Dulee Paranavitana

  Staying creative in a fast paced digital world can be as difficult as it has ever been. We all have just 24 hours and having so many options on how to spend time or waste time at our fingertips isn’t really good for all of us. Most of us have access to some sort of smart device, which can either help you stay creative and motivated or make you feel drained or stressed. I personally believe that creativity is the best skill or trait you need to invest in as it is what leads to innovation and breakthroughs, allowing you to stand out in an increasingly competitive world.  Get off the Phone  I know how you feel when someone says that, cause my mom says that all the time. Though I don’t like hearing it too often, I know she has a point. While the phone might be entertaining and take your mind off your problems (at least for the shortest time span possible), it doesn't serve well when it comes to creativity. I used to think it was because it limited how one thought or imagine...

  Freelance writing can be the thing you were looking for to replace your 9 to 5 job, doing things you feel drain you to the core and working with toxic co-workers who have unjustified demands on your work. Welcome to the world of freelance, where your only concern is to deliver quality work that goes above and beyond your clients expectations. As someone who has worked both as an employee and freelancer I sincerely believe that being a freelancer is far more rewarding than working a 9 to 5 where the only nice thing is the juicy paycheck that disappears as fast as dew on a summer morning - sorry for being poetic, it is my strength, and I like to use it (you should too, if you want to stand out in the competitive freelance market). You might be thinking that money is enough to keep you happy, in my experience it has not been enough to keep me happy. So, without further ado, let’s explore some skills you need to become a freelance writer. Writing  If you want to become a writer,...

  While it does seem comforting and exciting to get a huge paycheck at the end of the day, I feel that money can’t truly buy contentment and peace, which for me is more important at this point in my life than happiness. I have worked at corporate jobs, and I think I prefer the autonomy and the sense of accomplishment I receive from clients over that big juicy paycheck that lands in your back account and is gone before you know how or where it went. Of course, you might say, but Dulee, money is important. Yes, it is, but everything comes at a cost, even happiness and contentment and sometimes the price we pay for overworking ourselves and spending time in a job we’d rather not be doing in terms of mental health and sometimes physical health, makes it questionable if we should indeed be a part of the 9 to 5 rat race. Freelancing Gives Freedom Freedom is priceless, I truly believe so. While freelancing is certainly not a bed of roses, (it’s more of a bed of thorns when it comes to get...

  Pay Per Click Pay per click is a digital marketing method which involves advertisers investing a fee every time an ad is clicked. The advertiser only pays when someone clicks on the ad. It’s a way to gain added attention and drive traffic online, like a website or landing page. Usually PPC works when an advertiser places a bid on what they want to pay for an ad at a given time. The winner is usually decided based on the quality score of the advert. ROI ROI stands for return on investment. If you are in digital marketing you will hear this acronym used over and over again. The return on investment or ROI is a term used to understand the performance and evaluate the profitability and efficiency of a marketing campaign when compared to the ad spend. Some facets that influence this include the initial cost of investment, maintenance costs and how much cash flow is generated. When calculating ROI the benefit of the investment is divided by the overall ad spend and this is given as a p...

     1. SEO SEO or search engine marketing is when you optimize content for search engines. This is when you use strategies to make your content discoverable on search engines like Google and rank higher on the SERPs or Search Engine Results Pages. The great thing about SEO or Search Engine Optimization is that you don’t have to pay for it - it is organic, unlike ads like Google Ads, Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads. There are different components when it comes to SEO such as on page SEO, off page SEO and Technical SEO. On page SEO is when you optimise title tags, heading and meta descriptions of a website and or webpages. Off page SEO involves building backlinks from other websites to establish your own website as an authoritative source in your niche. 2. Content Calendar Content calendar is a tool that is used by digital marketers and social media marketers to stay consistent in their everyday online marketing tasks. A content calendar includes things like the post collate...

  It has been some time since I wrote on this blog. If you are new here, you might want to go check out the previous post on SEO.  Recapping, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization - which is the process of enhancing the discoverability of your content on search engines without investing in PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. It’s all organic (meaning that if you know SEO, you don’t have to run as many ads to get more leads and customers.  Keyword Targeting The most important step in SEO or search engine optimization is to know what you might be optimizing for in the first place. Begin by determining the terms and phrases individuals type onto Google and other search engines to search for relevant information on the topics they might be interested in finding out more about, and sometimes even purchasing, depending on the intent. There are several things you need to keep in mind and consider when targeting keywords. These include search volume, relevance and competition. N...