Product Hunt previously or liked one of our main competitors.

(Tip: We used the Heroku app to scrape the Twitter profiles of Product Hunt upvoters.)

Launch Day Product Marketing Task Checklist

As soon as our Hunter put up the recommendation for NinjaOutreach 2.0, the team was all set.

With an organized plan in place, it was easy to get the ball rolling. 1. Post to Product Hunt Between 12 am and 2 am PST Our goal was to get our listing up so people can see it as the day starts, so we agreed to have our Hunter post it early.

At roughly between 12 am and 2 am PST, our NinjaOutreach 2.0 Product Hunt listing was up.

2. Drop the Maker’s Introduction Comment

A product launch isn’t complete without the app Maker’s message.

Consequently, Mark posted the template he’d prepared, which discussed NinjaOutreach 2.0’s new look and interface.

He also shared the details of our special promotional offer exclusive for Product Hunt.

3. Post Updates in the Company Chat to Keep Everyone in the Loop

A concerted team effort needs constant updates to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Hence, here’s Evgen posting an announcement to the All Employees team chat to keep everyone in the loop.

4. Send Announcements to All Newsletter Subscribers, Beta Testers, Website, and In-App Visitors

Since we already had our templates, we just added our link to the Product Hunt listing and sent our announcements to all available channels:

Newsletter subscribers

Beta testers

In-app visitors

Website visitors

5. Announce the Launch on All Company Social Media Pages

Our branded images and Product Hunt announcement captions were all ready as well, so we just set those to go live on all our company social media pages on launch day.

Here is how our Twitter social media blurb looked like:

We used the same template for our Facebook and Instagram announcement.

At this point, Evgen also asked other team members to update their social profiles and help spread the news on their networks.

(Tip: We used Zapier for our targeted outreach, but for all other social media post scheduling, we used Viraltag.)

6. Share the News to All Relevant Facebook and Slack Groups

After having spent some time building rapport with his Facebook and Slack communities, here’s Evgen in one of his groups announcing our Product Hunt launch.

7. Message Any Warm Contacts

We also shared the announcement via Email, Skype, and other mediums to contacts we’ve had recent or ongoing conversations with.

In my case, I just used our outreach tool to email all my warm contacts for me. (I used NinjaOutreach to promote NinjaOutreach—how meta is that?)

Since I continuously maintain a personal list of contacts that I have a good rapport with, I just opened my account and imported this list to NinjaOutreach.

Once done importing, I saved these contacts into a new prospect list for this particular campaign.

Next, I went to: Outreach > Templates > Create Template

Because I’ve been in steady conversations with the people on this list (I move any lapsed conversations to another list), I pretty much know the right approach to use in my outreach.

I wrote my message naturally, then hit Save to store my template.

(Afterwards, when our listing went live, I just inserted the corresponding link.)

With my template done, I went back to the Outreach tab then clicked Autosending > Schedule a Campaign.

Next, I selected the correct list for our product marketing campaign, the email address I preferred to use, and the name of the custom template that I had just saved.

There are ways to pre-schedule a campaign on NinjaOutreach using the Send Later option, but because my template required the link to our listing, I had to wait for us to go live on Product Hunt first.

Once our Product Hunt thread went live and I was able to insert the link into my template, I then chose the Send Now option.

With all input fields covered, I clicked Launch Campaign and just let NinjaOutreach do its job.

8. Post an Announcement to Celebrate Hitting the 100 Upvotes Milestone

An email outreach tool may be less appealing compared to some dating or cat GIF curation apps out there.

Still, that didn’t stop us from creating our own hype.

Here’s our celebratory Tweet for when we reached our first hundred upvotes, for example.

We also used the same template for our Facebook post.

9. Publish a Post to Celebrate Hitting the 300 Upvotes Milestone

Things got even better when we reached 300 more upvotes, so we loaded up our celebratory Tweet for that as well.

Again, we used the same template for our Facebook post.

10. Spread the Word to Celebrate Hitting the Top of the Product Hunt Homepage

Finally, the best moment came when we hit #1 on the Product Hunt homepage.

Evgen and the rest of the product marketing team were ecstatic, and we gladly used our celebratory templates for this special achievement.

Here’s our Facebook post to commemorate the milestone.

TopHuntsDaily, a Product Hunt Twitter bot, already made the announcement for us on Twitter, so we just Retweeted that.

11. Tweet the Influencers in the Prospect List

Product Hunt discourages anyone from directly asking for upvotes, so we simply shared the word with our branded images and a link to our product listing.

We also made sure to stay within Twitter’s direct message and Tweet limits.

To accomplish these faster, we used an app called Zapier to do a Google Sheet + Zapier + Twitter integration.

Basically, Zapier connected the different apps we used and automated the process of turning our templates in Google Sheets into Twitter posts.

Zapier can do this for other apps and this integration + automation process is called making a “zap.”

To demonstrate, here is a look at my Zapier account.

I already clicked Google Sheets and Twitter to view any available zap templates for those apps.

As you’ll see, you can also use zaps to save any Twitter mentions and followers into a Google sheet too. But for this particular task, the zap we needed was the one that made it possible to post Tweets from new rows on Google Sheets.

After choosing a zap, Zapier will show a short description page about it so users can double check that it’s going to do exactly as intended.

The next steps of the in-app walkthrough are easy enough to understand and in a few minutes, you’ll have a working zap.

So, back to the campaign.

We integrated several Twitter accounts of some of our team members who have a good following and set these to Tweet around 10 messages each.

We then scheduled these 10 Tweets to go out every 20 to 30 minutes to:

People who upvoted NinjaOutreach in our previous 2014 launch

Those who upvoted competitors and similar apps.

12. Monitor Mentions and Reply to Comments Throughout the Launch Day

All things considered, we still needed to keep the engagement going to maintain our top homepage position.

Using our other social media accounts, we also continued to share our Product Hunt link to our personal and business contacts, asking them to support us and join the conversation.

Also, some team members stayed on for the whole day of the launch to reply to any mentions and comments on Product Hunt and other channels.

Post Launch Product Marketing Task Checklist

1. Respond to All Supporters

After the launch, we rechecked our social media channels to say thank you to all the people who upvoted and shared the news. Evgen personally reacted to all the Tweets to show his appreciation.

2. Turn off All Automated Announcements

With our product marketing event done, we disabled all the automated messages we sent to our users and website visitors through Intercom.

3. Publish Documentation About the Relaunch

And our last task? It’s to publish a case study about this launch, and that’s why you’re reading this now. 😉

Final Notes

From #1 on the Product Hunt homepage, we ended the day at #2, with a total of 470+ upvotes, 31 reviews, and 21 comments.

Despite not being able to hold the #1 spot through to the end, NinjaOutreach still gained some leads from this exercise.

For one, in three weeks after our Product Hunt launch, we’ve received over 1.1k visits and 10 new signups from this source alone.

Two months later, our total goal completions referred by Product Hunt reached almost $900.

We even got a couple of new business collaboration proposals.

However, that’s not to say it couldn’t have gone better.

Yes, a social influencer outreach app could not possibly demand the sort of viral engagement that other cooler, more consumer-oriented apps could.

Still, we should have gotten more signups.

But given that we were able to successfully promote our rebranding with a small team, using minimal time, and with a low-cost product marketing campaign (this only cost us more or less $300 to execute), this, to us, was a pretty good first step for NinjaOutreach 2.0.

And as we push through the year with new key leaders to our team, the future continues to be ripe for more opportunities to take NinjaOutreach even further.

The post Product Marketing | How to Reach #1 on Product Hunt [Case Study] appeared first on NinjaOutreach.

from SM Tips By Minnie https://ninjaoutreach.com/product-marketing/

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Self-Publishing The Hard Way: The Art Of Giving Birth

The blog post Self-Publishing The Hard Way: The Art Of Giving Birth is republished from: Dollar Digits Anonymous Number

Self-Publishing The Hard Way: The Art Of Giving Birth

You know? When you publish a book and send it out into the world, it's like giving birth to a baby. Everyone checks out your baby. Is it breath-taking? Does it have ten toes and ten fingers? Is it pink and sweet or does it look like an extra from "Alien?" We writers are baring our souls, our deepest thoughts, and our feelings lay open like a cavernous wound. We can't hide anymore. They know us inside and out. Now they see our baby, and they get to pick it to pieces, bit by bit, until the only thing left is a fuzzy blanket.

Oh, hell, we know that and go right on writing, don't we? It's in our DNA. We can't help ourselves, we're masochists.

When I started this whole book-writing process, I had full intentions of finding an agent and/or a traditional publisher; they'd do all the work while I sat back and listened to "Ca-ching, Ca-ching." However my journey to that end has been long and stress-filled and I ended up doing just the opposite...I'd kept a daily journal while living in Thailand in the 90s. When I returned to the States, I copied my journal onto a floppy and had it printed, spiral-bound, and mailed it out to friends and family so they could read about all my trials and tribs while abroad. One of the friends who read it insisted that I make a book out of it.

"You know," she said, "like the book 'A Year in Provence.'" I immediately ran out and bought the book and was amazed at the problems that the author had endured in a short year. I just knew that if his book sold, then mine would also, however, life got in the way of living and I put it aside.

I joined some creative writing classes a few years later, and with encouragement from my peers I began the long road of putting the journal into book form. In 2003, when I finally thought I'd finished it, I entered it into the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego. While there, I read chapters from my story in the Read and Critique groups and the attendees laughed in all the right places and even clapped, (I'd hoped it wasn’t because they were happy I'd finished). At the end of the conference I was notified that I'd won the Best Nonfiction award for my story and an agent asked for my manuscript. Wow! That just doesn’t happen unless they love it! I knew I was ready for the Pulitzer.

Then I began to panic. What if it isn't perfect? I had talked to a "book doctor" at the conference who advised me that my story "…needed some conflict. Who really cares about a housewife who's having a good time in Thailand? Give them a reason to turn the page." Okay, that's what I'll do. There certainly was plenty of conflict in my life in Thailand, but I'd left it out; it was painful to relive and I wanted it to be a humorous book. I emailed the agent and told her I wasn't ready. Take your time, she’d said. It's not time sensitive.

So began the journey of "weaving" the conflict into my story. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done. It was three years before I felt it was good enough to be a real book. But, those three years were not only spent rewriting. I took online writing classes and signed up at the local college for creative writing classes, I attended a critique group every week, putting my chapters up to their scrutiny as they tore it apart and helped put it back together. The rest of the time I was editing my life away. But as Stephen King says in his book On Writing: edit, edit and edit. And when you think it's perfect, edit some more. My husband had a name for my constant editing: "Paralysis by analysis."

When I felt I had everything in place, I looked for professional editing. I first paid the book doctor $500 to tell me that it needed help. He didn't give me any, just told me it needed it. I found a line-editor in Canada, who did a great job, and then I hired a freelance editor; total for both $600; quite inexpensive in today's editing market.

During those three years, I also did a lot of reading on the publishing world; agents, print-on-demand (PODs) and off-set printing companies. I attended conferences specifically on "How to get published." The more I heard and read, the more I thought: From all the conferences I'd attended, the agent panels were the most disillusioning. I learned that agents don't want you if you've not been published, and publishers don't want you if you've not been published, or don't have an agent, who doesn't want you either. Who needs 'em?

Publishers don't want you if you don't have a "platform!" A what? To my dismay I learned that I needed to have my own buying public. There was no publisher that was going to run out and sell my book for me, pay for my cross-country book signings and hotel rooms, unless of course I was a King or a Grisham or a Joyce Carol Oates. Then of course, there's the eighteen month wait for the book to appear on the shelves after the publisher accepts it (if the publisher doesn't decide to pull the plug at the last minute), and don't forget the two years that it takes the agent to shop around for a publisher who might decide to pull the plug at the last minute. Who has that long? I don't even buy green bananas anymore.

Wow! I remember my table mates and I frowning as we listened to the dire answers of this panel of agents and publishers. So how do we get published? Well, we have two options so it seemed: 1) have an agent living next door who loves your home cooked brownies or has a crush on your husband, or 2) know a publisher whose kid mows your lawn or has a crush on you. Not living in New York was going to be a definite drawback. Should I move? Okay, how about a POD? I was fortunate to have a friend who is a small press publisher of railroad books. He offered to put my manuscript into a Quark Express PDF file (which is the format printers prefer). He did an incredible job putting it together for me. He felt that if I had the print setup taken care of, I could approach a POD and save some money.

I signed up for the POD classes at the conferences I attended, where they explained everything I needed to know about their business ─ except how they kept most of the author's money while they got big and rich and the author got $3.09 per book. Okay, well, $3.09 a book is not that bad. Maybe I could make it. But, wait, I had to pay them to print my book, and then pay them to buy my book back from them; too many "thems" going on here. Something didn't compute. Maybe I should chuck the book and go into the POD business.

Well, I succumbed. I bought a book called The Fine Print of Self Publishing by Mark Levine, an attorney, then sat down to do some homework. After going over all the PODs he listed with a fine-tooth calculator, I realized that I could pay as much as $30,000 to one such POD group, but hey, my books would be free. How generous of them. Or, I could choose a POD group charging as low as $299, but I'd still have to buy my own books back at about $8.00 each.

I finally settled on a firm I'll call "Dewey Cheatem & Howe" (name changed to protect the guilty), and thought I'd finally get on with this damn book printing. They sent me a sample of their work that was done beautifully. I signed on the dotted line, waited three more weeks and then my author's copy was delivered. And there it sat. On my desk. Opened to the first page, which I couldn't read. I started bawling. Where is my baby? The font was so garbled that it was illegible. There was a space after every capital letter and the other letters were so piled on each other you couldn't make out the words.

When I'd used all the Kleenex in my desk drawer, I called them. Of course, no one was on the other end, save for the automated voice of their mailboxes. But at least I got rid of my postpartum anger. I cried and said very imperiously, "HOLD THE PRESSES! I will not accept this book. I will call Visa (of course they already had my money) and stop payment and …" I felt like an inner tube impaled on a sharp rock. Then I called my friend, the publisher. "Of course you can do this on your own. You have the file, just find a good printing company."

I inquired around and found out that I could get my book printed overseas at half the cost of stateside. I began to get phone numbers and surfed websites. There were some good deals to be made overseas; however, the problem was I needed a broker. So after the broker took his cut, and the shipping charges were added, a stateside printer looked better. Plus, the thought of having a problem and not being able to connect at once with your printer was worrisome.

I searched the Internet and found many websites where you could input the details of your book, number of pages, size of book, print run, etc., and within a week I got a bid from ten printing companies. After picking one printer (not the cheapest), I felt we had a fit. I spoke to the owner, who offered to throw in a hundred free books, which might have had something to do with my decision. He checked out my website while we were speaking, loved the site and the look of my book and of course, he had me. He also offered storage and order fulfillment. Now, all I had to do was put our house on the market and clear out our 401K.

I know what you're thinking. Sure, maybe she has it, but not everyone can come up with that much money. Yes, you can if you want to. We took an equity line on our home and as the money comes rolling in, I'll be making payments on the equity line. We authors must be optimists. Really! If you don't believe in your book, who will?

I ran off my own bookmarks and saved a few hundred dollars. I used the cover of the book, wrote a short synopsis on the back, and had 500 printed. I have handed out those bookmarks on airplanes and in airports; Seattle, Palm Desert, San Diego, Portugal, New York, Australia, New England… well maybe not personally, but I've given them to people who live in those places and they were happy to have them and said they'd pass them on. I've handed them out in restaurants to women sitting around me; two of them bought my book right on the spot. My friends call me "A self-promoting slut."

I have to leave you now, as that's where I am in this wonderful world of the written word, where the writing was easy… now comes the hard part ─ marketing!

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Self-Publishing The Hard Way: The Art Of Giving Birth

The blog post Self-Publishing The Hard Way: The Art Of Giving Birth is available on: Dollar Digits Blog

Self-Publishing The Hard Way: The Art Of Giving Birth

You know? When you publish a book and send it out into the world, it's like giving birth to a baby. Everyone checks out your baby. Is it breath-taking? Does it have ten toes and ten fingers? Is it pink and sweet or does it look like an extra from "Alien?" We writers are baring our souls, our deepest thoughts, and our feelings lay open like a cavernous wound. We can't hide anymore. They know us inside and out. Now they see our baby, and they get to pick it to pieces, bit by bit, until the only thing left is a fuzzy blanket.

Oh, hell, we know that and go right on writing, don't we? It's in our DNA. We can't help ourselves, we're masochists.

When I started this whole book-writing process, I had full intentions of finding an agent and/or a traditional publisher; they'd do all the work while I sat back and listened to "Ca-ching, Ca-ching." However my journey to that end has been long and stress-filled and I ended up doing just the opposite...I'd kept a daily journal while living in Thailand in the 90s. When I returned to the States, I copied my journal onto a floppy and had it printed, spiral-bound, and mailed it out to friends and family so they could read about all my trials and tribs while abroad. One of the friends who read it insisted that I make a book out of it.

"You know," she said, "like the book 'A Year in Provence.'" I immediately ran out and bought the book and was amazed at the problems that the author had endured in a short year. I just knew that if his book sold, then mine would also, however, life got in the way of living and I put it aside.

I joined some creative writing classes a few years later, and with encouragement from my peers I began the long road of putting the journal into book form. In 2003, when I finally thought I'd finished it, I entered it into the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego. While there, I read chapters from my story in the Read and Critique groups and the attendees laughed in all the right places and even clapped, (I'd hoped it wasn’t because they were happy I'd finished). At the end of the conference I was notified that I'd won the Best Nonfiction award for my story and an agent asked for my manuscript. Wow! That just doesn’t happen unless they love it! I knew I was ready for the Pulitzer.

Then I began to panic. What if it isn't perfect? I had talked to a "book doctor" at the conference who advised me that my story "…needed some conflict. Who really cares about a housewife who's having a good time in Thailand? Give them a reason to turn the page." Okay, that's what I'll do. There certainly was plenty of conflict in my life in Thailand, but I'd left it out; it was painful to relive and I wanted it to be a humorous book. I emailed the agent and told her I wasn't ready. Take your time, she’d said. It's not time sensitive.

So began the journey of "weaving" the conflict into my story. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done. It was three years before I felt it was good enough to be a real book. But, those three years were not only spent rewriting. I took online writing classes and signed up at the local college for creative writing classes, I attended a critique group every week, putting my chapters up to their scrutiny as they tore it apart and helped put it back together. The rest of the time I was editing my life away. But as Stephen King says in his book On Writing: edit, edit and edit. And when you think it's perfect, edit some more. My husband had a name for my constant editing: "Paralysis by analysis."

When I felt I had everything in place, I looked for professional editing. I first paid the book doctor $500 to tell me that it needed help. He didn't give me any, just told me it needed it. I found a line-editor in Canada, who did a great job, and then I hired a freelance editor; total for both $600; quite inexpensive in today's editing market.

During those three years, I also did a lot of reading on the publishing world; agents, print-on-demand (PODs) and off-set printing companies. I attended conferences specifically on "How to get published." The more I heard and read, the more I thought: From all the conferences I'd attended, the agent panels were the most disillusioning. I learned that agents don't want you if you've not been published, and publishers don't want you if you've not been published, or don't have an agent, who doesn't want you either. Who needs 'em?

Publishers don't want you if you don't have a "platform!" A what? To my dismay I learned that I needed to have my own buying public. There was no publisher that was going to run out and sell my book for me, pay for my cross-country book signings and hotel rooms, unless of course I was a King or a Grisham or a Joyce Carol Oates. Then of course, there's the eighteen month wait for the book to appear on the shelves after the publisher accepts it (if the publisher doesn't decide to pull the plug at the last minute), and don't forget the two years that it takes the agent to shop around for a publisher who might decide to pull the plug at the last minute. Who has that long? I don't even buy green bananas anymore.

Wow! I remember my table mates and I frowning as we listened to the dire answers of this panel of agents and publishers. So how do we get published? Well, we have two options so it seemed: 1) have an agent living next door who loves your home cooked brownies or has a crush on your husband, or 2) know a publisher whose kid mows your lawn or has a crush on you. Not living in New York was going to be a definite drawback. Should I move? Okay, how about a POD? I was fortunate to have a friend who is a small press publisher of railroad books. He offered to put my manuscript into a Quark Express PDF file (which is the format printers prefer). He did an incredible job putting it together for me. He felt that if I had the print setup taken care of, I could approach a POD and save some money.

I signed up for the POD classes at the conferences I attended, where they explained everything I needed to know about their business ─ except how they kept most of the author's money while they got big and rich and the author got $3.09 per book. Okay, well, $3.09 a book is not that bad. Maybe I could make it. But, wait, I had to pay them to print my book, and then pay them to buy my book back from them; too many "thems" going on here. Something didn't compute. Maybe I should chuck the book and go into the POD business.

Well, I succumbed. I bought a book called The Fine Print of Self Publishing by Mark Levine, an attorney, then sat down to do some homework. After going over all the PODs he listed with a fine-tooth calculator, I realized that I could pay as much as $30,000 to one such POD group, but hey, my books would be free. How generous of them. Or, I could choose a POD group charging as low as $299, but I'd still have to buy my own books back at about $8.00 each.

I finally settled on a firm I'll call "Dewey Cheatem & Howe" (name changed to protect the guilty), and thought I'd finally get on with this damn book printing. They sent me a sample of their work that was done beautifully. I signed on the dotted line, waited three more weeks and then my author's copy was delivered. And there it sat. On my desk. Opened to the first page, which I couldn't read. I started bawling. Where is my baby? The font was so garbled that it was illegible. There was a space after every capital letter and the other letters were so piled on each other you couldn't make out the words.

When I'd used all the Kleenex in my desk drawer, I called them. Of course, no one was on the other end, save for the automated voice of their mailboxes. But at least I got rid of my postpartum anger. I cried and said very imperiously, "HOLD THE PRESSES! I will not accept this book. I will call Visa (of course they already had my money) and stop payment and …" I felt like an inner tube impaled on a sharp rock. Then I called my friend, the publisher. "Of course you can do this on your own. You have the file, just find a good printing company."

I inquired around and found out that I could get my book printed overseas at half the cost of stateside. I began to get phone numbers and surfed websites. There were some good deals to be made overseas; however, the problem was I needed a broker. So after the broker took his cut, and the shipping charges were added, a stateside printer looked better. Plus, the thought of having a problem and not being able to connect at once with your printer was worrisome.

I searched the Internet and found many websites where you could input the details of your book, number of pages, size of book, print run, etc., and within a week I got a bid from ten printing companies. After picking one printer (not the cheapest), I felt we had a fit. I spoke to the owner, who offered to throw in a hundred free books, which might have had something to do with my decision. He checked out my website while we were speaking, loved the site and the look of my book and of course, he had me. He also offered storage and order fulfillment. Now, all I had to do was put our house on the market and clear out our 401K.

I know what you're thinking. Sure, maybe she has it, but not everyone can come up with that much money. Yes, you can if you want to. We took an equity line on our home and as the money comes rolling in, I'll be making payments on the equity line. We authors must be optimists. Really! If you don't believe in your book, who will?

I ran off my own bookmarks and saved a few hundred dollars. I used the cover of the book, wrote a short synopsis on the back, and had 500 printed. I have handed out those bookmarks on airplanes and in airports; Seattle, Palm Desert, San Diego, Portugal, New York, Australia, New England… well maybe not personally, but I've given them to people who live in those places and they were happy to have them and said they'd pass them on. I've handed them out in restaurants to women sitting around me; two of them bought my book right on the spot. My friends call me "A self-promoting slut."

I have to leave you now, as that's where I am in this wonderful world of the written word, where the writing was easy… now comes the hard part ─ marketing!

at in now: https://goo.gl/U13czS

from Dollar Digits http://dollardigits.blogspot.com/2017/12/self-publishing-hard-way-art-of-giving.html via IFTTT

[foxxrcom]

7 Clever Ways to Turn Nearby Now into a Supercharged Reputation Builder

This article was originally written at foxxr.com

When a water pipe in your yard bursts and you need immediate help, where do you look for assistance?

Seven out of 10 times, the consumers will turn to Google and ask it to find “plumbers near me” or “plumbers Santa Cruz.”

Once they have found a business–either in the local pack or search results, 90 percent of prospects will read less than ten reviews before forming a distinct impression of your business.

If you are a local service business, it is crucial to put your best foot forward because 87 percent of Americans trust online reviews to help them choose which local businesses or services will receive their hard-earned dollars.

A strong brand inspires confidence and brings more business. Nearby Now is a tool to strengthen your brand.

Enhance Your Brand’s Reputation with Nearby Now

Nearby Now is a powerful platform and ideal for service area businesses to build their reputation. It increases visibility in search engines and gives you unprecedented control over presentation and content.

Here are some tips to use this tool for maximum mileage.

1. Create Keyword-Rich Job Descriptions

Nearby Now has great advice on how to create job descriptions that exude credibility and impress search engines.

The descriptions should be succinct, clear, and understandable. Here is the official advice from Nearby Now with some edits:

10–25 words (no more than 500 characters)

Include a product brand when possible (like “Duncan”)

Keywords or phrases that describe the actual job performed (like “fixed sewer line” or “replaced the pipes”)

Avoid abbreviations or industry slang.

Those points are essential. But if your field worker is willing to spend a few more minutes at a client’s place, he or she can include these items, too:

A monthly or seasonal descriptor when possible like (Jan or January) or (Spring or Summer)

Whether it was a commercial or residential job.

The neighborhood or subdivision (unless doing so would identify the specific customer)

2. Ask for a Review Immediately After the Job Is Finished

Four out of 10 customers will write a Nearby Now review if you request one immediately after completing a job successfully. The rate drops to 20 percent after 24 hours and declines further with delay.

Educate your workers to prep customers while they are still fixing things and send a review request to the clients’ email address as soon as the job is finished. Unlike Yelp, Google, and other review websites, Nearby Now does not require customers to log in before they can write about their experiences with a business. This little feature increases the chances of positive feedback.

3. Consider Several Factors Before Asking for a Review

Although Nearby Now eliminates the technical difficulties preventing your customers from writing reviews, your employees need to be alert to the human side of things.

The skill of determining when a client is a good candidate for a review request is useful, and your employees will be better off acquiring it.

Here are some tips from Nearby Now:

Ask “Did I provide 5-star service today?” or “Did my service meet your expectations” or “Did I solve your (type) problem well?” or something of that sort.

Wait for the response.

The response is “yes.” This is a good candidate for a review request.

The response is “no.” Provide a little more customer service, find the issue, and resolve it.

4. Create Landing Pages for the Most Profitable Locations

Integrate Nearby Now with the top-most profitable location landing pages and club reviews from several smaller areas into a bigger one.

It is not worth creating a landing page for a sparsely populated town, county, or Census-Designated Place (CDP). Cover the most populous and profitable areas which can be 10, 20, 30, or more.

Nearby Now will generate a heat-map automatically and the areas that keep you busy will show up. Red is showing most recent activity and blue the oldest, while green falling somewhere between.

5. Always Click Photos, If Possible, Shoot Videos

The human brain process images 60,000 times faster than text. It takes us just 150 milliseconds to process an image and further 100 milliseconds to attach a meaning to it. That means, the first thing your customers will see on your landing page will be the photos.

Humans not only spot images more quickly, they remember them for longer durations than text. In fact, 90 percent of information transmitted to our brain is visual, and the human brain is capable of remembering over 2,000 images with an accuracy of 90 percent for a whole week; even when those images were presented for a very short period.

The rapid rise of Snapchat, Instagram, and other image-heavy social platforms confirms what researchers and intelligent marketers always knew. Why not make use of our natural disposition towards images to create more convincing landing pages?

Convince your employers to take photos when they are in the field. It can be a simple before-after image, the client’s home, or anything that fits into the context. Media will attract attention, amplify your clients’ reviews, and ensure that they are heard.

6. Make Reviews More Credible

When one in four reviews on Yelp is a potential fake, it should not be surprising that 90 percent of people do not trust landing page reviews. Luckily, you can fix that.

Don’t edit your customers’ comments, unless there are obvious linguistic mistakes. Let them speak. Slang, localisms will sound more natural.

Don’t eliminate four-star or three-star reviews. Recent research has shown that people are more likely to trust you if they see both negative and positive reviews. The researchers were able to put a number on the effect: Letting your prospects read bad reviews can increase your sales up to 67 percent.

Although Nearby Now lets you check in for your past jobs, a recommended strategy is not to go overboard. One hundred reviews in a day can trigger Google’s spam alert, and your website can lose rank. Let Nearby Now collect reviews gradually.

7. Work on GMB and Citations Before Optimizing Nearby Now

Last but not the least.

Location pages with content from Nearby Now are great, only if have done your homework first.

Thankfully, it is not difficult if you know search engine optimization (SEO) or have a digital agency to assist for you. It’s a simple two-step process.

First, claim your Google My Business (GMB) listing by telling Google that a business listed in their directory belongs to you.

Second, ensure that Citations are consistent across the web. A Citation is your business name, phone number, and address. Consistency in Citations is important because it is one of the ways Google determines your authenticity. Checking Citations on your own can be time-consuming. Work with a digital marketing agency to authenticate Citations for you.

Once you have claimed your GMB listing and verified Citation consistency, you are ready to integrate your location pages with Nearby Now.

Takeaway

If you are paying for Nearby Now, get the most out the platform. If you are not using Nearby Now, give it a try and use some or all of the techniques mentioned in this article to gather more reviews and business.

Get Found, Get Ranked, Get More Customers?

Get a Quote Now

The post 7 Clever Ways to Turn Nearby Now into a Supercharged Reputation Builder appeared first on Foxxr.

from Foxxr http://ift.tt/2Aqswon

[chrisabraham]

Improve your Google search results right now

Because so many people presumably make so much money “doing SEO,” there’s a lot of confusion as to what Search Engine Optimization is and all the little things that you can do right now, today, to improve your the results on your SERP — search engine results page. OK, let’s start:

Go Rewrite As Many Titles as You Have Time For Right Now: According to Moz, “Google typically displays the first 50-60 characters of a title tag. If you keep your titles under 60 characters, our research suggests that you can expect about 90% of your titles to display properly.” You should keep the titles concise, but also descriptive. Don’t be cute. All of my titles are cute and I waste them. Remember, all anybody knows about any of your pages — including Google’s spiders and bots — is the title of your pages.  So, if your title currently is Check Out My Latest Project you really should actually describe subject of the blog post or site page.

Don’t Let Google Define Your Page Descriptions for You — Do It Yourself: You don’t have to care about the description of your page. There’s two ways to get a little control: rewrite your first paragraph to describe what your page is about exactly the way journalists and reporters are supposed to, in the first paragraph. According to Moz, “Meta descriptions can be any length, but search engines generally truncate snippets longer than 160 characters. It is best to keep meta descriptions long enough that they’re sufficiently descriptive, but shorter than that 160-character limit.” So, if you don’t actually write a meta description, Google will always steal your first 160 characters. If your site allows you to write a summary or your page allows you to define a description, do it. And, if you come up with an excellent summary for your page, that description should include similar turns of phrase and keywords in both your title and your full content. And, if you really like your summary description, then please be sure to integrate it into your writing. Make it better, make it newer, and take it out of “archive,” which is what Google does if you don’t update your site’s content and copy every once in a while.

Add 500 Words to a Product or Service Page by COB: Over 90% of all the outdated, over-synthesized, or over-edited sites I have seen just don’t have enough text for Google to really get a handle on. Everybody’s trying to be so succinct. I blame the elevator speech for this. We’ve boiled our business plans and our visions and mission statements down so far — a réduction, if you will — that they’re worthless to both Google and to someone who actually wants to use your website — your corporate site, your only cornerstone, your online HQ, your Internet everything! Why are you keeping it so brief? Why are you being so sneaky? Why don’t you sit down, fire up a stogie, pour yourself a deep one, and let’s talk about who you are, what you really do, why you’ve been so inspired, and what your real and true capabilities are.  Like in long form. And, if all of this text and all these words break the aesthetics of your proper website, then be sure to share all of these cigar and rum moments on your blog or on a deeper, secondary page.

Links Keyword Phrases from Content Pages to About and Offerings Pages Immédiatement: You probably haven’t done the most effective thing you can do on your own site right now: every time you see a mention of your products, your services, or the names of your employees, executives, and cast of characters, you should hyperlink them all to the pages on which they live. For example, if I mention Mike Moran, I link him to his page here on Biznology; and, if I am doing this right, I will link my name, Chris Abraham, to my page here, as well. See, I also linked Biznology above.  See, it’s as easy as that. You should really do it.

Add ALT Text to All Your Photos and Images Right this Minute: All modern content management systems (CMS) have someplace to customize all the images on your site. Even if you don’t know how, ask your geek. If you still have your website designer on speed dial, maybe you can encourage your web designer or your template-developer to help you out. Most downloadable templates these days make it easy to associate words with photos and words with images. Now, baby we can do it take the time, do it right, we can do it, baby, do it tonight! Why didn’t your web developer do it? Laziness. It’s probably even in your contract. You didn’t care at the time. The more pretty images, the better. But now you need to care. Why? Because Google can only read — and index and return results for — text so if a lot of your site is made up of images and graphics and graphics of text (are you kidding me), then they’re all invisible to Google. You always need to look at your site as if you were blind or visually impaired.

Connect Your Site Immediately to Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Webmasters: You really should have done this already. Click me: Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Webmasters — also, if you don’t have an SEO tool for your site, look into Yoast SEO for Drupal or Yoast SEO for WordPress. They have the tools required to make it super-simple to make all the proper connections you need. Also, bonus points: Google Analytics.

Optimize Your Images If That’s Something You Can Easily Do Soon: Don’t assume that your CMS automagically takes your 4MB and 2MB and 10MB and 14MB(!)images and squishes them down from your crazy 8 megapixel cameraphone photos to images that are especially optimized for the web. All of your 5184 × 3456 pixel images really need to be brought down to 1600×800 pixels — or even smaller.  If you can’t get your images under control via your server or your CMS then you’re going to need to use Photoshop or something else. If your images are too big, your site will take too long to load; and, if you make your visitors’ experience shitty, then Google will tax you and your search results will suffer.

Get a Faster Web Hosting Company and Learn About Caching and CDNs: Google be taxing! If your site isn’t mobile native or friendly: TAX! If your images are huge and fat and take forever to load: TAX! And, if your site isn’t responsive in the “hand-off” between when someone clicks on your Google Search result, then TAX! Is all your JavaScript and CSS cluttering up the page (instead of actual content): TAX! So, you’ll need to spend some money on getting the fast server, the server with RAM and an SSD HD, super-close access to the Internet Backbone, with the ability to scale if you get a flood of visitors, or don’t get flooded if someone else on your shared server scores a sticky meme. More than the $3.95 that you’re spending now or the half-assed server setup that your CMS website service providers have you on (they need to make as much delta as possible, right, we’re capitalists, after all). And, even then, you need to learn about how to make your slow-ass database-backed websites, your WordPress or Drupal or whatever site, faster through caching. WordPress caching’s pretty easy. And then, since you can’t be in all places at once, a content delivery network (CDN) allows you to distribute your site and all its contents across the globe. I have sorted out how to use CloudFlare for free over on my “I don’t want to be fat, sick, and weak forever” blog, RNNR. Not only do CDNs help quicken up your site, they also make proximity to the server a non-issue. If your servers are in Northern California and someone’s checking out your site in London would need to burrow through MAE-East to get to it. But, with a CDN, presumably there’d be a working copy of RNNR somewhere in the UK. All of this is worth looking into. At least for SEO, at least for Google. Because, if all things are equal, then the speed, quickness, and responsiveness if your site is going to be the x-factor.

Write a Blog Post About Everything On Your Site As Soon As You Can: See what I am doing right now? You might thing that we’re doing all of this to help you. Naw, I am doing these blog posts once-a-week, on Biznology, for close to six years, for me and for my SEO and for Mike Moran and for his SEO. Do you like my posts? Yes? Good! Because Google loves engagement and popularity and visits and social shares and reshares and retweets.  I have been taking my own advice since 1999. I don’t do this for you, I don’t do this for Mike, I don’t do this for anyone besides as a burnt sacrifice and offering to the altar of Google Search.  You should start blogging. Not for me, not for fame, not to pursue your writer’s life, and not to scratch your mentor’s it, but for Google. To Google Be the Glory Forever and Ever, Amen. And, don’t start your blog in WordPress.com or on Medium.com or on Blogger/Blogspot, but on your own domain. Like, on Gerris Corp’s site, the blog post is gerriscorp.com/blog — you should do it like this.

Good luck. This should get you through today. Let me know if I missed anything down in the comments. I hope it’s useful for you. If you won’t do it, make me! I actually consult on SEO — check me out over on www.chrisabraham.com or email me at chris@gerriscorp.com.

Via Biznology

[topicprinter]

I thought it might be interesting for other freelancers / business owners to see behind the scenes of a freelance business. I am happy to share the details on what we do, and how we run our own freelance business.My wife and I have been running a freelance business for the last few years. Until 2016, we focused purely on proofreading and copy editing. In 2016, I decided to add freelance writing to what we offered, mainly to diversify revenue streams. Here's an overview of how we did in 2016, starting with the financials.Revenue for 2016 is shown first, figures for 2015 (for comparison) are shown in brackets. All figures rounded to nearest $500.Total revenue: $94K (51K)Revenue from proofreading / editing: $39K ($45K)Revenue from freelance writing: $55K ($6K)Total business expenses: $15K ($15K)Office costs: $4.5K (Home office deduction, maintenance, insurance, property tax etc.) ($4K)Computer software, hardware, subscriptions etc: $2.5K ($2K)Marketing: $1K ($5K)Bank / PayPal / Payment fees: $1K ($0.5K)Currency exchange losses (Many of our clients are in Britain - Brexit sucks!): $1K ($0.5K)Charitable donations: $3K ($0.5K)Payments to other freelancers (subcontract): $0K ($2K)Other costs: $2K ($0.5K)Bad debts: $1K ($0K)Total profits: $79K ($34K)Total tax burden: c. $18 - $20K (c. $8K)Household budget: $40K ($30K)"Disposable" income: $20K (-$4K)Earnings per day$363 ($195)Increase in revenue - 2015 - 2016: $45K - 90%Daily time breakdown (for me)Here's how I spend my time on a typical day.2.5 - 4 hrs of chargeable work1 hr - Admin, replying to emails etc.0.5 - 1 hr - Helping out others (posting on reddit, in freelancing groups etc.)1 - 1.5 hrs - Breaks, dog walking etc.0.5 hrs - New leads / possible other work.0.5 hrs - Other "stuff."Lessons learnedDiversification - We'd been seeing declining revenue from the proofreading / editing side for a while, which is why I decided to diversify in freelance writing. That turned out to be sensible, as our PR / CE income dropped further in 2016, but we were able to more than offset that through the freelance writing work. I'd definitely recommend multiple revenue streams for any freelancer, so you can protect your income.Independence - We've never used any of the freelance platforms (Upwork, Freelancer etc.) If possible, I'd definitely recommend building a standalone portfolio, approaching clients directly, and avoiding the platform fees and the "race to the bottom."Specialization - Narrow focus on specific niches / topics was key to success. On the proofreading / copy editing side, that means non-fiction, medical, and training. On the writing side, that means tech, business, and finance. Specializing means you can often charge more, and helps you get work in the first place.Pricing - We always price by the project or per word - That works much better for our clients than hourly pricing. Additionally, if you can work fast and maintain quality, that often results in higher per hour fees. For example, if you can write a 1,500 word blog post for $200 in 90 minutes, that's an hourly fee of $125. Additionally, I started writing at 10c a word and slowly increased the rate every couple of months, until the 15c I am on now. That feels like a sweet spot.Automation and efficiency - Automation is really important. Less time spent on admin means more time that's chargeable to clients. Key efficiencies for us include IFTTT for scanning job boards and emailing leads, FreeAgent for accounting, invoicing, expenses, payroll etc, Toggl for time tracking, Trello for other tracking, and Google Docs for working with clients.Finances - It's really, really important to stay on top of finances, so you can see where you're making money, your key expenses, your financial outlook etc. We also have around six months of household expenses as an "emergency budget" which definitely helps our peace-of-mind!Professionalism - This is vital. Presenting yourself as a professional businessperson, with confidence and poise is vital. In other words, it's not just about the work itself, it's about everything around that. Good communications, suggestions to the client, getting contracts in place, always meeting deadlines, following up - It all makes a difference.Clients - Do everything you can to find regular clients. One of the biggest time sucks for a freelancer is seeking out new leads and applying to them. If you can get clients who use you on a regular basis, that's good for your bank balance, and for reducing time you spend looking for new gigs. For me, the revelation was marketing agencies, who find clients for you!Work and life balance - Through all of this, it's important to keep a good work and life balance. One of the reasons proofreading income fell in 2016 was because we're dedicating more time to volunteering, and actually taking some time off! It's vital to work to live, not the other way around.Puppies - Pets are a wonder for freelancers. Perfect for the breaks you take, the love you share, and the need to get out and take them for walks (at least for dogs and wombats.) They're great for mental and physical health.Future plansRevenue increase - In 2017, I'd like to take my freelance writing earnings from $200 a day to $300 a day - Mainly through slowly increasing my rates, more automation, less admin, and more chargeable time.Saving for the future - Putting more money into long-term investments and retirement plans - We're in our mid-40s, so it's time to start putting decent amounts of income into building a retirement nest egg.Updating portfolio / websites - the curse of the freelancer! Keeping portfolios and websites refershed always seems to be a non-urgent task (the last time I updated mine was July 2016) - really need to find some time to do that!Loving what we do - There's nothing better than being a freelancer - Just onwards and upwards.More dogs! - 'Nuff saidI really hope you've found this interesting. Happy to answer any questions or share further insight. I'm also happy to hold a complete AMA on this (or any other related topics) in future - Please let me know!Be well,Paul.