The Content Byte

This week Rachel & Lynne are super excited to have Eman Ismail on the podcast. Eman is a specialist in email marketing, which is such a growth industry and she shares her tips, tricks and the story about how she ended up working in this niche.

During our conversation, Eman talks about:

• What it takes to create a great email campaign
• Mistakes that business owners and copywriters often make when creating email campaigns
• How to not sound sales-y in your emails
• Using storytelling in emails to create more powerful and memorable campaigns
• Where she finds her clients

Listen to Eman's amazing podcast and connect with her by visiting her website: https://emancopyco.com/ 

And, don't forget that we have just announced the dates for the 2024 The Content Byte Summit. Sign up for updates for the Summit (or snap up the early bird tickets) at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/ 
Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au 
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com      
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel's List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au for the details.

This week on the podcast, Rachel & Lynne are looking to the future - and helping us all to understand what's in our pipelines. We are chatting with writer and content creator Bec Haddad, about her career and Web3, which is the next iteration of the Internet. So fascinating!

We talk about:

• What Web 3 is and how it relates to content marketing
• The tools you need to understand it
• How it affects freelancers
• How to prepare yourself for this new frontier
• Working with agencies

Find Bec through her website: https://www.rebeccahaddad.com/ 

And, don't forget that we have just announced the dates for the 2024 The Content Byte Summit. Sign up for updates for the Summit (or snap up the early bird tickets) at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/ 
Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au 
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com      
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel's List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au for the details.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week on the podcast, Rachel & Lynne chat with a freelancer who keeps adding more skills to her arsenal - stylist, writer and now photographer Jessica Bellef. Specialising in lifestyle and interiors, Jess has carved out an enviable career that includes working with beautiful things and creating amazing work, including a beautiful coffee table book.

Jess talks about:

• How beginning as a visual merchandiser influences her work
• Discovering writing later in her career
• How relationships help to build a pipeline of steady clients/editors
• Why she wanted to branch into photography
• How her book came about and its long journey to publication

Connect with Jessica at https://www.jessicabellef.com/ 

And, don't forget that we have just announced the dates for the 2024 The Content Byte Summit. Sign up for updates for the Summit (or snap up the early bird tickets) at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com     

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au  

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel's List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au  for the details.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week Rachel and Lynne are chatting with successful freelancer (and tree-changer) Julie Lee. Julie was one of the first employees at Medium Rare Content, a highly successful content agency with lots of high-profile clients.

Julie talks about her years with Medium Rare - what it was like building up the business and working with clients as well as some of the secrets of the agency's success.

She talks about:

• Moving from consumer magazines to content work
• What makes a successful freelancer
• Offering strategy to clients
• What she's learnt as an editor and then moving on the other side
• How she's found balance in her life and career since moving to Port Macquarie

Connect with Julie through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-lee-editor/ 

And, don't forget that we have just announced the dates for the 2024 The Content Byte Summit. Sign up for updates for the Summit (or secure an early bird ticket) at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com   

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel's List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au  for the details.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne revisit SEO. We think that it's been a little overlooked lately with all this talk about AI and it's so important. Our guest this week is Abbey, half of marketing experts, the Duo Collective. In a wide-ranging chat, Abbey talks about:

• Domain authority with search engines and what that means
• Keywords, search traffic and backlink strategies
• And why you absolutely need a backlink strategy plan to supplement your content strategies in order to grow with search engines

It's a great way to understand new developments in SEO and to demystify it all. So much to learn!

Connect with Abbey & Courtney:

Duo on Air: https://duocollective.com/duo-on-air-marketing-podcast/ 

Website: https://duocollective.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duo.collective/ 

Email Newsletter (Tuesday Tips & Sips & SEO Squeeze): https://duocollective.com/subscribe  

DIY SEO Course Waitlist: https://duocollective.com/seo-on-tap

4 FREE Ways To Find Keywords: https://duocollective.com/free-seo-tools

And, don't forget that we have just announced the dates for the 2024 The Content Byte Summit. Sign up for updates for the Summit at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au   
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com   
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel's List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au for the details.
Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week's it's just hosts Rachel and Lynne as we get back into the swing of things - and set ourselves up for a new year of freelance work. And, as the saying goes, it's not what you know, it's who... so this week we are talking about collaboration.

We believe in an abundance mindset - that there is enough work to go around and that it's good to share tips and tricks on securing solid, well-paying gigs. 

We share our tips (and real-life examples) of how collaborations with other creatives can bring you extra work. We talk about:

This week Rachel and Lynne have a special guest talking about how nicheing down (or specialising) can bring you higher income clients and a more successful and resilient business. 

Funnel strategist and conversion copywriter Abi Prendergast shares her story on how she found her niche of working with course creators and why specialising works for her. We talk about:

• Why she loves the 'laptop lifestyle'
• Working with Copyhackers and how it set her up for success
• Going viral in the copy world
• Why she loves working for herself
• How solving problems for clients is the key to success
• Why you should work on your business regularly
• The skills you need for 2024

Connect with Abi here: https://www.aptcontent.co.uk/ 

or via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abi-prendergast-2a5953b1/ 

Sign up for updates for the 2024 Content Byte Summit at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/  
Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au 
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com 
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel's List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au for the details.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

And we are back for 2024 - and with such a useful episode! This week Rachel & Lynne chat with LinkedIn expert Adam Franklin on how to use this super-helpful and useful social media tool to get more work and improve your visibility. 

He shares his top 6 tips on starting the year by optimising your LinkedIn profile and ways that you can make the medium work for you (and it's much easier than you might think!).

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamfranklin/ 

Bluewire Media can be found at: https://www.bluewiremedia.com.au/

Sign up for updates for the 2024 Content Byte Summit at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au  

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel's List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au for the details.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

As the year draws to a close, hosts Rachel and Lynne chat about our favourite episodes of the year - and some of the things we have learned from our marvellous guests.

We chat about:

• What we learned from organising our first Summit
• Our favourite guests from the year
• Keynote speaker Ed Gandia's concept about 'moving up the value chain' in our content offering
• What we love about podcasting
• The powerful lessons we learned from Emma Grey's novel about grief
• Charlotte Wood's chat about her novel and how an award helped her to create a viable career in fiction writing

Melanie Padgett Powers' podcast with her Summit takeaways is here: https://meledits.com/166-smart-advice-from-the-content-byte-summit/ 

Sign up for updates for the 2024 Content Byte Summit at our website: https://thecontentbytesummit.com.au/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au          
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com                
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au ), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with Kim Kerton of Unemployed and Afraid, talking about the growing opportunities in podcast production. We chat about all thing podcasts, including:

• Owning a business from a young age
• Creating branded podcasts
• How do you serve an audience
• Realism in storytelling for brands
• Being prepared for change as your business grows

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au         

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com               

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au  

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with copywriter and coach Krystle Church, who is living her best life in tropical Mauritius doing work she loves. We chat about all things copywriting, including:

• Writing great copy
• The best courses to learn about copywriting
• Creating great landing pages
• Email marketing
• Being a digital nomad
• Mistakes she made in her early days of running the agency

Connect with Krystle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krystle.church/ 

or through her website: https://krystlechurch.com/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au        
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com              
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with communications professional and novelist Clare Fletcher. Clare talks about juggling all her roles, how she found time to write her novel (and what got her started). We chat about:

• The difference between writing commercial fiction versus literary fiction
• How a course helped her start writing
• Why she started her own podcast
• And all about her deep love of rom-coms 

Find Clare on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarefletcherwriter/ 

Listen to Clare's podcast (with Karina May), That Rom Com Pod https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/that-rom-com-pod/id1703734806 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au       

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com             

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.
Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with writer Alley Pascoe. Alley has just completed her latest ghostwriting project, My Mother's Eyes with Shanelle Dawson. She talks about ghostwriting, working with celebrities and the special bond she shares with her authors, as well as how she maintains a successful freelance career as a feature writer. We chat about:

• How she secured her first ghostwriting project
• How to channel someone else's voice
• Dealing with the publicity machine
• Long-form feature writing
• Why she loves living in Darwin and how she works remotely

Connect with Alley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alleypascoe/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au      
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com            
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au   

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week, Rachel and Lynne chat with Bernadette Schwerdt, one of the legends of the copywriting world. Bernadette is also a trainer of new copywriters and in this valuable episode, shares her copywriting tips on what you need to know if you want to add copywriting to your freelance arsenal. We chat about:

• Writing persuasive copy and how it's a mindset
• The sales journey and how copywriting fits in
• How to use AI tools in a constructive way
• Mistakes new writers make
• Essential courses and skills that can keep copywriters up to date and relevant

Connect with Bernadette and find out about her courses at Copy School: https://www.copyschool.com/ 

Her own website is: https://bernadetteschwerdt.com.au/

Bernadette's podcast is:

https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/category/podcast-so-you-want-to-be-a-copywriter/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au     

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com           

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au   

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne talk with branding expert Carlii Lyon about how to increase awareness of you and your work, without making you feel uncomfortable. Carlii chats about:

• Why personal branding is important
• How it can grow your business
• How to reduce the 'ick' factor
• How introverts can survive networking functions
• How feeling confident comes after 'confident action'

Carlii's website is: https://carliilyon.com.au/ 

Her LinkedIn page is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carliilyon/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au    
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com          
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week Rachel & Lynne are chatting with Anfernee Chansamooth, a marketer and social media guru, talking about how you can use social media to build your business and get more leads. We chat about:

• His favourite social platforms for freelancers
• Mistakes that freelancers make
• Why targeting a broad market doesn't work
• How consistency pays off on social media
• How much you should share on your social channels

Anfernee's website is here: https://www.anferneec.com/ 

He has compiled a bonus page of resources for listeners of The Content Byte here: https://theauthenticmarketer.com/thecontentbyte/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au    
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com          
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au  
Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week Rachel and Lynne have successful financial journalist Michelle Bowes on the podcast to talk about creating a business mindset with your freelance business. Michelle has successfully juggled the worlds of words and money and she shares her tips on common mistakes freelancers make, how to earn more and how to cut down your business costs. 

She talks about:

• Finding confidence to talk about money
• How to quote and invoice without fear
• How to set up your freelance business the right way
• Superannuation made easy
• Dealing with contracts
• Running financial literacy events for young women

Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bowes-37388247/ 

or go to her website: https://www.michellebowes.com.au/ 

The Money Queens website is https://www.moneyqueens.com.au/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au   

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com         

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.
Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

We are back after a short break - and we have a great episode to share today. This week, Rachel and Lynne chat with award-winning novelist Charlotte Wood about the ups and downs of writing literary fiction. Charlotte shares her early days as a writer, including how she supplemented her income before she found success. We chat about:

• What literary awards mean and if they help your career
• Choosing the right publishing team
• Working with difficult topics
• Going on the publicity trail for your books
• Social media for novelists
• Having her work adapted for the stage.

It's a fascinating chat and a wonderful insight into life as a successful novelist. 

Charlotte's website is https://www.charlottewood.com.au/ or follow her on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/charlottewoodwriter/ 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au 
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com        
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au 

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au ), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week, Rachel and Lynne are recovering from our first-ever The Content Byte Summit. It was a whirlwind of two and a half days of learnings, connections and aha-moments. This week, before we both take a break, we are going through our favourite tips and tricks from all the speakers and panels - and what we are taking to our own freelance business. 

We talk about:

• Ed Gandia's keynote talking about how to charge for the value that you add to your clients - not strategy, but advising
• The panel with Lindy Alexander and Jennifer Goforth Gregory on escaping the low-pay cycle
• Hearing from editors and content chiefs about what they want from freelancers
• Racquel Collard’s presentation that covered automating processes, along with Jac Taylor in the Business of Freelancing panel - how important it is to get the right systems and make them talk to one another.
• Susan Reoch in giving a personality to AI apps and making you think totally differently about incorporating AI into your workflow.
• We also loved the connections between the attendees and seeing our community catch up. Many people commented on how lovely everyone was, and how welcoming.

We can highly recommend a detailed summary of the Summit through the excellent Melanie Padgett Powers, and her Deliberate Freelancer podcast. Melanie watched the Summit virtually from Washington DC and has some great thoughts and comments: https://meledits.com/166-smart-advice-from-the-content-byte-summit/ 

Lynne and Rachel are going to take a break for a couple of weeks now to recover, but the podcast will be back on 16 October.

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au 
Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com        
Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au   

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.
Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co 

This week, in the midst of last-minute preparations for our exciting event - The Content Byte Summit – Lynne and Rachel take you behind-the-scenes for a sneak peek into some of the presentations and panel chats that are occuring during the two days of the Summit.

The Summit will be held from September 14-16 at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney and we wanted to share some of the highlights that we are really excited about, including

1. Keynote speaker Ed Gandia - moving up the value chain and not taking orders
2. How skilled interviews give you nuances that AI can never match
3. Jess Mudditt talking about high-paying journalism gigs
4. Transferrable skills that journalists can take into government work with Nigel Bartlett
5. How our second keynote speaker Jennifer Goforth Gregory hits revenue targets by breaking all the rules
6. Racquel Collard’s marketing presentation - no more panic marketing!
7. AI tools in general… there are so many, what should we learn?
8. Valerie Khoo’s talk about microcredentials
9. Ros Page’s survey on how agencies are using AI and how that might be affecting their use of freelancers.
10. Ways that you can diversify and add new income streams to your freelance business

There are still a few tickets still available for The Content Byte Summit  www.thecontentbytesummit.com.au  

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com       

Rachel's List www.rachelslist.com.au  

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co