5 Quick Ways to Get More Traffic to your Website

If you have a website for your work (or even for pleasure) chances are you’ve gone into your stats and sat there and thought: ‘why aren’t more people coming to my website?’

Well, there’s a long and a short answer to this.

The short answer is because you’re not showing up on Google for people to click through and come to your website.

The long answer is why you’re not showing up on Google, and that has something to do with your domain ranking (which is the numerical value that tells you how relevant and awesome Google thinks your website is), your search relevancy, and whether your site is SEO optimised.

Now, I know. You see the word ‘SEO’ and your eyes glaze over. All the fun has been sucked from the world.

But it doesn’t have to be hard. Let’s look at 5 super quick, super easy tips that will help you get more traffic to your website without having to delve too deeply into the scary world of SEO.

1. Get other (bigger) websites to link to you

If a big website links to your little one, Google sees this and goes “oh wow, there must be some great content on there.” This is especially easy if you have a blog on your website, or somewhere you put creative content.

Have a look at websites that accept guest posts, and see if they will include a link to you in the author bio. That way, you can piggyback off other websites’ successes!

2. Make sure your website is doing what it says on the tin

Google likes this to be simple. If you say your website is a website about your acting and then spent 89% of your time posting reviews of your local coffee shops, Google is going to get confused. And that will hurt your traffic numbers.

So check your meta-description, check your website name and make sure what your posting on your website fits with what you said you’d post.

Think of it like a book. If you pick up a book called Fairy Tales from Germany you expect the stories to be fairy tales from Germany. Not recipes for seventeen different types of casserole.

3. Shout about your website

Tell people about it! This works in person, as well as on social media. Make sure you have your website link in all your bios, and if you publish an awesome new post, make sure this goes on your Facebook, your Instagram, your Twitter. And don’t stop sharing it either. Schedule it back into your feeds in a month’s time so people that missed it the first time around can read it then.

4. Get clever with your keywords

Now, bear with me, I know this sounds marketing-y. And that’s because it is. Keywords are your book synopsis, they’re what your website (or your post) is about. So let’s say you have a page on your website to buy tickets to your latest shows. Write some content in there for Google so that it knows that this page is all about buying tickets. Use the phrase buy tickets as often as possible without forcing it down your reader’s throats. Then Google will know what’s going on with that page and move it up the rankings.

5. Make sure your website is easy to use

If people click on your website and it takes 50 minutes to load up, chances are they won’t click again. And Google has the memory of an elephant. So make sure your images are small and aren’t holding you back (this is a great tool for making them smaller) and do a little walkthrough of your website from the point of view of your audience. Do you have something for them to click on at the end of every page that’ll keep them on your website? If the answer is no, try and make a little journey for them.

Think of it as a treasure map, with you leaving little bits of treasure all over your site.

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Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com

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How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer

So you wanna be a freelance writer? Awesome!

Chances are, you have no idea where to start. But that’s OK, because that’s where everyone starts out. Generally speaking you have a few options if you’re starting out freelance.

You can:

• Build your brand up and hope clients come to you
• Seek clients via traditional job postings (although these tend to want people on board full time or on a contracted basis)
• Seek clients via remote work positions
• Seek clients via agencies
• Send off hopeful submissions to websites in the hope you get a publishing credit

So let’s look at these one by one and break them down.

Building up your brand and hoping clients come to you

This will 100% be the slowest way of attaining business, so if earning money in the short-term is important for you (as I would imagine it probably is) I definitely don’t recommend this.

Brand building requires a few different balls to be in the air at once and it takes time to build up yourself, your audience and then convert that engagement into clients willing to pay money.

It also requires a lot of time and input commitment on your part – as you will need to be online, present and selling yourself regularly to maintain the footholds you’ve clawed out for yourself.

Seek clients via traditional job postings

This is possibly the easiest way of getting some work initially, even though the application processes this way tend to be more time consuming for you, as you’re effectively applying for a job each time you’re bidding for work.

It’s a good idea to set up alerts on a few different websites, so that you can have a steady stream of options coming into your inbox (e.g. Reed, Indeed.) You can upload your CV and pre-write a covering letter on both of these, so they save you a bit of time.

Seek clients via remote work positions

Remote working gives you the same flexibility as freelance, as often they’ll contract you on a part time or project by project basis. You need to check each position before you apply, but some great sites for job hunting this way are Remotive, Remote.co)

Seek clients via agencies

Be careful with agencies. They take a cut of your earnings, so you’re never realising your full earning potential. However, they can be a good stop-gap to make sure you’ve got some money coming in while you get your ducks in a row applying for longer-term positions or trying to attract more clients.

You also need to see whether there’s a subscription fee, because this can often outweigh the potential benefit. Some examples include Contena, and Fiverr.

With agencies you need to make sure that it makes sense money wise. Sometimes the quantity of content you’d need to produce to be earning sufficiently versus the time it would take you to produce all that content doesn’t balance out.

Send off hopeful submissions

Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of this:

Pros

You might get published

You might get paid

Cons

You might not get published

You might not get paid

You’ve still invested the time in producing a piece of content

If you need to build your portfolio then it’s definitely a good idea to send them work you’ve already invested your time in, perhaps work you’ve already self-published somewhere like LinkedIn or Medium. Don’t invest in new work unless you’re able to self-publish it as well. Your time is your money, so make sure you’re balancing the spending and earning in both senses.

Finally, here’s something extra that sounds obvious but that you should definitely do:

Tell your friends and family you’re going freelance

Mention it to them. Reach out to anyone that you think it would be relevant to.

In the words of Tesco: every little helps.

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Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com

Top Tips for Radio Freelancers on Social Media

We chatted to radio freelancers at RIGtrain: a brilliant training event run by The Radio Independents Group this week and we thought we would share some of our top tips with you!

                         

 

Get the story

Twitter is a great place for you find that great story or guest for your radio work! Use the twitter search function to search keywords in your area of interest eg. nature , keep an eye on whats trending in that left hand column (pic below) and keep an eye on influencers in your circles of interest ie. people on twitter who are active and share interesting news and stories that are relevant to you!

Live Stream

Live stream your radio shows or podcasts through Periscope or Facebook Live and trick people who wouldn’t normally tune in for audio content into listening! Live streaming helps you engage with visual content consumers and give a behind the scenes look at recording.

Hashtags

Use hashtags to link together your posts on social media and create a project timeline. Got a new podcast? Create a hashtag and promote it both in audio content and visually on posters and social media icons. This is a great way to bring everything together and if your show is very popular your hashtag could even start trending which means more people will be encouraged to join in.

Promote yourselves

As a freelancer you need to view yourself as a business and don’t forget to market that business. Let us know what you are up to via social media channels, promote your projects and successes and network with other freelancers in radio as this could lead to paid work!

 

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing are some penguins with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact us any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com 

 Facebook.com/penguinintheroom 

twitter.com/prartsmarketing

or waddle over to the website: www.penguinintheroom.com

Social Media for Casting Directors (Film/TV/Commercial)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photo credit: vancouverfilmschool via photopin cc

So you are a Casting Director in Film/TV/Commericals and you are interested in social media, you might even have a Facebook or twitter profile but what social media channels should you be using?

You should be present on these 4 : Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and LinkedIn

1. Twitter – over 500 million members and the one every one is obsessed with. Great for people on the go – you can tweet anywhere if you have a smart phone. Perfect for finding opportunities,  networking with potential clients, promoting your work and sharing those casting calls that are a little bit harder to find.

2. Facebook – over a billion members! The Facebook membership is getting older so you will find more and more industry folk on there. Great for connecting, keeping tabs on your connections, finding opportunities and promoting your work. Images work better than text on Facebook so make each post visual (think of all those stills you can use from your projects)!

3. Vimeo – very popular in the industry particularly with film-makers so lots of networking possibilities. Vimeo also enables you to password protect your videos (YouTube doesn’t) so the public can’t see them – upload videos of your auditions and send the link and password to your director/client if they can’t be with you. Much better than downloads!

4. LinkedIn – widely known as the biggest lead generating social media network, which means that people get the most work from this one. Great for keeping tabs on your connections and promoting your CV. Take a look at What is LinkedIn? A Straightforward Guide for more info.

If thats not enough social media time for you then it’s definitely worth checking out Pinterest and popping your reel on Youtube – it’s the second biggest search engine after google don’t you know!

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is one penguin with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping my way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact me any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to my website: www.penguinintheroom.com

 

Social Media for Producers

So you are a producer and you are interested in social media, you might even have a Facebook profile but what social media channels should you be using?

 

 

 

 

 

You should be present on: LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook

1. LinkedIn – widely known as the biggest lead generating social media network, which means that people get the most work out of this one. Great for keeping tabs on your connections and promoting your CV online. Take a look at What is LinkedIn? A Straightforward Guide for more info.

2. Twitter – over 500 million members and the one every one is obsessed with. Great for people on the go – you can tweet anywhere if you have a smart phone. Perfect for starting conversations and finding opportunities as well as promoting your productions.

3. Facebook – over a billion members! The Facebook membership is getting older so you will find more and more industry folk on there. Lots of theatre companies and film companies have pages so a great place to make connections. Great for finding opportunities and promoting your projects.

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is one penguin with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping my way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact me any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to my website: www.penguinintheroom.com

How can I get paid work from twitter?

Happy summer penguins, I hope you are getting some sun block on those white bits! I recently met some lovely film and tv freelancers at the BECTU Freelancers Fair and a question that seemed to come up a lot was how to get paid work from twitter. So, here we go….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44313045@N08/

Direct job ads

Follow the right people on twitter (ie. people in your industry) and every so often you should see jobs pop up on your timeline. ie. “I am looking for a DOP for a shoot on Monday, London based. DM me” these are pretty clear-cut so you can directly reply with a link to your website or ask for an email to send over a CV.

You can also help this process along by using the twitter search function and putting in some nice keywords. eg. writer, DOP, camera person, film, tv, producer and try phrases like “need producer” or “producer london” to find the right jobs for you.

It’s all about who you know..

However, the method that will get you the most job results is NETWORKING. (Read some tips about face to face networking here.) We know that the creative industries are all about who you know and we all want to work with people we like/can get on with. So, you need to get into the pool of people your industry contacts know and like before that great job comes up – this means that when that perfect job does come up the contact comes straight to you, as they already know what you and have seen/heard about your previous work (via twitter). Alternatively if they don’t come to you but you apply for the job, you will be one step ahead of all the other people applying  as the contact will have already heard of you and spoken to you via twitter.

How do I network on twitter?

Use twitter primarily to interact! Follow the people you admire and want to work with and start conversations with them. Remember every time you reply or retweet them your twitter name and icon comes up on their profile so make sure it features your face/logo and your full name or business name!

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is one penguin with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping my way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact me any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to my website: www.penguinintheroom.com

Social Media for Writers

So you are a writer and you are interested in social media, you might even have a Facebook profile but what social media channels should you be using?

You should be present on: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a have a blog.

1. Twitter – over 500 million members and the one every one is obsessed with. Great for people on the go – you can tweet anywhere if you have a smart phone. Perfect for inspiration, promoting your writing and finding opportunities.

2. Facebook – over a billion members! The Facebook membership is getting older so you will find more and more industry folk on there. Lots of theatre companies and film companies have pages so a great place to make connections. Great for finding opportunities and promoting your writing.

3. LinkedIn – widely known as the biggest lead generating social media network, which means that people get the most work out of this one. Great for keeping tabs on your connections and promoting your cv online. Take a look at What is LinkedIn? A Straightforward Guide for more info.

4. Blog – lots of blog providers out there but WordPress is my favourite. A great way to keep yourself writing regularly and to have an online portfolio of your work to show others. Write about whatever subject you want and you can even get a following going. Blogs can lead to paid work for magazines, papers etc. and even getting a published books so pick your topic wisely!

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is one penguin with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping my way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact me any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to my website:www.penguinintheroom.com

What is LinkedIn? A Straightforward Guide.

In my marketing consultations with creatives I often hear…

I have a LinkedIn profile but I don’t really know what to do with it?

or

What is LinkedIn for?

Sound familiar? Well lots of people have lots of complicated opinions about LinkedIn and how to use it for marketing (and I’m sure they are all very useful if you like the complicated stuff) but here are my basic tips for understanding and using LinkedIn, as straightforward as I could get them.

What can I use LinkedIn for?

Online Address Book – think of it as a space to keep all of your business contacts, like an address book you can never lose because its online! Add people the day after you meet/work with them and then you have everyone in one handy place.

Working – LinkedIn is widely known as the biggest lead generating network which means more potential to get you work and make you money. It’s all about networking to building your industry address book, nurturing your contacts and reminding them that you exist!

Profile – if you are working on your google listing, LinkedIn is another online profile which will appear in an online search so you can bolster your listings.

Recommendations – LinkedIn gives you the option to ask your connections for recommendations, so use it! Getting testimonials from people and companies you have worked with previously will not only show that you have been working but will give others another reason to hire you. If a contact I know/respect recommends you, I might be more likely to hire you!

Skill Endorsements – your skill list is a great tool to sell yourself as a creative. LinkedIn has introduced a new feature which allows your connections to endorse your skills at the click of a button. Like mini recommendations for your skills!

Highlights – LinkedIn now allows you to rearrange your profile so that you can highlight your key accolades. Eg. If you have won any awards you can move that section to the top! There is also room for a summary paragraph which should list all your highlights too.

Reminders – LinkedIn has its own posts feed, similar to Facebook and twitter. Publish relevant posts on your feed to remind your business contacts you exist and tell them all the amazing things you are up to (only industry related of course).

Introductions – if you want to meet someone in particular eg. for actors it might be that key casting director or for artists a gallery owner, LinkedIn can help. Via LinkedIn you can search the name of the person you would love to meet and see how you are linked to them through your current connections. You can then ask your connection to introduce you! (Free LinkedIn only gives you a few of these introductions so use them wisely as your contact could refuse to introduce you!)

Groups – LinkedIn has many different groups (similar to Facebook groups) that you can join and use for networking, problem solving and looking up opportunities. Once you have set up your profile its worth searching for groups that might be relevant to you or starting one of your own!

So I hope you feel that you know a little bit more about LinkedIn – don’t forget to add the icon to the social media bar on your website so people can find you! Do let me know how you get on.

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is one penguin with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping my way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact me any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.comorFacebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to my website:www.penguinintheroom.com

Top 4 tips on how to make the most of #hashtags on twitter!

A hashtag is this lovely symbol # which you have probably seen banded about across twitter, the internet and even on tv and printed advertising now-a-days. But what is it for?! Well it has a number of fun functions (alliteration makes me happy).

1. Helping more people see your tweets – a great way to find news/info tailored to you on twitter, is to use the search function. If you are a director you might search “actors” to find some new talent. So if you are an actor and you are tweeting about your latest project you might want to hashtag it with “actors” eg #actors so that directors can find you. Similarly if you are an artist and you are tweeting about your latest artwork you might want to hashtag it with words that will help art lovers find you eg. #art #painting #sculpture
2. Promoting an event or campaign – if you are planning an event or marketing campaign its a terrific idea to create a hashtag for it. The hashtag can be used to encourage people to tweet about the event and to monitor feedback: raising awareness and giving you a list of testimonials for the product or event.
3. Linking conversations – every Sunday when the new episode of Downton Abbey is on you will probably notice that lots of people are using the hashtag #downton or #downtonabbey when commenting on the newest instalment If you click on this hashtag it will take you to all the tweets featuring this hashtag. You can read through whole conversations about Downton and join in yourself. This can be a useful tool if you are off to an event and the clever event hosts have read “tip 3” and created a hashtag for the event, such as #penguinworkshop The day before most people will probably tweet that they are excited about or off to this fabulous event eg. “So excited about #penguinworkshop tomorrow afternoon”. If you are going too you can click on this hashtag and see who is going to be at the event the next day and maybe even do some pre-event networking – perhaps arrange to all go to lunch together or meet for coffee before!
4. For Funnies – hashtags are also useful for making jokes and don’t forget you can hashtag a few words together. Popular ones are #shamlessselfpromotion #badhairday my personal favourites are #pickupapenguin and #lastnightapenguinsavedmylife

So there you are! Go forth and hashtag!

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is one penguin with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping my way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact me any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com orFacebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to my website:www.penguinintheroom.com