| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Marketing - where do you get your jobs? Thread poster: Hanna Valenta
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Hi!
Newly established and the jobs are slowly dropping in. Now I\'d like to do some serious marketing. Can you please tell me approximately how many percent of your jobs come from:
A. Your own website (and how is this advertised)?
B. Being registered at translation web sites, such as ProZ.com, and job-bidding at these sites
C. Personal contacts, word of mouth
D. Direct marketing to potential customers, not agensies, through ... See more Hi!
Newly established and the jobs are slowly dropping in. Now I\'d like to do some serious marketing. Can you please tell me approximately how many percent of your jobs come from:
A. Your own website (and how is this advertised)?
B. Being registered at translation web sites, such as ProZ.com, and job-bidding at these sites
C. Personal contacts, word of mouth
D. Direct marketing to potential customers, not agensies, through e-mail or regular mail.
E. Contacting agencies.
F. Mailing lists (with joboffers)
Thanks!
/Hanna Valenta,
Medical Freelance Translator
_________________
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| | | | | Try non-translation associations | Nov 11, 2002 |
Last time we did a survey, we heard that our members get 50% of their jobs by word-of-mouth, 10% online, and 40% via other channels. That was 2 years ago, and most anticipated that the online percentage would rise.
My best tip on getting jobs is to join an organization in your specialization that has nothing to do with language. For example, I was part of an advertising forum. Being the only translator in the group, I got all translation-related inquiries. ProZ.com members i... See more Last time we did a survey, we heard that our members get 50% of their jobs by word-of-mouth, 10% online, and 40% via other channels. That was 2 years ago, and most anticipated that the online percentage would rise.
My best tip on getting jobs is to join an organization in your specialization that has nothing to do with language. For example, I was part of an advertising forum. Being the only translator in the group, I got all translation-related inquiries. ProZ.com members in medical or legal groups have reported similar experiences. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | my percentage of jobs.. | Nov 11, 2002 |
in order of importance:
C
B
E
A
 I have always thought that first you need luck and then you must good at preserving said luck
Welcome to this crazy crazy world
Carla
| | | | Rick Henry 
United States
Local time: 04:51
Italian to English
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| Marketing... | Nov 11, 2002 |
When I\'m contacted by an agency I\'ve never worked for before, they\'re usually quite up front about where they obtained my name, if asked (at least in my experience).
One other thing I usually do with first-time customers is ask them to return a short survey I\'ve prepared asking how my services were perceived, and I also include a question asking where they heard of me, among other things.
I agree with Carla, though, that there is nothing better than word of mou... See more When I\'m contacted by an agency I\'ve never worked for before, they\'re usually quite up front about where they obtained my name, if asked (at least in my experience).
One other thing I usually do with first-time customers is ask them to return a short survey I\'ve prepared asking how my services were perceived, and I also include a question asking where they heard of me, among other things.
I agree with Carla, though, that there is nothing better than word of mouth.
Also having a website and registering it with search engines helps... keeping keywords relevant, of course.
Cold-contacting agencies has yielded me about a 10 percent response rate. When I say \"response\", I don\'t mean that they have work waiting. It usually means they\'ll put my name in their database.
R.
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Quote:
On 2002-11-11 20:25, 1964 wrote:
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Generally agencies do not tell from where they found my name, an old application, a site or else.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-11-12 00:01 ] ▲ Collapse
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Parrot
Spain
Local time: 11:51
Spanish to English
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| Word-of-mouth and proz.com is now inextricably linked for me | Nov 12, 2002 |
and \"being registered on translation websites\" is something like Aquarius. I\'ll be frank, I also recruit, match and recommend translators/translation team members observing proz.com answerers, which is like word-of-mouth.
I do very little direct marketing, but can\'t help getting involved in sectors that have nothing to do with translation, and I ended up with an institutional market (large corporations and government/non-government/supranational bodies). Many times this ... See more and \"being registered on translation websites\" is something like Aquarius. I\'ll be frank, I also recruit, match and recommend translators/translation team members observing proz.com answerers, which is like word-of-mouth.
I do very little direct marketing, but can\'t help getting involved in sectors that have nothing to do with translation, and I ended up with an institutional market (large corporations and government/non-government/supranational bodies). Many times this activity simply involved being interested in what they were doing - NGOs are a particularly good exposure, even when the first job is almost always free. 
I\'ve also learned that your proz profile page is very important. (More people access that than my website).
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| | | | | My experience | Nov 12, 2002 |
I got established before I discovered ProZ and did so by subscribing to a mailing list specifically set up to connect translators with potential customers mainly consisting of German translation agencies. The mailing list is at http://www.u-jobs.org. Since I only do translations from German to English, the best place for me to look for work is Germany.
But after getting established with a number of German agencies thr... See more I got established before I discovered ProZ and did so by subscribing to a mailing list specifically set up to connect translators with potential customers mainly consisting of German translation agencies. The mailing list is at http://www.u-jobs.org. Since I only do translations from German to English, the best place for me to look for work is Germany.
But after getting established with a number of German agencies through u-jobs I set up a ProZ profile and have attracted a number of addtional clients this way. For the past year and a half my main concern has been not taking on more work than I can handle. My only advertising tool is my ProZ profile.
Keep up the great work please!
Kim
[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-11-12 00:30 ] ▲ Collapse
| | | | williamson (X)
Local time: 11:51
Dutch to English
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| Direct Approach | Nov 12, 2002 |
Agencies are language-brokers. They take a percentage on your work. Working with them has the advantage that you do not deliver the end product, but a raw version which has to be DTP-ed, revised, put together by a P.M. coordinating a project.
However, the internet is a means for direct contact with companies. If you are specialised in a certain sector, why not do a research of that sector and approach companies directly. Receptionists can be most useful people to put you in contact wit... See more Agencies are language-brokers. They take a percentage on your work. Working with them has the advantage that you do not deliver the end product, but a raw version which has to be DTP-ed, revised, put together by a P.M. coordinating a project.
However, the internet is a means for direct contact with companies. If you are specialised in a certain sector, why not do a research of that sector and approach companies directly. Receptionists can be most useful people to put you in contact with the right person and give you a lot of information if you ask the right questions. Most companies do have a website with e-mailaddresses. ▲ Collapse
| | | | kbamert
Local time: 11:51
French to German
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| marketing and work | Nov 12, 2002 |
Hello
Quote:Can you please tell me approximately how many percent of your jobs come from:Quote
Quote A. Your own website (and how is this advertised)?Quote 0%
Quote B. Being registered at translation web sites, such as ProZ.com, and job-bidding at these sites Quote 0% (
Quote C. Personal contacts, word of mouth Quote 0%
Quote D. Direct marketing to potential customers, not agencies, through e-mail or regular mail. Quote 0%
Quote E. Co... See more Hello
Quote:Can you please tell me approximately how many percent of your jobs come from:Quote
Quote A. Your own website (and how is this advertised)?Quote 0%
Quote B. Being registered at translation web sites, such as ProZ.com, and job-bidding at these sites Quote 0% (
Quote C. Personal contacts, word of mouth Quote 0%
Quote D. Direct marketing to potential customers, not agencies, through e-mail or regular mail. Quote 0%
Quote E. Contacting agencies. Quote 100%
Quote F. Mailing lists (with joboffers) Quote 0%
Best regards
Kurt ▲ Collapse
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Sonja Tomaskovic (X)
Germany
Local time: 11:51
English to German
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| I am not doing a lot of marketing | Nov 12, 2002 |
I noticed, however, that approaching agencies directly has been more beneficial to me than any homepage or membership.
| | | | Milos Prudek
Czech Republic
Local time: 11:51
English to Czech
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| number of people visiting profile | Nov 12, 2002 |
Quote:
I\'ve also learned that your proz profile page is very important. (More people access that than my website).
How do you find out how many people visited your proz profile page?
[addsig]
| | | | Parrot
Spain
Local time: 11:51
Spanish to English
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| There are visitor counters and hit counters | Nov 12, 2002 |
Visitor counters recall ISP IDs and do not count persons who have already visited if they come around a second time. A hit counter counts the number of times anybody ends up on your page. Each type has its functions.
| | | | Sonja Tomaskovic (X)
Germany
Local time: 11:51
English to German
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.. can you really put a counter on your ProZ.com profile page?
You can do so on your own home page, of course, but I\'ve not heard that proz offers a counter for your profile.
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Rick Henry
United States
Local time: 04:51
Italian to English
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| Yes, you can put one of the many free counters on your proZ page, but... | Nov 12, 2002 |
Beware that many of the free counters also bring with them annoying pop-ups. It\'s not so much a problem when you\'re browsing with software that blocks pop-ups, but, personally, I dislike the idea of pop-ups of any kind.
R.
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Quote:
On 2002-11-12 12:35, sonjav wrote:
.. can you really put a counter on your ProZ.com profile page?
You can do so on your own home page, of course, b
... See more Beware that many of the free counters also bring with them annoying pop-ups. It\'s not so much a problem when you\'re browsing with software that blocks pop-ups, but, personally, I dislike the idea of pop-ups of any kind.
R.
==
Quote:
On 2002-11-12 12:35, sonjav wrote:
.. can you really put a counter on your ProZ.com profile page?
You can do so on your own home page, of course, but I\'ve not heard that proz offers a counter for your profile.
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| | | | | Site counters.... | Nov 12, 2002 |
I got mine from http://www.siteask.com/ and it works just fine. As far as I know it\'s not associated with any pop-ups.
Go to their site and fill out the blurb and they\'ll send you a piece of code to insert into your site. Then go to your profile in \"edit\" mode and paste that code in there where you want to have the counter..... and you\'re off and running ... See more I got mine from http://www.siteask.com/ and it works just fine. As far as I know it\'s not associated with any pop-ups.
Go to their site and fill out the blurb and they\'ll send you a piece of code to insert into your site. Then go to your profile in \"edit\" mode and paste that code in there where you want to have the counter..... and you\'re off and running
Alison ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dyran Altenburg (X)
United States
Local time: 05:51
English to Spanish
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| Percentages for 2002 | Nov 12, 2002 |
A. 5%
B. 20% (ATA on-line database)
C. 70%
D. 5%
E. 0%
F. 0%
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