Sohrab Vazir
Consultant | Founder | Global Citizen | Writer
Category Archives: Digital Marketing
Why you should work with a freelance SEO writer
If you have considered or are considering working with a freelance SEO writer, this article is for you. As a tech startup founder, and now a digital marketing consultant, I have dealt with SEO for over 7 years! As an SEO copywriter myself (see more details here), I thought it would be helpful to share why working with SEO writers can be valuable. When I started my first company, StudyFlats, I needed to learn about SEO. It all just seemed so complicated and tech-based. This combined with having to juggle around all other areas of the business made me reliant on external third parties. Initially, I worked with a marketing agency, which proved useless. The high costs associated with digital marketing agencies further prompted me to seek freelancers, mainly freelance SEO writers. Bear in mind that I had £400 in my bank account as a marketing budget in the first year (oh those really were the days). Anyway, I soon discovered that working with a freelance SEO writer can be hugely beneficial, so long as the following are clear: 2 years later, I hired a marketing team of four at StudyFlats and oversaw SEO content creation as a team leader/CEO. Hence, I also possess first-hand experience with SEO writers as employees. So let’s look at why you should work with a freelance SEO copywriter: Cost-efficient Perhaps the key differentiating factor in favour of freelancers against digital marketing agencies is the pricing. Working with a freelance SEO writer helps you generate far more content at a fraction of an agency’s cost. Tailored SEO service Working with an individual freelancer, in contrast to an agency, allows for a more tailored service. Many individual freelancers are (more) dependent on positive client feedback and retention. Less liability Working with digital marketing agencies and/or freelance SEO writers bears less legal liability than hiring employees. Unless your venture is at the stage in which it needs more permanent employees, then perhaps you may consider the recruitment option. However, EVEN if you do decide to hire employees, working with freelance SEO writers can still be cost-efficient. Plus, it’s beneficial as it creates a new frame set for your existing content. These are some of the reasons why working with a freelance SEO writer can benefit your business. If you are looking to hire a freelance SEO writer, then get in touch with me today! About My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting and content.
3 things to consider when hiring SEO copywriters
You’ve decided to look into hiring SEO copywriters. The word “saturated” would perhaps be an understatement to describe this sector. Hence, finding the best SEO copywriter(s) can be challenging. SEO is crucial if your business has a digital presence, which it most likely does. The obvious reason is that online searching, particularly Google, is where customers will find your business. However, another key importance of SEO is that it helps you communicate with your audience through content. With the latter in mind, I will emphasise the “content” aspect as it will be a major factor in hiring SEO copywriters. The purpose of hiring SEO copywriters should be the creation of content that: Personally, during my time managing my PropTech startup, StudyFlats, I made several mistakes with hiring SEO copywriters. I worked with both freelance writers as well as my own in-house marketing team. These are the three things that I’d recommend considering when hiring SEO copywriters: I. Writing portfolios An obvious one. Past work is a good indicator of the type of standards that you can expect. There are external websites such as Contently that freelance SEO writers use to create their own portfolios. Check mine HERE. II. Familiarity with your industry This may not be the ultimate deciding factor. Creating SEO-optimised content mainly requires expertise and superb writing skills. Hence, a skilled SEO copywriter should normally be able to create engaging content regardless of their past experience. However, it is undeniable that past work and experience specifically in your industry is a positive factors when hiring SEO copywriters. III. Demeanour and attitude Hiring SEO copywriters may be far from being similar to hiring employees. Nevertheless, it’s important to understand that working with a copywriter is still a business relationship. Moreover, you do not want to work with a professional who may be good at what they do but have a negative attitude. Let’s look at some of the attitude green and red flags in a copywriter: Green flags Red flags Respectful & professional behaviour Rude & unprofessional (e.g. late responses, general bad attitude) Client testimonials & reviews No reviews or testimonials from previous clients (albeit there are exceptions) Takes time to understand your business & allows you to explain your issues in details Does 95%of the talking / Asks little or no questions about your business / Self-centred & one-sided dialogue These are the three top things to consider when hiring SEO copywriters. Need help with SEO and copywriting? Contact me today (and you can test me on these three factors too). About My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting and content.
Pros and Cons of WordPress
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) used by millions of people around the world. It’s a great platform for building websites and blogs, but it’s not without its drawbacks. In this blog post, we will explore the pros and cons of WordPress. We’ll discuss everything from its ease of use to its security vulnerabilities. By the end, you should have a good understanding of whether or not WordPress is right for you. As mentioned WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS); a CMS is a software application that helps you create and manage digital content. that enables you to create a website or blog from scratch, or to improve an existing site. WordPress is free and open source software released under the GPL. There are many advantages to using WordPress as a CMS. WordPress is easy to use, has a large community of users and developers, and is very flexible. You can find a theme or plugin for almost anything you want to do with your website. However, there are also some disadvantages to using WordPress. Because it is so popular, it is often a target for hackers. WordPress websites can also be slow. This is due to the large number of plugins and themes. There are two ways to use WordPress: via the hosted version at WordPress.com, or by installing it on your own web server. Pros: While WordPress is a great platform for many users, it may not be the best fit for everyone. In this article, we’ll explore the pros and cons of WordPress to help you decide if it’s the right CMS for your needs. Cons: About My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting and content.
4 Free SEO Keyword Research Tools
Free SEO keyword research tools can be very helpful for new founders or small businesses with limited budgets. Keyword research enables you to understand what your customers are searching for online. Therefore, it’s a tool to also understand what search terms people use to discover products, services or information. In this article, I want to highlight 3 free SEO keyword research tools which you can use to get started. If you want to read more about keyword research, this article by Hubspot provides plenty of information. So, let’s get started with our free SEO keyword research tools: 1. Ahrefs Ahrefs has a comprehensive set of SEO tools, including a free SEO keyword research tool. This tool allows you to discover search phrases across custom countries as well as categorise the keywords via metrics such as monthly search volume. 2. Quora That’s correct, I placed Quora on this list. And no, it’s not by mistake either…. For those who are unfamiliar, Quora is a social question-and-answer platform. In my personal experience as a founder, it has been instrumental in understanding my target market. The benefit of Quora is that it allows you to discover “actual” real-world questions that people have. Hence, you can use this to your advantage. Let’s demonstrate this in an example: Example: You want to discover what people are searching for in relation to resume writing/career advice. By searching for a resume, as you can see in the image, you will see a whole list of different questions around that topic. By being strategic and using this information to your advantage, you can discover plenty of SEO keywords for free. 3. Reddit Similar to Quora, this is another odd one in the group of free keyword research tools. Reddit is also a social platform that works on the basis of questions and answers. The principle is to target social platforms that have a “community” function with questions/answers. These can be beyond helpful in SEO keyword research and planning. 4. Google Trends Google Trends is one of the most helpful free keyword research tools. This tool enables you to analyse and evaluate the popularity of custom search phrases and keywords across different locations. These are some of the most helpful free SEO keyword research tools. If you’re interested in this topic, check out my other article on 5 free awesome SEO tools. Need help with your SEO & Digital Marketing? I have over 6 years of experience in this area and offer tailored services to founders and businesses of all sizes. About My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting and content.
Free Courses For New Founders
In this day and age, free courses for new founders can be super helpful. Starting a new business comes with many challenges and budget is usually the biggest. Therefore, in this article I will share a list of free courses for new founders as a starting point for your entrepreneurship journey. Of course, it must be noted that these courses are primarily centred around digital tools. Therefore, this article may not be applicable to founders seeking a non-digital free course. Introduction to Generative AI | Free Course by Google Great introductory course for founders and other individuals to understand the basics of Generative AI. Introduction to Large Language Models (LLM) | Free Course by Google This is a useful course for founders who wish to develop their own GenAI applications. Google Analytics | Free Course by Google Google Analytics is the fundamental tool that allows you to track your online presence as a founder. Therefore, it’s really important to prioritise learning about Google Analytics as you start your own business. Google Search Console | YouTube Series by Google Search Central Next up is Google Search Console. I mentioned how awesome Google Search Console is in another article about 5 Free Awesome SEO Tools. Google Search Console is the tool that will enable you to track the keywords that your website is ranking for. Of course, the features are far more detailed, but that’s the essential function of Google Search Console Google Digital Garage | Free Course by Google Google Digital Garage offers courses within a number of areas, most notably digital marketing. “The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing” course is free and also comes with a certificate which you can add to your resume or LinkedIn profile too. Digital Marketing Course | Free Course by HubSpot Academy One of the really useful free courses for new founders is the Digital Marketing Course offered by HubSpot academy. It covers the key elements of digital marketing which is very useful for every new business owner. Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace | Course on Udemy Right, so with this last one I wanted to highlight a different angle. So much of the current trends and directions are towards acquiring technical and commercial skills. Over the years there has been increasing attention towards “soft skills”, especially those applicable to the workplace such as emotional intelligence. Therefore, it was worth mentioning a free course for new founders that targets their interpersonal competencies. Introduction to Microsoft Excel | Course on Coursera Being proficient with Excel can go a long way, and therefore this course hosted on Coursera can be very useful to new founders Build a free website with WordPress | Course on Coursera This course is very useful if you wish to build a website for your founders, especially for smaller and more basic projects. Business Growth: Start-Ups, Investment and Negotiation | Stanford Useful course for first-time founders and/or business owners. These are some of the best free courses for new founders… For more insights check out my blog + discover more about my advisory learning programs for new founders below. About | My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting and content. For more info, please visit here.
5 Things to Consider When Choosing a Business Name
Choosing the right business name is a tricky task. The bad news is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to choose one these days as well. But not all hope is lost. In this short article I will highlight five key things to consider when choosing a business name. Hopefully these will put you in the right direction and help you avoid any costly mistakes when coming with the ideal name for your business. First and foremost, you need to be mindful of the legal part. This means making sure that your chosen business name does not infringe another business’ intellectual property. With business names, this usually concerns Trade Marks. There are several sources such as the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) which you can use to check existing trade marks. The best business name has less than 10-15 letters. However, this can be subjective and vary. But the general rule of thumb is that the shorter the name the more memorable it will be. Next on the list is checking the availability of a domain name for your business name. Unless you do not require a website, which in this day and age puts puts your business at a very small minority. You need to ensure that the relevant domain name is available for your chosen name. Here’s a few things to keep in mind and ask yourself during this part: For checking and registering domains, I recommend Namecheap. Many entrepreneurs and companies don’t take domain history into account. For instance, a domain, although suitable in other aspects, may have been used in an illegitimate website before, or it could have a high spam score. The latter can considerably affect the “SEObility” of a domain. One of the most useful tools I have discovered, although it is not strictly useful for domain history, is the WayBack Machine It allows you to see snippets of a website through a historical timeline. For instance, below is a snapshot of StudyFlats’ (my tech startup) website from 2016 Last but not least, you have to make sure that the social media handles of your chosen business name are available. Ideally you want all handles to be available. However, depending on your business, one platform may prevail over the other. So these are five things to keep in mind when choosing a business name…. If you need help with choosing the right business name, have a look at my full services or book a call with me today. About My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting and content. For more info, please visit here.
5 Awesome Free SEO Tools
If your company relies on SEO in any shape or form, it’s good to be aware of the best and latest free SEO tools available. In this article I will look at 5 cool and effective SEO tools that are out there: Yoast SEO Yoast is a comprehensive SEO plugin. Personally, I listed it as the first one on the list due to my own personal experience with this tool. The key benefit of Yoast is that it helps you learn the foundations of both copywriting and keyword optimization in the context of SEO. Below is an example of how the Yoast SEO tool looks like (and yes, it’s my own dashboard). The only downside of Yoast is that it only works with WordPress, and is not supported by platforms such as Shopify. Yoast also offers both free and premium/paid versions so it’s suitable for all types of users. Even if you’re not planning on using WordPress, Yoast is still quite useful. Check out their free SEO lessons, which is ideal for beginners. Ahrefs Ahrefs is another comprehensive SEO tool. The first benefit is that it is not limited to a specific platform. Additionally, Ahrefs provides various features such as keyword research, and competitor analysis tools. The downside of Ahrefs is that it may be slightly expensive for small businesses or for freelancers. Nevertheless, it does offer some free features so it’s definitely worth keeping in mind among the SEO tools available. Google Search Console Google Search Console is a free and essential SEO tool, rather than a complimentary “add-on” solution. The key importance of Google Search Console is that it shows you exactly what people are searching for on Google. Primarily, it enables you to determine where and what your content is ranking for. Subsequently, you are able to use this data to optimise your content. Google Trends Google Trends is one of the tools that is very useful especially when it comes to SEO planning. It enables you to discover the popularity of specific search queries and/or subjects over a specific period of time. Seobility SEO is an extensive field consisting of both technical and non-technical aspects. Therefore, you should consistently monitor both. Seobility is one of the prominent SEO tools for auditing your website. Check it out here…….It’s completely free! About My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting, and content. For more info, please visit here.
5 Reasons Why Your Website is Failing You
Are you struggling with lead conversion or a consistently high bounce rate? The issue could be your website and today I’ll share 5 reasons why your website may not be generating results (and what to do about it). Success requires a thorough awareness of where you need to improve. Understanding your website’s issues is the first important step towards better numbers and UX. So, here are 5 areas of potential improvement: Okay so let’s start with an obvious one. If your website’s design is old, too basic or simply visually unappealing, it will take a toll on your conversions. Yes, you could get away with this in the 2000s or even early 2010s. However, with all the tools available today, there’s no excuse for bad design. Solution There are so many design options available that require minimal technical skills. Nonetheless, this is mostly the case if you only require basic functionalities. If you do not require a complex website, Content Management Systems (CMS) are probably your best shot. The most popular example is WordPress. It offers so many different templates. Check Themeforest to get started. Well, I probably don’t need to write too much about this one. We all hate slow computers and websites. In many cases, speed is the primary reason why websites are inadequate. There could be various reasons for this one, and it could get technical depending on how your website is made. Solution As a first step, run a speed test on Google’s free tool: PageSpeed Insights. This tool informs you of the steps you can take to improve your website’s speed. The solutions depend on your website, your technical skills and whether you have a developer or not. The font that you use makes a tremendous difference to the overall feel & UX. Solution Make sure you invest a substantial amount of time and attention to the font that you will use. This is applicable whether you are manually adding a font or purchasing a pre-made template. As well as UX and aesthetics, what your website contains is the ultimate factor. Content is what will keep your user engaged. It also determines whether they will take the next steps on your website. Thus, whether it’s from an SEO or a user retention perspective, your content is imperative. Solution Ask yourself the following questions: If you need help with content creation, especially for SEO, then contact me for help! The majority of users in many sectors visit websites on their phones. It’s so important to take an active approach in optimising your website for mobile use. Hopefully this article should give you an idea as to how you could improve your website . In this day and age, your website is essentially the front office of your business. Therefore, you are losing potential customers If it does not create a positive user experience. If you’d like help with your digital strategy, I’m a business consultant with over 6 years of experience in digital enterprise. Find out more about my services here! About My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats which I scaled to over 30 UK cities. I currently help other entrepreneurs and businesses of all size with the digital marketing strategy around SEO, copywriting and content. For more info, please visit here.