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In this episode, Louise and Denise discuss writing and editing for the web with guest Erin Brenner
Click to listen to Season 2, Episode 9
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Ask us a question The easiest way to ping us a question is via Facebook Messenger: Visit the podcast's Facebook page and click on the SEND MESSAGE button. Denise and Louise Music credit ‘‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with independent authors of commercial fiction, particularly crime, thriller and mystery writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), a member of ACES, a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and co-hosts The Editing Podcast. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor & Proofreader, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Every professional editor and proofreader wants to attract best-fit clients who are prepared to commit to a contract of editorial services. For the most part, bookings go smoothly – cancellations, delays, and failures to pay are unusual. Still, editorial business owners need to protect themselves ... just in case.
This article doesn’t seek to offer you a model contract or set of terms and conditions (T&Cs), though you’re welcome to look at mine for inspiration: Terms and conditions.
Instead, I want to explore some ideas about how to develop your spidey sense, and use language and tools that will repel those who’d let you down. What does ‘delay’ mean to you? The concept of the delay is nonsense to an editorial business owner. If a client asks you to proofread a book, tells you the proofs will arrive with you on 10 May, and requests return of the marked-up proofs a week later, and you agree to take on the job, those are the terms: proofread to start 10 May; delivery 7 days later. You’ll schedule the project accordingly, and will decline to work for anyone else from 10–17 May. If two weeks ahead of the start date you’re told ‘there’ll be a delay’, you’ll likely have no work for 10–17 May unless you can fill that space at the last minute. Moreover, you will be booked for another project during the period when the project will become available. To my mind, that’s not a delay. You can’t magic additional hours out of thin air. That’s a cancellation of the project terms that were agreed to by both parties. 
Make sure your T&Cs reflect this. Don’t use the language of delay if it means nothing to you. Have a cancellation policy and make it clear that confirmed bookings are for an agreed time frame, and that failure to meet the agreed date will invoke that cancellation policy.
You might decide not to invoke it as a courtesy, but having it could reduce the likelihood of having to make the decision. Is ‘deposit’ a strong enough term? The word ‘deposit’ should be strong enough as long as the refund terms are clear. Still, you might want to couch your language along the lines of what editor and book coach Lisa Poisso calls ‘real money’. I don’t refer to deposits in my terms and conditions. I call them booking fees. A fee is a payment. It’s the language of money. ‘Deposit’ as a noun has a broader mass-of-material meaning; as a verb it means to place something somewhere. Maybe, for some people, it has a softer feel to it. 
Of course, anyone required to pay a deposit knows full well that the financial definition is being referred to. Nevertheless, using the language of money – a fee – might well encourage time-wasters to think twice.
The following might also work for you:
What you charge upfront is up to you. Some editors charge a 50% booking fee rather than a flat rate. Some require one third to secure the booking, another third just before editing starts, and the remaining third upon completion of the project. You can define your own model. Do you have a booking form? You and a client can agree to your providing editorial services via email, and emails count contractually. But how about requiring a specific additional action, one that reinforces a sense of commitment? Asking someone to fill in a booking form that confirms they have read, understood and agreed to your terms and conditions, including your booking fee and your cancellation policy, means they have to make a proactive decision to commit. When it comes to filling in a form and ticking boxes, a non-committed client is less likely to feel comfortable than a good-fit one because it feels more formal. You can create a PDF booking form that you’ll email manually, or create the form on your website. My choice is the latter. I include it below my T&Cs. That way, the booking and the terms are closely linked. Here’s a screenshot of mine. Notice the boxes that must be checked in order to confirm the booking. 
Is ‘booking form’ a strong enough term?
Even if someone is prepared to fill in a form and check some boxes, agreeing to a contract might make them think twice. That has a more legally binding feel about it; it’s more formal. And it might be the thing that repels someone who’s going to let you down. My T&Cs state that the booking-confirmation form is an agreement to the contract of services between me and the client, and the phrase ‘Contract of Services Agreement’ sits under the under the title of my booking form. 
Are your terms and conditions detailed enough?
In the main, your website should be client-focused. It should make the client feel that you understand their problems, are able to deliver solutions, and understand what the impact of your solutions will be. Your brand voice should sing out loud. In my case, for example, that means using a gentle, nurturing tone. However, when it comes to your terms and conditions, forget all the touchy-feely stuff – this is where you and the client get down to business. It’s in everyone’s interests to know what’s what. That might mean that your T&Cs are rather dull and boring. No matter. It’s the one place on your website where you’re allowed to be dull and boring! I feel like chewing my own arm off when I read my T&Cs but I don’t want any of my clients in doubt about what I’m offering and what they’re getting. Think about the following:
A non-committed client will be repelled if your terms put them at risk. A good-fit client will feel reassured that they’re dealing with a fellow professional who takes the editing work as seriously as they do. Are the basics front and centre? Many editors place links to the detailed contractual stuff in their website’s footer, which means the T&Cs are almost invisible. Even a good-fit client probably won’t see or read your T&Cs during their initial search for editorial services. That’s the case on my website. If it’s the same for you, consider placing the basics front and centre. I’ve created a box on my contact page that spells out the non-refundable £250 booking fee I charge. 
Will it put off some potential clients? Absolutely. But if someone can’t afford that booking fee or doesn’t dare take the risk of making a payment because they’re unsure whether they’ll honour the contract, they’re not the right client for me.
Spotting red flags Developing your spidey sense can reduce the likelihood of becoming entangled with those who’ll back out of confirmed bookings or fail to pay. 
Though there’s no foolproof way to protect yourself from non-committed clients, there are red flags you can look out for:
Summing up I hope these tips help you avoid non-committed clients and safeguard your business. Even if you implement some of my ideas, there are no guarantees unless you ask for 100% of your fee upfront. However, rest assured that most clients are honest, committed and trustworthy individuals who are a pleasure to work with. As for those who blow you out, a few are scoundrels. Others aren’t but are thoughtless and haven’t taken the time to understand the emotional and financial impact of cancellations and non-payment. Others have got cold feet. And some have been struck by unusual or extraordinary circumstances like bereavement. Most don’t mean to cause distress or place editors in financial hardship, even though those are two very real potential outcomes. By using real-money language and action-driving tools, we can build stronger bonds of trust with those who are serious about working with us, and repel most of those who aren’t.
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with independent authors of commercial fiction, particularly crime, thriller and mystery writers. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), a member of ACES, and a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.
Here’s how to build a knockout editing portfolio page even if you’re relatively new to the field.
Deciding what to include, what to omit, and how to lay it out so that it grabs a potential client’s attention can be tricky. If your business is new you might not have a lot to shout about. If you’re established, you might have too much.
One thing’s for sure, though – an editing site without a visible portfolio is at a disadvantage. It’s the next best thing to the social proof of a testimonial because it demonstrates that you practise what you preach. Using stories is a method every editor can use to bring their portfolio page to life. Moving from mechanics to emotions Stories are lovely additions to any portfolio page because they give us the opportunity to take our potential clients behind the scenes ... to show them how we helped and how the project made us feel. That’s important because it shifts the attention away from mechanics and towards emotion. Those of us who work with non-publisher clients such as independent authors, academics, businesses and students are asking our clients to take a big leap ... to put their project in the hands of someone they’ve never met, and pay for the privilege. It’s a huge ask and takes not a little courage for some. Think about it from the client’s point of view:
These clients will be looking for an editor they can trust, someone who gets them, understands what their problems are and can solve them without making a song and dance about it. Trust is something that is usually earned over time – think about your friendships and partnerships. Editors and their clients don’t always have the luxury of time. What’s needed is something that will fast-track the growth of trust. Word-of-mouth recommendations are fantastic for this. Testimonials from named clients are also excellent social proof. Portfolios work in the same way. The problem is, they can be boring. 
A partial screenshot of my boring but useful list!
The list: boring but powerful I’m not going to suggest you dump your long lists. Boring though they may be, I believe there’s power in them, and for two reasons:
So, if you want to keep your long lists, do so. I have. Make them more accessible and aesthetically pleasing by breaking them into subjects or genres. Add thumbnails of book jackets, journal covers or client logos (subject to securing permission from the client). Use a carousel or slideshow plug-in to show off multiple images without cluttering up the page. 
Carousel of thumbnail images with scroll buttons
Adding pizzazz with stories
Now it’s time to add the wow factor. Stories take the portfolio one stage further. They’re basically case studies of editing and proofreading in practice. Can you recognize yourself in the following list?
Stories work for all three groups of editors:
What to include It’s up to you what you include but consider the following:
Example 1
I’m a fiction editor who works for a lot of first-time novelists. Many haven’t worked with an editor and don’t know what to expect. Some feel anxious and exposed. My two portfolio stories have a friendly, informal tone. One of my case studies focuses on a self-publishing series author whose fictional world I’ve become close to. By showing how we work together and how his writing makes me feel, I demonstrate my advocacy for self-publishing and the thrill I get from working with indie authors, the emotional connection I make with the characters, and the delight I experience in seeing writers hone their craft. 
Two case studies from the editing studio
Example 2
If you work with corporates, your stories might have a reassuring, professional tone that conveys confidence and pragmatism. Your case studies could feature clients whose projects required the management of privacy and confidentiality concerns. You could use the space to talk about the challenges you faced and the successes you and your clients achieved even though the projects were complex and demanding.
Example 3
If you work with publishers, you could create case studies that show how you managed tight deadlines, a controlled brief, and a detailed style guide. The stories could highlight some of the problems you and the publisher overcame, your enthusiasm for the subject area, the pride you felt on seeing the book published, knowing the part you’d played in its publication journey. Crafting stories about relationships If your home page is all about the client, the portfolio page can be all about relationships. By crafting stories for our portfolios, we can invite potential clients onto the stage and let them experience – if only fleetingly – editing in action. And because the case studies are real, they’re a powerful tool for knocking down barriers to trust. They show a client how we might help them, just as we’ve helped others.
Louise Harnby is a fiction line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in supporting self-publishing authors, particularly crime writers. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), a member of ACES, and an Author Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.
One of my author clients asked me how to set up automatic blog-post delivery to her subscribers via MailChimp. Here's a video walk-through.
MailChimp frequently updates its settings. If you find this video no longer works for you, feel free to give me a nudge so I can create a revised tutorial. If you prefer to read the instructions, here they are: Assumptions
Step 1 (as of December 2017)
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That's it! You're done!
Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, take a look at Louise’s Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
So you have a great blog post in mind, or a resource you want to create for your core client group. The problem is, one of your proofreading or editing colleagues has already tackled the issue. What do you do?
For clarity, let’s think of one piece of content that would be a good contender for a blog post and downloadable PDF cheat sheet. Lots of editors and proofreaders work with academics – students, teachers and researchers – and these clients’ publishers.
Many of those academics will be dab hands at citations and referencing. Their subject’s preferred style manual will be like an old friend. But what about the beginner – like the student submitting to a journal for the first time – or the experienced scholar who’s asked to create references according to an unfamiliar style guide? Some of the best-known academic style manuals are overwhelming. And that’s why people turn to the search engines for solutions – summary cheat sheets that break the guidance down into accessible chunks. I put the phrase ‘APA style summary’ into Google. There were just under 15 million results. Who got there first? Probably not the American Psychological Association. So, if nearly 15 million people have already created this content, including some of your colleagues, why should you? 
Demonstrating your knowledge – and upping your value
Let’s consider a PhD student. She’s submitting a Master’s dissertation in three months’ time and she has two problems:
First, she heads for a professional editorial directory. From it, she selects ten proofreaders and visits their websites. They all have similar experience and training. All ten proofreaders therefore solve the first problem. Right now, her problem is whom to choose. Next, she heads to Google to solve the second problem. The sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association costs just over £22 in 2017 and stretches to 272 pages. She is up to her neck in student-loan debt as it is … and 272 pages? Surely there’s some free guidance online. Remember those 15 million results I mentioned above? Now she has to sift through just a teeny-tiny bit of that. Let’s go back to her first search. Imagine you’re one of those ten proofreaders, but you can solve both of her problems. If you’re the person who can proofread for her and provide her with an accessible summary of APA, you’ve just achieved the following:
Now her problem is not whom to choose but whether you’re available. That in itself is a good enough reason to get yourself a copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (or any other style manual that your target clients use) and get busy creating blog posts and complementary summary resources. That someone else has done it already is not the issue. That you’re solving the problems of people who’ve bothered to visit your website is. It’s likely you’re being compared with others, so demonstrating wider knowledge and being helpful adds value to what you bring to the table and makes you stand out. 
Multiple problems, and keeping clients on your website
If a potential client is on your website looking for solutions to problems, two things can happen:
Most of our clients don’t have one problem (say, finding an editor). They have a stack of problems. The more you can solve, the longer they’ll stay. I’m told that Google gives brownie points to websites that are lingered on, but even if it didn’t, every minute a potential client is on your website is a minute they’re not on your competitor’s. That’s another minute of engagement, another minute’s worth of trust, another minute where they might visit the Get a Quote or Contact page. Of course, there’s an alternative. Back to our Master’s student. You’re one of the ten proofreaders she selected. She also needs help with APA citation and referencing. Your website tells her all about what a brilliant proofreader you are. You want to help her with APA styling. But you don’t want to create a summary because your lovely colleague Josie Proofreader has already done something similar. Instead, you kindly put in a big fat link to Josie’s website so that your potential client can access this fabulous resource. The client skips over to Josie, sees that she’s also a brilliant proofreader, and promptly forgets the ten she was previously considering (including you). After all, Josie is so helpful, so knowledgeable – her site’s like a one-stop shop. Now her problem is whether Josie is available. There’s nothing wrong with linking to colleagues’ sites (links to relevant websites are good for SEO) but when it comes to the really helpful, substantive, stand-out, problem-solving stuff, that should be on your site – written by you, in your voice, your style, and with your branding on it. Cite your primary sources, of course, (in this case, the APA). We, as editors, know better than anyone the problems of plagiarism and the etiquette of citation. Here’s the guidance I use for creating content (based on the advice of pro white-paper writer Gordon Graham):
Quality content you can’t create. Calling the guest contributor
There are some types of content that I don’t feel comfortable creating. For example, I’m a specialist sentence-level editor so I’m not the best person to give advice on developmental editing conundrums. That doesn’t mean I don’t want that content on my website, though – for all the reasons outlined above. Guest posts are the solution. Not just any old guests – friends and colleagues who have in-depth, specialist knowledge that I think will be of benefit to my readers. Here are just a few examples:
Their content helps to keep my readers on my website – that’s a win for me. My readers are made aware of my contributors’ expertise – that’s a win for them. And I and my contributors get high-quality inbound/outbound links to our websites – that’s a win for all of us. If your editorial blog is new and you’re looking for some guidance on what to expect from your guests, here are my rules for contributor content:
Every time we host a guest we have the potential to enrich the quality of the content on our own sites. 
Writing for others, and how to bring it back
I’ve written for other people too: The Publishing Training Centre, the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, BookMachine, Society of English-language professionals in the Netherlands, An American Editor, and several editor colleagues. Every time we write for others we expand our audience reach via theirs. This may appear to contradict my earlier advice about keeping your own content on your own site. My approach is me-first, me-most. Most of the content on my site has been created by me and demonstrates my skills and my willingness to be helpful. However, curation and reciprocity have their roles – you give a little, you take a little. It’s editorial content backscratching! Repurposing is one way of bringing quality content you’ve published elsewhere back onto your own turf. Just duplicating the text isn't advisable because it can affect your website's rankings in the search engines. Instead, try these three ideas:
Summing up
Happy halloween!
Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, you might like to visit Louise’s Writing Library to access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
One of the main reasons why blogs (and vlogs or podcasts) die is because the creator finds it difficult to maintain the momentum. ‘What am I going to write about?’ ‘What if it’s already been covered elsewhere?’
Invite questions … Inviting people to email me with questions is my top tip for generating blog ideas that are right on target. Questions are how your readers frame their problems. And when you solve those problems, you help people – make life easier for them. And that’s one of the most powerful ways of engaging with someone … just like in real life. All you need for one blog post is one question from one person. That’s because even though only one person has asked, there’s a good chance that many more people have wondered the same thing. Solve that one person’s problem and you’ve probably solved a hundred people’s problems. 
Customize and personalize
My Q&A series is built on precisely this premise. When someone emails me with a question, I tell them that I’ll write a detailed answer for them on the blog. The answer won’t be generic, but specifically for them. My articles are often quite broad-based – they aim to talk to lots of people at once: how to create a resource hub, which proofreading courses I recommend, grammar rules and preferences, online writing courses, how to price proofreading and copyediting projects, and so on. But there’s nothing generic about how I handled Rachel’s question: ‘I have multiple sclerosis and severely reduced manual dexterity – can I become a professional proofreader?’ The blog post I created in response to that was written just for her. And, yet, two people emailed me after I published that post to thank me for it because they, too, had conditions that affected their fine motor skills and wanted some guidance on how that might impact on their ability to build a freelance editorial business. So that’s one question, and three people’s problems solved that I know of. I reckon there are plenty of other people out there who didn’t contact me, and never will, but who might have the exact same question. I make sure I stamp each Q&A blog post with a banner that identifies it clearly as part of this series. And at the end, I always include an invitation to get in touch. 
Respect privacy
I think it’s a good idea to offer to mask a person’s identity. Some readers feel uncomfortable about asking questions in public. The reasons are varied but include worries about being judged or appearing to lack knowledge and experience. The reality is that none of us knows everything. We’re all learning … and always learning. I have plenty of answers up my sleeve, but I have a ton of questions, too. Sometimes I’m happy to ask them in public; other times I choose a more intimate space. At all times, trust is essential, so if you offer a Q&A-style service on your blog, take care to ensure that all parties are on the same page about what personal information will be included before you go live. I now have a dedicated form that Q&A participants fill in. This includes a section where the questioner can tell me whether they’re happy for me to use their first name, or if they want this and other identification markers masked. The gifts from all the beginners Don’t be afraid to tackle issues that you think are ‘easy’ or ‘simple’ or ‘basic’. Anything’s easy when you know the answer; when you don’t, the solution seems unreachable. Here’s a story from my own backyard ... I’ve been adding video into my marketing mix – shorties that introduce blog posts and resources I’ve created for self-publishing authors. I posted one of those videos into a marketing forum to get some feedback. My pal Mark Orr, an expert in smartphone video creation (Pocket Video School), told me that the resolution and head-positioning were off. There are, it turns out, fixes to both these problems, but they’re only straightforward when you know them. I didn’t, and it wasn’t until Mark and I had a proper chat on Skype that we worked out where I’d been going wrong. Something we discovered during that conversation is that there were about 20 more questions that I didn’t know the answer to but which were a doddle for him. He helped with all of them, but he told me I’d helped him, too, because I’d given him a few ideas of what to vlog about. He made me feel that my lack of knowledge was both welcome and an opportunity. And because he helped me, I now trust him. More on that later … Here’s an example of when the beginner question isn’t welcomed. In May 2017, Steven Pressfield posted about ‘Clueless Asks’, in which he states that when beginners ask ‘clueless’ questions, ‘they have not done their due diligence. Don’t ask a writer how to get an agent. Find out yourself. There are ten thousand sources online and a hundred books in the Writing section of a book store.’ Now, Pressfield has a point. There are no doubt thousands of online resources that will answer the question, and if you’re not interested in building an online platform that gets heard over the cacophony that is the internet, then you’ll sympathize with him. But – and it’s a huge but – if your blog is foundational to your visibility and you see it as a valuable tool for communicating and sharing with your colleagues and clients, then a ‘clueless ask’ is NOT a frustration. It’s a gift – and a precious one at that. It’s precious because it helps me publish articles that I know at least one person wants to read, articles that will help someone, and make their life easier. 
The privilege of being asked and trusted
Every time someone asks me something that I think is easy, or obvious, or simple, or has already been answered elsewhere, I am reminded that my questioner asked me. Which means they came to my website, took the time to engage with me, chose to trust me (just like I came to trust Mark). That’s amazing, especially since we’re usually strangers to each other. And since they’ve privileged me with a visit, I’d like them to stay rather than nipping off somewhere else … and talking to someone whom they deem more helpful than me. A good blog is a helpful blog. And even if the content I post has been answered by someone else, somewhere else, the questioner couldn’t find it or didn’t go looking for it. They asked me. That means it’s worth having on my blog. And if they ask you, it’s worth having on your platform, too. Plus, each of us will answer in our own unique ways – with our own voices and experiences. Each of our approaches might differ a little or a lot. Either way, the internet is big enough for a multitude of voices and approaches. All of us can be part of the conversation, so my advice is to see the question (however basic) as a giant opportunity. Being audience-focused In ‘How to build a web presence that outsmarts, outperforms and outlasts the search engines’, Stoney deGeyter discusses how back in 1998 it was relatively easy to get the attention of the search engines. Good Google rankings could be found with the right keywords and links. These days, that’s not enough. Now, it’s about ‘creating a web presence that people love’. That means gearing it towards the audience, not the search engines. What better way to gear a blog towards an audience than answering the questions your audience has? Other ways to find the questions Inviting questions is one way of working out what problems need solving. But there are others, too. The key is to be clear about whom your intended audience is and where they’re hanging out. Once you know that, lurk and listen. Who’s asking what? Some options to consider include:
I hope this has given you some ideas about how to generate blog content that’s of genuine use to your readers. Inviting questions isn’t the only way, but it’s one I love because it personalizes my blog space and puts me in direct conversation with my readers. And in the spirit of the subject, don’t forget … You ask. I'll answer
I'm more than happy to tackle questions, especially from beginners. If there's something you want advice about, drop me a line and I'll post a solution to your problem here. The more focused your question, the more in-depth my answer will be! And if you want me to mask your identity, no problem.
Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, you might like to join Louise’s Writing Library. Members receive monthly updates featuring self-publishing news and resources.
Are you fed up with your 404 page? Worried that your clients are too? Broken links are broken conversations. Here’s a wee idea I came up with to fix the disappointment and get you and your visitors talking again … using a chatbot.
What is a 404 page? A 404 page is where your visitor ends up if they’ve clicked on a link to your website and one of the following has occurred:
Google’s recommendations for a high-quality 404 page
404 frustrations
When you hit a 404 page on a website, you feel frustrated. You’ve gone to that site for a reason – you’re trying to solve a problem, or learn something new, perhaps even buy a service or product. And if the page you’re searching for has been moved, or if the link you’ve clicked is incorrect, you end up in a place you don’t want to be. It’s a dead end. If the website’s owner has been thoughtful, there’ll be a search box or menu to help you, perhaps a list of links that might be useful. Still, you’re the one who has to do the work to get back on the right path because, usually, there isn’t is a way of talking to the owner, a way of saying, ‘I wanted X but I’m stuck. Can you help?’ And since you’re already in a grumpy mood, you’re more likely to disengage and leave the site. After all, someone else is probably solving your problem, and maybe if you head back to Google Search, you’ll find a fix rather than a 404. 
A beautiful bot! Introducing Lulu …
I’m a fiction copyeditor and proofreader and I love marketing my business! I regularly publish free booklets, PDFs, checklists and templates for fellow editors and proofreaders, and self-publishing authors. I share news about that content via social media and on my blog. A few weeks ago, I set up a free account with ManyChat. I created Lulu, my Messenger bot. She’s my digital assistant and she’s great – most of the time! We’ve had a few glitches … some digital napping on the job … but in the main she’s successfully helped me deliver my resources to my Facebook network. Instantly. I learned how to build Lulu from my two favourite pro content marketers Andrew and Pete. August was their ‘Build Your Bot Month’ and four in-depth tutorials taught me everything I needed to know to get going. If you want a taster, hop over to YouTube and watch ‘Get Started Using Messenger Bots in Your Marketing with Andrew and Pete’. All well and good. But was there other ways I could use Lulu to help me engage with my community of editors and authors meaningfully? Recently, I was looking for something online. It took a while to find what I wanted, but find it I did. Or nearly. The link looked good but landing was a disappointment – a 404. The site was busy and I had no clue where to start. So I did what a lot of people do online. I gave up and went somewhere more interesting instead. That’s not what I want people doing on my site. I want my authors and colleagues to feel that I’m there for them, ready to help, ready to engage. Could Lulu help? 
The ManyChat webpage widget
I decided to get Lulu on the case of my 404 page. I have a lot of content on my website, and even more external links to that content. I’ve been blogging regularly since 2011, and I’ve changed things around on my site more times than I care to mention. And while I do my best to set up 301 redirects when I make changes, there’s no doubt that there are external broken links about which I can do little. ManyChat has a bunch of growth tools including two embeddable widgets. One is an opt-in box that can be placed anywhere on a website. I’ve used this widget to provide a more interactive experience for my 404 arrivals, one that enables them to make choices with the click of a button, but ultimately to say, ‘Louise, I wanted X but I’m stuck. Can you help?’ Because they’re contacting me via Messenger, they can get in touch instantly. Which means I can help them quickly. And the quicker I help, the less likely they are to get the hump and go somewhere more interesting instead. What’s great about this widget is the customization element. You can choose colours, images and messages that reflect your clients’ needs and your solutions. It matters not whether you're an editor like me, or an author, or another type of business owner ... the widget will work for anyone with a website. 
Case study: the visitor journey on my 404 page
Now that I’ve set up Lulu, the visitor who lands on my 404 page can take a journey, one that involves the ability to interact directly with me quickly. Here’s what it looks like ... This is what the visitor sees when they land: 
Clicking on the button takes them to a new page:
Now the conversation beings in Messenger. First, Lulu introduces herself and asks the visitor to provide some information that will determine how the interaction proceeds:
In this example, the visitor has selected ‘Author’. This generates a new set of choices, including the option to have a conversation with me:
If the visitor chooses to ask for a quote or get some free resources, they’re taken directly to the relevant pages on my website. If they wish to talk to me, Lulu acknowledges the request with a message:
In the Messages section of my Facebook page I receive a notification that someone wishes to chat. Lulu steps aside and the real conversation with me can begin:
Summing up
The ManyChat widget allows us to work with Google’s recommendations: apologetic, friendly language that acknowledges the problem; colours, language and images that are on-brand; clickable links to key pages and core content; and the ability to report the problem directly via an instant conversation. Landing on a 404 page is a negative experience for the visitor. A chatbot turns that negative experience into an opportunity, one that offers a series of calls to action. By including a discussion in the mix, we can offer one-to-one engagement. And it’s fun! We’re putting a smile back on a frustrated client’s face, and that can only be a good thing! Have you used a chatbot for your own 404 page, or as a way of engaging with your clients and colleagues? Let me know in the comments!
Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, you might like to visit Louise’s Writing Library to access my latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly.
How to organize your best proofreading and editing resources so that they're visible and usable ...
Content hubs for proofreaders and editors
The ‘self-publishers’ page on my site is a content hub. I call it Louise's Writing Library. It’s where potential author clients can find lots of resources to make their lives easier. Each resource has a picture. Clicking on that picture takes the visitor to a blog post, a Word file or a PDF booklet (though it could just as easily link to a video, podcast or Excel spreadsheet). All of that stuff is on my blog too, so why did I create a dedicated page to curate it? Here are 8 reasons why: 1. Hubs help your visitors find your useful stuff It's much easier for a visitor to navigate from one resource to another when you offer clearly titled images in one place than it is to find what you want in a search bar or blog archive. And if they get distracted, it’s easy to start the content review process all over again back in the hub. That might not be so easy if they’re on a 7-year-old blog with several hundred articles on it, especially if the ones they want to read appear in different subject- or month-archives. Your visitor can also bookmark a hub page on your site. They can’t do that with a list of results generated by your search bar. They can probably bookmark an archive, but that will only show the first article or two on your blog, not a chunk of your core resources at a glance. 2. Hubs keeps your visitors on your site for longer because there’s more to engage with The more goodies you offer visitors, the greater their engagement. That’s good for obvious reasons – you’re helping your clients, showing them you’re engaged with their problems and are willing and able to solve them. But there’s another important reason. The longer someone sticks around on your site, the more likely they are to hire your editorial services. It’s no surprise, really – I don’t stick around in a high-street shop, desperately trying to find that one thing I want, if the overall feel of the place and the products it’s selling don’t feel like me. But if I keep finding things that grab my attention, I’m much more likely to walk out of the door with a bag full of something nice. Editorial websites are no different. If your hub makes potential clients drool because you’re offering them a lot of free, helpful, valuable content, if it makes them feel that you get them, and that you’re a good fit for each other, you have a much higher chance of persuading that person to ask for a quote or a sample edit/proofread. 3. Hubs reinforce your brand Content hubs are perfect for reinforcing your brand identity because you can create a uniform look and feel by theming your images with consistent colourways, fonts, and design. Include a few lines of text at the top to explain who your resources are for, and what problems they’ll solve – your mission, so to speak. Here’s a partial sample of the images in my own content hub: 
My brand identity is premised on a passionate support for the independent author’s right to write, and my empathy with their self-publishing journey (having done it myself).
I hope my smiling headshots give them an inkling of my friendliness and supportive nature. I hope that the colours are soft and gentle enough to inspire reassurance. But just in case, I include the following text to explain what my aim is with this hub: This self-publishing library is packed with resources to make your writing life easier.
And here's a partial shot of John Espirian's Learning Zone. John's hub has a very different feel to it, and so it should. His brand identity is built around a different set of skills, services and target clients.
4. Hubs demonstrate your expertise and arouse clients’ emotions
With a hub you can offer a chunk of accessible information that solves multiple problems. That presents you as an expert who sees the big picture. It’s not a labyrinthine process of discovery that involves extensive scrolling or putting the right keywords into a search box. Rather, you hit them in the heart with a message that you’re on their side and have their backs. It’s about arousing powerful emotions. In episode 3 of Content Mavericks, pro content marketers Andrew and Pete argue that high-arousal messages like awe, excitement, relief, and love are much more likely to generate engagement than lower-arousal messages like contentment. ‘When we care we share … Figure out a way to make people care about your message or your offering.’ 
If your hub can generate excitement in your potential client – make them feel that they’ve found an editor or proofreader who’s completely on their wavelength, someone who’s demonstrably in touch with their struggles, and is offering resolution – that’s a powerful message.
And it’s one that’s more likely to get your visitors telling others about who you are and what you’re up to, and have them clicking the Contact button. 5. Eye candy I cherish my blog, The Parlour. I’ve lovingly filled it with articles on a weekly (mostly) basis since 2011. But things can get messy. There’s a sidebar with a subscription button, an RSS button, a search box, an archive by subject area, an archive by date, some links to my book, and more. Plus, I love to write meaty posts. Most of my articles are at least 1,500 words long. And while I do include images and header stamps that summarize what’s included in each post, there’s an awful lot of text. That’s not all. There’s a lot of scrolling to do if someone wants to glimpse what’s available on one page of the blog. A content hub is much easier on the eye and allows my author visitors to see at a glance what’s on offer. 6. Segmentation Back in the day when I worked exclusively for publishers, my blog posts were aimed at my colleagues. These days I work pretty much exclusively for indie authors, and now I’m creating content for them, too. So I have two audiences, and two types of content. It’s about a 50–50 split. Creating resource hubs helps me to segment my website so that the right people can find the relevant content. This is particularly important for my author audience because most of them don’t yet know me. They’re less likely to bounce around in my blog, diving from one archive to another in a bid to find what they need. Many of my colleague visitors do know me, at least in an online capacity. And so they have a little more patience because I’ve already built a trusting relationship with them. They’re more likely to spend time rooting around the Parlour for what they want. I do have a Resources page for them, but it houses fewer pieces of content than the author content hub. 7. You can show off what you’ve got planned What if you have a tonne of great stuff in your head or listed on your content-audit spreadsheet, in production, out with the proofreader, or already scheduled for publication sometime in the next few months.? That’s not visible on your blog. Your blog only tells people about what’s available. What’s coming might be equally appealing. They might be more likely to sign up if they can see there are some exciting things in the pipeline. 
8. Hubs encourage ‘you’re worth it’ moments
Certainly, a great content hub will increase the likelihood that your visitor will hit the contact button, but not everyone will be ready to make that commitment. That’s why building a mailing list is a great way to keep in touch with potential clients who are thinking, ‘I’m interested in you and like what you’re doing, but I’m not quite at the point where I’m ready to hire you as my editor or proofreader.’ Still, it seems like everyone and their aunt has a mailing list or newsletter these days. And if you’re going to persuade someone to allow yet another email into their already crowded inbox, and make them want to actually open it, displaying a hub of gorgeous resources might just be the tipping point – the thing that makes them think you’re worth it. Make sure your hub includes a way of signing up to your mailing list, and a clear call to action that tells the visitor what you want them to do, and why.
Summing up
Make your wonderful editorial content easy to access. Whether it’s a blog, a vlog, a podcast, or something else, help your potential clients navigate their way around your resources and show them all the marvellous stuff on offer. Tell them who and what it’s for – how it helps, which problems it solves. Explain whether it’s available instantly or whether some sort of access sign-up is required. Finally, make sure it’s designed uniformly (Canva is your free friend – trust me!) so that each resource looks like it’s part of a stable. That way it’s not a hotchpotch of stuff; it’s valuable, client-focused content that represents you, your editorial business, your professional values, and your mission – your brand identity. Resources
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with independent authors of commercial fiction, particularly crime, thriller and mystery writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), a member of ACES, a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and an Associate Member of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. 
Deeply delicious promo tools!
I came across marketing masters Andrew and Pete when I was doing research for my Content Marketing Primer. I’ve been following them avidly since, watching, reading and learning from them as they teach people like me and you how to make our editorial business promotion more interesting and accessible (which in turn will help us to be more engaging and discoverable). To give you a taster, I’ve chosen three of my favourite Andrew and Pete resources. I picked the following blogs/videos not just because I think the advice makes sense or because it’s presented beautifully (which it does and it is) but because I’ve implemented it and believe it works. Oh, and be ready to hear the word ‘awesome’ used a lot (I think it’s their favourite)! 
Creating high-quality images for online promotion can be tricky if you’re not a design guru and don’t have access to expensive, top-notch software. I’d played around with Word, Publisher and PowerPoint because they’re already on my desktop, but the output was okayish at best. Then I found Canva and was converted.
Still, I wasn’t getting the best out of this excellent tool, mainly because I’m a fiction proofreader and copyeditor, not a designer. Andrew and Pete to the rescue … I did exactly what they told me to do. And it worked! I was really chuffed with my first attempt – a really high-quality image that I’ll use as a booklet pic for my April article on client loss and emergency marketing. I reckon it’s my best pic ever and it gave me confidence. So then I updated my Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook banners using the same method. And I've also played around with the idea in this blog post. Sky's the limit, I reckon! I recommend you have a go. Get it here: How to Create Social Media Graphics (video and blog) 
If, like me, you’re committed to creating blogs posts with substance (no soundbites and clickbait for us!) then you, too, might end up with a lot of text.
The audience for The Proofreader’s Parlour expects that substantive content, but could I make it more interesting without compromising on tone and detail? Andrew and Pete's post made me think about not only how I might use images more creatively (see 1 above) but also how I might complement, rather than change, what I’m already doing with multimedia. I’ve still some way to go before I make full use of their advice but I’ve started (see 1 above) and plan to develop this aspect so that I can make much more of my content accessible to multiple readers with multiple preferences. What really grabbed me is the concept of taking the key points of a written message and delivering them in alternative formats. Many of us aren’t new to embedding templates, screencasts and instructional videos into our blog posts, but Andrew and Pete have inspired me to expand the ways in which my readers can access the core textual content in my blogs, too. If you have substantive text-based posts that your visitors return to often and your editorial blog’s heavy with content, some inconvenient trawling might be required by your readers to locate that information. Repurposing sections of the material in, say, booklet form turns a post into a tool, because the valuable stuff you’ve created can be downloaded onto your readers’ chosen devices and accessed at their convenience. Get it here: How to Write Better-Looking Blog Posts (blog, video and booklet) 
I overhauled my home page after reading this post.
Get it here: Home Page Design | Making Your Home Page a Knockout (blog, video and checklist) ... So those are my top tips to introduce you to the world of Andrew and Pete. I love their full-on and fun style of sharing their wisdom. It’s engaging and inspiring. The biggest pull, though, is their handholding approach. They assume no prior knowledge, so even if you’re a newbie marketer you, too, can follow their step-by-step guidance. I hope you’ll find ways to incorporate their advice into your own marketing journey. If you’re nervous about business promotion, just remember that you don’t have to do everything in the zany way they do it! Take the core learning points and decide how you might use them in a way that feels comfortable for you, works with your brand, reflects your business goals, and engages with your clients. There’s plenty more on offer via the Andrew and Pete website. And you can find them on Twitter at @AndrewAndPete. Enjoy!
Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.
Today's article is all about optimizing your proofreading or editing business website so that it works for clients using different device types.
My website is the single biggest driver of my proofreading and copyediting work. It’s therefore essential that it shows potential clients my best face. 
I’ve spent years tinkering – tweaking current content, adding new information and removing text and images that have outgrown their usefulness.
Weebly, like many web-hosting services, allows me to optimize my website for mobile devices.* It takes my chosen desktop theme and adapts the design for optimal viewing on a smaller device such as a tablet or mobile phone. This function has been available for several years. I can’t remember when I became aware of it, but I figured it made sense to switch it on because I couldn't imagine anyone with a smart phone having the patience to navigate through my content if it wasn’t mobile friendly. I congratulated myself on being so forward-thinking, and carried on as normal. Note: If you're unsure whether your website is mobile friendly, it's easy to find out. My colleague Averill Buchanan alerted me to Google's Mobile-Friendly Test site. Is it pretty, or pretty awful? Most website-hosting services help non-designers like me to make our websites look pretty. They give us dividers, shaded boxes, spacers, columns, textboxes and image placers to enable us to put our content exactly where we want it. The result is that on the desktop version, at least, everything looks just so. You might be the kind of person who likes to keep things simple – you might have opted for minimal text on your site, and the text you have placed might not be broken into separate textbox elements. To date, I’ve not been this kind of person. I’ve overly complicated things, and, I might add, it hasn’t done me any favours. Here’s just one example. This is the contact information on my site: 
Now, back in 2011, when I first typed this information into my contact page, I didn’t like the vertical alignment of the information after the colons. Weebly doesn’t allow tabbing, so I created two textboxes (below, outlined in red) and placed them next to each other in two columns.
Okay, so it was never going to win a design award, but I’d achieved my goal. However, there was a problem – it looked perfect in the desktop view, but the mobile layout was a disaster:
This wasn’t Weebly’s fault, it was mine. Weebly’s mobile optimization tool was working perfectly logically – finding content in a single textbox and ensuring that said content remained unbroken.
The solution was simple – I had to restore my original layout, putting all the text back into a single box – but the impact was huge. It did mean sacrificing the alignment issue that I’d had a bee in my bonnet about, but it was worth it. Now my mobile display looks like this (on iPhone 6): 
It’s not perfect (there are unsightly end-of-line breaks on smaller mobile screens), but it’s a far more sensible and logical design for my mobile visitors. I’ll shortly be making decisions about how to reword this information so that I can remove the unwanted wordbreaks – it needs some care because I don’t want to compromise the design of the desktop view.
What devices are my visitors using? The crux of the matter here is that I want to put myself in my customers’ shoes. I need to bear in mind the following:
I’m under no illusion that I can optimize my design for every potential client all of the time. But paying attention to the mobile display has been a learning experience for me. I’ve discovered that I’ve not been showing my best face, and that’s simply not an option in the current market. I know this because my data tells me so. Looking at the data Honestly, I’ve only recently started looking at data about which devices my visitors are using. The following was taken from one of the analytics programs I use, StatCounter. 
The above image shows two days’ worth of data (8–10 October 2016). A whopping 30% of my visitors used mobile phones and tablets to access my content.
Some tablet screens are big enough to make browsing my website in desktop view perfectly palatable, so some of the visitors using these devices may not be looking at a mobile view. Here’s the thing, though – I don’t know which view they’re seeing and it’s not under my control. It’s therefore important that I do what I can to put my best face forward, just in case. Even one lost customer who searched and found me via their mobile, and then dismissed my services because my content was illogically presented, is something I want to avoid. The view from an expert My friend Andy McNair, who’s forgotten more about website analytics than I’ll ever know, pointed out that two days’ worth of data could be horribly skewed by a range of factors. He prompted me to dig a little deeper using my Google Analytics historical data. Says Andy in relation to industry at large: In 2016, 1 in 5 visits to corporate communication sites are made on smartphones. Tablet has been static at 1 in 20 for the last 3 years. Desktop is still the most important group so don't cripple your user experience there.
I followed Andy’s advice and compared data in four quarters (August–October) from 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
When thinking like a editor isn’t enough This exercise has shown me how, until recently, my website design was dominated by two modes of thinking:
Taking the long view Keeping an eye on user behaviour is a work in progress, but I'm on the case. Four years ago, mobile usage mattered less. Now, to me, it matters twice as much (though the desktop-user group is still by far the most important). So, take a look at your analytics to assess what devices your visitors are using. If mobile has become more important and your website host allows you to easily optimize your design for mobile devices, without compromising your core visitor group, do use the function. But check that the results are showing your best face. A few small tweaks could make a very big difference. More importantly, they could turn a closed page into a closed deal.
* If you’re a Weebly user, and you’re not sure whether you’ve optimized your website for mobile devices, open up your dashboard, go to your site, click on the Settings tab on the ribbon, scroll down to Mobile, and make sure the ‘Display the mobile-optimized version of this website when someone visits from a mobile device’ box is ticked.
To take a quick look at how your content is being displayed on mobile devices, choose the Build or Pages tabs from the ribbon, and click on the Device Switcher icon (also on the ribbon). A word of caution: I’ve found that after toggling back and forth between the desktop and mobile views in Device Switcher, I have problems making some types of amendments to my content (for example creating bullet points, italicizing and moving textboxes). Don’t worry if this happens to you. Simply exit Weebly and reopen; you’ll be able to amend as required.
Louise Harnby is a fiction copyeditor and proofreader. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders.
Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, you might like to join Louise’s Writing Library. Members receive monthly updates featuring self-publishing news and resources.  In Part 1, I looked at the benefits of contact forms, and provided a case study based on my own recent data. In Part 2, I consider the challenges of contact forms. Why is it that they sometimes fail to engage potential clients, and what can we do to prevent this? Too many hoops As I mentioned in Part 1, relying solely on a contact form is not advisable. Your contact form is likely to deliver messages to your email inbox via both your internet service provider and your website host. If something goes awry on your host’s server, there will be a delivery delay. In addition, if you tweak the CSS code of your website, this could inadvertently affect your contact form. I was in just such an embarrassing position a few years ago. For a month, none of the messages from my old contact form were being delivered. I had no idea that anything was wrong because I was fully booked up with publisher work. Then, during a coffee break, I pondered the fact that it had been a while since anyone had used the form, which seemed strange. I took the time to send a few test messages, and discovered there was a problem with delivery. I’d tweaked my CSS code and it had caused a snag in the original template. This put me off incorporating a contact form on my website for several years. The lesson is this – if you do have a contact form on your website, check your dashboard regularly, just to make sure that delivery to your email inbox is working as it should be. Marvin Russell (‘5 Reasons Your Visitors Don’t Fill Out Your Contact Form’, mysiteauditor.com, 2013) and Jane and Scot Noel (‘Make Your Contact Form a Success’) identify several additional problems with contact forms that could put off potential clients. Form-filling fatigue Some clients don’t like filling them out. According to Noel and Noel, ‘While there is no perfect rule for every form, short is best, and ask for as little personal information as possible, just enough to get back in touch with them. After all, if they make contact and you start a conversation, you can find out everything you need in a more personal way later.’ Customers don’t like being asked for information that isn’t necessarily relevant (such as phone numbers), nor having to take the time to provide it. Consider asking only for information that’s absolutely necessary at this stage of the process – that way your client won’t feel as though you’re fishing for marketing information. It’s clear that the form is all about them. Do, however, read the comments in Part 1. They demonstrate that one size doesn't fit all. What works for you may not work for me. Katherine Trail asks for more information on her contact forms than I do, but she offers a more complex and specialized service. John Espirian points out the value of using simple-to-use protection mechanisms to minimize intrusion from spam bots. Ultimately, we want to create balanced contact forms that support our business goals and engage our potential clients. Unappealing wording Consider the confirmation message and the submission button. Test different wording on the submission button, for example, try changing ‘Submit’ to ‘Send email’, ‘Email [Name]’ or ‘Send your message’. Also test more friendly confirmation messages such as ‘Thanks for contacting me about your proofreading project. I’ll be in touch shortly!’. Noel and Noel call this ‘leverag[ing] your “thank you”’ so that it acknowledges that your potential client has taken the time and made the effort to enquire about your service. There aren’t enough forms Don’t necessarily limit the contact form to one page. I have one on my Contact page, my Get a Quote page, and my Proofreading Bundles page. Each has a different name. That means that when I visit my website dashboard I can see which forms are most popular. Currently, it’s pretty much even. Again, this is something to test. Russell has incorporated multiple contact forms on his site ‘for years and found that very often our visitors will fill out a contact form because it’s right in front of their face’. No call to action Noel and Noel also argue that, all too often, people fail to tell their potential customers to use the form: ‘If you don’t ask your web visitors to do something, don’t expect them to do it.’ Privacy concerns Finally, some potential customers might worry that the information you capture via the contact form will be used for marketing purposes. Noel and Noel recommend explicitly stating your privacy policy so that you make it clear that all the information provided is relevant. Harking back to the ‘too long’ issue above, keep your contact forms concise and consider adding a message below each one along the lines of ‘I respect your privacy. The information you’ve provided will be used solely by me to reply to your query’. Test it! If you’re not sure whether the contact form is the right way to go for you and your customers, the easiest way to find out is to test it.
Caution: it’s all about the client Even if your data tells you that, during the test period, your potential clients did not use one particular method of contacting you (e.g. the contact form or your phone number), this only tells you what happened in the past. It doesn’t tell you anything about how a new lead might prefer to contact you in the future. For that reason, I’d recommend removing particular contact tools with caution. It’s better to offer a range of tools that will cover all your clients’ preferences, rather than losing a great lead because you didn’t make it as easy as possible for your customer to get in touch with you in the way they wanted to. Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.  So, a potential client has found you. They’ve looked over your website and like what they see – enough, anyway, to think about getting in touch. How will you enable them to make contact with you? Email, phone, text message, contact form? Deciding what to offer is perhaps not as simple as it first seems. It’s not just the ‘what’, but the potential consequences of that ‘what’ that need to be considered. If you offer a telephone number, will it increase the number of calls from people who are trying to sell you something, rather than trying to buy your service? If you offer a contact form, will delivery of your messages be impacted by a rare problem with your website host’s server? It’s also about the ‘how’. If you publish a telephone number, will it be a landline or a mobile? If you use a contact form, what wording will you use? All these issues need to be considered so that the ways in which you are contactable maximize your engagement with those you want to communicate with (potential clients) and minimize engagement with those who are possibly wasting your time (sellers of unwanted SEO services, double-glazing, solar panels … the list goes on). John Espirian took a good look at telephone contact in his recent article on the Espirian blog ‘Call me – maybe’ (2016). Here, I’m going to consider the contact form. I believe that having a contact form on my website is essential, though I think it should be only one of several options. Here in Part 1, I explain the benefits of the contact form and I provide a brief case study featuring data that I’ve collected over the past few months. In Part 2, I’ll consider some of the challenges that contact forms can present. Customer choice I know how my current clients want to contact me precisely because these are not new business relationships. All my regular publisher clients and independent authors hold my email address on file, and most use this method to get in touch. Because we’ve worked together before, all the parameters of our business together are, for the most part, well understood – from pricing to working hours, from editorial-service provision to the quality of writing. Additionally, they’ve learned that I check my emails regularly, and respond in a timely manner. They trust email to deliver their request directly to me. For potential clients, the situation is different. Many of them are speculating, getting quotations from a number of different proofreaders. They’re sometimes getting in touch on the hop and on the fly. That means that being able to send a text message might be more convenient than sending an email. Some may not speak English as well as they write it. That means that sending an email or filling out a contact form may be more appealing than having a conversation on the phone. We don’t know our potential clients’ preferences precisely because we don’t yet know our potential clients. The contact form is all about choice. To exclude it without testing it is to make assumptions about what those potential clients want that we have no business making. Privacy and spam reduction Some people like to include a contact form on their website because it provides a method of getting in touch that enables them to avoid displaying their email address. This is thought to reduce spamming. Whether or not this is true is debatable. Some argue that spammers are far too sophisticated these days to be foiled by a contact form (see ‘Should I Display an Email Address on My Site or Use a Contact Form?’, Christopher Heng, thesitewizard.com, 2014). Nevertheless, the decision to not include a direct email address – for the purpose of protecting the editorial freelancer’s privacy and reducing exposure to spam – is not about the customer. Rather, it becomes a freelancer-centric decision. Do think carefully about whether you want your contactability to be about you or the client. Many clients prefer them This is the biggest issue for me. Putting concerns about email spamming and privacy aside, my potential clients seem to prefer the contact form over the other methods on offer. Several months ago, I began to test a ballpark quick-quotation service. At that point in time, the customer had the following options for getting in touch with me:
The idea behind both the ballpark quote and the quick-quote service was to increase customer engagement. During the first two months (December/January) I was pleased to see that the text service appeared to be grabbing clients’ attention. Then, two months ago, I added a contact form. This is where it became interesting. The lie of the land shifted. People started using the contact form instead, even though I was explicit about the fact that I couldn’t guarantee a within-1-hour response unless they used the text option.  What does this data tell me? It is just a snapshot over six months, but, nevertheless, several points can be made:
I will, however, need to bear in mind recent changes I’ve made to my website as these could skew the totals still further. For example, I recently (in April 2016) introduced a dedicated page for student proofreading (a service I’d taken the decision not to offer in previous years). Nevertheless, even if the ‘how many’ data is skewed, the ‘which method’ data will still be valid. In Part 2, I consider some of the challenges of contact forms. Why don’t they always work, and what can we do to ameliorate the problems? Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. My latest contribution to "The Proofreader's Corner" column of Rich Adin's An American Editor blog is now available. This time around I take a look at the benefits to be had by creating an online portfolio of editorial projects. Below is a summary of the key points, but you can read the article in full here: The Proofreader’s Corner: The Power of the Portfolio.
Louise Harnby is a fiction line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in supporting self-publishing authors, particularly crime writers. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) and an Author Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn.
I feel almost cheeky lecturing professional proofreaders and editors on how to write. I don’t quite have the attention to detail that most professional proofreaders have as their stock in trade, and I often hire a proofreader to go over my articles and blog entries to ensure there are no schoolboy errors or any of my grammatical eccentricities.
However, there is an art to writing for the internet and social media that is distinct from traditional copywriting skills, and I’d like to share with you some of my insights on how to get copy just right for the web. 1. Always consider the online platform your copy will be posted onto. Writers and proofreaders have to be conscious of where their copy will be posted online, as this will determine the format of the text. As we will see, all the social networks have their own structures and formats that need to be heeded, and a writer or a proofreader needs to be mindful of the tone and the intended readership of the online copy, just as they would if it were intended for offline publication. A lengthy social media post should have a different structure and feel to a blog entry and, if the social media post relates to content posted elsewhere online, thought should be given about how the two relate to each other. 2. Think about how the text will look on the screen and of what possible sizes that screen could be Writing for the printed page involves an entirely different sensibility to the one you would use when writing for the computer screen. This is because the way the human eye scans a computer screen is different from how it would read a page in a book or a magazine. The main thing to appreciate is that people are put off when confronted by a web page with a lot of dense text, mainly comprising lengthy paragraphs. While the text may be entirely acceptable and grammatically correct in itself, it may not be the best way of presenting that information to those who just happen to be browsing the web. A good example of this is companies who simply transpose their hard-copy marketing material to a website without any alterations or editing. What works as a four-page brochure will not work as a singular web page, a series of web pages or as social media posts; it has to be adapted to the electronic medium. Whether you are posting to a blog or to a social network, try to ensure that your paragraphs are never longer than three sentences and review how much space they take up on the screen prior to publication. While it can be painful to take apart a beautifully constructed block of text, it may actually be worth it if you want someone to stay on your web page and read the whole piece. When confronted with a block of text, many who are surfing the web will just click away on the basis that it will require too much effort to get the desired information from your piece. People are more impatient and demanding when it comes to retrieving information online than they are when it comes to reading a brochure, book or journal. An extension of this is that many people now read the internet on the move via tablets or mobile phones, where the screens are even smaller. The optimization of a website for such devices is the responsibility of the web host but, when either writing or proofing copy for the web, be conscious of how the site onto which it will be posted will be presenting the text to those viewing it via mobile devices. 3. Bear in mind Search Engine Optimization (SEO) when writing or proofing copy for the web One of the more opaque and mysterious aspects of online marketing is a technique known as Search Engine Optimization (or SEO, for short). As the phrase suggests, these are series of web publishing activities that a webmaster has to undertake to ensure that their web pages appear high up in Search Engine Results Pages (or SERPs). Despite the predominance of social media and mobile applications to view content online, the search engine remains the first port of call for many when it comes to finding relevant content on the internet, so the importance of SEO discipline when writing online copy should not be underestimated. While a lot of SEO revolves around the technical aspects of how a website is both built and promoted online, an equally large part focuses on the copy of web pages themselves. Forever a moving target for the most part (as search engine companies get wise to cynical marketing techniques used to manipulate SERPS), a true constant in SEO is the repetitive use of certain keywords within the body text and headings of the copy intended for the web. At the point of being commissioned to either draft or proofread copy for the web, you should ask the webmaster or commissioning editor what keywords he or she would like to see featured in the copy (for SEO purposes) and then carry out your work accordingly. If you have been asked to upload copy directly to a website, there are usually ‘plugins’ available for most content managements systems that can analyse your copy from a SEO perspective (Yoast for WordPress is a popular one, for example). SEO does not extend just to web pages and the traditional search engine. Most of the major social networks feature a search engine of some description, and keywords can play their part in the shortest of posts, maybe even in conjunction with using a hashtag (see below). However, you can easily take SEO too far. I have seen and read countless examples of web pages that have distorted intelligibility due to the feverish repetition of keywords and phrases. This, of course, is self-defeating as although you may have made your web page appear in the top ten of Google Search results, all you have done is dragged your potential audience to a bad piece of incoherent, blatant marketing. A balance has to be struck between producing good copy for content marketing purposes and ensuring that copy serves an SEO purpose. My own personal judgement always falls on the side of superior copy over SEO needs, but I don’t discount SEO entirely and have used the aforementioned Yoast to optimize most of my copy for search engines. 4. Posts to social networks or websites should be appropriately formatted and use all available functionality of the social network or website in question Each social network and website has its own unique method of use and particular focus or demographic, so be very conscious of that when either creating or reviewing online content. With copy intended for websites, you can summarize information or redirect readers to more substantial content elsewhere via hyperlinks. Whether you are creating copy for a website or have been asked to proof it, I would argue it is always best to either generate or ask for a draft of the copy that has the hyperlinks contained within it. That way, any editor can see how you have verified the claims that the copy is making and/or whether you are redirecting a reader to an appropriate source. Having links to external websites in web copy is another SEO technique, but arguably they also inherently add value for the reader. By providing links, you are providing and endorsing other sources of information; it is the online variant of citing sources for claims or information. Links shouldn’t only be about pointing people away from the website you are writing or proofing for; they should also be used to point to relevant and associated information already published on the website in question. This too can give you more leeway when adapting copy for the web; maybe a print article is best served by being by split into two separate articles hosted on the same site, for example. Away from traditional websites and blog sites, the various social networks have their own idiosyncrasies that have to be respected and fully exploited. For example, there’s an art to writing an effective post (‘tweet’) on Twitter, which I have blogged about extensively elsewhere. The key thing about social media posts is knowing when and how to tag other users and organizations. By doing so, you are alerting those people and institutions that you are talking about them (obviously only do so if you are doing so positively!) so that they can engage and share your social media posts with their own followers or connections on the network in question. All social networks have a way of tagging other users, and I am happy to advise on how to do so if you cannot find the information elsewhere online. One ubiquitous component of writing a social media post is the use of hashtags. Hashtags are a way of connecting your posts online into a wider conversation that’s taking place on the network you’re posting to. I have written extensively on how to use hashtags elsewhere so I won’t repeat myself here, but I would urge you to put any latent snobbery aside about using them, and also for you to use them sensibly and sparingly once you do so. 5. Always add an implicit or clear Call To Action (CTA) Whether you are writing or proofing a tweet of only 140 characters or a 3,000-word blog entry, the copy must have a clear purpose for existing online. In other words, upon reading your online post, what do you expect the reader to do in response? This is particularly important if you’re writing or proofing online copy that is intended for sales or marketing purposes, and these instructions or directions within the text are known as a Call To Action (CTA). CTAs give the reader a clear steer on what you expect them to do having read your online post, whether that be clicking on a link, signing up to a newsletter or buying a product or service. However, CTAs are not just about sales or promotion; any good writer wants people to respond to their copy in some form or another, and in an online context that response is easier to encourage. For example, you may want people to comment on what you have written, so make sure that the text makes that explicit; don’t just have a series of empty fields at the bottom of an article waiting to be filled in, as they won’t be. You have to be explicit about it. Alternatively, you may want people to share your article. Show me a writer openly publishing content online who doesn’t want a wider audience, and I will give you £1,000! Social media sites and well-designed websites all make sharing articles online via our own networks incredibly easy to do, but (again) it has been repeatedly shown that posts that ask for people to share them get shared more often than those that don’t. You don’t want to go overboard with Calls To Action (I personally find them irritating on occasion), but don’t go without them either. Online marketing and online publishing revolve around engagement, and you certainly want to invite it when and where appropriate. 7. Have you written and proofread all the text required for an online post? When publishing online, more text is required than just for the main article. Text is needed for the meta-description (the descriptive sentence you see under links in search engine results), browser headings and captions for any illustrations or tables used. All of this is really within the purview of the webmaster or the web editor (as, again, most of this is modified for SEO) but if you have an article going out with your name on it or if you have been paid to proof a particular piece, you want to ensure that all of your good work has not been undermined by either sloppy supportive text or cack-handed third-party editing. Summary Writing for the web is different from writing for the page, with new technologies creating new idioms at an overwhelming rate. However, as long as you are suitably streetwise to technical considerations and any new online vernacular, you should easily be able to continue to utilize your writing and proofreading skills without too much compromise or trouble.
My latest article on "The Proofreader's Corner" column of Rich Adin's An American Editor blog is now available. Most of us have editorial specialisms that mean not every customer is the best fit for the services we offer. Providing customers with guidelines that enable them to carry out their own initial assessment is a great first step. But what happens if they don't read this information? As I say in the article, "What I place on my website and what my customer chooses to read might well be two entirely different things." A useful second step to consider is adding a targeted call to action that nudges the customer in the right direction just before they hit the contact button. You can read the article here: The proofreader’s corner: A call to action – nudging the customer to work out whether the fit is right Louise Harnby is a fiction line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in helping self-publishing writers prepare their novels for market. She is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors, and runs online courses from within the Craft Your Editorial Fingerprint series. She is also an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders and an Author Member of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Louise loves books, coffee and craft gin, though not always in that order. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, take a look at her Self-publishers’ Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly. One of the most popular articles on The Proofreader’s Parlour is a guest post contributed by my colleague Shani D’Cruze [find her on LinkedIn) in 2012: “Can you proofread my thesis by tomorrow?” – Editorial Freelancing in the Student Market. It’s not just popular; it’s also professional – its content addresses an important issue that many editorial freelancers wonder about (the ethical issues of working with students); and it’s well researched and cites its sources to professional academic standards. Shani’s a scholar as well as an editor, and it shows in the way she presents her ideas and in the way she backs up those ideas by linking to evidence from other sources. Whether every reader will agree with her is not the point. The point is that her article has rigour. Just how original are we, really? How many of us have ever had a truly independent thought or idea that no one else has considered? We’re social creatures. Our ideas and opinions are always shaped by those with whom we work, live, socialize, learn from, and engage with face to face and online. Whatever we think, say, write, blog about – it’s all moulded by our interaction with other people. For example, I’ve considered the issue of editorial rates here on the Proofreader’s Parlour. But Rich Adin, Erin Brenner, Melanie Thompson and Adrienne Montgomery are just a few examples of colleagues who have rich and valuable material in print and online to help editorial freelancers think about the money questions. If I want to improve the quality and integrity of my articles on editorial pricing, it makes sense to ensure I refer my readers to these or other appropriate resources when I’m blogging. Why? Corina Koch MacLeod of Beyond Paper Editing explains: [C]iting your sources lends your writing credibility ("Hey! I’m not the only one who has raised this issue"), and it’s important to give credit to the author, even if you disagree with his/her position. Your readers will then see that you give credit where it’s due, and that you trust them to come to their own conclusions, therefore incurring the reader’s trust in what you have to say. The blogosphere is a conversation, and it’s good manners to address speakers.” (You've Got Style, Douglas and MacLeod*) Trust, credibility, manners – three great reasons to cite others. And what’s to lose? There’s no disadvantage to offering readers access to other resources that can help them to see the bigger picture. There’s no disadvantage to demonstrating an awareness that ours isn’t the only voice. Why we sometimes drop the ball I know why I’ve not been as diligent with sourcing other views on a topic I’m discussing (it’s not an excuse but an explanation) – blogging is something that I do in my spare time, squashed hastily into the small space left over once I’ve attended to work and family commitments. It’s much the same for many of my editorial colleagues who blog. Writing regular content, and maintaining the passion for doing so, means blogging is often a fast-and-loose process (unlike writing a book, for example) – we get an idea and try to take it from brain to blog when we find that spare half hour. There’s a sense of informality to it, of sharing a stream of consciousness. For me, that’s the danger point – I’m so busy trying to get the ideas out that I know there have been times when I’ve not just stopped, stepped back and considered waiting for yet another spare half hour in a few days’ time to help me go that extra mile and research what else our community is saying that’s relevant to the readers of my article. But there's another issue – and for me it's a much trickier one to come to terms with. I recently published an article that was inspired by two authors – one with whom I agreed and one whom I felt had given bad advice. I chose to cite and link to the author with whom I had sympathy and omit any mention of the author whose advice had irritated me. I simply kept the point general. My justification at the time was that I didn't want to drive traffic towards information that I thought was poor. But in doing so, I took the choice away from my readers. I didn't trust them to come to their own conclusions. A few weeks ago I was convinced I'd made a good decision. Lately I've been questioning that decision. I've realized that I don't always write my blog articles in the same way I write my books. And that's got me thinking ... did my decision mean I sacrificed trust, credibility and manners in order to control my blog, my space, for my ideas? Have I compromised respect for my readers and their ability to judge for themselves? Sticky questions. When one has put a lot of effort into building a vibrant blog, the idea of giving attributed, linked space to those with whom we disagree can be testing. Balancing the feeling that we reserve the right to publish and cite what we like with a readiness to trust our readers' ability to make their own decisions is so very hard! But academics do this every time they write a book or a journal article. For me, that's something worth paying attention to. Doing better Have my past blog articles been as rigorous as they could be in terms of citing other relevant sources, other voices? Sometimes? Often? Nearly always? I’m not sure of the answer to that. Certainly the I case cited above has given me food for thought. What I am sure of is that I want to do better. I know I can do better. Just making a commitment to stopping, stepping back each time and thinking about what else is out there that’s relevant to what I’m saying means it should be better. As will having the courage to give linked/cited space to viewpoints with which I disagree. One thing's for sure – when we commit to rigour, we take an important step towards substantively improving the quality of what we do. Given that most bloggers are passionate about their blogging, embracing rigour is a no-brainer. Yes, blogging is fast and loose. Yes, it’s informal. Yes, there’s bound to be an overlap of ideas. Yes, there's bound to be a difference of ideas. But don't I owe it to my colleagues and readers to ensure that I cover the bases? Don't we all as soon as we decide to carve out a space for ourselves in the blogosphere? If you’re thinking of setting up a blog as part of your editorial business communication strategy, you might like to take a look at Corey Eridon’s useful guidelines on internet etiquette and attribution (How Not to Steal People's Content on the Web, 2012), including citing blog articles, social media content, guest and ghost writers, and images – all the recommendations are sensible and digestible. Eridon emphasises that sharing is good for business, but attribution is key: "Share content; share links; share ideas; share data; you name it. In fact, the inbound marketers who love to share usually see fantastic results because of it! ... You're supposed to share content, but you're also supposed to give credit where credit is due" (ibid.). A commitment to a more rigorous search for alternative viewpoints, and the appropriate attribution, takes more time and effort, but actually not that much more when one’s dealing with 1500 words of copy. Academics are required to carry out these searches (and attribute accordingly) as standard. Many of us in the editorial community are paid to check that they are doing it well. With that in mind, should editor/proofreader bloggers aspire to the same standards as a matter of course? Should we, in a bid to give space to alternative viewpoints, always seek to include links to others' relevant content, and are we obliged to do so even when we don't agree with the author's line? Or is the blogosphere a space that should embrace more flexibility, where the blogger reserves the right to control their space more tightly? More sticky questions, no doubt with sticky answers! Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader and copyeditor. She curates The Proofreader's Parlour and is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors and proofreaders. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. Blogging, if you have the time and energy to commit to it, can be an excellent way of adding value to your business. You can share ideas and information in a space that you control, and you can create a focus and a mission of your own choosing, depending on what your interests are. Perhaps you want to focus on editing advice for independent writers; or maybe you’re interested in the small-business ownership element of your editorial career (like I am); one of my colleagues creates content geared towards academics working within the sphere of journals publishing; another focuses on developmental/structural editorial work; and yet another focuses on how to get the best from online media. And yes, if done regularly and with fresh content that is relevant to your niche community, there can be terrific SEO benefits that will enhance your search rankings and increase the number and types of opportunities that come your way. Given that some new entrants to the field may be considering exploring the world of editorial blogging, I thought I’d take a quick look at some of the joys and challenges that the blogger can be confronted with.
I recently took the step of adding guidelines for submission of articles, comments and advertising requests because I felt it had become necessary to be absolutely clear about what I consider to be the good, the bad and the ugly elements of the business blogging experience. The good … The good makes up the largest chunk of the blogging experience for most of us. Those who want to contribute, either by writing guest articles or by commenting on existing posts, understand our blogs’ mission statements and primary audiences. They may be colleagues who do what we do (in my case that means they are fellow editorial freelancers) or they may work in a field that complements our own (for example, editorial software developers, publishers, editorial project management agencies, or authors). I’m all for organic two-way linking between websites that complement each other. If a fellow proofreader writes for me, I expect them to include a link to their business website in their bio. If an independent author submits a post that informs others like me what it’s like to work with editorial professionals, of course they can link to their author website so that they can improve their own SEO and promote their works. If a project management agency or publisher creates a piece that discusses the world of working with words from their side of the fence, I want them to include a link to their business website. All these links are good for the host, for the contributor and for the reader. The links are relevant, and the content that embeds them provides new information for the blog’s primary audience. However, things start to go bad when the drive for SEO overshadows the quality of the content. The bad … The bane of most bloggers’ lives is the spammy commenter. Here’s a sample of some of the nonsense I’ve had to delete from my blog recently:
Utter drivel. Delete, delete, delete. The ugly … The higher one’s blog ranks in the search engine results, the more likely one is to be approached by individuals, agencies and organizations who are NOT interested in submitting high-quality, relevant content to your blog that expands your readers’ knowledge base, and engages with and contributes to the ideas and resources that you’re committed to exploring. The aim is purely to grab a piece of your SEO by using your blog as a way to embed links and drive traffic to an external website. In these cases, the external linked-to websites will not be relevant to your blog’s mission or primary audience, though the authors will provide content that pretends to be. An example: quite often I’m approached by student essay-writing services. The author will offer an article of 500 or so words that’s not particularly original in its approach, probably not directly relevant to my primary audience, but contains some relevant key words (proofreading, editing, etc.). The link in the bio will be to a service for students that helps them walk their way through an expensive college career without having to actually do any of the required writing or research. University policies on the hiring of external editorial services differ markedly. Some don’t even accept external proofreading. Copy-editing is usually not allowed. Getting someone to write your essay for you is cheating. And the consequences can be serious – suspension or expulsion from the institution, and a fail awarded. What’s more, the editorial freelancer is considered to have colluded.* Those of us who run editorial businesses cannot be seen to be offering such services; but nor can we be seen to endorse them by driving traffic their way. Summing up … If you’re considering setting up an editorially focused blog, and are excited about the idea of sharing ideas, tools and resources in a space of your own design – either as part of your marketing strategy or because you love to communicate online, or both – do take care with both the commenting and the contribution elements. While most of those who engage with your blog will be genuine (and will deserve that SEO-rich link you allow them to embed in your site), there will be those who are looking to exploit your space as a nothing more than a traffic driver. Always check links in comments and articles – are you happy with the content on the sites they take you to? Does linking to a particular site reflect well on you and your business? Is the content on that site relevant to your blog’s mission and primary audience? If you’re not completely happy then delete the comment or decline the guest article. It’s better to have low number of high-quality comments and guest articles than a spam-riddled site that links to businesses that bring yours into disrepute. Louise Harnby is a fiction line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in helping self-publishing writers prepare their novels for market. She is the author of several books on business planning and marketing for editors, and runs online courses from within the Craft Your Editorial Fingerprint series. She is also an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders and an Author Member of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Louise loves books, coffee and craft gin, though not always in that order. Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor, say hello on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or connect via Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're an author, take a look at her Self-publishers’ Writing Library and access her latest self-publishing resources, all of which are free and available instantly. My colleague Arlene Prunkl, owner of PenUltimate Editorial Services, posted a shocking but important article on her blog about how the carefully crafted text on her website was stolen by several freelance editors who were too lazy to write their own copy. The article, entitled Caveat editor: beware the e-plagiarist, is available in full over at her website, and I'd recommend reading it in full. Arlene gave me permission to feature a link to her important post here on the Parlour. In the article she explains how her online content was stolen; she also provides some excellent advice on how to monitor and tackle the problem. If you're uneasy about my use of the word "stolen" I'll not apologize. While some view copying as a form of flattery, that's a poor excuse. At the very least it's lazy. At the very worst it's a deliberate attempt to jump on the back of someone else's hard work and success and pass those things off as one's own. Copying web content isn't like admiring our best friend's shirt and deciding we'll get one too. It's like going into their house without permission, taking that shirt out of their wardrobe, putting it on and claiming we bought it first! While freelance editors' and proofreaders' websites invariably address many overlapping issues in terms of service provision, there are thousands of ways to write that material in an original way. That plagiarism is quite a rare occurrence in the international editorial freelancing community is a testament to that fact. So when it does happen, it can't be tolerated, even if the perpetrator claims it was an "accident". It's incumbent on each of us, as professional business owners, to respect our colleagues (and the law) by seeking permission and citing appropriately when we use another person's words. I'd like to thank Arlene for highlighting this important issue and for offering solutions that ensure we can all strive for good, and legal, business practice. Screencasting, for those not in the know, is the process of capturing exactly what you’re doing on your computer screen, and it’s often combined with an audio feed. It’s a brilliant and (sometimes) inexpensive way to demonstrate detailed instructions that don’t always translate well using only the written word.
I was fortunate that some of my more experienced colleagues, John Espirian, Nick Jones and Adrienne Montgomerie in particular, had lots of useful advice to share, and while I ended up going down a slightly different route in terms of software (by necessity), their guidance set me on the right road and clarified the process for me. For my first screencasting project, I decided to experiment with the instructions that I'd prepared for automatic installation into PDF-XChange. The written instructions have tripped up some new users and I was convinced that a video demo of me installing the stamps might solve the problem. After all, over the past two years I've taken several calls from struggling colleagues and when I've talked them through the installation on the phone, they've succeeded where they’d previously failed. If my voice guiding them could solve the problem, a combined video feed should be even more effective. The kit Since the kit was being used for an activity that wouldn't actually generate any income for me, I needed to be careful about what I spent. I wanted quality but felt it would be foolhardy to invest in expensive commercial equipment and software at this stage. After some investigation I settled for a Logitech headset that cost me £25. It includes a set of comfortable earphones and a mic attached to the headband that clips down into recording position. They are widely available – I picked up mine from a local supermarket. I then downloaded Microsoft’s Expression Encoder 4. This probably isn’t the most sophisticated screencasting software on the market, but I found it user-friendly and excellent for the purposes of making a simple video tutorial. And it’s completely free, though you are limited to making videos of no longer than 15 minutes. But honestly – who wants to listen to me rambling on for any longer than that?! Creating the screencast After about ten passes, I came up with something that I was happy to post online. It's here if you want to take a look (or if you're struggling to install my proofreading stamps), and I think the video demonstration is a good complement to the written instructions. It's not perfect, but Adrienne Montgomerie assures me that in this kind of situation, where we're communicating with colleagues and want that personal touch, perfection isn't always necessary. As always, we need to consider who our audience is, what their expectations are, and the impact our message will have on our business. If I was creating a promotional video to advertise my business or a testimonial video to complement the written endorsements on my website, perfection would be at the top of my list. Encoding and uploading my screencast to YouTube proved easier than expected. Not surprisingly, I found a video created by TheBenVidz on YouTube that showed me exactly how to do this with Expression Encoder 4. Then I used Weebly's embed-code plug-in to publish the video on my website. I'm off now to plan my Oscar-acceptance speech ... I'd like to thank my partner [sniffs], by daughter [sobs], my best mate [hysterical howls] and all my colleagues in the editorial freelancing industry [completely breaks downs]. It's been emotional ... In the past 18 months, a number of people have asked me how I went about getting those images of book stacks on my website. Did I hire a graphic artist? Did I take the photos myself and upload them? Or did I fork out for some horrendously expensive piece of software? None of these, actually. I did use software but it wasn't expensive: Box Shot 3D costs $49 and is available for Windows or Mac. The following is a sample of some of the projects styles I've set up, but there you can tweak to suit your own needs. Book jackets aren't the only option - there are also presets for business cards; software boxes; reports and binders; phones, tablets, and other devices; brochures; and even cans and bottles. As well as choosing which types of image you want to include, you can tinker with the perspective, and with shadow, lighting and reflection. I've used the images I've created not only on my website but also on brochures and other marketing material. As with any new piece of kit, it does take a little time to get used to making the software work for you, and I did find it a little fiddly to use at first. My perseverance paid off, though, and the images are very high quality. All in all, this is an inexpensive tool that delivers excellent results.  Once again, I've been thinking back to my in-house publishing days, this time in relation to the advertising we did on behalf of our books and journals. Selling anything, editorial skills or otherwise, in a limited space can be quite a challenge. Advertising in specialist directories is something most of us do in addition to having a website. Even if you struggle to promote yourself succinctly, you can use the limited space wisely by following three basic steps. These steps can be applied to any promotional profile you’re building but they’re particularly appropriate when dealing with searchable databases. Most national professional editorial societies have searchable membership databases; the SfEP, EAC, EFA, the regional chapters of IPEd, BELS, and SENSE are just a few examples. Then there are freelancing and business directories like Find a Proofreader, FreeIndex, Yell and People Per Hour. Whether you've paid for your listing or it's free, it makes sense to maximize your chances of being found and selected. Otherwise, what's the point in having it? Back in my publishing days, our marketing director would always encourage us to approach our promotion plans with joined-up thinking: first comes the hook, then the pitch, and finally the call to action. All three are connected, and by thinking about them as joined it becomes easier to see what needs to be included and why. In relation to how we manage our directory listings, the hook, pitch and call to action could work as follows: Step 1. The hook: This is what enables clients to find your listing in the first instance. You may be one of hundreds, or even thousands, of colleagues who are listed in the directory. The types of clients you want to attract need to be able to find you. Using the most appropriate key words is the first thing you need to crack. These could refer to the service(s) you provide and the subject areas or genres you specialize in: “proofreader”, “crime”, “erotica”, “sociology”, “law”, “politics”, “speculative fiction”, “race/ethnicity”, "theses" and “science fiction” are some of mine. Yours will be specific to you. Niche key words can be effective because they can narrow down client searches; broad key words are important because they make sure you’re in the mix for the searcher who isn't too specific. I would advise a mixture of the two, as long as each key word reflects your skill set. And in discussion about this blog post on Facebook, one of my colleagues, editor Adrienne Montgomerie, reminded me how important it is to use key words that make sense to your client. Says Adrienne: ... In educational publishing, what I do is called developmental editing. But in the corporate world, it is called knowledge transfer, educational design, and even technical writing. The clients I want can't find me if I'm not speaking their language. Step 2. The pitch: If the hook leads the client to your listing, then the pitch keeps them on your page. Since you have limited space it’s worth focusing on what your biggest selling points are. In addition to one or two sentences summarizing your business (e.g. “I specialize in proofreading academic and professional books in the social sciences and humanities.”), you could add a short list outlining the things that you think will most impress the client:
Your list might look different; the point is to make sure that you highlight the things about yourself that will make you look fabulous. And do shout your specialisms from the rooftop. There's too much competition to go down the "I do everything" route. It's not a compelling message. Nor is it believable. Step 3. The call to action: Having led the client to your page and impressed them with your pitch, you should now make it as easy as possible for them to take the next step. If you think your directory listing is so impressive that you can nail the job there and then, add in a call to action under your pitch inviting the client to contact you. If you want to drive them to your website because you think the information there will close the deal, add in a few words inviting them to do just that (e.g. “Visit my website for more testimonials and a full portfolio of works.”). Even if your website link and contact details are listed elsewhere on your page, writing a few words that encourages a particular step is still an example of best practice; it invites the client to engage with you. In the world of sales and marketing, this is nuts-and-bolts stuff, so why not apply it in the world of editorial freelancing, too? Thinking about presentation
Testing (again) Another good piece of advice that professional marketeers like to reinforce is that of testing. If your directory entries aren't driving in the quantity or type of client you'd hoped for, try playing around with different hooks, pitches and calls to action. Different sets of key words might be more effective; perhaps your call to action could be more prominent; or you could reconsider your pitch to make it more salesy, more academic, more publisher-focused, or more self-publisher-centric. Thinking about this has made me realise that I have some tweaking of my own to do in order to perfect the message I communicate in my preferred advertising channels. If you have any tips about effective advertising, please do leave a comment. It's one of the most difficult nuts to crack, so the more knowledge the better.
The best piece of professional advice I've had in 2013 is from my colleague Katharine O'Moore-Klopf in her recent blog entry The 1.5-Hour Daily Social Media Schedule, where she advocates regular link checking.
Katharine's advice to do this regularly is crucial if you have a website that has many links embedded – a blog or a resource centre, perhaps. Not keeping on top of link integrity can mean things get out of hand. The Proofreader's Parlour is a case in point. It's been live for a year and I've not run link-checking software on it. The result is that there are a staggering 239 broken links on the site. This free online link checker will do the job: BrokenLinkCheck. Below is a summary of this tool's key features but there's a super article on the site that's worth a read, too. Summary of features (as quoted on the BrokenLinkCheck website):
I have my work cut out for me. I plan to mend 10 links a day until the Parlour is in perfect shape again. Then I'll run the checker once a week to prevent future overload. Don't make the same mistake I did! But Who Are You? … One Proofreader’s Guide to Personalized Professional Online Communication2/1/2013
A potential client's ability to put a name and a face to an editorial freelancer can determine whether they ask you to quote for a job or click the “close” button on your website tab ...
A businesswoman recently contacted me about the possibility of editing her MSc personal statement. I always ask people how they found me and, if they select me to work for them, why they chose me. Her answer was illuminating, though probably not surprising – she’d spent nearly two hours searching on Google.
Presenting yourself as an individual
There’s nothing wrong with not using your real name in the title of your business. Indeed, it could be detrimental if you have a particularly common name. I do use my name in my business title but I have an uncommon surname so it’s unlikely that I’ll be confused with any other editorial freelancer in the UK. Do, however, tell your customers who’s involved in the organization. Let’s say your company name is Anyold Proofreading Services. You’re the only employee on the books but you’re still a real person. Make sure your bio is easy to find on your website and that it tells your potential customers who you are, where you’re based and that you’re there to help them. If there are several people in the business, do the same thing – bios for all so the client can see the real people behind the business name. Be professional by all means, but be approachable, too. Publishers, independent authors, students and business people are putting their trust in you, and only you, when they hand over their project for revision and it can be anxiety-inducing for them. If they feel you’re on their side before they've even contacted you, you’re more likely to be an attractive prospect to them.
Face on or face off?
For some editorial freelancers, the idea of putting one’s face on the internet is ghastly. If that's how you feel, do it anyway. It makes you real to people. Anyone can copy a royalty-free image from the web and put it on their site, but there’s only one you. “I don’t have any nice photos of myself,” you say. Nor did I, so I asked a friend who’s rather clever with a camera to help me out. You don’t need a masterpiece – a simple head-and-shoulders shot will do. Put a smile on your face and look at the camera. You want to appear professional but approachable. If the person with the camera is as good a friend as they claim, they’ll keep on snapping until you get something that that you’re happy with. After you have your pic you can use it on your website, your Facebook page, your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, and any other online directories or webspaces that you participate in. Consider it another part of your branding strategy – when the same picture is always attached to your business title, people will come to recognize your face in the same way they recognize your business name.
Get webbed up
If you’re building your editorial freelance business and you haven’t got your website sorted, make it a priority. Like your mug shot, it doesn't have to be fancy. What it must do is show your target audience how you can solve their problems. If your business isn't on the web you’re missing a trick because many of your competitors are online. That means that when potential clients start googling for editorial freelancers, they’re going to find your colleagues but they won’t find you. And remember to ensure that the information you include is friendly, professional and responsive to the needs of your client (and don’t forget the face-on guidance).
Communicate your understanding
If a potential client asks you to submit a quotation by email, it stands to reason that you need to communicate your understanding of the kind of project they’re asking you to work on and what they want from you – this is in addition to the information they've asked you to submit (price, relevant experience, CV, time frame, etc.). Working on a personal statement is not the same as proofreading a local history book, or copy-editing a scientific journal article, or providing structural editing for a début novel, or drafting a CV, or checking a website. Take the time to explain what might be entailed so that the client understands what they are getting for their money and why you are charging a flat fee in one case, a per-word fee in another, or an hourly rate elsewhere. The client will appreciate it and it demonstrates that you know what they are trying to achieve, what the project requires, and what some of the issues might be. Moreover, it shows that you've taken the time to consider the work and indicates the level of care they can expect to receive if you secure the job. Open, friendly and professional communication is just another way of marketing yourself. Hat tip to my colleagues Averill Buchanan and Wendy Toole for alerting me to about.me. This is a sharp little platform that enables you to create a 1-page website in minutes. If you already have a website then this is just another tool with which to advertise yourself online. If, however, you've not got round to building a website and are a little nervous about taking the plunge, or you're pushed for time, then about.me may be just the ticket. The screenshot below shows how I designed mine. I used my brand colours to make it recognizable. It takes only minutes to input the basics using the toolboxes, so if you're a little nervous with technology there's no need for concern. It's simpler than setting up a Facebook or LinkedIn profile in my opinion ... easy to navigate and edit, and no intrusive adverts or messaging that I can see so far.  Click on the screenshot to visit my about.me page In my latest guest article, this time for Find a Proofreader, I discuss how placing a portfolio of completed works on your website can show potential clients that you're a good fit for them. The article offers my thoughts on how you might structure the information and provides some links to the websites of several editorial freelancers who are doing this in different ways.
To read the article in full, visit the Find a Proofreader website. |
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