As you transition from a full-time role into life as a freelancer, you will undoubtedly have many unanswered questions, some of which you’re too embarrassed to ask! So, to save you from awkward conversations and ensure you have the information you need to get started, we answer eight frequently asked questions about the freelancing life that you probably didn’t want to ask us!

How do I get started as a freelancer?

Let’s start at the beginning. When entering the freelance lifestyle for the first time, knowing where to start can not be easy. But the truth is that you can find clients armed with a PC and internet connection, providing you know where to look! As soon as you’ve decided on the service you will offer your clients, launch your profile on RadialHub and start marketing yourself. You will be amazed at how quickly you will find clients.

Do I need to work for free at the start?

This is tough to answer, but we don’t encourage working for free. It’s better to price yourself a little on the cheap side and at least be remunerated for your time on your projects. Working for free for clients you don’t know is exploitative and something you should avoid. While doing the odd job for family and friends at the start is okay, be confident in your ability and charge what you think is fair for your time.

Should I quit my job?

This one is entirely up to you. Some freelancers start their careers as a side hustle, while others jump into the deep end and cut all ties with their current jobs to work on their freelancing endeavors full-time. You have to make this decision depending on your circumstances. If you have enough money in the bank and won’t put yourself under financial pressure by quitting your job, go for it! But if you need the financial security of a salaried role while you look for new clients, it’s best to start freelancing in your spare time.

Will I find enough clients to support my livelihood?

New freelancers are often anxious about finding clients, which is understandable. After all, when you enter an industry for the first time, it’s daunting and challenging to know where your work will come from. But as you win your first few clients and deliver exceptional work, you will find a snowball effect. The more you deliver great work and receive positive feedback, the more clients will come your way.

Can I set my hours?

Yes! One of the most liberating things about freelancing is that you can work whenever you like. But we always urge caution when you’re deciding when and how often to work. Just because you can work whenever you want, it doesn’t mean you necessarily should. Failing to set office hours and thinking that you can work at any time of the day or night will lead you to work too much and will cause you to burn out. Consider how much you want to work and set your office hours accordingly.

How much does the average freelancer earn?

Although there are many things to consider, the average earnings for freelancers in North America currently sit around the $20 per hour mark. But you can reasonably expect to increase your earnings as you become more experienced and boost your skills. One of the most attractive things about freelancing is that the sky is very much the limit, and you can build your business beyond your wildest dreams!

How do I find help to run my freelance business?

There’s a common misconception that working as a freelancer means you’re alone. But in reality, help is only a click away! As you soon discover, you will be responsible for your accounts, finances, marketing, and administration. And as your client base grows, so do the demands on your time. Consider searching on RadialHub for accountants and personal assistants who can support you to work more efficiently and ultimately help you run your freelancing business.

I want to travel while freelancing – Is it possible?

It might not have escaped your attention that the digital nomad lifestyle is taking the world by storm! Providing you have a stable internet connection and a laptop; you can work from anywhere in the world. But if you plan to work as a freelancer while on the road, lay your plans well in advance to ensure that you can work and deliver your projects ahead of the agreed deadlines.

Final Thoughts

We hope that we’ve answered some of your questions about freelancing and that you can now dive in and get started! The world is your oyster as a freelancer, so get started today and enjoy the liberation of being your boss and setting your working schedule!

The post Top Eight Things You Wanted to Know About Freelancing But Were Too Embarrassed to Ask first appeared on Techy Punch.

However, some businesses continue to prioritise traditional marketing methods or ignore digital marketing altogether. This could be due to a lack of expertise or understanding, or simply a resistance to change. However, businesses that fail to embrace digital marketing risk being left behind by their competitors and missing out on a huge potential audience.

In this article, let’s explore why digital marketing will change the trajectory of your business for the better.

1. Increased visibility and reach

Digital marketing allows businesses to reach a wider audience than traditional marketing methods. With the increasing number of people using the internet, social media, and mobile devices, businesses can target their audience more effectively through digital channels. This multiplied visibility can lead to more website traffic, leads, and ultimately, sales.

According to a report by the Datareportal Digital 2021 Global Overview, there are 4.9 billion active internet users worldwide as of January 2021, which represents 63.2% of the global population.

2. Better targeting and personalisation

Digital marketing allows businesses to target and personalise their messaging to specific audiences. With the use of data analytics and customer profiling, businesses can create more targeted and personalised marketing campaigns. This leads to higher engagement rates, increased customer loyalty, and better ROI.

Brands that personalise promotional marketing emails experience 27% higher unique click rates and 11% higher open rates than those that do not personalise as per a report by Experian.

3. Cost-effective and measurable

Compared to traditional marketing methods, digital marketing is often more cost-effective and provides better ROI. With digital marketing, businesses can track and measure their campaigns in real-time, allowing them to adjust their strategies and optimise their budgets accordingly. This ensures that businesses are getting the most out of their marketing spend.

A study conducted by HubSpot found that inbound marketing (a form of digital marketing) on average is 62% cheaper per lead than outbound marketing (a type of traditional marketing).

4. Keeps up with changing consumer behavior

In today’s digital age, consumers are increasingly using digital channels to research and purchase products and services. Businesses that fail to adapt to this changing behavior, risk losing customers to their competitors. By prioritising digital marketing, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and meet their customers where they are.

In conclusion, digital marketing is no longer an option but a necessity for businesses to succeed in today’s digital age. With its ability to reach and engage with a global audience, digital marketing is a valuable investment for businesses of all sizes.

However, executing a successful digital marketing strategy requires expertise and knowledge. That’s where Meta Business Solutions comes in.

Next step:

We offer two solutions to help you achieve your digital marketing goals.

Firstly, we can act as your recruitment agency to help you find world-class talent who are pioneers in executing well-thought-out digital marketing plans.

Secondly, we can act as your digital marketing agency and work as your extended team to fulfill your goals via digital marketing strategies.

Both options are cost-effective and give you access to global talent, making it a better choice than hiring your own team locally.

Partnering with Meta Business Solutions ensures that you have the right experts by your side to execute the ideal marketing strategy for your business, leaving you free to focus on running your business.

The post Why Digital Marketing Should Be The Top Priority For Businesses in 2023 first appeared on Techy Punch.

In today’s digitally driven world, managed IT service providers (MSPs) play a crucial role in helping businesses manage their IT infrastructure and stay competitive. However, with the growing number of MSPs in the market, it’s essential for these service providers to adopt effective digital marketing strategies to differentiate themselves, build brand awareness, and drive growth. In this blog post, we will explore the various ways in which digital marketing can benefit managed IT service providers and provide actionable insights to help them thrive in the competitive landscape.

1. Building an Engaging Online Presence:

Digital marketing allows MSPs to establish a strong online presence, enabling them to reach a wider audience. Here are some key strategies to achieve this:

A. Website Optimization: A well-designed and user-friendly website is the cornerstone of digital marketing. It should highlight the services offered, showcase client success stories, and provide valuable content such as blogs, case studies, and whitepapers.

B. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Implementing SEO best practices helps MSPs rank higher in search engine results pages. By optimizing their website with relevant keywords, creating high-quality backlinks, and ensuring technical SEO elements are in place, MSPs can attract organic traffic and generate leads.

C. Content Marketing: Producing informative and relevant content positions MSPs as thought leaders and helps build trust with potential clients. Content formats such as blog posts, ebooks, infographics, and videos can be used to educate and engage the target audience.

2. Targeted Advertising and Lead Generation:

Digital marketing offers MSPs the ability to reach their ideal customers through targeted advertising and lead generation campaigns. Here are some effective methods:

A. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: Running PPC campaigns on platforms like Google Ads or social media channels allows MSPs to display ads to users searching for IT services or who match specific demographics. By carefully targeting relevant keywords and optimizing ad copy, MSPs can attract quality leads.

B. Social Media Marketing: Utilizing social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook helps MSPs connect with potential clients, share valuable content, and build a community. Social media advertising can be highly targeted, reaching decision-makers in specific industries or geographical locations.

C. Email Marketing: Building a targeted email list and sending regular newsletters or updates keeps MSPs top-of-mind with potential clients. Personalized emails, offering insights and solutions, can nurture leads and drive conversions.

3. Online Reputation Management:

Reputation is vital for any service-based business. MSPs can leverage digital marketing strategies to manage their online reputation effectively:

a. Online Reviews and Testimonials: Encouraging satisfied clients to leave positive reviews on platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, or industry-specific directories enhances the MSP’s credibility and attracts new customers.

b. Thought Leadership and Guest Blogging: By positioning themselves as industry experts, MSPs can contribute guest blog posts to relevant websites or publications. This enhances their reputation, increases visibility, and drives traffic back to their own website.

4. Leveraging Social Proof and Case Studies:

Social proof is a powerful tool in the digital marketing arsenal. MSPs can showcase their expertise and success through:

a. Case Studies: Detailed case studies highlight the challenges faced by clients and how MSPs effectively resolved them. These real-life examples demonstrate the value MSPs bring to the table and help build trust with potential clients.

b. Client Testimonials: Displaying testimonials from satisfied clients on the website or social media platforms adds credibility to the MSP’s services and can influence prospects’ buying decisions.

5. Continuous Data Analysis and Improvement:

Digital marketing provides valuable data and analytics that can help MSPs refine their strategies and achieve better results. By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, lead conversion rates, click-through rates, and engagement metrics, MSPs can gain insights to improve their digital marketing efforts. Here are a few ways to leverage data analysis:

a. Conversion Tracking: Implementing conversion tracking tools such as Google Analytics allows MSPs to identify which marketing channels and campaigns are generating the most leads or conversions. This data helps allocate resources effectively and optimize underperforming strategies.

b. A/B Testing: Conducting A/B tests on elements like ad copy, landing page designs, or call-to-action buttons helps MSPs identify what resonates best with their audience. By analyzing the results, they can make data-driven decisions to improve conversion rates.

c. User Behavior Analysis: Studying user behavior on the website provides insights into how visitors navigate, what content they engage with, and where they drop off. This information helps MSPs optimize the user experience and improve website performance.

Conclusion:

Digital marketing has become an essential tool for managed IT service providers looking to drive growth and stay ahead in a competitive market. By leveraging various digital marketing strategies, MSPs can establish a strong online presence, generate quality leads, build their reputation, and continuously refine their efforts based on data analysis. Investing in digital marketing not only helps MSPs attract new clients but also strengthens relationships with existing ones.

The post How Digital Marketing Can Drive Growth for Managed IT Service Providers first appeared on Techy Punch.

• A Brief Introduction to ChatGPT & Its Working Model

ChatGPT is based on GPT-3.5 architecture that leverages a transformer-based deep learning algorithm to process vast volumes of text data, understand the context, and generate relevant responses based on predictive tokens. The concept of the generative pre-training transformer (GPT) model was launched in 2018. It was then advanced with a self-attention mechanism to make it more accurate, precise, and intuitive.

The transformer architecture leverages an encoder to process the provided information (input prompt) and a decoder to generate the output (responses). ChatGPT is trained on massive text data including websites, books, and articles with a great variety of genres and topics. Hence, it can quickly generate the text (responses) based on the context and sentiment analysis of words provided as input.

• How Does ChatGPT Integration Bring a Difference?

The natural language processing (NLP) model capabilities of ChatGPT make it stand out from other conventional chatbots. Additionally, the deep learning aspect of ChatGPT makes it a perfect tool to generate responses with human-like intelligence and personalize conversations.

ChatGPT is currently used by over 1.16 billion users across the globe, out of which many businesses leverage this exceptional tool for the following benefits:

‣ Making Customer Service More Responsive & Personalized

The foremost benefit of integrating ChatGPT API into your business website is that you can transform your customer service dramatically. In the past few years, customer service has shifted to digital interactions. This is a major reason why worldwide businesses have switched to ChatGPT to enhance customer experiences.

With ChatGPT in customer service, you can easily automate the process and make its operations much more responsive. To ensure personalized responses from ChatGPT, you must fine-tune it on a specific set of data. All you need is a ChatGPT developer who can integrate a ChatGPT API into your business website and train the chatbot specifically on data pertaining to customer interactions for your organization.

‣ Making Marketing Campaigns More Targeted and Meaningful

Every business aims to enhance its customer base and boost its brand value. ChatGPT API Integration can prove to be extremely beneficial from a marketing point of view. Content creation is a critical aspect of marketing, covering emails, social media posts, blogs, articles, and other promotional content.

The chatbot data can be leveraged to ensure personalization in ChatGPT-generated responses. Based on valuable insights derived from this data, you can easily create various forms of content for your marketing campaigns. In addition to this, ChatGPT can also generate personalized content based on a user’s previous interactions, purchasing patterns, and demographics. It can also prove to be a valuable tool for market research, helping you understand your customers better. ChatGPT can also assist in creating customer surveys, which is an effective way to gather customer feedback and insights.

‣ Offering Personalized Product Descriptions

Compelling product descriptions have always been a crucial aspect of businesses selling products online. Writing descriptions for a wide range of products is a time-consuming task for most online businesses. In this scenario, the eCommerce industry can effectively leverage the capabilities of ChatGPT to write appealing and high-quality product information.

ChatGPT facilitates creating engaging, accurate, and personalized descriptions for your products leading to increased conversions. ChatGPT leverages the data on which it is trained and the NLP model to create enticing descriptions that best reflect your product’s worth and usability.

‣Streamlining Internal Processes

As businesses strive to enhance the productivity of their employees, ChatGPT can prove to be an extremely helpful tool to streamline internal processes and add efficiency to them. For instance, directly or indirectly, ChatGPT can simplify and automate some straightforward processes like scheduling meetings, report creation, and inventory management. This allows your staff to focus on other critical aspects of your business rather than performing redundant tasks.

Moreover, ChatGPT can also enable businesses to streamline employee onboarding and offer personalized and interactive training material to them. ChatGPT can also be leveraged to make internal communication clearer and more effective. You can create personalized templates for major announcements, policy updates, and team feedback.

‣ Enabling Businesses to Offer Seamless User Experiences

User experience is a critical factor in keeping customers engaged, increasing sales, and building strong brand value. It is the final interpretation of a user’s journey on any website. Hence, from website designs to CTAs and from navigation to overall aesthetics, integrating ChatGPT API into a business website can help you create better user experiences.

Automated content creation and search query optimization can enable businesses to improve the overall UX of their websites. You can leverage ChatGPT’s capabilities to provide accurate solutions to users’ queries and address challenges that they face with your brand. It can offer personalized recommendations to customers based on their previous queries and purchasing patterns. ChatGPT can prove to be an invaluable asset to maximize the level of user satisfaction while accelerating your digital presence and reaching out to newer audiences.

• The Bottom Line

OpenAI has been constantly working to enhance ChatGPT’s capabilities and patch up the vulnerabilities in its future releases. Proper training and monitoring of this transformative AI bot can be a game-changer for your business to enhance its operations, streamline workflow, and create personalized user experiences for customers to help them stay loyal to your brand.

The post What Difference Is ChatGPT Bringing to Modern-day Businesses? first appeared on Techy Punch.

1. Rapid Growth of Green Hosting

There is a need to decrease the carbon footprint of the data centers. Green hosting is an environment-friendly initiative that is being adopted by web hosting providers.

2. Cloud Hosting – Fastest Growing Type of Hosting

It is predicted that cloud hosting will grow around 20% every year from 2020 to 2026. This is one of the fastest growths for any type of hosting. The main reason for this rapid growth of cloud hosting is its flexible and convenient hosting solutions for businesses. It helps businesses to scale and expand with the flexible pricing model.

3. Average Domain Cost 10 USD to USD 15

If you want to purchase or renew a domain, then you will need to pay anywhere from $10 to $15. But you should also know that the domain may cost more if you are looking for a specific domain name. You may need to spend thousands or even lakhs of money for highly sought-after domain names.

4. Most Popular New gTLDs – .Info

.Info is the most popular top-level domain followed by .Tech, .Biz, .Top, etc. The .Com domain extension is becoming more and more crowded, which does not allow a person to get a good domain name. Out of all the new gTLDs, .Info domains hold 10% share and .xyz holds 8% share of the domain market.

5. 370 Million Domain Names Registered

A total of 370 million domain names are registered in all TLDs. We can see how enormous the internet is becoming. For every 20 people in the world, there is one domain name.

7. .com – Leading Domain Name Extension Share with 35% Share

One would not be surprised to know that the .com domain extension has the largest share in total domain extension with over 35%. Out of all the original TLDs, which are .mil, .int, .net, .org, .gov. and .edu, .com has become the leading TLDs. .com domain extension comes with credibility and reputation for a domain name among other domain extensions.

8. .TK – 2nd Most Popular TLD

After .com, .tk has become the leading domain name extension with more than 5% of the market share. It is also reported that .tk domains are mostly used for illegal activities such as email phishing and internet scamming by hackers online.

Hope you have got a good idea about the current web hosting industry and the changes. There are more changes to come in the future as it is an ever-growing field.

Currently, Hostgator is our recommended choice of hosts to get started in 2022.

The post How Has the Web Hosting Industry Changed in 2023? first appeared on Techy Punch.

While the new age businesses already had the edge of being digitally active, their reliance on digital marketing grew even further. On the other hand, the businesses that relied more on conventional forms of marketing like in-person events, trade shows, and exhibitions etc., suddenly found themselves in troubled waters. Hence, there has been a pressing need for the companies to go for digital transformation to stay competitive and to avoid extinction.

Here we mention 5 reasons for the businesses to embrace digital marketing at the earliest.

1. Visibility and Competitive Edge: With the growing penetration of the internet, it is getting increasingly common for people to go online to initiate their search for products and services. They usually discover your products and services through e-mails, Search engines, social media channels, and websites etc. The more you are found online, the more business opportunities it can generate. No wonder, digitally adept companies are doing more business. Hence, investing in digital marketing can give you that competitive edge.
2. Performance analysis and building strategies in accordance with that: Once you have started implementing digital marketing strategies, you can monitor your campaigns’ performance with analytics tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics, and Instagram Insights etc. For example, Google Analytics can help you to keep a track of key metrics such as number of visitors, bounce rates, and time spent on different pages of your website. It helps you gather information on what is working and what is not. Moreover, you can develop your future strategies based on these insights.
3. Marketing budget optimization: Last year was a nightmare for businesses in tourism, hospitality, events, and travel etc. Even other businesses that relied heavily on traditional forms of marketing suffered a lot because of the lockdown restrictions. However, there have been enough stories of how switching to digital helped them stay afloat in new normal. Even though the marketing budgets took a hit, some businesses were wise enough to redirect what was available towards digital marketing. It became an eye opener for many of them as they found newer avenues for lead generation. It has granted the businesses a vision to optimize their marketing budget in a way that they make the best use of both conventional forms of marketing and digital marketing.
4. Empowerment of employees: With more and more businesses adopting an integrated marketing strategy, employees feel empowered because digital tools enable them to accomplish their jobs faster and with increased transparency. Since this is an ever-evolving field, learning and development is a key aspect of this job. All of these contribute to innovative business practices that enable employees to make informed decisions faster.
5. Increased Revenue: With multiple digital marketing channels at your disposal and their effective usage, you can increase your organization’s revenue at a faster rate. 81.7% of respondents in a survey conducted by Grin agreed that digital marketing increased their financial performance. This is purely because of a data-driven marketing model with innovative concepts and strategies which help organizations to reach new markets while keeping the existing markets equally interested.

While adopting digital marketing strategies became a sort of emergency pill in this pandemic era, there are enough reasons to believe that they will continue to be an integral part of organizations’ marketing strategies when things are back to normal. Moreover, they would be more prepared to handle any such eventualities in future.

The post 5 Reasons to Embrace Digital Marketing first appeared on Techy Punch.

Overlapping domains of conventional and digital marketing

Any marketing approach through digital media channels is digital or on-line marketing. The domain of digital media is fast expanding. Presently, social media channels, websites, TV, radio, mobile handsets and even non digital media like billboards and transit displays are considered as digital marketing components. In other words, at present, conventional marketing include aspects like P2P (person to person) marketing, elements of direct marketing that on-line marketing does not cover and print advertising. Actually, the domains of off-line and on-line marketing are fast overlapping each other. Elements of traditional marketing like on-line directories, URL landing pages, web banner advertising, QR codes and others have a strong connection with on-line marketing.

Reasons to assign greater importance to digital media

It is not just marketers and business owners who are driving the shift to digital media. Even consumers are contributing to this phase change. The majority of digital media channels, including various social media platforms and websites, can be more easily tracked. Whereas, print media and other traditional marketing approaches are hardly easy in that aspect.

In contrast to traditional advertising, its on-line counterpart is much cost-effective. Unlike running conventional advertising, one does not need to invest a fortune in running on-line advertising campaigns. The modern advertising approach is equally ideal for small, medium and large-scale businesses, as well as for startup brands.

These days, consumers do not flip through yellow-pages or directories anymore, to find any business to avail its products or services. They Google the required information, either using their hand-held mobiles, laptops or desktops. Thus, businesses hardly have any better alternative other than depending on on-line marketing using the platform of digital media.

Dependable web solutions companies

In this vastly changed landscape, businesses need to hire reliable web solutions-providers. Actually, modern marketing efforts for businesses revolve around building smart and business-friendly websites. A corporate website should ideally represent both the business and the brand. It is also important to ensure that it is easily navigable and user-friendly. Last but never the least, businesses need to invest on optimising their websites, so that the sites rank higher in SERP (Search Engine Result Page).

There are many freelancers, providing web design, development and SEO services at reasonable rates. It is better to pay a higher price and hire a professional brand that provides comprehensive web solutions than working with freelancers. There are many brands that provide a wide and impressive range of services including web design, search engine optimisation (SEO), content marketing, PPC advertising, social media marketing and many more. Hiring such companies will give better mileage in course of time.

The post Digital Marketing to Promote Businesses to Greater Heights of Success first appeared on Techy Punch.