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Genius has limits, stupidity has none.
 
Institute of IT Trainers - Freelance Trainer of the Year 2006 & 2009
Liverpool Business Connect Member
  Maximum Impact Solutions Limited - Reporting Solutions, Creating Answers
Reporting Solutions - Creating Answers, Crystal Reports, Dashboarding (Xcelsius) & SQL Reporting Services

The Maximum Impact Solutions Blog Feed ME!!!!

09
June

A - Z of a Successful Freelance IT Trainer: W is for Web Strategy

When it comes to budding and established freelance trainers and websites, I am asked a myriad of questions. 

Here are just some of the most commonly asked questions I have been asked recently.

The first question I am always asked is "Do I need a website?"

In today's market, everyone expects businesses to have a website, no matter what the business is.

The simple answer is how does one expect potential clients to find out about you and your services, and how are you going to distinguish yourself from everyone else in the market?

In actual fact I would say having the website is easy, making the website earn its money is a completely different matter.

This is usually quickly followed by the question "What makes a good website?"

Taking the aesthetics aside, a good web site makes navigation easy, presents the information clearly and concisely, but most of all it turns browsers into buyers.

Should I invest in Pay Per Click (PPC)?

Years ago my former marketing company convinced me to invest in some PPC for the website to generate some business, the net result is that I had no business after an investment of £1,000.

I do not know if PPC is an effective ROI, but I know when I search for products and services on-line I always and only look at the organic listings.

Is  Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) expensive and/or time consumming?

SEO can be expensive, if outside help is used.  Some SEO agencies try and sell the holy grail of position 1 on page 1, others top 5 position on page 1, but in real terms, there is no black art to SEO, as there are a set of rules that everyone has to adhere to to get good positions in google.

As such  it can be time consuming, and is not an instant hit.  On average I spend half a day weekly, on my SEO strategy, but as a result I am on page 1 for most of my keyword search terms, and the ROI is better than my PPC effort.

The main issue is that Google keeps on moving the goal posts, for listings

What about Social Media?

Although everyone is doing it, whether it be tweeting, facebooking, being on linked in or the social media tools, the real issue is that it has to be part of your overall web marketing strategy.  One must consider the content and time factors as well.

Where can I advertise my courses on-line?

There are a number of different training websites, that allow freelancers to advertise themselves, as well as their courses free, including:
  • Training Pages www.trainingpages.co.uk
  • E-magister www.emagister.co.uk
  • Course for Me www.courseforme.com
  • Training Classes  www.training-classes.com

Also don't forget, good old Gumtree - www.gumtree.co.uk


I would like to hear your comments, experience, opinions and thoughts about this subject, please drop me a line or two below:
1

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08
August
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2

Julia

09
August
Thanks for your comments, I am really glad that you found the article useful.

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