SoftwareSupp Blog

Finding a job and clients is an exhausting process. You never know exactly what will make a potential client choose you. But there are a few things that can greatly increase your chances of success.

1. Show off your work

One of the best ways to demonstrate your expertise to a client is to show your work. Put yourself in the client's shoes and think about what you would like to see when hiring a person. Will one resume be enough or will you prefer someone who can show their work?

SoftwareSupp has a dedicated section on the site called "Portfolio". In this section, you can upload your work to be used to advertise your services. Follow this link to submit projects to Portfolio.

2. Prove your professionalism

If there's one thing you can learn from bloggers, it's the ability to present yourself as an expert. When you're competing with other freelancers, it's worth considering how you can stand out from the crowd.

Analysis of cases and success stories of your clients gives you additional credibility points. If you can tell exactly how your work makes your clients successful, then it will be much easier for clients to make a decision and choose you.

SoftwareSupp wants all of our experts to have many clients. That's why we've created a "Customer stories" section, where we post projects done by SoftwareSupp experts. Publish your success stories and grow your brand.

Follow this link to submit projects to the Blog.

3. Show yourself

In the modern world, there is no need to go to the office every day or sit in endless meetings. But nevertheless, people are social creatures and this should be taken into account.

Among the thousands of experts who work in the same field, sometimes the choice can be made in favor of the one who was able to present himself correctly. And video is one of the best formats for such tasks.

Even a short video of 30 seconds can make people choose you because they will see the person they are working with. SoftwareSupp Talks are made specifically for this. Our team will help you record a video that will allow you to attract even more customers.

SoftwareSupp is a network of the very best experts and we have built an infrastructure that helps our experts grow their personal brand and get more clients. All our initiatives are designed to help you become even more successful.

Take Control of Your Ad Performance

We live in the world of automation. There are more and more tools that require minimum input from humans to work, and online advertising is certainly an area where a lot of automation and simplification have been happening.

It is not to say that this is in any way bad, or that you don’t need professional marketers, and I would argue that in the world of automation, they have even more value now. Anyone can use automated tools to create a simple ad, but only an expert would know if the algorithms are working as they should or not. And sometimes you need to get your hands dirty.

What are SKAGs?

SKAGs mean single keyword ad groups. The basic idea is very simple: let’s say you want to use the keywords “best men's shoes in Dublin” and “best women’s shoes in Dublin” you create a separate group for each keyword, instead of putting them into one group.

First and the most obvious benefit of this approach is that you will have separate ads for each keyword and you can optimize ad copy for each keyword. This way you target a specific audience and show them the specific message that is relevant to them.

SKAGs are very specific – only one keyword triggers an ad.

How SKAGs help break Iceberg Effect

In simplest terms, Iceberg Effect is when the keywords in your ad campaign don’t match the search terms your ads appear for.

Why is that bad? Well, because you are really paying for search terms and not for keywords, and if your search term doesn’t match your keywords, then you are attracting the wrong traffic.

Match types in Google Ads help control the size of your “Iceberg” to some extent, but it is not perfect, and SKAGs allows marketers to have even more control.

Other benefits of SKAGs

Even though SKAGs are all about keywords the core of the idea is a granular approach and you can extend it beyond keywords. You can use a granular approach based on location, time, device, day of the week, etc. For example, you can have a separate ad campaign to promote your online commerce store for London and Dublin; or a separate campaign for computers and smartphones.

And to go even further, you will have very precise control of how you spend your budget on ads. You can use different bidding strategies for different campaigns, you can have different budget limits for each ad campaign.

Another benefit of SKAGs is higher CTR. If you ever had a problem with ad campaigns not generating any traffic (or very little traffic) it’s time for you to try SKAGs.

Of course, all of this takes time. SKAG approach is all about granular control of different elements and with how many options are available to us, things can get too complicated. So you have to be very deliberate in how much control you really want.

Setting up SKAGs

When you create your first SKAG campaign there are two basic steps: 

1. Creating ad groups, based on root keywords.

2. Keyword refinement.

Root keywords are very simple and basic short-tail keywords. If you are selling online music mixing services for musicians, you can start with a very simple keyword, like “online mixing services”, and you don’t need to have a hundred keywords and can start with as low as one keyword. There is also no need to do extensive keyword research at this stage, we will make Google give us the best and most relevant keywords at the refinement stage.

Once you have several root keywords (or one) you start creating your ad groups. A general rule of thumb is to name Ad Group the same as the keyword. For the keyword “online mixing services” you need to create an Ad Group name “online mixing services”. 

When you create an Ad Group, add root keyword in phrase match and exact match. Your Ad Group will look like this:

“online mixing services”

[online mixing services]‍

The next step is Ad Copy. This is where you can be as creative as you’d like, but the rule of thumb is to use the keyword as one of the headlines in your ad copy (preferably pinned as Headline 1). When you are done with creating ads you can just launch your campaign.

Keyword refinement

What you will see is that your SKAGs will start to generate different search terms. This is good. Let’s say our initial SKAG generated the following search terms:

• online mixing and mastering services
• mix and master online free
• fiverr mixing
• mastering and mix music online

The first thing you do is identify completely non-relevant search terms and add them to a negative keyword list for the group. In this case “mix and master online free” is the first choice for a negative keyword list, since we are selling the service and want only paying customers. 

Then you identify relevant search terms, for example, “online mixing and mastering services”. What you need to do next is to add this keyword as a negative keyword on an Ad Group level (not a campaign level), and then create a separate Ad Group for this search term. That way, your shorter-tail keywords won’t steal impressions from your more specific long-tail keywords.

If you want your new SKAG to generate more search terms, you can add a keyword as a phrase match and exact match. If you want your SKAG to be as precise as possible use only exact match. But the most important thing is not to let shorter tail keywords steal impressions from long tail keywords (or any new SKAGs you added to your campaign). 

I really like this approach because you base your keywords on real search terms used by real people. You don’t need to use any 3rd party service for your keyword research or spend days collecting keywords. Google will tell you how people actually look for products and services.

Is it magic?

Yes and no. SKAGs can be helpful in a number of ways. The most obvious benefit is that they can generate more traffic and generally have higher CTRs. You know your traffic better and you can target your ads with more precision. It’s easier to get high quality scores for ads with SKAGs, which in turn can improve average positions, CPC and impression shares.

With the SKAG approach you decide how much control over your ads you want, and how much leave for automation. But SKAGs take more time to set up and they can dilute data. SKAG campaigns can be hard to manage and can be time-consuming. Even though personally I really like this approach, sometimes it is not necessary.

Conclusion

SKAG approach can seem like a very simple concept on the surface, but in reality, it can be incredibly complex and complexity can come not just from having one hundred Ad Groups in a campaign, but from multiple places. With this article, I wanted to introduce you to this idea and show some concepts of how it can work, but in practice, there are so many ways SKAGs can work that it would be impossible to cover everything in one article.

And you are not just limited to search campaigns and can be used for social media ads and display ads. The core idea of SKAG is creating a granular structure, but how exactly you will implement it is up to you.

SoftwareSupp's premium partner network

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What is the Remote Partner Network all about?

SoftwareSupp is an elite network of the best developers in the IT industry and we want to share some exciting things we have in store for you. You can become a part of our affiliate program and receive a 25% commission on client’s life-time payment! All you have to do is refer individuals and companies to SoftwareSupp.

We are committed to ensuring that our best freelancers have a real impact on the development of SoftwareSupp, which is why we offer an additional set of benefits such as activity pay, mentor support and a set of training materials.

And because SoftwareSupp is a premium service, we want our partner network to reflect high quality standards of SoftwareSupp. That's why we are committed to building a community that is passionate about achieving its sales goals and happy to represent us in sales activities.

How to join the SoftwareSupp Partner Network?

1. Join the SoftwareSupp network as an expert
   A freelancer who wants to become a SoftwareSupp partner must go through a standard verification and certification process to prove his or her identity and expert skills.
2. Pass the certification exam
   Next, an expert member of the SoftwareSupp network must pass certification exams, proving his knowledge of sales and project management on the platform.
3. Meet with your partner mentor and plan your activities
   During the meeting with the mentor, you will learn all the details of the partners' activities, define your sales goals with a plan, and he or she will be able to ask about all the issues you are interested in.

Benefits

25% commission on each customer deposit

An affiliate receives a 25% lifetime commission on each customer deposit. The amount you earn depends on the number or volume of customers you bring in. There is no limit to the amount you can earn.

Guaranteed remuneration for active partners

Our partners are among the best, so we want to reward them for their activity and commitment. Each partner is paid for each meeting held with leads assigned by the SoftwareSupp team at their hourly rate if the lead doesn't convert.

Systematic training sessions

We care about keeping our partners up to date, so we provide them with the materials and courses they need for their work. We work out the scope of activities together and set the sales goals we plan to achieve.

Mentor support & platform resources

The Partner Mentor is here for you. The Mentor will answer your questions, help you with problems and support you during lead conversion. They will also take care of the systematic payment of your commission. :)

You can lead your client as a project manager

Partners also have the opportunity to participate in the client's project as an expert, implementing the project, but also in the role of project manager. This allows them to develop the client's project and provide further solutions tailored to the business - for which the partner is also rewarded with a 25% life-time commission.

Activities

What is the process of connecting and transferring the lead?

Option 1
Partner finds a lead and guides it through the process
Lead pays a deposit
Partner receives 25% life-time commission

Option 2
Partner forwards the lead to the Remote Partner Network manager
The Remote Partner Network manager takes over the lead and leads the sales process
Lead converts to a customer
Partner receives 25% life-time commission

Option 3
Lead submits form - SoftwareSupp business team activities
Remote Partners' mentor contacts a lead and introduces him/her to the process
Lead arranges meetings to learn about the offer
The partner holds a sales meeting, during which he presents SoftwareSupp services.
The account manager sends information to partners about the new lead
Lead is connected with a partner
Lead pays a deposit
Partner receives 25% life-time commission

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Communication

The conversion process of a lead, what the different communication elements look like and what a potential customer should know.

‍Introducing SoftwareSupp

At this stage, it is crucial to present SoftwareSupp as an elite network of top developers. That is important because this is usually the first contact leads have with us. This message is the first information we convey, and it's also remembered the most. It's also a good practice to include information about gather yourself at this stage.

Premium service

Premium service is:

• top developers who are vetted and certified
• dedicated project manager/supervisor for the project
• reduced recruitment costs
• developers available on-demand: full-time, part-time, or hourly
• access to the platform and its resources, which they monitor on an ongoing basis and commission work you also have the opportunity to add your team to the project

Elite developer network

Experts who want to join the SoftwareSupp network must complete a verification and certification process. It involves verifying a freelancer's identity and skills, through techniques such as research, bank verification, portfolios, and certifications obtained directly from the developers of a given technology and passing the SoftwareSupp certification process, which confirms general knowledge as well as soft skills in communication.

Payments and hourly plans

SoftwareSupp's escrow balance is hosting by Stripe. It allows our customers to securely deposit their funds before paying for services provided. There are $300, $500, and $1000 plans available - payment is possible in every currency. Freelancers and clients are billed hourly each month based on reported hours, starting at $20/hour.

Project

Important issues:

• whom the lead is looking for - what kind of project to complete or skills arerequired
• the anticipated budget for carrying out the work
• deadline
• additional issues, e.g. a Polish client may expect a developer from Poland

Product

At this stage, there is a presentation of the product and a discussion of how it works. It should also be an explanation on how to start the project.

• Building the project specifications and setting up an account
• Buying a $300 plan to start
• Starting the work
• Discussing the product: what the project will look like, reporting the work, billing

Deadlines

It is also the summary stage of the meeting. It is essential to set a date with the lead to establish a start date for the project. It will give us, for example, an idea of when to send a follow-up to the lead. 

! It is a good idea to include this date in the email summary of the meeting

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A guide to reselling SoftwareSupport services for partners and sales

"Already more than half of the population work more hours remotely than in the office."

That's only one statistic from our brand new “State of Remote 2022” report, showing the current state of remote work and main trends in global remote hiring.

SoftwareSupport is an elite network of the best professionals in the world and we are happy to deliver a complete report on remote hiring exclusively to our customers, helping you adapt the way you hire and interact with workforce every day.

In this report you will find exclusive content about:
1. Remote work in numbers
2. Remote work vs COVID
3. Companies hiring remotely
4. Remote work categories
5. Remote work technologies
6. Remote work hourly rates
7. Remote work tools
8. How to contract remote workforce
9. Find remote work
10. SoftwareSupp remote work

To get the report, please:
1. Log in to your SoftwareSupp account or set up your project.
2. Schedule a report presentation with us anytime convenient for you by using this link.
3. Get the PDF version of the report by going to Messages -> contacting SoftwareSupp and getting report in the message.

SoftwareSupport is launching 2 new initiatives for SoftwareSupporters, freelancers operating in the SoftwareSupp network:

SoftwareSupporter Hoodies

SoftwareSupport is an elite network of the best professionals in the world and we are working hard on delivering top quality services for our customers everyday.

However​,​ in the days of the remote work​,​ we would like to support our customers​,​ employees and developers with something you can use to make your workday better​,​ going through another challenging project or solution in a much warmer atmosphere.

We are happy to deliver a free SoftwareSupporter hoodie specially for you. Please note that this is delivered free of charge. And currently​,​ this will be delivered exclusively to the first 30 customers​,​ developers and employees who sign up with the next batch planned later this year.

To get the free hoodie​,​ please use the below form and provide:

1. The address for delivery or self-pickup in Wrocław if preferable on your side

2. The size (currently we only deliver in M and L)

3. The email and phone number to be used in the delivery

Please sign up using the below form:

-> Sign up for SoftwareSupporter Hoodie

Remote SoftwareSupp Sprint

We understand the challenges of remote work​,​ so we decided to help you plan and execute on the projects with your customers by building “Remote SoftwareSupp Sprints”.

What does it mean?

It means that every Monday 10:30 am time CEST and every Friday 2:30 pm CEST time​,​ you can meet in the online room with other freelancers working on projects with SoftwareSupport for a 30-60 min session to:

1. Plan or sum up work.

2. Ask for help related to your work​/​project

3. Brainstorm the solution related to the work​/​project

+ get support from SoftwareSupp Core Team Member.

We see it as a perfect opportunity to meet other freelancers and to help you with any challenges you face on road to successful project completion.

Please note that participating in the “Remote SoftwareSupp Sprints” for now will be optional as the priority on your side remains delivering top quality service for customers and participating in customers’ sprints​,​ however​,​ we kindly encourage you to participate as we see it as a perfect opportunity to ensure successful delivery for the customers and to help you with any technical challenges or additional solutions designed for the customers.

-> Sign up for Remote SoftwareSupp Sprint (If you're an active freelancer, please reach out to your Project Manager for an invite)

We're excited to announce a new episode of SoftwareSupp Talks!

In this episode, we spoke with backend developer Dawid Krawczyk. Using one of his projects as an example, David walked us through his typical work process, what difficulties he faced, shared his views on remote work and much more!

Who is Dawid Krawczyk?

Dawid is a developer with over 10 years of experience. He has worked on projects of the highest complexity in areas such as banking and DNA multiplication projects.

David is part of SoftwareSupp elite network of freelancers and available to work on your projects!

We invite you to watch a short excerpt from the webinar:

You can find more content on our YouTube channel.

How to watch the full episode?

To watch full episodes of our webinars, you need to be a freelancer registered on our platform or a SoftwareSupp customer. After registration, you will receive a link in your account with access to full episodes.

If you are already a registered freelancer or a customer, you will receive a message in your account with access to the webinar.

What is SoftwareSupp Talks?

SoftwareSupp Talks is a series of webinars with top professionals across many industries. Our webinars give you an opportunity to get to know SoftwareSupp freelancers, find out how they work, what challenges they face and how they solve them, and get useful tips from our freelancers.