Introduction to the B2B Mix Show
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the B2B Mix Show with Elena and Stacey. Each week, we'll bring you ideas that you can implement in your own marketing strategy. We'll share what we know and advice from industry experts who will join us from time to time here on the show. Are you ready to mix it up? Let's get started.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hey, hey, hey, everybody. This is Alaina Jackson. And this is Stacey Jackson. We're co-founders of Jackson Marketing. And in case you didn't know, we're also sisters. Alaina, what's today's topic about?
00:00:32
Speaker
Oh, we have a good one today. If you work with freelance writers, this is the episode you need to pay close attention to. We're going to be talking about how to get the most out of your freelance writers. And Stacy, I'm going to let you introduce our very special guest that we have today.
Guest Introduction: Megan Alvarado
00:00:50
Speaker
Oh, good. Today we have our special guest, Megan Alvarado joining us on the B2B mix show. And we've worked with Megan on many different projects for different clients over the past few years now. Megan is a freelance writer and certified SEO content writer. She has over 10 years of experience in sales and digital marketing.
00:01:11
Speaker
So she's got the business acumen and insights to communicate messages effectively. When she's not tapping away at a blog post, you can find Megan practicing or teaching. I don't know how to say that. Is it Kripalu? I was wondering if you're going to get that. It's Kripalu.
00:01:31
Speaker
for watching Shark Tank alongside her husband and three dogs. Megan, welcome to the show. Hey, Stacy and Elena. Thanks for having me. Thanks for joining us.
Megan's Freelancing Journey
00:01:40
Speaker
We are so excited to have you. So Megan, can you tell us a little bit more about what all you do? You know, just kind of give us a breakdown of what services you offer and tell us a little bit about how you got into freelance work.
00:01:54
Speaker
I'm mainly focused now on writing blog articles and ebooks, white papers, that kind of thing. I also helped to write social media copy for businesses. I've done some editing as well for people. And in regards to how I got into it, I kind of... I don't want to say I fell into it because I wanted to do it for a while. I was working at a company as an admin assistant, kind of in the interim between jobs.
00:02:24
Speaker
I started to do freelancing on the side. And then from there, my first client ended up bringing me on full full time, which you guys know who I'm talking about. That's how we met. Yeah, that's how we met. So they brought me on full time. And I did that for a
00:02:43
Speaker
probably about a year and a half and then ended up switching over to freelancing from there. So it was a good transition, kind of pushed me into the freelancing thing full-time because it was scary to kind of jump off the ledge and do it full-time. But it's good now. I'm really enjoying it. I graduated from college in 2008. So as you know, that's when everything was kind of floundering.
00:03:12
Speaker
to put it lightly in the business aspect. I had a few jobs where companies were going out of business or just changing more than I was interested in staying along with them.
00:03:29
Speaker
So, this has been a good switch for me because now I feel like I'm more in control. I'm my boss. So, yeah. Awesome. Yeah, that's the best part of having your own business. Yeah, because it's not, I mean, that's such a worry now. I feel like today, like my parents all worked in jobs that they did for 20 plus years and that's, it's not realistic anymore, I don't think so. No.
00:03:53
Speaker
And even if you have a long career at a place, if they get sold, they're going to probably have reductions in staff. So you're taking a risk no matter what you do in life. So just do the one that makes you happy. Yeah. All right, Megan. Well, anything else you want to add or should we jump into writing? We can jump right into writing.
Understanding SEO Writing
00:04:13
Speaker
All right. All right, folks, before we dig into this topic, we are going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor.
00:04:26
Speaker
And we are back. So something we mentioned a little bit earlier, you're an SEO certified content writer. Maybe you can explain what that means to listeners and why it's important that writers have an understanding even if it's just basic of search engine optimization.
00:04:44
Speaker
So an SEO content writer is really writing with searcher's intent in mind. So basically when someone goes to Google and types in their search, you want your content to really answer that question. So in addition to that, you kind of need to also keep in mind Google's algorithm. So what I'm doing when I'm writing is I'm thinking about a specific keyword string.
00:05:05
Speaker
that I can incorporate throughout. So what I normally do is I find my keyword string that it doesn't necessarily have to be just two words. It can be like five or six words. I do a little bit of research, find out if that's a good one or if maybe I need to tweak it a little bit depending on what people are searching for. I can do that in like Google Trends or there's a few tools out there. I use one called Ubersuggest.com for Emil Patel. I don't know if you guys have one that you use.
00:05:32
Speaker
I haven't even heard of that one. I know that's kind of crazy, but I'm going to have to check that one out. I've used that one. I like Answer the Public too. I think it's Answer the Public or Ask the Public. It's one of those. And I like keyword magic in SEMrush. SEMrush. And we'll put the links to all those that we just mentioned in the show notes.
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And some of those are free and some of those are paid. So it's nice that there's options out there too. So anyway, I look up the keyword string and then from there, once I've found a good one, I write the blog post to kind of answer that. So I make sure I put that keyword in the title. I make sure it's in the meta description. I'm incorporating it throughout the article in the
00:06:20
Speaker
in like the different headers, of course, also in the paragraph and the copy of it as well. And I know, did I skip anything, the meta description? Yeah, I think you said that. But you're also using like variations of that keyword, right? So it's not like saying the same exact keyword over and over and over and keyword stuffing it, which
00:06:37
Speaker
Some writers will do that. So you have to be very careful of that.
Misconceptions in Freelancing
00:06:41
Speaker
So when you're writing your articles, can you kind of explain like, do you identify a primary keyword and then a secondary long tail keyword? What's the process that you're using there?
00:06:52
Speaker
Yes. So a lot of times what I'll do is I'll go to google.com and I'll just type in whatever my keyword is. And then if you scroll out all the way to the bottom, there's a related keyword section and there's some good options in there. Usually you can also kind of just look at the autofill, what Google kind of brings up for you. A lot of times those are what you would call related keywords. And yeah, that's really helpful. I've also heard people using Pinterest.
00:07:16
Speaker
to find those as well. Again, searching it and then kind of just looking what other people have used. I heard that recently. So that's interesting. I have not heard that. Of course, I guess maybe depending on partly what you're writing about, because Pinterest is more of do it yourself kind of things and not a lot of B2B people are on. You would be surprised how much business stuff is on there now.
00:07:38
Speaker
Is it changed quite a bit than when when Pinterest came out first came out, it was a lot of DIY crafts fashion style. Now there's a lot more business stuff on there. There's you can pretty much find anything on there. There's a lot of men using the platform now too. So there's even stuff for them on there.
00:07:55
Speaker
Yeah. I've kind of like gone away from Pinterest. We may have to go back and revisit that. So what do most clients get wrong when it comes to working with freelancers? Like do people think that freelancers mean it's just free work that you should be fine working just for exposure or, or what, what is it that people get wrong about working with freelancers?
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't actually had anybody come to me saying, oh, you're a freelancer, give me free work. But I mean, definitely people do sometimes they want to trade you for exposure. Like they think that if, oh, hey, come and write a guest post for me and I'll make sure I add your byline and that's supposed to be enough. And it's like, nope, that doesn't pay the bills. That's not going to work. And that's especially hilarious when they're really small and that's why they need a friend.
00:08:47
Speaker
Because I haven't heard anybody yet. Yeah, very true. Yeah. Yeah. I look at their Twitter account. That's the first thing that I do. If somebody asked me, I'm looking at your social media accounts to see how many followers you have. Like, am I actually going to get anything out of partnering with you? Yes. Post. Cause otherwise it's not. Exactly.
00:09:05
Speaker
It's not worth it. Right. It's really not. I mean, I'd like to help everybody, but you just can't do it. So. OK, so I know why you're looking at their social their social profiles to see, you know, the reason they have. So can you explain to some of our listeners that maybe don't have social profiles, maybe why it's important and why you're going and looking there first to see if that would even be an option for you? Because a lot of companies just
00:09:34
Speaker
aren't really doing social like they should be. So can you get us a little bit on that? Yeah. So what I'm looking at is the follower count or how many likes they have because that's really their reach. How many people, when I write a post for them, how many other people are going to see it other than my audience that I'm sharing it out to? How active are they if they haven't posted in like two years?
00:09:57
Speaker
Again, is it really going to be worth it because that audience is probably going to see it and be like, wait a minute, who is this? Why are they in my feed? Right.
Elements of a Good Assignment
00:10:07
Speaker
So what do people get wrong when it comes to actually giving assignments to writers? I mean, we've given you some assignments sometimes that you've probably been like, oh, you idiots didn't give me enough information or something. So what's an ideal assignment and what is an assignment that needs work and what do people need to make sure they include?
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah, because I know that we've been bad at times where we'll just give you a title or a topic and we don't give you a full outline. So that's, that's on us. That's our fault. And maybe you don't want a full outline. So people may prefer a little freedom.
00:10:43
Speaker
I've never had anything that's come from you guys and I'm like, man, they didn't give me enough. And if that was the case, then I mean, I would immediately call you and ask for more information just like with any client. But I mean, I really like just getting a topic and maybe like a title from a person, like a loose title that I have the ability to change, of course.
00:11:05
Speaker
But I like having hardly anything to go on. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but then I can really run with it. I don't feel like I'm constricted to certain things, but I guess it really depends on the topic because there are definitely other times, like if it's more of a detailed thing that I'm not quite so familiar with. Like recently I wrote a blog post through Fiverr, which is like a freelance platform that you can hire writers through.
00:11:31
Speaker
I was working with this guy that's in the United Arab Emirates and he was about the free zone companies.
00:11:40
Speaker
I'm like, what the heck is that? I mean, I know, obviously I know what the UAE is, but I don't know anything else beyond that. So he gave me a little bit of notes. He gave me a few links to kind of look at and that was super helpful. I mean, of course I could have went out and Googled it, but sometimes I think if it's a new person that you're starting to work with and it is like such a specific niche topic,
00:12:04
Speaker
It's good to give them a little bit to work on. And then of course, your writer, you always, and this is one of the first things I ask people to if all they give me is the topic is who am I allowed to source? Who am I not allowed to source? So if I'm finding like research material, who can I link to and who is like your competitors? I mean, usually you can figure that out, but sometimes people are more particular about what they're willing to link to.
00:12:32
Speaker
And you've just done leeways into two different questions that we wanted to ask. So when you were talking about the article you did for the Person on Fiverr, it's an industry that you're not necessarily that well versed in, right? Do you think companies should hire writers with those specific areas of expertise? Or do you think a good writer should just, should be able to kind of go from industry to industry and niche to niche? What do you think?
00:12:59
Speaker
That's kind of a hard question. Personally, for me, I would like to do the research. I'm curious. I want to learn more. It was interesting to learn about the free zones. Not that I'm ever going to go and start a company over there or anything.
00:13:18
Speaker
Maybe if it comes up in conversation, it'll be cool to talk about. Right. Yeah. Or at least I'll know what people are talking about. So, I mean, I think there's two sides to that. It really depends on what the person is writing. If it's a blog post that's
00:13:36
Speaker
It's kind of like the top of the funnel type content. And I think a general writer is they can do the job. They can get it done for you if they're a decent writer. But when it comes to like specific white papers or maybe an ebook, at that point, you might want to bring more of a specialist in or just expect to do a little bit more editing, like having a specialist more involved that can kind of talk to the writer and maybe get interviewed or something.
00:14:03
Speaker
because there's things that you can't find on the web. What was the one I had? I don't know. I had a florist recently that emailed me and was asking me something about, it was celebrities getting flowers that are sent to them. So like when a musician is touring or something and you send them flowers as a fan, they're likely not going to get it. And they wanted an article on that about why you shouldn't. And I'm like,
00:14:30
Speaker
So I'm googling all this, I can't find anything. And I'm like, well, I either need to talk to you guys a little bit more, or we need to change the topic. So we just had to change the topic. So things like that, obviously, I mean, they can do it, but you have to give them, you're going to be more involved in the project than if you have somebody that knows what they're talking about.
00:14:49
Speaker
And that's one of the things that I found with working with some writers, depending on their, I don't know how to say it. I don't know if it's necessarily their level of expertise or in writing, or if it's just that they're not putting in an effort, but I don't feel like I should always have to explain to them that you should back up some of the things that you're saying with other articles or stats and things like that. So I kind of expect a writer to do a little bit of research.
00:15:17
Speaker
on what they're writing about. But I found that with some writers, you have to literally tell them that they need to do some research. Is that, I don't know how many other freelance writers you work with, but is that something I know that you do the research because we've worked with you, but others don't always do that. Is that something that you think should just be a given or do you think for people that are companies that are working with freelance writers, should they have to outline those specific things? Do you think?
00:15:45
Speaker
No, I mean, I think the writer should go into it expecting that they need to do some research. But I'm wondering, are the people that that's happened to you within the past, are they newer writers? Like maybe they just are new to not necessarily new writers, maybe they're just newer to online writing. You know, it may be that they're newer to online writing. I don't I'm not sure. But I know that like with some of them that they've been writing for a while, but it was just like, I'm just going to tell you all this stuff and I'm not going to back it up with any kind of research.
00:16:14
Speaker
I mean, the writing was good, but I expect you to put a little effort in. Yeah, definitely. And so I'm just wondering, should companies, are there certain criteria that maybe should be outlined for the writers when giving them those assignments like that?
00:16:32
Speaker
Um, I mean, yeah, maybe that is the way to go. If, if a company's dealing with that often, I mean, I can't imagine that that's the norm. At least I would hope not. Yeah, I hope not too. Maybe we're just all super cool and know that we should do that, but everybody else doesn't. So we should just. Well, that's, that's true. I mean, the three of us are pretty awesome. Yeah.
00:16:58
Speaker
Are there things that maybe companies should provide? Like I know that you said you're good with just getting a title, but in general, do you think that there are things that they should provide? Do you expect to get like a creative brief or writer's guidelines, brand voice? I mean, not everybody has that established, obviously, but.
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah. So a lot of times at the beginning of a relationship with a client, I like to ask them for a style sheet.
Guide to Style and Sourcing Images
00:17:24
Speaker
And a lot of times they either look at me if I'm on a video call or if it's in person, like I'm crazy. And what the heck is a style sheet? I was just going to say, maybe you might need to explain what that is for our listeners.
00:17:36
Speaker
or they email me back and are like, oh, I have no idea. So yeah, a style sheet is it really outlines the writing style that you're using. Maybe there's some words in there, some phrases that you like to use. If you have a certain format that you like to go with in the blog post, because a lot of people are there's
00:17:56
Speaker
like it so that there's an intro, you have like an H2, a header two, and then you go into the body of it and maybe you have a list and then we use an H2 or an H3 towards the end in another paragraph and a CTA at the bottom. That's generally my go-to if someone can't tell me what they want.
00:18:13
Speaker
But then there's other people that want something different. They just want it laid out differently. So that's part of a style sheet too. So yeah. And for those listeners that don't know what you mean when you say H1 and H2, can you explain that a little bit? Yeah. So that would be a header one and a header two. It's basically the title sections of a blog post and the H1 is the largest one. The H2 is a little smaller and the H3 is smaller than that. And it just provides different levels of emphasis.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yes, if you went into Word or Google Docs, it's just like that formatting dropdown that you have. Yep. And it's in WordPress, it's in Blogger, pretty much any of those platforms have it. With writing and SEO, it can add a little boost to your juice if you're using your keywords correctly with those. Yes.
00:19:00
Speaker
Do people generally expect you to source images to go with your post or is that a service you offer? Do you find that it helps make a better impression? What do you generally encounter when you're doing blogging especially? Yeah, I mean, I think it depends because some people that come to me for writing services might have a designer on their team that they want to have create that image. Then there's other ones that they don't have anybody and they just want
00:19:27
Speaker
some kind of a plain graphic that they can throw at the top of the blog or as the image that they're going to use on social media. So, I mean, like I said, I do a little bit of both. It really just depends. If I am sending them an image, I'll just go to, I don't know, iStock photo if they're planning to actually buy one. But then there's plenty of other sites that offer commercial use images that are basically stock images that you don't have to pay for. There's unsplash.com.
00:19:58
Speaker
Pixabay, P-I-X-A-B-A-Y, and then Pexels is another one. And those are good too to find just plain images of that need to go along with the blog post. But I mean, sometimes it's even better if you can take it a step further. Like we've done for you in the past, like I've done for you in the past with the overlaid text and kind of adding the logo on there and stuff too. So I mean, I guess it really depends.
00:20:22
Speaker
Would you say, I know that for you, you do more than just blogs. You do eBooks, white papers, social media. Would you say that you're in the norm with everybody else? Or do you think most freelancers mainly focus on one area, like blogs versus one or the other?
00:20:43
Speaker
Um, I, no, no, I think most people go into it. I mean, they're pretty open to any kind of a project that comes along. There might be specific people out there. I mean, I really don't know. There might be people out there that just write eBooks and just write white papers. But I think if you're a writer and you're writing for online, it's all kind of in the same bucket. So.
00:21:05
Speaker
The social media aspect though, the social media writing, that might be something that a lot of people, a lot of writers out there are not exploring too much. I would, yeah, based on people that I follow on the web, it looks like a lot of them, that that's not really a focus. And it, I mean, it's, it's different. It's different from writing a whole paragraph versus writing a one to two really short sentence social media posts.
00:21:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's a different way of looking at things. Yep. Yeah, you have to condense everything down to just such a short little blurbs that can capture somebody's attention. It's definitely it sometimes it can be more difficult. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:48
Speaker
Yet people will be like, oh, that's so short. I don't have to pay them. But it really does take a level of skill that not everyone has. Yeah. And if you're writing about like a blog post or an ebook or something that your writer still has to read through the whole thing to write that social media post, otherwise they're not going to get the right point across. So it definitely takes a little bit of work. And they have to read through it to see if a competitor was mentioned.
00:22:16
Speaker
That's one thing that I've noticed a lot of people don't do that to see like competitors that they're, for people they're posting for are mentioned within an article. When they're curating content. Yeah. Yeah. Have you explored videos with such a huge thing, expanding into writing scripts and
Writing for Video vs. Static Content
00:22:34
Speaker
things like that? Or you prefer to write copy for static kind of webpages, e-books? Yeah. Um, I mean, I would be open to it. I think I've done that before for.
00:22:46
Speaker
probably when I was like employed full time with someone. I'm pretty sure I've done that before, but yeah, it's not something that I'm really too interested in. But then at the same time, it's, it's not that much different than true writing a blog post because you're writing a blog post, you want it to be kind of conversational. Just like you, if you're in a video, you want it to sound conversational then too. So.
00:23:10
Speaker
Are there other tips that you would like to share with the audience, maybe from a freelancer's point of view of how a company can better engage with their freelance writers and things like that? Or just any tips for freelancers that you've come across, that you've
00:23:27
Speaker
Learn from. Yeah. So I think a big one for freelancers that are first starting out is to really explore all of your options out there.
Advice for New Freelancers
00:23:36
Speaker
Don't really rely on one or two solid clients. You need to expand your horizons. I mean, it's good to have some
00:23:45
Speaker
recurring clients that are just coming back to you over and over again, i appreciate you guys so much. But at the same time, it's still you just need to look out there and kind of broaden your horizon a little bit. So I think Stacy, I think it was you that brought Fiverr up to me, what, two, three years ago when I started to do this.
00:24:08
Speaker
So, I just mentioned it as an option and I kind of passed it off because I'd heard about it, but it always seemed like, oh my gosh, everything that's on there is so cheap, I could never make a living off of that. And I mean, at this point, I can't say that I could make a living off of it, just that. But I think I'm about three months into using that platform, I finally jumped in and decided to use it.
00:24:31
Speaker
I'm definitely making some money on there. So it's worth exploring those things that maybe you were more skeptical about. Just give them a shot. And Fiber owns Clearvoice now. Yes, they bought them recently. Yeah. And that was another thing I was going to say, Clearvoice is great. There's plenty of freelance platforms out there, but I don't think it's good to get your hand in all of them either because it takes effort to build up your reputation.
00:24:57
Speaker
So I think I'm staying put with Clear Voice and Fiverr at least for now unless something else great comes along. I joined Contently way into their existence. So I haven't gotten anything out of that. It's too mature at this point and too much competition. So if you can get in a platform early and get work, I think that's your best bet.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think so too. I think that's really true. And Stacy, you were the one that recommended me the clear voice too. And yeah, I really appreciate that because that's opened up. It opens up a lot of opportunities. Let's see, for clients working with writers, some tips.
00:25:36
Speaker
I mean, I would just say to keep the line of communication open.
The Importance of Communication
00:25:41
Speaker
Once you send them the order or your requirements for the piece of content that they're writing for you, be available. Make sure that they know that you're available to answer questions. Really embrace that because you're going to get more out of it. I think if there's that.
00:25:55
Speaker
kind of open door policy as opposed to if you're kind of closed off. Like just hand it off and I'm done with it. Don't ask me any questions. Yeah. Of course, on the flip side, I can't stand it when a client breathes down my neck every day. How's that going? How's that going? No, no, yeah, definitely don't.
00:26:13
Speaker
Like that. If we give them a deadline, I mean, you shouldn't even need to check in until, I mean, if the deadline passes and they haven't gotten to you, then obviously it's a problem. But I don't, I don't think there's any, if you've sent it out. Respect the deadline. Yeah. Respect the deadline. There's your tweet. Yeah.
00:26:33
Speaker
I think that's it. So we have a fun question. If you won the lottery today, what's the first fun thing you would do?
Megan's Personal Insights
00:26:43
Speaker
What's the first fun thing I would do if I won the lottery? Why is that so hard?
00:26:50
Speaker
Um, I, I could use a vacation. So I would, I would probably grab my husband and, and say, let's go and go like, I don't know, through the, either through the Caribbean and kind of Island hop, or maybe go to Europe or something. Definitely travel and travel blog it.
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah. But then she kind of be working. Make money out of your lotto winning. Exactly. There you go. All right, people, you now know how to get the best out of your freelance writers. So make sure to follow Megan's tips provided in the show and see how the quality of your content improves. So Megan, if people want to get in touch with you, how should they reach out to you?
00:27:33
Speaker
Sure. So I am pretty active on Twitter. My handle is Megan May. It's spelled M-E-A-G-H-A-N-M-A-E. So it's at Megan May. Or you can check my website and reach out to me that way. The website's MeganAlvarado.com. And I'm sure you guys will put the spelling in the website, but it's M-E-A-G-A-G-A-N-A-E.
00:27:57
Speaker
A-N-A-L-V-A-R-A-D-O dot com. Awesome. And you mentioned that you appreciate us earlier, but we really appreciate you. You've helped us with client deadlines and doing our company social. So we really do appreciate you too, Megan. Yes, we do. If you need a freelance writer, Megan is the person you should go to.
00:28:20
Speaker
Thank you, Alina. Thank you, Stacey. I really appreciate that. It's always so nice working with you, too, and I've enjoyed recording this podcast with you today, too. It's nice to... I kind of feel like we got to hang out a little bit, so... Yeah, we haven't done that in a while. Yeah, in a while.
00:28:37
Speaker
All right, so we will have Megan's contact info in the show notes. If you missed it, don't worry, it'll be there. And if you want to get in touch with me or Elena, you can hit us up on
Conclusion and Contact Information
00:28:48
Speaker
social. We're both active on Twitter. You can find me at Stacey underscore Jax. That's S-T-A-C-Y underscore J-A-X.
00:28:56
Speaker
and Alayna is alayna underscore jax a l a n n a underscore j a x and we're both on linkedin and don't forget you can download that anchor mobile app and leave us a voicemail we might use it on the next show if you leave us a message all right guys thanks for joining us and have a great day and see you next week
00:29:19
Speaker
The B2B Mix Show is hosted by Stacy Jackson and Elena Jackson of, you guessed it, Jackson Marketing. If you need help with your B2B inbound marketing efforts, visit us at JacksonMarketingServices.com.