Content Pricing: My Clarification

What comes easy, won't last long. What lasts long, won't come easy. Hard work with focus pays.

I have given clarification on the content pricing earlier, and I am giving it again. If you are a PCWC participant, a client's content requirement is part of your project work, so the payment is nominally fixed as Re.1/- per word. This means to fulfill the promise of "earn your fee back." In the case of Associate Content Writers (that includes even myself) the pricing can be done independently. The market price per word is Rs.1/- to Rs.3/- in India, and for clients abroad it may go up to Rs.4/- per word.

For the last few years, as a trainer and associate, I have been charging Re.1/- per word, and from January 2021, I have made it Rs.1.30/- per word pricing is reasonable (not competitive) as my clients are start-ups and small businesses with little resources for online marketing. All the 1960 clients I have today are micro and small businesses only. My genuine request to my fellow ACWs is that, please adopt a professional pricing benchmark, and look at the client as a long-term association. Your work should speak for you and echo success, and the client's delight makes a huge difference.

When I started as a copywriter in 1993, my salary was Rs.2500/- pm and by 2019 as AGM my salary was Rs.1,20,000/- pm (including  office car and perks). There are two learnings to note. One, never compare your corporate pay packages with your professional content writing payments. Second, evolve a sustainable pricing model, by which your clients come back to you again and again for new works, and refer you to their network. 

Generally speaking, in India (including us) the customers are obsessed with pricing and bargaining. The same is with NRIs settled abroad. You cannot change the mindset, so you have to be smart enough to give a competitive price. Quality is still a euphoria for many of us. Even if you make loud claims of a high level of quality and creativity it doesn't seep-in with the majority of the Indian minds. So, make quality and creativity as your personal benchmarks, as they can never supersede the fixed pricing mindsets of customers. A successful content writer is one who is good at business English communication, and equally a powerful negotiator. 

I am in total appreciation of some Associates who have been tactfully, yet impactfully negotiating the pricing at Rs.3/- per word and beyond. So, first learn the tricks of the trade, get yourself ready for the content challenges, and then demand the right payment for your work. Don't just hit and run, become part of the client's mind and business. 

In addition to sight, a content writer should have insight. Understand your client's vision, competitor strategy, and end user / customer requirements. Once you deliver the content, and take the project to fruition, both you and your client should be delighted equally. This is what I expect from each PCWC learner and ACW. 

3-Tips to turn into a Successful Professional Content Writer. 

1) Professional Pricing: Your client may be a Start-up business or a 500 Cr Enterprise, your pricing for the work should should be consistently the same. This is what endears you to your clients, and makes them to come to you again and again. 

2) On-time Delivery: Ensure that your content delivery is as per the negotiated timelines. Never give silly pretexts that your dog is missing, you had to pick-up your daughter from school, and your grandmother is unwell and so you were at the doctor's clinic all evening. 

3) Most important, demand the payment in advance only. This sets the value for your content writing work, and brings in the level of professional seriousness. Some people will never understand the value of Content Writing, they still think it is copy & paste work, and mere data entry. Our Content Writing Modules and the Assignments that you showcase at your Blog are a slap on their face. Only the Content Writer knows what rigors and pains are experienced before the Content is delivered to the clients.  

SANJAY NANNAPARAJU

The Emergence of E-Learning during COVID-19's Fallout

If movement is the sign of life, change is the order of life. Man has survived and progressed due to a strong determination to survive. Man's intelligence has helped him to cure disease, live healthy,
reproduce and dominate all other creatures on Earth. Before SARS and now COVID-19 the rage of deadly viruses evolving from epidemic to pandemic stage isn't new for humans. So, till the vaccine arrives, human intelligence has no recourse but to make temporary or makeshift arrangements to make life run normally.

The wide and fast spread of COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on every aspect of life. Of significance is Man's intelligence that made desperate efforts at restoring normalcy. In Education, the
lockdown scenario was met with e-learning, where the student and teacher interacted online, and thereby the academic process was given an immediate re-start.

Understandably, e-leaning is not a fall-out of COVID-19. Only that, e-learning received greater limelight and its usefulness re-discovered in the wake of the lockdown that followed the pandemic. Definitely, e-learning is not a solution or suitable platform to replace traditional classroom teaching and learning in India or anywhere in the world.

E-learning is to be seen as temporarily complementing the regular and offline teaching-learning environment. However, e-learning capably answers the question, if the traditional systems of  education fail to deliver, then what? In the post COVID-19 era, where we all continue to live with SMS - Sanitizer, Mask and Social Distancing, e-learning will soon be replaced by blended learning (partly traditional & partly online). 

The days are not far, when we will see our children going to school, youngsters going to college, and teachers bringing in innovative teaching methods to make teaching and learning innovative and interesting.

SANJAY NANNAPARAJU
9848434615

Post COVID-19. New World Order

2020 HERALDS THE NEW WORLD ORDER: GLOBAL 
BUSINESSES IN POST COVID-19 TIMES

Nobody could foresee the trouble, and havoc unleashed by COVID-19. The fallout is evident as paradigm shift and race to 
recovery by global businesses. Equally affected are the people and communities across the globe. 

Major paradigm changes in the New World Order include,

- Landslide movement of offline retailers to online platforms.  Omnichannel ecosystem to see greater convergence of business platforms. Inordinate rise in online aggregator business (Amazon, Flipkart etc), and tsunamic wave of office retailers vying with one another for ecommerce space. The Mobile Apps are sure to compound a million fold 
- Leaping changes are sure to come in global supply chain models. The present hub and spoke to be replaced by greater manufacturing and distribution decentralization for significant cost savings. The construction of cold storages and godowns is sure to see ten-fold rise. Multiple vendors to be linked reliably across a ‘mesh’ of supply chains, as never before. 
- Breakthrough innovations are enabled by sophisticated technologies such as 5G, robotics, IoT and blockchain. 
- Half hearted efforts at e-governance to give fast give way for robust and responsive e-governance systems. Public-Private initiatives to be marked by public bodies collaborating with IT majors like Microsoft, SAP, Oracle etc.
- Meteoric growth in smart cities movement to be rapidly realized across the globe. The way we collaborate  is sure to change. There is sure to be greater component of work-from-home jobs.
- Personalized engagement is the key to success for Businesses or Brands. So, the personalized engagement deployed will be beyond incentives, pay hikes, discounts and offers. Winning and 
sustaining the confidence of people (staff, customers and vendors) will be continue as an obsession for businesses. Brands especially in businesses of groceries, medicines and personal care/wellness items will seek increased communication and trust from customers. The quality of these products and feedback of customers becomes everything.
- Global automotive industry will shift its focus from gasoline to electric vehicles. The movement will be towards early realizing of unlimited power sources
- Nations across the globe to allot more resources towards medical research and development. University-Industry collaborative approach to innovation will be realized. The focus of real-estate and construction will be on low-cost housing for all, and less on business complexes. 
- Biological innovations are sure to make atomic weapons obsolete. Most powerful nation is one which holds the most lethal biological weapons. Humans are to live on the brink of life and death, continuously fighting with the unseen lethal enemy.  
- Health and hygiene to be given high priority in every nation's agenda. Sharing food and drinks, kissing and spitting in the open will be made highly punishable offences.
- Social systems for care of the elderly, destitutes, diseased and 
orphans to be streamlined and made responsive.
- Aadhar-linked health monitoring systems are sure to be  positioned. Homes, communities and offices across nations to be placed under surveillance.
- Social distancing is sure to be maintained. Friendly, yet ruthless Policing will become operational. Protection of Life will be the basis for every action, human or organizational.
- Limits are sure to come on lending, financing, business holding, ownership of properties and spending. Financial transactions individual and institutional will be bio-metrics based. 
- Human vulnerability stands exposed. We have awakened to the world where anyone can infect anyone. Most gruesome fact is that, you may need a license to buy a weapon, but now it isn't so. Any virus carrier can turn into a potential killing machine unleashing unparalleled genocide. There is no individual who can escape all biological intruders. 
- This life threatening scenario is sure to catapult each one of us into humanistic thinking, with care and concern for the elderly, and the suffering. The balance in nature is very well understood, and its 5 elements are taken recourse for solace and peace of mind.

All the above changes are expected in the post-COVID19 era. All this are sure to preoccupy the minds and lives of people across the globe in the next two decades. 

Hope, you can expect more... Welcome to the New World Order.

SANJAY NANNAPARAJU
9848434615

Content Writers and 12 Brand Archetypes

A successful Content Writer is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way to create remarkable brands. The right Branding Archetype keeps the Content Writer greatly focused, and 
effectively value-driven.

# Archetype 1. The Magician
Bringing Dreams to Life. Example. Disney World

# Archetype 2. The Sage
Seeking brilliance and authority. Ex. MIT & Harward

# Archetype 3. The Innocent
Leverages on nostalgia. Ex. Woodwards Gripewater

# Archetype 4. The Outlaw
Building a cult. Ex. Apple 

# Archetype 5. The Jester
Creating light-hearted fun. Ex. Fevicol

# Archetype 6. The Lover
Creating intimate moments. Ex. 5 STAR Chocolate

# Archetype 7. The Explorer
Yearning for freedom. Ex. Royal Enfield

# Archetype 8. The Ruler
Craving for dominance. Ex. RollsRoyce

# Archetype 9. The Caregiver
Providing care. Ex. Johnson

# Archetype 10. The Hero
Presenting leadership. Ex.Join the Army

# Archetype 11. The Regular 
Making the regular greatly appealing. Ex. Wildcraft Bags

# Archetype 12. The Creator
Striving to create products you can't live without. Ex. TikTok

CONTENT WRITING HAS MUCH MORE TO IT THAN JUST WRITING. UNDERSTAND TO BE UNDERSTOOD. 

Sanjay Nannaparaju

CORONA VIRUS - A Revelation to Revisit "The Second Coming" and "The Waste Land"

YOU MAY BE TOO BIG TO FIGHT, BUT I AM TOO SMALL TO WIN - Corona Virus.

I am very fortunate to have read W B Yeats' The Second Coming, and T S Eliot' The Waste Land. I find the poets' prophesies come alive in the present global pandemic of Corona Virus. Both the poets believed that the world was heading towards an apocalyptic revelation. They question, all these man-made fury of brutal wars, heinous crimes, unparalleled exploitation of nature, highest use of fossil fuels, dumpling plastic wastes and chemicals, polluting seas with oil spills, and most dastardly acts like mutilating and sodomizing fellow living creatures...ALL THESE TO WHAT EFFECT?

In "The Second Coming" W B Yeats notes, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold”; anarchy is loosed upon the world; “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned.” The best people, the speaker says, “lack all conviction, but the worst are full of passionate intensity.” All this chaos and disorder is finally leveled by the "Second Coming" of Spiritus Mundi. A beast so ruthless that it sets off slowly on a course as "its hour come around at last." Is the poet visualizing the arrival of Corona Virus which for him is Spiritus Mundi.

To draw an analogy from T S Eliot' The Waste Land, where the poet exhorts "Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only, A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water." He goes further to draw an analogy with the poet's revealing narration of Thames with that prevailing in the present times in London with Corona's spread.

Refering to London and life at the Thames river, the poet says, "The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song." The narrative is explicit with the nature referred to as going with its usual routine. But there the pitiable man who has now self-quarantined himself for a life-time' of deep self analysis and introspection. Yesterday, the Daily Press confirmed this to the world by its headlines "London deserted: UK capital becomes Ghost Town as workers flee over Corona virus."

The natural forces have kept their cool since long, definitely with an optimism and ray of hope that one day humans would change to realize that life isn't just to exist but to live happily alongside all creatures and creation. However, the malicious actions and selfish deeds of humans continue unabated. It is time nature said, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH. All havoc was let loose by unleashing of an army of Corona Virus which is less than 5 micron in size. The message of nature is clear, YOU MAY BE TOO BIG TO FIGHT, BUT I AM TOO SMALL TO WIN.

At this point of time, in the face of Corona, the pride, attitude, and brutality of human race have come into question. Surely, the hollowness of human existence stands exposed. There is now a new awakening to understand the simple rules of nature. Nature gives everyone the needful. The variety of produce changes from season to season. Each member of the creation has a role to play in the Natural cycle. If humans learn to co-exist with fellow creation, there would be greater survival and continuity of the human race. However, the question still remains unanswered. Will this revelation dawn on humans?, If so, when?

SANJAY NANNAPARAJU

CONTENT WRITERS RISE TO THE CHALLENGES OF WEB 1.0, 2.0 AND 3.0

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, 

but I have promises to keep, 

and miles to go before I sleep - Robert Frost

Content is the King, and definitely Content Writers are the rulers of large stretches of online geographies. Content writers enjoy precedence over other professionals in gaining immediate access to business leaders, and taking the business vision to this world and worlds far and near.

The prestige and precedence enjoyed by content writers isn't free of challenges and rising client's expectations. From time and again, each and every Content Writer has risen to the challenges of the Web and its phenomenal rise over the years.

Tough times don't last, tough people do 
- Robert H Schuller

The development of web has been categorized into three phases of time. Each phase presents the progress and development of the web.

Web 1.0: This is the first phase in the development of the web. This phase was increasingly marked by static websites, with content posted on individual servers and accessible only to its owners. The Netizen of Web 1.0 could only read the information found on websites. Web 1.0 is sometimes described as an effort to create an Encyclopedia online that allowed for neither interactivity nor any innovative web functionalities.

Web 2.0: The second phase in the development of web was initiated in 2003. The term Web 2.0 was coined by Dale Dougherty, Vice President at O'Reilly Media. This term gained popularity since 2004. This phase was marked by major changes in the way web is used. Innovative technologies furthered extraordinary functionalities, and information storage was revolutionized. This phase of the web is definitely a giant leap for all Netizens, who could find Web 2.0 in dynamic and responsive websites, Wiki and Social Media. From individual client's servers Netizens saw the movement to remote servers and even cloud storage.

Embrace the change & let it bring the best in you.

Web 3.0: Web 3.0 to some is yet to be realized and is in its infancy. While some others say that Web 3.0 phase has already started and visible greatly as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Whatever may be the opinions of technology experts of Web 3.0, its difference with 2.0 is clearly seen as transition to greatly portable and personalized web interface and experience. Significantly, for every website, product and service there is an app that can be accessed from any smart device. Netizens feel 3.0 when they increasingly access different mobile apps that are downloaded from Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

Even entire websites are facilitated as mobile apps. A fine example is the presence of Facebook and Twitter as downloadable mobile apps. So, 3.0 has ushered an era of strong individual focus, personalization and content consolidation. Search engines are leveraging on AI to initiate new alogrithms. The emergence of Semantic web in the place of Key-words specific search is one recent trend to note.

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have - Bob Marley

Netizens benefit by an altogether different search experience, with each search for information returning results based on specific meaning of words, instead of the 2.0's legacy to further search based on characters and numerals. So, in layman's language, we are entering a phase of Web which processes information, thinks like a human and imparts only the greatly relevant information.

If life is a challenge, your skills, competencies and smart thinking surely help to make a mark and create an identity of your own. Web Content Writers have consistently and rapidly progressed with good understanding of the challenges that have come with each phase of the web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.

The darkest hour has only 60 minutes - Morris Mandel

Each content writer is engulfed by the changes as seen below. The best and smartest of the content writers have sustained and survived. A few others who could not be so have left to pursue new careers in other domains of knowledge.

·         Content in general and content writing in particular has evolved from long and lengthy chunks of content to crisp and highly readable content. The movement from key-word based search to semantic search is good news for content writers, as it means to demand content that is vocabulary specific, business specific and customer centric. There will be ultimate sync between what content writers offer and what search engines reel out for specific searches.

·         The movement towards developing highly personalized content starting with 2.0 will find its zenith in 3.0. Netizens will find only the content of their choice as web pages will turn so very intelligent that all the previous user experience on the web is touchstoned in a fraction of a second and content reeled out to match the exact requirements. Surely, Amazon and VIT are greatly leveraging on this intelligent search technologies. All this means two things for the content writer. One, an explosion of content never seen before, and second, high demand for semantic natured content.

·         Today, we increasingly see Netizens using their smart phones to access information. Mobile enabled search is approximately 70 percent and desktop enabled search is 30 percent. This scenario poses a great challenge for the content writer, as the content needs to be highly focused and rich in semantically relevant words.

·         Content writers of 2.0 posted the content and forgot about it. Now it is not so as 3.0 demands continuous interaction and follow-up on content written, rewritten and updated. The businesses, web and mobile app developers, designers and digital marketeers find in the content writer a messiah who can deliver unparalleled success and help businesses from falling into an enigmatic position. So, the smart and greatly informed businesses, web developers and digital marketeers who can gauge the impending tsunamic wave of spiraling web changes will never dare to part with trained and experienced content writers.

I never dreamed of success, I worked for it 
- Estee Lauder

Web 1.0 made content writers mere spectators. Websites were launched and managed individually with don't care attitude towards content and content writers. Web 2.0 discovered the crucial role of content writers in developing original and key-word specific business, and user-specific social media enabled interactive content. Web 3.0 ushers a new era in content and content writing.

Content writers will be crowned and considered supreme leaders enabling online properties holistically with their semantic rich content writing. Mobile apps will grow million-fold, and the few content writers will find a greatly tough time meeting the content requirement of businesses, apps designers and developers and digital marketing professionals. With language finding precedence over characters and numerals, there is sure to be a greatly rigorous, challenging, yet a vibrant life ahead for all content writers.

Life is a circle of happiness, sadness, hard times 

and good times. If you are going through a hard time, 

know that good times are on the way
- Simple Reminders

SANJAY NANNAPARAJU
Thought Leader (Content Writing, 
Editing & Content Marketing)
RISECO.IN

EXPERIENCE SPEAKS: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW OF CONTENT WRITING

Content Writing, A Wonderful Passion & A Rewarding Career

The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. Anais Nin

WHAT IS CONTENT WRITING?

It is said, many can speak well, but only a few can write well. Writing, especially business English writing demands focus, research and specialization. So, not all CEOs can write well. Even if they can, their busy business routine mayn't allow them to sit and write. Content writers write for CEOs and thereby take their ideas to the business world.

Content writers enable marketing communication of different businesses. So, content writing is a highly focused activity that aims to present business information in the right tone. The effectiveness of content writing is achieved only by great understanding of the business, competition and marketing strategy.

WHAT IS REQUIRED TO BECOME A CONTENT WRITER?

Ø  First you require good English writing skills. This means to have a good knowledge of English Grammar, Vocabulary, Usage and Composition.

Ø  Second, you should have good online research skills. This means to leverage on Key-words and researching the web for business-specific information.

Ø  Third, a standard proficiency in using MS Word.

WHAT IS THE QUALIFICATION TO BECOME A CONTENT WRITER?

All Graduates or Post Graduates are eligible to become Content Writers. To excel at content writing, you need to have these things,

·         Exceptional Written English proficiency and wide reading

·         Good understanding of different subjects

·         High level of domain knowledge (arts, science, engineering etc)

·         Proficiency in Word processing tools, and online research skills

Your English proficiency and domain knowledge are reinforced in your school and college. Your habit to read and watch news everyday might have reinforced passively your research skills.

For that matter, there is no qualification to become a content writer. However, businesses / employers prescribe graduation as the basic qualification for all content writers, due to the three reasons mentioned above.

WHAT IS THE CAREER PATH / JOBS / PAY PACKAGES IN CONTENT WRITING?

Junior Content Writer (0-1 yrs Exp) Pay 15,000 – 22,000	Content Writer (2 – 4) Pay 20,000 to 26,000	Asst Manager (3 to 5) Pay 22,000 – 30,000
Manager (4 – 6) 24,000 – 34,000	Sr Manager ( 5 – 7) 27,000 – 36,000	AGM (8-10) 38,000 – 52,000
DGM/GM (12 – 14) 50,000 – 70,000	AVP/VP ( 12 – 15) 65,000 – 90,000	Director (14 – 18) 1 Lac – 2 Lac

*You are on par with all other employees (IT, Admin, Accounts, Back-end etc) of the employer/company. You are eligible for all categories of bank loans (home loan, personal loan) and Credit Cards.

**Your pay package is based on different factors viz. size of the employer’s business, budget allocated for the post, your qualifications and experience, your achievements and recognitions, your clients/projects handled. Of all, your qualifications (esp. those with abroad degrees or IIM/IIT Executive programs) and your work experience (Wipro, TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, Genpact etc) help to catapult your careers progress, phenomenally.

WHAT IS THE DEMAND TO SUPPLY OF CONTENT WRITERS?

For every 10 content writer positions there are only 2 qualified and experienced content writers. With the phenomenal rise of online and mobile media the demand for content writers is great.

WHAT IS THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF RISECO.CO.IN?

IDENTIFY TALENT – TRAINING – JOB INTERVIEWS

We want each student to turn into a successful career professional. To achieve this, your domain competency and your communication skills are the key. Each workplace is ridden with communication challenges.

RISECO.CO,IN' primary objective is to identify your interest to make content writing as your career, offer you the right training for good understanding of Content Writing expectations, and make you ready for Job Interviews.

HOW DOES YOUR PROFESSIONAL CONTENT WRITER CERTIFICATION (PCWC) HELP IN BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL CAREER PROFESSIONAL?

All marketing communication is seen as websites, social media, emailers, brochures, newsletters etc. A lot of content (text, image, and video) goes into the preparation of each marketing tool. Content writers work with graphic designers, web designers, video editors and digital marketing professionals to create and edit content that goes into each marketing collateral.

All aspiring content writers with good English writing skills can register for our content writing course. Our content writing course offers an in-depth and first-hand understanding of the skills, expectations and challenges of content writing. By the end of the course, each content writing aspirant is fully prepared to take up the work/job as a full-time or part-time at our network of clients/businesses.

WHY IS THE SCREENING TEST MANDATORY FOR ALL ASPIRING CONTENT WRITERS?

Our Content Writing course is not a basic writing skills program. This course offers constructive and focused guidance to aspiring content writers who are very good in written English. We conduct the Screening Test to assess the written English proficiency of each aspiring content writer.

Only those of you with good writing skills are taken into this course. However, those who do not qualify the Screening Test can surely register for our Basic English proficiency classes that focus on enhancing all the four skills of communication - speaking, listening, reading and writing.

WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF THE SCREENING TEST?

The Screening Test assesses two things, sequence in sentence and continuity of thought. Significantly, all writing is a creative task. There is much more to content writing than just writing well-structured sentences. Those interested in our Content Writing course can take the Screening Test.

DO YOU OFFER PLACEMENT ASSISTANCE LEADING TO JOB INTERVIEWS AND JOBS?

All the course participants aspiring to become content writers will be offered placement assistance. This is subject to completion of all the course modules and submission of the assignments within 8-weeks/two months of the course duration.

Over two decades RISECO.IN has built a network of 1850 clients, who require content writers on full-time, part-time and freelance basis. Interviews are conducted at our premises or clients' offices, and Offer Letters are released immediately.

SANJAY NANNAPARAJU

Thought Leader & Trainer

Content Writing, Editing & Content Marketing

RISECO.CO.IN