Self-Marketing for the Freelance Web Geek
South by Southwest Interactive panel, Austin, TX
Sunday, March 11, 5-6PM
Why this topic
Web geeks are part nerd, part artist - but in a lot of cases, totally missed out on the self-promotion gene. The one thing I've learned in my journey from cog-in-the-wheel corporate programmer to freelance developer and writer is that I *suck* at explaining what it is I do, what I'm good at, what kind of work and clients I want to pursue, and what's not me. (ie, "oh, you do computer stuff? My brother's company has this old Filemaker Pro database they want to upgrade to Access...") My goal is to have a conversation about how to establish your expertise and skills online and off in a way that's effective but not creepy.
Official Description
This one's going in the SXSW materials: "Tooting your own horn doesn't come easy to geeks and programmers. When you decide to go freelance, how do you market and advertise your skills as an individual?"
Format and questions to discuss
The panel discussion will be a casual a Q&A session between all the participants. As moderator, I'll throw out questions to get the discussion going and everyone can jump in with their thoughts on the matter. Some items up for discussion (add yours to the list!):
- How do you self-promote without seeming creepy?
- Best ways to establish yourself as an authority on a topic?
- Worst mistake one can make when publicizing their services/site?
- Physical, paper business cards: do you need them?
- What's a great online business card look like?
- Personal weblogs that get personal - will they scare off or attract potential clients?
- How do you communicate what it is you do?
Participants
Introduce yourself here on your very own wiki page:
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