Greetings WOW members and Web Professionals Everywhere!
Bill Cullifer here with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and the WOW Technology Minute.
A few months back, I received an email from a Web professional by the name of Rick Sloboda, Senior Web Copywriter at Webcopyplus.com Rick wanted to know my take on an article that he was writing for and about Web professionals.
Today, I am pleased to share Rick’s article entitled: Passion + talent + specialization = success. It?’s a well written and a thought provoking piece about “unleashing your true passion and talent” and it was written especially for Web professionals. For your information and review, I am enclosing the article below.
I?’d also like to take this opportunity to shout out to Rick with a BIG thank you for sharing your passion, your talent and for your understanding for what it takes to succeed! Rick epitomizes the true Web professional in my opinion. We can all benefit from this type of social and business to business networking and of course from his writings.
Please take an extra minute to review his article because it?’s well worth the read. If your looking for a Copy Writer to promote your brand, consider reaching out to Rick.
Passion + talent + specialization = success
By Rick Sloboda
Those who tap into their raw talents and passion get ahead further and faster in the ever-expanding Web world.
It seems obvious, but most web types get drawn toward immediate, short-term opportunities and wander far from their true calling.
Enter specialization
Renew your drive by specializing in an area where you naturally thrive.
When you focus on one particular area or niche, your knowledge and experience increase rapidly. Within a short timeframe, you get in tune with leading technologies and trends, become established in your industry and market, start to earn top dollar and ultimately gain full control of a satisfying career.
Conversely, if you attempt to be all things to all people, you?’ll produce mediocre work and attract comparable clients.
Such was the case with a web-savvy individual who recently completed a series of projects for my business. During the 1990s, he had his hands in programming, design, online marketing and copywriting. “I was attracting the worst customers,” he said. When he wasn?’t haggling over price, he was dealing with unhappy clients demanding freebies. He finally decided to stick with what he knows best: programming. Now he works less, makes more and gets to pick his clients. That?’s not to suggest that general contractors of the Web can’t succeed because many do.
Bill Cullifer, Executive Director for the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) agrees. “Given the growing complexity of the Web, it really makes sense to focus on your core strengths,” he stated. “Web professionals would benefit from understanding their limitations and collaborating with other Web pros that complement the Web design and development process. In short, collaboration can improve workflow and the bottom line.”
Not too long ago, another programmer who?’s been developing websites for 10 years asked me: “Should I go to school so I can also provide clients designs?” Rather than broaden his work scope, I suggested he narrow it. A great programmer can?’t necessarily become a great designer and vice-versa.
On the design front, a Vancouver-based design team I?’ve worked with began researching the food industry?’s web needs, and decided to pursue that niche. It didn?’t take long to land some notable restaurants and become the ‘go to?’ web design firm in that industry. They discovered they have a knack for it, wholeheartedly threw themselves into it and clients now knock on their door.
Unleash your true passion and talent
How do you determine your niche? Consider what you love doing and what you do well. Hopefully the two overlap. Then determine your market; who could you best serve? Finally, fine-tune how you position yourself by listening closely to common customer complaints and problems. If there?’s a pain your competition or the industry isn?’t paying attention to, you?’re sitting on a goldmine.
Some tips on determining your potential expertise and niche:
1) Write down what, how, when and where you are going to offer your service.
2) Describe your strengths (how and why you?’re better than the competition).
3) Acknowledge your weaknesses (and bridge them by collaborating with others).
4) Develop a profile of your ideal client (age, sex, needs, spending habits, region and so on).
The sharper your focus and the fatter your Rolodex in a particular segment of your industry, the quicker you can gain expertise or even authority status in your field. And that?’s when the best clients come to you; the one?’s who value your work and pay accordingly.
Rick Sloboda is Founder and Senior Web Copywriter of www.webcopyplus.com, which focuses exclusively on web writing services.