It's been a great year of stellar guests ... and in this bonus Christmas episode, we each share our top five tips and moments from the year that's been. Plus, find out the episodes in our back catalogue we really think are worth a listen. Merry Christmas!

It's no secret that media has been doing it very tough for several years now, with magazine closures and redundancies across the board. Add in a pandemic and it's been the year from hell for editors, staff and freelancers alike. So how has a magazine like delicious. just gone from strength to strength? And what do you do when you're editorial director of a travel brand like Escape during a time when no one's getting on a plane? We chat to Kerrie McCallum about all of the above and more, plus what she looks for from freelancers these days. A must listen for any journalist in the travel, food and lifestyle space. 

Pitching. It's something we all need to be doing as freelance writers if we want to ensure our pipeline of work is always full. And in today's episode, we welcome veteran journo and university lecturer John Burfitt to share his pitching system, ways to generate ideas, tips on following up and dealing with rejection, and much, much more. A must-listen if you want more pitching success and regular commissions landing in your in-box.

In this episode, we talk about our experiences freelancing and working around children - the childcare we've chosen and why, the government help we've tapped into and other interesting tips for freelancers who may be thinking about starting a family.

Are you a freelancer with a website who struggles to blog regularly? This week, we have a longer episode for you that's packed with gold from digital marketer and trainer Brook McCarthy. Brook talks to us about why blogging is so essential, the mistakes writers make when blogging and topics we should be considering. Plus so much more. Grab the show notes at rachelslist.com.au

A shrinking media landscape was one of the reasons journalist Nicola Conville started to explore other career options - and she'd always wanted to work for in the NFP sector. In this episode, she shares how she got her job as a content manager at the UNHCR, which skills of hers have been most useful, and her advice for other journos at the career crossroads.

Whether you're renovating and creating a dedicated home office for yourself, or just carving out a corner for a workspace - this episode is all about bringing the elements together and creating a space you want to work in. 

This week we're excited to chat to journalist and founder of Interiors Addict Jen Bishop, whose one-time passion project has become an incredibly successful interiors website. She spills the beans on her milestone moments, why she doesn't pay much attention to SEO, lessons she's learned and why she thinks journos should be taking advantage of the huge content marketing industry. Plus a whole heap more!

Whether you're writing a print story or a piece for digital, the headline is all-important. In this episode, we explain the differences between each, share our tips for writing great headlines including those requiring keywords and list our favourite online headline tools to speed up the headline writing process.

Hosts Rachel Smith from Rachel’s List and journalist and content creator Lynne Testoni talk to Sara Tasker of MeandOrla and Hashtag Authentic about Instagram and how to make it work for you as a freelancer.

About Sara

Sara is an Instagram Expert and Creative Business Coach, best-selling author and host of the successful podcast Hashtag Authentic where she shares Instagram strategies and support. She runs courses and retreats on Instagram and has more than 200,000 followers on the platform – last time we checked.

In this episode we talk about: 

How Instagram differs from other social media channels in that it is visually driven, rather than words-driven

Instagram Stories and Reels – how they work and the difference between them

Why Instagram is prioritising Reels in your feed at the moment

Why you shouldn’t be pressured into creating content that doesn’t feel right to you

How to use the analytics to create stickier content

How to create content that will bring you business as a freelancer

Why it’s a good idea to change your Instagram account to a business account if you use it for work – and what the change will bring you in terms of features in the App.

Here are some links we mention

Buffer (Rachel’s scheduling tool): https://buffer.com/

Mosaico (Sara’s planning tool): https://www.mosaicoapp.com/ 

Find Sara Tasker

Website (with links to her courses and book, Hashtag Authentic) MeandOrla https://meandorla.co.uk/

Instagram: @me_and_orla

Podcast - Hashtag Authentic

The Content Byte

email: [email protected]

Web

https://www.rachelslist.com.au/blog/the-content-byte-podcast/

https://www.lynnetestoni.com/podcast-the-content-byte

Instagram

@thecontentbyte @lynnetestoni @rachelslist and @rachelsmithjourno

Facebook

@thecontentbyte @lynnetestonicontent @rachelslist.com.au