Getting Known: A Freelancers' Workshop on Branding and Websites

Freelance writers need to be known. In today’s world, branding and websites are essential. Accordingly, the National Press Club’s Freelance Committee will host a workshop on these two essentials for independent writers and editors. The workshop will consist of two panels:

1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.: Branding and Marketing

Panelists will be Beth Lawton and Ray Sidney-Smith, both extensively versed in helping individuals and small businesses spread word of their services. Lawton is founder of Canoe Media Services, a company focused on helping small businesses, entrepreneurs and non-profits with social media, multimedia, email newsletters and more. She is also a freelance writer, marketing consultant, and recovering journalist. Sidney-Smith is owner of W3 Consulting. A “technology strategist,” and author of SoLoMo Success: Social Media, Local and Mobile Marketing Small Business Strategy Explained, Ray concentrates on helping small businesses and individual entrepreneurs with modern technology, particularly social media.

3 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Website Design and Optimization

Panelists will be Jane Friedman, Reggie Holmes and Roy Abdo. Friedman is a writer and publishing expert as well as a full-time online entrepreneur whose websites receive more than 130,000 visits a month. She's the former digital editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review and teaches digital media and publishing at the University of Virginia. Holmes is a freelance graphic designer. He has been running his boutique design studio, Enthuse Creative, since 2013. His favorite platform for building websites is Wordpress. Abdo worked at the International Broadcasting Bureau. Roy and his team grew the MBN TV and Radio websites to reach over 200,000 unique visitors, Youtube reach to over 2 million views and social to reach over 3 million. He launched his own consulting "DigitalRevamp.com" in 2013.

Freelance Committee Vice Chair Brooke C. Stoddard, a freelance writer and editor, will moderate both panels.



The workshop is free for NPC members; $15 for non-members. Questions? Contact Brooke Stoddard at [email protected].