My House Is Officially on the Market

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And we’re putting the offer in on the new place today. So…who wants to buy my house?

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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My Mission Statement

The reason I bring up mission statements this week is that I had to write one for my business of publishing class. Here’s what I came up with. What’s your business’ mission statement? 

Kristen King Freelancing
Talk is cheap. Good writing is priceless. 

As a freelancer, I’m committed to providing outstanding writing, editing, and consulting services to clients of all types — small and large, local and national, individual and corporate — to help them get their message across clearly, effectively, and beautifully. I aim to empower my clients to express themselves confidently on paper and online by providing them with education and encouragement while working with them to craft a product both they and I can be proud of.

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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What Every Business Owner Should Know About Article Marketing

www.inkthinkerblog.com

It sounds counterintuitive. Giving away free content that just anyone can use? How could that possibly help anyone? Two words for you, my friend: viral marketing.

In the article “Building Traffic with Article Marketing,” Brian Clark of Copyblogger describes article marketing as

submitting short articles to directories such as Ezine Articles, with permission for others to republish your work on their blog, website or in their email newsletter. In return, you get one or more links back to the site of your choice.

Over at Associated Content, Michael Brito takes the definition to the next level when he says,

By distributing articles to various article directories on the Internet, your business can reap the benefits ranging from an increase in web traffic, lead generation, new customers and a solid reputation. It’s a simple concept that has the potential to take your business to the next level and higher.

Article marketing is not writing content for article mills (which I fondly think of a plagiarism factories) for $.00002/word. Article marketing is a targeted, planned business technique that’s specifically geared to bring more people to your website/newsletter/whatever, increase your search engine ranking, and give you and your business more exposure.

Says Arnie Kuenn in “Using Article Marketing to Establish Trust,”

Here are some key points to remember with article marketing:

  • Introduce information rather than pitch sales items
  • Establish your credibility and authority
  • Offer free and useful information
  • Create actions that the reader can take such as signing up for newsletters,
    free reports, etc.
  • Give the reader your contact information.

We’re not talking about War and Peace; we’re talking about 250- to 400- word articles that can be written in a matter of minutes. We’re talking about free publicity over a long period of time with little to no effort. We’re talking about giving people a taste of the milk so they’ll feel compelled to buy the cow.

Tim Robinson at Instant Expert Author gives eight reasons to try article marketing (paraphrased):

  1. Branding.
  2. Publicity, virtually free.
  3. Website traffic.
  4. Long-term article archiving means far-reaching benefits.
  5. Identification as a subject expert.
  6. Web-wide distribution potential.
  7. Free exposure from reprinting.
  8. Article swapping with e-publications.

To learn more about the benefits of article marketing, download Copyblogger’s free 10-page PDF article marketing report, and check out inactive but still invaluable Article Marketing blog.

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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Why Every Freelancer Needs a Mission Statement

www.inkthinkerblog.com

If you want to succeed in business, you need to know how you define success. What’s the best way to do that? Write a mission statement for your business.

A mission statement is a brief, specific statement of what you do, why you do it, and what it means. Bplans.com describes it as

…a cross between a slogan and an executive summary.

Just as slogans and executive summaries can be used in many ways so too can a mission statement. An effective mission statement should be able to tell your company story and ideals in less than 30 seconds.

And what will an effective mission statement do for you? The How-To Network says,

It has one common function: to guide you and your employees in making critical decisions that effect the direction of your company.

A mission statement identifies your company to its customers, vendors, the media and others that will be using or requiring its services or products. It is about providing solutions and adding value to your customers and market.

As we end the first month of the year, take some time this week to evaluate your business’ reason for existence, values, and goals. Once you have a few ideas down on paper, check out these resources for some tips and tools for putting it all together:

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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Re-customization Complete

www.inkthinkerblog.com

Okay, okay, I get it, I get it. Dick, Steve, I heard you! Is it better now?

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

4 comments