SEVERAL POSITIONS - Marketing Manager, PPC, Astronomy Writer, etc.

INTRODUCTION: I operate (1) an online retail site selling astronomy items like telescopes and binoculars, and (2) an online informational astronomy site. I am looking to grow traffic and sales very significantly and need to hire one or more part-time freelancers to work on an as-needed basis in the following areas: - Marketing / Web Promotion - SEO - PPC and Affiliate Marketing - Copywriting / Article Writing If you are interested in applying for one or more of these positions, please read my “Application Requirements” towards the end of this post before responding. POSITION 1: NEWSLETTER AND ADVERTISING MARKETING MANAGER Tasks: - Develop a fortnightly email newsletter for each of my two astronomy sites. o This includes coming up with long and short term marketing strategy, special promotions, coupons/discounts, all content, and overall layout of each newsletter. You write the content or manage another freelance astronomy writer that we hire (see position 2 below). o You will not be required to do the graphics for these emails, but you will provide ideas, layouts and requirements for my graphics freelancer. You will also be responsible for interacting with the graphics person and be responsible for the end product. o Use a commercial email/newsletter management software to manage all aspects of the campaign, including managing subscriber lists, managing opt-outs, tracking ROI, etc. If you cannot to this part and are primarily a writer, we can consider hiring someone else to manage this for us. - Develop and manage online and print advertising campaign o Develop and post regular small ads and announcements on a weekly basis at 3-4 astronomy community sites (I will specify which ones) o Develop content for print ads occasionally. Work with graphic designer to bring these to fruition and manage all advertising communication with the print publications. - Develop special email campaigns as required to attract former customers with specials, etc. - Manage my SEO and PPC campaigns, or work closely with another freelancer who does this for us (see position 3 below) - Own all marketing responsibility for my astronomy sites. Maximize marketing synergies between both sites. Explore new avenues to advertise effectively and increase sales and traffic. Requirements: - Impeccable English writing skills (creative and technical) - Good knowledge of astronomy and astronomy products, including leading brands and product types (telescopes and accessories) will be immensely useful. - Must have experience running newsletter campaigns before - Must have experience using one or more newsletter management software packages (or we’ll find someone else to outsource this to) - Must be entrepreneurial, creative and VERY proactive. I will work closely with you but I expect you to take the lead and grow in this role. Our bottom-line is to increase traffic and sales. POSITION 2: ASTRONOMY WRITER Tasks: - Write enticing and detailed product descriptions based on bullet points or links to other sites that I provide (typically 200-300 words per product) - Write attractive text for my web site pages as required - Research the internet and write articles on any other astronomy topics I specify Requirements: - Impeccable English writing skills (Creative and technical) - Good knowledge of astronomy and astronomy products, including leading brands and product types (telescopes and accessories). We cater to knowledgeable astronomers, not to beginners or to people with a casual interest in astronomy. So your knowledge and writing has to reflect this. - Excellent skills at merging text material from multiple sources (like competitor’s product descriptions) to come up with our own unique descriptions. - Must be willing to complete one or two small sample projects (like a product description) before I hire you. - There will be a fair bit of work initially, with lesser work on an on-going basis. I am not looking to spend more than $1-$2 per product description, so please bid accordingly. POSITION 3: PAY PER CLICK MARKETING / SEO Tasks: - Keyword research - Creative PPC ad development and campaigns using Google Adwords - ROI analysis and reporting on a weekly basis - Experience with other PPC systems beneficial - This is a pretty small project. I don’t have the need for a large PPC presence, but I can certainly use some help for the little that I do advertise. - I also do not plan to do SEO until a later time. However, if you have SEO experience, it is something we could work on if you are already working on PPC for me. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL POSITIONS: - If you want to know the URLs of my sites before applying so you can get a better idea of what I do, please PM me. - When applying, bid an amount per position assuming that you will work for 10 hours. Do not provide a bid amount using a different unit or a different number of hours. - Be very clear about which position(s) you are applying for. Provide as much information as you like to support your application (resume, writing samples, astronomy background, past experience, etc.) - I will respond to all legitimate and complete applications. I will not acknowledge applications that do not meet the above requirements. - You must be frequently plugged in to the internet and be available via email, phone, IM, etc. almost on a daily basis. Must have great attention to detail and must be able to meet deadlines. - I will assign a small project initially to see how things work out before committing to on-going work. Thank you for your interest. I look forward to having you as a member of my team!