The Content Byte

This week on the podcast Lynne and Rachel talk to Sue Bell, who is organising a festival for freelancers in her home town - Launceston, Tasmania. Rachel is a keynote speaker at the event and it's got some great speakers and events as part of the 3-day event in June 2022. Sue talks about why she thinks having a community is important for freelancers, how to put together an engaging conference program and how to do her day job at the same time. She also shares her amazing career journey (and a few laughs). Find out about the Launceston Freelance Festival here: https://launcestonfreelancefestival.com.au/

We continue our successful freelancer series with guest Rashida Tayabali, a copywriter and indie author who started her career in marketing but found her passion in writing copy. Rashida shares the ins and outs of her business journey, including: + Why she decided to niche into working with women business owners + What choosing a niche has done for her business and her growth + Learning SEO and why it's so valuable + How she finds clients and prices her work + Her favourite tools of the trade + Her tips for freelancers just starting out And much more! Find out more about Rashida Visit her website Find her on Instagram Connect with her on LinkedIn Read her book, Life After Ali Other resources Read her blog on writing great marketing copy Check out her masterclass, A starter guide to keywords and SEO for content writers

Life's too short to work for clients who pay you peanuts, make you miserable, refuse to respect your boundaries - or give you work that's just not a good fit for you. If you're getting that 'pit of dread' in your stomach when you see the client's email pop up in your inbox (or their name come in on your phone), it's time to assess whether you should take them off your roster - and open the door to better clients. Because they always DO come along! This episode is with Lynne and Rachel and features stories from the Rachel's List Facebook Gold community - about freelancers who said buh-bye to clients and were much happier for it.

Successful freelance writer Campbell Mattinson talks about how he secured the perfect gig - wine writing. In his chat with host Lynne Testoni, he also shared: How he copes with the delivery of 30 bottles of wine a day The changes in wine writing over the years How he finally published the novel that had been in his bottom drawer for 30 years How photography has made him a better writer Get in touch with Campbell via his website: https://www.campbellmattinson.com/

This week, Rachel & Lynne chat with successful freelancer Emma McMillan about creating quality website content that brings results. We chat about: What is different about writing for websites Whether it's a good niche to be in What key elements that people forget to include in their websites How to price website content Emma's website is https://www.emmamcmillancopy.com/ Emma's podcast is Not Just About Copy LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-mcmillan-copywriter/

Does everyone have a book in them? It's just one of the questions we put to editor and publisher Rebecca Kaiser from Allen and Unwin, who joins us on the podcast to talk about ... so much! Including: + How book publishing has changed in 30 years + Her biggest publishing successes, what 'success' in book publishing actually means + The books that have gone gangbusters and what it's like when you think a book will do well and it doesn't + Tips on finding an agent for your book + Do you need a public profile to get published via traditional channels? + How has the marketing and promotional requirements changed for authors in recent years and what are you expected to do to sell your book? + Can you make a living from non-fiction books in Australia? + Does Allen and Unwin use freelancers and if so, how can you get work in book publishing? + Tips for wannabe authors And much more! More resourcesAllen and Unwin The Friday Pitch

How good are you at following up on story pitches or with new clients? If you could do better, you're in good company: apparently, 48 percent of us never make a single follow-up attempt. Another 44 percent follow up, but give up after one follow-up call. And yet, 80 percent of sales require FIVE follow-ups! In this episode, we talk about: + why we struggle with following up + what we do when following up + best practice in reaching out + when to leave it Resources ~ RL's famous lead generation tracker - to track letters of introduction and follow-ups https://www.rachelslist.com.au/toolkit/product/lead-generation-tracker/ ~ RL's pitch tracker - for tracking and monitoring story pitches and follow-ups https://www.rachelslist.com.au/toolkit/product/pitch-tracker/

Collaborating with other freelancers or small businesses can be a rocket-launcher to growth you couldn't achieve otherwise. Trouble is, it's tricky to get it right, and to know how to approach other brands you might like to team up with. In this episode, we chat to Jess Ruhfus from Collabosaurus, a match-making, marketing platform that connects brands keen to collaborate. Tune in to hear about: + How Jess started Collabosaurus + Why she feels collaboration is the future + How to get started collaborating with another freelancer or brand + How to communicate your value + Collaboration success stories + Jess's favourite tech tools Find out more Check out Collabosaurus Join the Partnerships Masterclass - Starts March 14th! Listeners of The Content Byte can receive $200 off by emailing Jess @ collabosaurus.com Listen to Jess's podcasts: Podcast: Stop, Collaborate & Listen and Podcast: This is How We Do It

If you're a writer thinking about edging into UX, you'll find this episode with UX copywriter Susan Reoch both fascinating AND super helpful. We chat to Susan about: + What UX actually means and how this emerging area is a great one to consider if you're a writer looking to upskill + Where microcopy fits in to the UX bigger picture + How Susan got started in UX and the resources and groups that have been most helpful in growing her business + The kind of work out there for UX copywriters, and why business owners need UX writers more than ever + Why journalists can make great UX copywriters + How to cost UX jobs with lots of moving parts + What you need to know about working in UX teams + Susan's favourite tools Find out more about Susan here: https://susanreochcopywriter.com/ https://www.instagram.com/susanreoch_copywriter/ Other resources Susan's UX Writer's Guide https://susanreochcopywriter.com/the-ux-writers-guide/ The Content Rookie podcast https://contentrookiepod.com/ A blog post on UX writing by Laura Luck https://www.rachelslist.com.au/blog/so-you-think-you-can-be-a-ux-writer/

How do you go from freelancing to running your own content agency? Great question - and in this episode it's one we put to Crucible Content's Jac Taylor, who talks us through why she decided to scale her business, how she did it, the challenges she faced and the digital tools she swears by.