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It is always impressive to see stunning quality images on a website. Great visuals jump out and draw interest. Ultimately, images do far more than just make a website look good. When they are deployed effectively, images are a crucial tool in maximising the marketing impact of your content. In this article, we will look at how images can effectively double the marketing success of your content. Websites with visuals are more trustedTrust is a big part of operating an effective website. If a user comes to your site and doesn’t feel they can trust what you have on offer or what you are saying, then you have virtually no chance of convincing them to use your site and convert. No matter how impressive your content is, if the trust isn’t there, you will not be able to achieve your goals. Having good quality images is a simple but important factor in establishing trust. For example, showing off your company as a real business is a key way to build trust with your audience. Professional marketeers suggest using relatable visuals (and moving images) that represent your target audience, build up trust, and portray a sense of reality. When you have built that trust, the quality of your content can shine through. Important for organic search“Content is king,” says the old search engine optimisation (SEO) adage. And it is true; high-quality content is more valuable than ever to a website that wants to place higher in Google’s rankings. But if you are looking for ways to boost your performance in organic search, you shouldn’t ignore the importance of images. After all, images are simply another form of content. “Images add value to your SEO efforts by increasing user engagement and accessibility of your website,” says Danae Weber of Emfluence “images make any content more interesting and appealing by helping readers understand your content better.” Your content is being skim-readWritten content plays a vital role in your website. Without it, you will face real challenges in attempting to sell products and services to customers. And it is always very noticeable when written content is low quality. But given this, it might be surprising to learn that the vast majority of readers will only skim-read your content. Of course, some are reading for the details. Given this, you need to ensure that the content is high quality. But given that a considerable amount of traffic is only here to glance at the content, it shows the advantage of images. Pictures can be used to tell a story, and they can help to make pages more engaging. Crossover with social mediaHaving access to high-quality images for your content gives you a much broader range of options. You can deploy images across a variety of channels, including your social media profiles. This is an example of how high-quality images can make an enormous difference. All marketers face the challenge of keeping their content fresh on social media. So when you are already creating stunning imagery for your site, this is really helping with another aspect of the job. Visuals help to create and drive leadsWhile written content is undoubtedly essential for conveying information and ensuring that a customer understands your product or service, it is through visual content that websites are able to really push engagement. When customers are more engaged with your website, that helps you to naturally create and drive them into sales. In short, visuals are great for lead generation. Interestingly, statistics show that 90% of the information that is sent to the brain for processing is visual and that this leads to people forming a first impression in just 50 milliseconds. This shows you just how important it is to have the right images in place to grab your audience's attention and make them want to stick around. Tips for getting the right imagesSo, when we say the ‘right’ images that can double the value of your content, what do we really mean by that? Carefully selected images should highlight your company or product’s backstory and project an authentic message to which your target audience will relate and respond. More than merely telling a story, your visuals should also align with your marketing strategy's core message and highlight the values your brand represents to engage prospective customers successfully. Here, we present some tips for finding, creating, and using images that will help you get as much out of them as possible:
via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2022/08/10/two-for-one-how-the-right-images-can-double-the-impact-of-your-content/
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The gender pay gap is not news to anyone. Men have always been paid more than women, and in modern times this discrepancy continues despite assurances that equality has prevailed. Most of the gender pay gap research focuses on traditional work environments. This research shows that women don’t ask for raises as often as men do, and even when they do, they aren’t getting them at the same rate men are. Recent research shows that while the overall pay gap is holding steady, it is narrowing for younger generations. So…women aren’t getting fairly compensated in organizations with HR departments that regularly analyze pay equality when making compensation decisions. Do you think they’re getting a fair shake when they have to advocate for themselves on a contract basis? Nope. New research shows that women freelancers make, on average, 48% less than their male counterparts. Forty. Eight. Percent.This is an increase from a study that showed women made 28% less in 2017 and 43% less in 2020. And that’s not even the most shocking part of this most recent study. While women make 48% less on average, female DevOps Engineers make 60% less ($100.9 vs. $30) and hour. So…what do we do about it. Here are a few ideas, including a mantra for each one to help you shift your money mindset. Feel EntitledIn Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide, Linda Babcock, describes how women are inclined to feel more content with what they have and less entitled to things that might improve their lives. “even when women can imagine changes that might increase their productivity at work, their happiness at home, or their overall contentment with their lives, their suppressed sense of entitlement creates real barriers to their asking. Because they’re not dissatisfied with what they have and not sure they deserve more, women often settle for less.” Put another way; women are more conditioned to settle — to accept what they have and not take proactive steps to change it. This leads to a catch-22 surrounding achievement. Every time you achieve something, you feel successful because you have something better than you had before. It is then easy to slide into a mindset of settling. Well…now I have _________ (more money, time, happiness, flexibility), so I don’t need more or better ______. I can settle with less on one front because I have more on another. If you’ve already broken the mold and gone out on your own as a freelancer, you should feel incredibly proud of yourself, but if you don’t take the next step to run your business like a boss (see below) and get paid what you deserve, you’re still settling for less than your male counterparts. Mantra: I am entitled to happiness, wealth, and control over my work. I deserve more. Know What You’re WorthOur society has created a stigma around talking openly about money and compensation, and ultimately, that reinforces power structures where people get paid less than they deserve. When you work for other people, you have the luxury (or crutch) of only having compensation conversations with your boss. When you work for yourself, you need to be very clear about what you’re worth and get comfortable talking about money regularly with other people (clients, staff, other freelancers). Your worth is about so much more than money. It comes down to what you need and what the market is willing to give you. You must always strike a balance between being fair, competitive in the market, and getting paid top rates for your expertise. That balance isn’t always easy. The only way to know what your skills are worth is to do your research.
Once you know what the market pays for your skillset, check your assumptions about your value. You might be leaning toward asking for less so that you can be competitive, but actually, you should be in line with your peers and competitors — if you come in drastically lower, that might raise doubts about the quality of your work. Mantra: I know what I’m worth and have the data to back it up. Break the Employee MindsetEmployees are dependent upon their employers. This learned dependence often means that when people start working for themselves, they don’t fully know how to break free of the social conditioning that dictates the connections between time and money. You have to learn how to be a boss in a world where the vast majority of workers never work for themselves. A key mindset shift from employee to boss is pricing yourself as a business, not an employee. When you’re 100% in charge of the money that facilitates your life and the time it takes to make it, you think about it differently. When you work for someone else, you might not even know what they’re charging for the end product and how your time fits into it. As a business owner, you need to charge enough to cover not only your time but also your overhead, taxes, benefits, PTO, and everything else it takes to run a business. One of the biggest mistakes new freelancers make is charging a similar rate to what they made when they worked for someone else. You are a business now, not an employee — what you got paid as an individual contributor will not cut it. This is a big one for solopreneurs. You might have much lower overhead than a larger company, and so you justify hourly rates that don’t include the costs it takes to run your business of one. A business of one is still a business — your clients need to be paying you like a business. Mantra: I price myself to be competitive with other businesses, not employees. PS: Here are six boss mindset shifts that will set you free as a freelancer. Knowing what to ask for when it comes to compensation is tricky. You don’t want to seem entitled, you don’t want to lose out to someone else who asked for less, and you don’t want to have that awkward conversation about money in the first place. But the truth is that money is a form of power. You give some of that power away when you settle for less than you deserve. Ladies, we give enough of our power away. I hope you can use these mantras to shift your money mindset and get paid what you deserve. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2022/08/08/male-freelancers-make-more-shocker-heres-what-to-do-about-it/
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This article is posted with permission from our partner Lili and originally appeared on the Lili blog at: https://lili.co/blog/lgbtq-financial-resources Get the digital bank account designed for freelancers with Lili and manage your business expenses, estimate your taxes, and save for a rainy day all with zero account fees. Start a Lili account today. People often believe freelancers work whenever they feel like it, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case… The truth is, freelancers work when they get work. Anyone who has dipped their toes into the freelance lifestyle is familiar with the long weeks of radio silence from their clients. These weeks almost never feel like time off, but rather like a slow build up of stress: when and where is my next payday?! We also know this period can end with one single email that can come at any time. And of course, that email often requires you to be available the next day. And if you’re on a beach in Mexico, there goes your payday! The unpredictability of the freelance life can make it extremely difficult to plan for a vacation or some time off. There are of course no easy solutions, but it doesn’t mean a freelancer shouldn’t take time off. Vacations are not only healthy for the body, soul and family dynamics, they’re also an important part of life. And freelancers deserve it just as much as full-time employees. So here are a few tips to help you really enjoy your time off and find that time on / time off balance. Plan around big projectsIf you know a big project is coming up, plan a vacation the week before. You won’t be stressed about money or missing out on an opportunity, because you know you have a gig waiting for you when you clock back in. If you are in the middle of a big project with a clear end date in sight, make a reservation for the week right after – you’ll probably need the break, and with a paycheck coming in, you won’t have your account balance in the back of your mind the whole time. Talk to your clientsEven though you’re not on the payroll, your regular clients can often see you as part of the team. Ask them when their slowest time of the year is, make them feel that you’re working with them to find a time that works for everyone. If you plan a trip somewhere exotic, ask them if they’d like you to bring them something back. (It’s also a great excuse to get in touch when you return!). Give yourself some breathing roomDetermine how much money you need to take off a week or two. Then double it! With double the money in the bank, you’ll be able to enjoy your vacation more, knowing you have some time covered to find your next gig upon your return. Then, do what you need to do to reach that goal: start working as much as you can, say no to nothing, and start saving money for your vacation. Don’t take a guilt tripIf you get an offer for the one week a year you’re out of town, don’t cancel your plans and beat yourself up: there was no way for you to know! Simply inform that potential client you won’t be available (no need to tell them why, every good relationship benefits from a little mystery) and be sure to let them know the exact date you’re available again. Maybe they have something else coming down the line, maybe their timeline is flexible – you never know what is happening on their end. Then be sure to follow up when you’re back, but not before! via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2022/08/03/the-time-off-time-on-conundrum/
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[unable to retrieve full-text content] All taxpayers should understand eligibility for credits and deductionsvia Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2022/08/03/business-related-travel-deductions/ |
AuthorI have 5+ years experience working as a medical transcriptionist. When I am not working, I enjoy sports like playing basketball or judo. I love making friends and connections. Archives
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