SMEs are an integral part of our day-to-day jobs. They are our main source of information, apart from the System Requirement Documents, Product Requirement Document, Design document, and other innumerable sources available to us, for providing technically accurate documents. Oftentimes, the technical documents available are filled with jargon or written in very colloquial language, which is difficult for the end user to decipher. This is where we come to rescue and form a bridge between SMEs and end users. I have been working as a Technical writer for the past 18 yrs and have worked with different types of SMEs and different work cultures. And most often, I have felt SMEs are not very supportive, and it becomes difficult to collect inputs from them. Here are some of the tips that I would like to provide to help gather information from SMEs: These were some of my understandings based on my experience and time-tested. Please let me know in the comments if you have any more suggestions. Visit Rahul Karn’s YouTube for more learning about Technical Writers – https://www.youtube.com@techwritingcourse
How to Become a Technical Writer: A Step-by-Step Guide
Are you new to technical writing or thinking about how to become a technical writer or learn technical writing? You must be wondering where to begin. This post is mainly to answer the most frequently asked question when I get a call from aspiring technical writers or content writers. If you are a writer and dream to become a technical writer and work with the world’s most important technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Amazon, Thales, then this blog post is for you. If you are a writing nerd like me, you must have heard about this profession. But, if you’re part of the other 99.9% of the world who isn’t super excited about this profession,” you’ve probably missed this news. The prominence of technical writing in the IT sector can be known through this article too. Read it here As a single writer, you can build a career as a full-time technical writer from the comfort of your home after work, during your afternoons, and on your weekends. I don’t think that I’m overly dramatic when I say that technical writing is your shot at the life of your dreams. Trust me — I would know. Till now I have shaped up the careers of many writers through our course and many other initiatives. I want you to have as much fun at work as these guys, and I do. So, today I’ll introduce you to this world with my technical writing guide. Note: Even if you’re already knee-deep, you can still learn a ton of new things. If you’re interested in a particular topic, feel free to jump ahead: Overview A perfect blend of language and technology is technical writing, wherein technology is made easy for people to understand through creating user manuals, online help, and documentation for future reference and proper functioning of the software. In short, it is the information development process. Image source Definition of Technical writer If you’ve read my blog posts on technical writing, you already know that it’s different from other writing. Not every technology writing is automatically technical writing. Few definitions of technical writing are: Before taking up a career in technical writing we should know the whole scenario of technical writing as a career, and this blog post will help you in it by discussing all the major questions that whirl the mind before focusing on the definite track. “Technical writing is any written form of writing or drafting technical communication used in a variety of technical and occupational fields, such as computer hardware and software, engineering, chemistry, aeronautics, robotics, finance, medical, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. It encompasses the largest sub-field within technical communication”. Want the drop-dead simple version of it? IDF has a sole motto to expand and strengthen the technical communicator community in the best possible way covering all the basic needs of technical writers ie. from training to placement and from network expansion to show your presence. (Source: Wikipedia and STC) What Technical writers do? Technical writers are the person who develops the information provided in a simplified language to make it easily understandable to the people they are intended to. A technical language is difficult to understand by a common man. Technical writers convert them to make it easy for commoners to follow the instructions. Technical writers are the optimized amalgamation of technology and English (language) to convert the complex into simple for the benefit of producer and the user both. Contrary to popular belief, technical writers don’t just write user guides or manuals, but also contribute to the development lifecycle of the product. To understand the complete cycle of work read about Documentation development lifecycle. Technical writers write user manuals, online help, white papers, APIs Doc, etc. They do the documentation for a product or services for the internal user to end-user of the product. Tech writers use tools to develop the information provided in a simpler language such as RoboHelp, Framemaker, MadcapFlare, SnagIT, etc. Image source Qualifications required to become a Technical Writer? This can vary from geography to a hiring company. Typically any graduate with a flair for writing and technology can pursue technical writing. Good English is mandatory (or the language in which you will be communicating). For a more explanatory view, a list of eligibility criteria is given below. Few companies give preference to B.Tech/BCA/MCA/BE students. Recently-graduated students with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts, Science, Technology or Commerce.MBA graduates can especially benefit.Working people who need to switch their careers because of no career growth in their present job. A majority of this category belongs to the – Individuals who have stopped working for some time for family and relocation reasons and now wish to get back to professional life (hasproven very beneficial for mothers who have given up their careers to start a family)– Self-motivated individuals who believe in sharpening and updating their skills for their professional growth.– (We have even had entrepreneurs take up this program and hugely benefit their organizations.) Information Developers Foundation Students Job Profiles and Qualification Delegates with different jobs and qualifications join Information Developers for better prospects and a bright professional future. Where Can Technical writers get placed? Technical writing is crucial for every industry that needs documentation. As perceived it is not limited to the IT industry only. The industries that hire technical writers are Some of the companies Hiring Technical writers From the partial list of companies hiring Information Developers student, you will get a clear idea about companies hiring technical writing. In general product, companies hire more technical writers than service companies. Resume of Technical writers The first and most important thing about the technical writer or content writer’s resume should be error-free.All types of errors like spelling, grammar, formatting, consistency, etc. Please do not copy and paste the section of the resume and do not try to fake it. Few companies consider your resume and cover letter as a sample of your work. For more detail, you can read both blog posts about the resume. 10 Kick ass Resume writing tricks for technical writers FREELANCE TECHNICAL WRITER RESUME What is the average salary
What CEO of Commit K. Narssimhan taught me in 60 minutes?
Zen and the Art of Technical Writing- K. Narssimhan Learning is a never-ending journey. We can learn from anything, at any time, in any state of mind. In technical writing, there is a lot more to know apart from the technical writing itself. Good presentation skill is one of them. You can have lots of shareable bytes in your mind but how you pass it on, is a different thing. Make your mind free of any kind of restrictions and see the difference. Now let me introduce you to the CEO of Commit technologies Mr. K Narssimhan. He was my first employer and a mentor to me. But, the thing that makes him stand apart from others is the learning he imparts to the audience knowingly or unknowingl. He was a key-note speaker in the IDF Conclave 2017. His presentation on “zen and the art of technical writing” is an epic example of learning. Everybody must have perceived differently, I am going to tell you what I learned. It was definitely more than what he was talking about. The noticeable thing is the presentation skill and the content on technical writing that makes it a perfect blend. Here I will discuss the basic lessons for good presentation skill and how it can improve your presence as a technical writer. Know your Audience Knowing the audience makes it easy for you to explain your presentation. If the presentation is on technical writing and you know that your audience is a technical writer, you can use the technical terms and it will go well. But if the audience is of beginners, try to refrain from technical terms, as it will surpass the brain and the audience will start losing the concentration. The words we choose and the examples we take to explain depends much on the quality of audience. Know the audience and present accordingly. Your presentation skill should be different for a different audience. Have you seen Mr. Narssimhan asking the audience how many technical writers are there? Kinetics During a presentation not only the presentation but how it is presented matters the most. Have you seen an audience snoozing sometimes even during a very knowledge packed session? Our anatomy is such that when our eyes tend to see in one direction without much change of movement, it suffers from inertia. At this phase, the attention moves from listening to let our eyes only stare at the particular thing. Let’s take a look at Mr. Narssimhan’s presentation now. He was not glued to the dashboard only, hence not giving the chance to the hundreds of eyes on him to stare in a single direction. Your kinetics is also an important thing that let the audience focus on you. The movement of body parts to illustrate what you are saying creates a great impact on the listeners. Be careful, the actions should not be more than necessary else it will give the audience a reason to laugh at you. And again this will shift the focus from the content. Engaging Session An effective presentation skill is the one where you engage your audience. Do not let a parallel thought run in the listener’s mind. An interactive session works miracle to connect with the audience. Interaction compels the audience to listen carefully to what is being said because they know that they may have to contribute randomly. A presentation becomes more interesting when inputs come from different people, with different experiences and that too in relevance to the topic. Before drawing the conclusion, let the inflow of queries come, it will add value to your presentation. Humour Adding humor creates a positive aura that makes the presentation more interesting. Even if someone in the audience loses the attention, it brings him back to the present and generates the curiosity to know what is going on. Humour also has a great quality of making things learn easily, be it technical writing or any other stream. Content Of course, it is the most vital part of any presentation. If your content is full of relevant knowledge, it will draw the attention of the seekers. Relate the content with what you are trying to impart, the examples should be justifying, and words should be chosen carefully. Did you draw any conclusion? Through stories, he has conveyed what you should do as a technical writer. He gave a beautiful example of how to motivate your team members. Narsi explained the key to learning without prejudices, and that too through interesting stories. You can learn technical writing when you leave the burden of what you know outside the classroom. Open your mind to let the knowledge inflow come, and stay with you.
How to overcome resistance for change
Overcoming the resistance Researching and implementing new tools and processes should be the prime responsibility and priority of a content marketer or any innovator who wants to be agile. The absence of awareness and the lack of courage can pay heavily as technology is improving every day. Resistance is inevitable. People are typically resistant to new software solutions, and it brings behavioural changes among the users. The reason is simple: new technology challenges them to come out of their comfort zone. Still, most of the content managers and documentation managers understand the value of upgrading IT solutions and infrastructures in order to stay competitive. But this doesn’t make it any easier for users to adopt the newly rolled out software quickly. Implementing new software that creates a paradigm shift is a difficult task; however, with the right moves, it is possible to make the process quick and harmless for the business that is adopting it. When a new software is implemented in an organization, few people start using it instantly and enthusiastically, while others take the time or are not willing to switch from their old methods. It is good to monitor the behaviour of an employee after the implementation of new tools because earlier they were using an outdated software or may be working without it. Did it solve their problem, or is the new implementation easy for them to apply? When you understand where people are at the moment and how they use the software, you will be able to anticipate how they will resist the new implementation. If we know the pattern of working on a certain software, it becomes easy to know how the software is helping them, whether it is giving them trouble or they have a lack of training in their approach to using the software properly. When an enterprise adopts a new IT solution, many questions pop up among the employees. One must be ready to answer all of those questions very quickly and accurately. Explaining users’ functionalities, features, and options that the software gives them are also important so that they learn how to rely on it and make their jobs easier, not complicated. Employees can get frustrated when they reach a dead end, where they don’t know how to use a tool to simplify their task. In that case, it is necessary to guide them with the right methodology and answer their queries related to the software. Habits can be a more powerful motivator than the stick. Proper motivation can push the employee to take a risk and be more creative. Some type of employee incentive program can help to get people hooked on the new software. It is preferred to use weekly incentives with the employees. Rewards and bonuses for those who adapt to the new tools faster have proven to be a great strategy so far. They make it a habit to use the new software for their everyday tasks. And also start seeing all the benefits, the positive attitude quickly spreads to the rest of the company. Trust grows when team members feel valued and heard. Every software team believes each other enough to take purposeful risks, communicate effectively on important issues, and feel accountable and reliable. Group conversation should be enriched with every team member’s contribution. Social interactions, ice-breaking exercises, and celebrations of successes can all help cement the framework of team collaboration. Communication is very important when you are constantly communicating with the enterprise. It includes both the management and the employees. They might completely reject the new solutions, and this could create a new spectrum of problems. Frequent communication helps to solve issues at its earliest stage because the answer comes at the initial stage and this refrains any disaster at the bigger level. It will also help people use the latest software willingly as they don’t have to wait for a solution, and they get the issue resolved because of frequent and timely communication. This incentive is deeply connected to the previous paragraph. One cannot always have the option of talking to everyone within an enterprise; instead, you can provide them with a place where they can all talk to each other about the new tool, share their experiences, the problems they are having with it, their concerns, and so on. Generally, when talking to people directly, you can use the feedback that people have given to address their frustrations, issues, and concerns. You create a community forum where everyone can give their input. If you work well, you’ll work together on adopting the software teams. The organisation and the software provider (or an implementation partner) need to work together on making this process adaptable and short. If there is no cooperation on either end, you won’t be able to achieve this and correctly implement the software within any team. This is why you need to check together and create a plan that will outline what needs to be done on both ends in order to achieve the ultimate goal. Make sure that everyone involved tries to complete what is on their checklists. Executives, leaders, and staff can give you vital information that may help you to approach the situation differently, and they will also be able to make certain changes more quickly than you. This is why they need to be involved as well. Final Thought : These points can help bring any team together with the help of software. It’s important that you are persistent and that you work on all of the things. A difficult process it may seem that requires instant changes in approach, but it’s all about good communication and coordination. Though it is a fact that this might be a difficult road. It will reward the enterprise with a brand new software tool, which will help them stay competitive.
4 Best Career Opportunities for English Graduates in 2023
Career Opportunities for English Graduates in 2023 Your English communication skill can earn you millions, do you want to know how keep reading? As an English Graduate, I always wondered what next? Should I go for the competitive exams where English is not the only paper that can reserve a seat for me, amid the reservations and the tough competition, for which lakhs of aspirants from the different stream are longing about? The zeal while choosing English as my specialization vanished when it came to choosing a profession. I couldn’t figure out what made me different, any graduate with any stream can appear for competitive exams. Now the scenario is different. An English graduate can have a profession according to their taste. Lots of career opportunities are there to satiate the English lovers, where they can earn, through a profession that they would love to do. Let’s discuss these opportunities and how can we enter into these professions. Content writing is the most common profession an English graduate can opt for. According to surveys an entry-level content writer average salary is around INR 2, 38,392. Content writers can write web contents, article, reviews, academic content, etc. They can take this profession as a full-time Job or freelancing also. An English graduate can enroll in a content writing course to know how to channelize their skill and the basics of writing good content. To enroll in the course provided by IDF click here. Blogging is emerging as a good career option for a skilled writer with a heavy payback depending on how proficient they are. A blog with quality content and having the capacity to engage the audience can be the best choice for those who want to sit at home and earn. A blogger can earn in lakhs per month if he is really devoted towards blogging and placing it at the right place. The highest earner blogger in India earns approximately INR 30, 00,000 per month. IDF provides blogging course as well where emerging bloggers are mentored to make money through blogging. According to recent surveys done by India Influencer report 2018, social media Influencer will surpass the celebrities as a choice for promotions of the product and services of organizations. More than 90% companies would prefer SMIs for their brand building. Social media influencer is the one who has a large following and they get paid for featuring a brand in their posts. They can earn up to INR 40,000 to INR 60,000 for a single post. Read the blog for detailed insight. They influence people by their posts with quality content and relevant information on social media websites such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. They help a company in their brand promotion and their income also depends upon the followings they have on social media. Know more how to make money as a Social media Influencer. A perfect blend of technology and language – Technical writer. With the advent of the software-industry and their knack of using the writing skills of a commoner for documentation, a new door was opened for those who were seeking a job in the industry without a B.tech degree. In the current trends, technical writers draw a handsome package because they are the one who is responsible for the documentation or the groundwork to convey the right information in the correct and non-ambiguous form to the development team. According to surveys technical writing is emerging as one of the highest paying jobs. For data read our blog Salary of technical writers.
Social media Influencers- Making money from a single post
Social media Influencers Social media Influencers are the persons having a large following on social websites, and through their post featuring any product they are capable to influence a significant number of people, and they get hefty amount paid by the companies for their posts. A single post can earn you up to 40k to 60k. Technical writers ,Content writers,Bloggers,doctors, teachers any professional can become a social media influencers in their domain. In the society Influencers are the people who can influence others. Influencers are always favorite of marketers because they use them to convince people to buy the product. In this era when the attention of people is more on social media than any other media be it cinema,TV or other gathering undoubately Social media Influencers earn by every single post. Social media Influencer are not confined to a single genre. The wide spectrum of writing area includes travel, food, fitness, lifestyle, fashion or any field where you can share your experience through post or images for your followers. According to India Influencer Report 2018, more than ninety percent marketers will prefer Social media Influencers to the celebrities such as cricketers or Bollywood actors, to launch their product in the market. This anticipation is done after studying the behavior of customers who are not interested in the products promoted by celebrities anymore. Customers are considering social media influencers more reliable and marketers are using this trust for their marketing strategy. Influencers marketing platforms such as Get Evangelized, Elave, and Tera Rich also agree to the increasing trend of social media influencers. According to them the number of Instagram Influencers has increased significantly and this trend will continue this year also. Social media Influencer can also be chosen as a career because it can help you make money from the posts you write. A content with quality, images, and relevance helps to enhance business and marketing of products. An impressive post on social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter can influence the followers and do the branding of the product while you earn money from the companies for featuring them. Who are the social media Influencers? You need not wonder about the special qualities of Influencers, they can be simple models, fitness/shopping experts, chef, athlete, a general student or a professional. They have a good following on social websites, for whom they write quality contents and share on different social media platforms. They write about different topics and share them through posts and images on facebook, twitter, Youtube, Instagram etc where followers read their recommendations about any product or services.Reason for popularity Social media Influencers capability to connect with lakhs of people attracts brand towards them. According to Image guru Dilip Cherian, Influencers charge less than the celebrities, and this increases the interest of advertising agencies in them. Influencers give a good exposure to brands, but the interest of marketers in Social media Influencer also depends on how real they are. Recently case of fake influencers are surfaced. These Influencers purchase or involve in illegal practices to show the followers data on different plateform. Earnings According to market reports, an influencers can earn INR 40,000 to 60,000 for a single post on Instagram. Instagrammers who have a following of two to nine thousand can earn 4000 to 16,000 for a single post. Influencers having more than five lakh subscribers earn at least 1.5lakhs per post. Youtubers who have more than 70lakh followers can earn around two crores, according to analytics platform CapTV8. Do not miss our videos for more information. Accreditation Cherian says, that the bonding between an influencer to its audience is very crucial for any brand. Before selecting any influencer the company first analyzes the profile. After that, the pictures, contents, filters, hashtags, follower count etc are checked thoroughly. Brands even consider the number of paid followers to check the credibility. They do this check to know that the influencer is popular or popularity has been faked. How to become an social media Influencers? Be the expert of your field people will follow you, be it a classroom or cricket ground.-Rahul Karn Write a content that reflects your passion. Images, text, and video will add value to your role as an Influencer. Your post should be engaging and presentable. Don’t limit your ideas and post to digital medium only. Develop your profile as a brand, and reach your target audience and industries through offline routes also. Right hashtags, captions, and humor will enrich the content. If you are new to writing you can take up a course from Information Developers Foundation to enhance your writing skills and earn through posts and images you share on social media.
Unraveling secrets of good communication
7 C’s of Effective Communication Today effective communication and communication gap is one of the major challenges every business is facing and things become worse if the team is distributed across the globe. This rise the scope of good technical communication and business communication. Come let us see the importance and how we can improvise it in detail in this blog post unraveling secrets of good communication for effective communication. Listening is the first step toward effective communication. It is also the best way to avoid problems and complications before it could arise. But one thing that we need to take care of is that this communication should be perfect in all aspects. Perfectness in communication comes when we follow the principles of communications and are also aware of the types of communications and the protocols tagged to it. In communication, not only the literal meaning but the hidden meaning is also involved which should be conveyed as well as should be understood clearly. In a communication one is the listener and the other one is the speaker. If both are best in their communication there is no chance for any discrepancy to creep in the message and distort its meaning. In psychology classes, an activity is done wherein a message is conveyed to a student and it is let pass through all the students by one by one communication. It has been found that the last person when reads out the message, it’s completely different. It is just because of the lack of good communication, which leads to the encryption of the message. Types of Communication Now, let’s decode the magic aphorism for better communication. First, we need to know the three types of communication. Verbal Communication It is the oral communication that involves speaking to somebody directly face to face or on phone. This communication can be one to one and one to too many also. Storytelling is also a verbal communication. In a verbal communication, it is necessary to mind few things before, to convey the right message in undiluted form to the listener in a way that they receive it in the purest form and senses. The things needed to be kept in mind is: Plan the execution of your communication that is knowing your audience, estimation of time, clarity on topic and other factors. You can read more about planning on this blog post. A clear pronunciation is necessary to reach the audience and not leaving them guessing your words. Bad pronunciation can reduce the interest of the audience. When you are in a meeting where participants are sitting in different part of the globe try to speak in correct pace and pronunciation. Accuracy and exactness in your topic can hold the audience, try not to be verbose and let your listener get bored. A big lecture deviates from the mind of the audience and they lose the interest. Be precise and take little time yet conveying the message completely. Arrange and organise your message in a proper flow. Convey it step by step. Jumping from one step to another could hamper your message and miscommunication or confusion would ruin the whole motive. Politeness creates a good impression and lets the audience take interest in you and more focused on what you say. Aggression can divert the attention of the audience. Written Communication It is the way of communication that involves written messages such as e-mails, memos, proposals, manuals, instructions manual etc. It can also be one to one or one to many. Written communication does not happen in the real time, but it is easy to write clearly if we learn how to write effectively. Concise and accurate writing is best and is entertained more seriously. No one bothers to read a long note, it only gets a scanning eye. Consider a few tips for writing and you will optimize your effort. Non-Verbal Communication In this communication words are not involved, either way, be it be writing or speech. It is the tone of voice, facial expression, kinetics that convey the untold messages. In fact, nonverbal communication can be understood easily. An emphasis on a particular word in a sentence can change the whole meaning. The frequency and sharpness of voice tell about our mood and emotions. For example: “May I do this for you?” The message conveyed is that you might have more options to take help but let me do it. “May I do this for you?” Here I am seeking permission to help you. Nonverbal communication can be done through Now, that we are aware of the types of communication let’s move towards the principle that makes all these types of communication more effective. Principles of Communication For an effective communication 7C’s of communication must be adopted. These are: Completeness: For an effective communication, it is very necessary to convey the complete message. Your message should be based on facts and according to your listener or audience’s perception. Provide additional message wherever needed. Never leave any room for further clarity after the message is conveyed, to avoid additional cost. Make your message complete and filled with all the vital elements and information to make it crystal clear. An incomplete message can create confusion or can be distorted by the audience’s own assumption in case of ambiguity. In addition to this completeness of message helps build a good reputation and adds worth to your message that is the key factor to hold on the audience. Concreteness: Being specific and clear, supported by facts is what a concrete message is all about. Concreteness does not let the message to be misinterpreted. It prevents confusion and strengthens the message and generates confidence in the speaker. A message conveyed confidently attracts audience attention. It displays a clear picture before the audience. Conciseness: Keep your message short and simple. Different statements can confuse the listener. Nobody wants illustrations in seven sentences when they understood it in three sentences. Verbose messages can bore the audience. Long e-mails
10 Quick tips to success as a freelancer in writing
Freelancing Content writing Freelancing Content writing is one of the most rewarding areas for the writers and also challenging. Almost everything on the internet is related to content. Organizations are investing a huge amount to get a good, relevant, fresh, and unique content idea. And why they shouldn’t? I mean, it is the content that decides your online brand presence, customer experience and which ultimately leads to revenue. With time being one of the factors, it is important that content writing evolve. For the evolution of thisfield, the writers too need to evolve. Unfortunately content is king but content writers are poor (read underpaid). Most of the writers fail to get a promising career in this field. They fail to do so because they start seeing that too much of effort is needed as compared to the payout. Every day I get many calls from agencies asking for exceptional content writers at the price of peanuts. If you think you can do wonder with your words, you can write the article and sell them, believe me, you can make fortune for yourself which you cannot do just by doing a 9-5 job. Definitely, a job has its own advantages. There is a way to make a handsome living successfully out of freelance writing and eventually, you can start your own agency. For inspiration and idea, you can read the story of Julia McCoy To start with, you need the basic marketing skills. But even after that, you need some substantial skills that can gain you profit in the long run. Below is a list of 10 tips to get freelance work in content writing. These tips are designed according to preferences of multiple content writers with the dedicated establishment in the industry. 1. Exploration: If you want good gigs, you must know how to explore. Exploring the authentic sites is good but keeping an active track is also important. Most of the people start off good but when it comes to the continuation, they give up. It is the gigs that make a real difference. If you can successfully crack down big gigs, half of your work is already done. 2. Register with multiple agencies/portal rather than one: A limited approach means that you are limited by options. When it comes to other contributing factors, approach plays a big role. One website with one target is good but trying luck on multiple websites are better. Never put all your eggs in a single basket. Freelancer is largest and the most promising service provider for content writers. Trying your luck for sites like Upwork, Fish Talent etc with your writing is good as well. 3. Leveraging the power of Social media: I think social media is one of the most promising approaches for an easier communication. You can join different groups, communities and you can even create your own fan page/group which can help you in many ways in the long run. If these platforms are used prudently it can help you in many ways from reputation building to get a lead. Consider LinkedIn, FaceBook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest etc. You can join our groups to see how we leverage the strength of the social platform. The rates are not that high there but if you are looking for something in bulk, that is actually the place that you should look for. Remember, you should always set your price bars legit. Once you lower them down, it is not easy to get it up.Read this blog to Gain expertise in time and cost estimation. 4. Delivery and Commitment: Let us be honest here. when you are working with freelancer you know almost nothing about the person you areworking with neither his whereabouts. The issue with these industry freelancers (imposters) is that they are in a self-destructing mode just because of the concept of everybody can write. These kinds of imposters fail deadlines, fail to deliver, they set their bar low and when they fail to deliver, they quit bringing a bad name to others also. Here is the opportunity for you. In one word if you can maintain professionalism and deliver quality content on schedule with high quality the competition is next to zero. So the secret sauce is maintaining the quality delivery on time, Commit less deliver more and kingdom is yours. 5. Chose your work wisely: Delivery and commitment are alike but not the same. Someone with the understanding of commitment can never lose his job. Content writing is a vast field and you may get an opportunity to work on different topics and domain but it is not wise to jump on the wagon about which you do not have any idea. Learn to say No. Don’t opt for something that you don’t know or you are not comfortable. Doing this may sometime backfire you. Instead, try doing something that you already have a grip on even if the level is that of a novice. Instead of making false commitments, it is better to make things that you already know how to excel. 6. Quality matters: Newbie or trained, blogger or SEO expert, there is one thing that this industry never accepts. That’s plagiarism. This can kill your freelancing journey. If you let your work succumbed to plagiarism, it will actually be a matter of time before you hit the road. Don’t take more than you can handle. Instead, try to things that you can already maintain. Taking inspiration is always a good idea but the end of the day we are paid for original work. Curate original content ask for the price you deserve. Only plagiarism is not the issue poor grammar, spelling mistakes use of weak phrase can be the killer. Learn the list of weak phrase you must avoid. 7. Focus: Don’t jump from one genre to another without prior planning and preparations. Understand what you are good at. Around 70% of the clients from your client base will be referred or returning client. So, in one word, reputation matters. Abruptly changing your genre may dilute your content depth and ultimately quality. So, slowly and steadily learn the different art
How to create Animated GIFs
Animated GiFs- Latest trend in visual communication Animated GIFs is latest trends among next-gen professionals for visual communication. LinkedIn partner with Tenor to add GIFs to messaging. Use of GIFs on your blog more shareable on the other hand it can be used in the technical document to make complex idea simpler. It can also use for internal communication like (sharing a process to reproduce bug/issue by a tester to a developer) You must use in the right place in the right place overuse of it can dilute the purpose of your technical documentation. Information Developers Foundation is committed to keeping you updated on the latest and in-demand skill. This Webinar is just a step toward it. You can subscribe to our website if you do not want to miss any of our action. How and Why to create Animated GIFs? This post is a recording of the TC Charcha (webinar) hosted by Information Developers Foundation on 24th March 2018. Our esteemed guest of the night Sangeeta Raghu presented a very informative and engaging webinar on the Animated GIFs with a demo. Highlights: You can watch the video but you will miss the enjoyment of live interaction what we experienced. Hope to see you in our next Content Charcha on API Masterclass by Pema Sherpa on 28th April 2018. Register Now. You can also see our recorded webinars.
15 Easy ways to earn from your blog (That actually pay)
Extra bucks from your Blog How to earn from your blog? How to make money from your blog? These are the common questions that come to one’s mind before foraying into a blogging career. Let’s find out the ways by which we can convert our writing skills to glittering dollars. The journey of Information Developers Foundation started a Blog. What to write The first thing before blogging is to choose a profitable niche for writing if your sole objective is to earn from your blog. Do an extensive research to find out what topics do people are interested more. Know about the current trends and the hot topics doing the round. Certain domains are the most researched and queried about. Make a list and choose your expertise among it. The topic that is closest to you and you can write relevantly and with ease. Once you decide your niche you have crossed the main obstacle, because a hot topic attracts traffic that will ultimately reflect in terms of dollars. Setting up advertising objectives Before advertising, we need to identify the objective of advertisement. It clears the goal we want to achieve and help tap relevant audience. Original quality content In today era of self-publication dearth of original content is glaring. If you are able to curate original and unique content definitely you will be able to command the high price. I’m sure you must be aware of a famous quote Content is King. Your content should be appealing enough to compel the audience to share it. Quality is the only criterion that adds value to a blog. A share-worthy content reaches and advertises your blog to the remotest of audience ultimately driving traffic to your own website. More share increases your credibility and you start getting referral views also. Creating website A website should always describe your motive or goal behind the blogging passion. A blog written with some motive motivates others to read it. You should clear your intentions behind writing on your website. Your website should promote your goal to increase the interest of the viewer so that he revisits and subscribes. Multiply your audience Growing your audience is very necessary because they are the one from where you can generate money. Increasing your connections, social media presence, relevant contents, proper advertisements, referrals are few of the means by which we can increase our audience. A bigger audience will lead to increased conversions. Utilising social media Social media is a very big platform to showcase your talent and attract an audience with your magnetic writing skills. Your blog can reach to maximum people through likes, shares, comments and thus increase your presence. Do keep in mind that you have to stick to it, jumping from one page to other or creating different groups won’t work. There should be one platform that marks your brand. Connect with IDF with our Social media. Guest posts To drive traffic towards your own blog write eye-catching and influential guest posts on other websites that have a larger database of viewers. People often try to explore more about your posts if they find it worth reading. Information Developers Foundation provides an excellent platform for guest posting. You can post without any hassle and it is very easy to use. Syndicating your content When your blog posts are featured on relevant popular websites they are more prone to get noticed and ultimately driving the audience to your own blogs. Network with bloggers Competition is everywhere but, to reach the top we need to grow our network with the bloggers having the same niche. This will mutually benefit you as you get a platform to write guest posts, syndicating your own published content etc. After driving traffic we need to choose the right monetizing methods to convert the views into dollars. This can be done in various ways. Let’s discuss them. Google AdSense This is the pay per click advertisement program of google wherein you earn money whenever someone clicks the advertisement displayed on your website. Related advertisements next to your articles are more likely to get clicks and you get paid for every click. Affiliate marketing It is one of the methods to monetize your blog where you get paid for the business for your own marketing efforts as affiliates. It is a performance-based marketing where you get your cut of revenue from the business partner. Selling courses and e-books In today’s era, people are moving towards online classes and prefer e-books. To monetize your blog you need to take advantage of this phenomenon and sell relevant courses and e-books. If I write a blog on technical writing, selling technical writing courses can be rewarding for me. E-mail marketing Many experts believe email marketing is dead but I believe still this is one of the best ways to communicate with your readers. E-mail marketing is also a profitable way to monetize your blog. You can market products to your own mailing list and the conversion ratio are more likely to be on the higher side because they are aware of you and your area of performance. Writing reviews Your review is a recommendation for your readers. This is also one of the best ways to monetize a blog. You can write product reviews and get paid for it and you should be honest and unbiased doing the review. Most of the companies hire bloggers to write product reviews and pay them a good remuneration for it. This works very well for affiliate blogs. Banner Ads You can monetize your blogs by posting banner ads on your blog. You can charge the companies to display their banner in different shapes, size, and place on your blogging property and charge according to your authority. You can relate this displaying banner, hoardings in the prime locations of your city. In life, nothing comes easy. Try to be the authority of your own niche money will follow you. Companies will follow you to post their banner, they