Make It With Michael

By Christina Newberry With more than 700 million active monthly users , Instagram offers plenty of potential followers for businesses of all sizes. And those followers are worth pursuing, since Instagrammers have shown they’re ready to engage with businesses both within and outside of the app. More than 80 percent of Instagram users follow at least one business, and every month over 120 million Instagrammers engaged with a brand in meaningful ways—like visiting their website, getting directions to a business location, or getting in touch directly by phone, email, or direct message. If you’re not actively working to get more Instagram followers, you’re missing out on a passionate fanbase that wants to connect and learn more. There’s no magic formula for how to get Instagram followers. Sure, there are services out there that will artificially boost your follower numbers through dodgy shortcuts like buying followers or using bots —but what’s the point? Your goal is to connect with re...

http://ift.tt/2r8yaYW By Christina Newberry With more than 700 million active monthly users , Instagram offers plenty of potential followers for businesses of all sizes. And those followers are worth pursuing, since Instagrammers have shown they’re ready to engage with businesses both within and outside of the app. More than 80 percent of Instagram users follow at least one business, and every month over 120 million Instagrammers engaged with a brand in meaningful ways—like visiting their website, getting directions to a business location, or getting in touch directly by phone, email, or direct message. If you’re not actively working to get more Instagram followers, you’re missing out on a passionate fanbase that wants to connect and learn more. There’s no magic formula for how to get Instagram followers. Sure, there are services out there that will artificially boost your follower numbers through dodgy shortcuts like buying followers or using bots —but what’s the point? Your goal...

By Lucy Barret Starting off a career as a freelancer – whether you work in web design, web development or content writing – is not easy. One of the most challenging parts of freelancing is figuring out how to get a client in the first place. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are… sometimes it’s really hard to establish yourself in a crowded marketplace. However, if you have a well-defined strategy, you might find that landing your first client is far easier than you imagined. After that, it’s simply a matter of keeping them happy and finding more. I’ve put together my top five tips for you to achieve this result. 1. Build and maintain a website As a freelancer, you obviously need to put yourself out there. This means having your work and services easily found online. Unless your first client comes to you from a personal recommendation, they’re going to find you through a search engine like Google. Check out this A-Z guide to building your own website and start one today, if ...

http://ift.tt/2u6tKBH By Lucy Barret Starting off a career as a freelancer – whether you work in web design, web development or content writing – is not easy. One of the most challenging parts of freelancing is figuring out how to get a client in the first place. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are… sometimes it’s really hard to establish yourself in a crowded marketplace. However, if you have a well-defined strategy, you might find that landing your first client is far easier than you imagined. After that, it’s simply a matter of keeping them happy and finding more. I’ve put together my top five tips for you to achieve this result. 1. Build and maintain a website As a freelancer, you obviously need to put yourself out there. This means having your work and services easily found online. Unless your first client comes to you from a personal recommendation, they’re going to find you through a search engine like Google. Check out this A-Z guide to building your own website an...

http://ift.tt/2uykNll By Jylian Russell Ernest Hemingway once said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Okay. As a social media marketer, there’s a good chance you aren’t penning from a typewriter. We also hope that wherever you do pen from, it’s blood free. Even so, you get the point. Writing is hard. Writing is also a skill that social marketers need to have. Social media posts, after all, have a pesky habit of not writing themselves. The good news? There is now a whole army of online writing tools out there to make your life easier. We’ve compiled eight of our favorites below. 1. Hemingway App Good for : Strengthening prose by eliminating unnecessary language. Cost : $19.99 for desktop; free online The Hemingway Editor strengthens your writing by highlighting sentences that will likely lose your readers. The tool also highlights complex words, adverbs, and instances of passive voice and give hints for alternatives. To use it, si...

By Jylian Russell Ernest Hemingway once said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Okay. As a social media marketer, there’s a good chance you aren’t penning from a typewriter. We also hope that wherever you do pen from, it’s blood free. Even so, you get the point. Writing is hard. Writing is also a skill that social marketers need to have. Social media posts, after all, have a pesky habit of not writing themselves. The good news? There is now a whole army of online writing tools out there to make your life easier. We’ve compiled eight of our favorites below. 1. Hemingway App Good for : Strengthening prose by eliminating unnecessary language. Cost : $19.99 for desktop; free online The Hemingway Editor strengthens your writing by highlighting sentences that will likely lose your readers. The tool also highlights complex words, adverbs, and instances of passive voice and give hints for alternatives. To use it, simply paste your text i...