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There’s just something about those filthy Entourage boys that gets to me — in a good way.

Haven’t seen the show? It’s crass. It’s sexist, often to the point of being misogynistic. It’s so politically incorrect that sometimes I have to look away.

Also, it’s hilarious and it brings me joy.

Like a lot of successful entertainment, the show is built around archetypes that are larger than the individual characters they play. And those archetypes can actually get you more work, more money, and more enjoyment as a freelancer. I won’t say they’ll let you have quite as much fun as a rich movie star, but it’s close.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the thumbnail premise: Vince, a 20-something kid from the streets of Queens, has become a movie star and is living large in Hollywood. He’s always got his three best friends from the ‘hood by his side.

Things are thrown at them: money, women, sex, nice cars.

And they throw a lot back: attitude, laughter, happiness, charm.

Interestingly, unlike so many well-reviewed shows on cable, each episode ends well. There’s no cliff-hanger leaving a main character half-dead on the floor at the season’s end. As the credits roll, the viewer feels good (and rich and stoned and satiated) by proxy.

In these hard financial times, as a freelance copywriter and blogger, I take heart in their happiness, optimism, and faith.

So I’m going to live my freelancer’s life Entourage-style. Here’s how:

Stay in the game like Johnny Drama

Johnny Drama is a washed-up “D-list” actor who is (in my opinion) unattractive, annoying, and talentless.

But he has no idea.

He thinks he’s a god, resting on the laurels of acting jobs past. He walks around like he owns the place and he assumes that everyone loves him. He works hard and somehow manages to get work. As a result, his star is rising again.

Channeling Johnny Drama is about putting yourself out there, believing in yourself no matter what, and never, ever giving up.

Dig up the dirt like Ari

Ari Gold is a hilariously obnoxious, egotistical power agent. He has an uncanny knack for digging up dirt and knowing everything about everyone. It helps him get his way.

As a freelancer, you want to dig up some dirt of your own. Find the companies you want to work for and then find their Achilles heel.

No, I don’t mean blackmail the Marketing Director because you know he’s sleeping with his assistant.

I mean dig and find out what that juicy client’s most pressing problems are. Then show up to present yourself as the solution.

”Connect” like the women on the show

Most of the women on the show sleep with whoever, whenever, wherever. Most important to the show’s premise, they sleep with Vince’s friends (yes, his entourage) to get close to Vince.

Um, don’t do that.

But do do this:

Network. Talk to people. Including those you think are “big, important” people.

Seriously, this is not a time to be shy or play small. Talk about what you do, spread the word around like mustard on a pastrami sandwich. Keep making connections, and with a little luck, one day, you’ll get to sleep with the big guy.

(Just to be clear, by sleep with I mean write for, and by big guy I mean a huge client that employs you over and over again and pays you a lot of money.)

Love like Lloyd

Oh Lloyd, you sweet, little man.

Ari’s assistant-turned-agent is happy, enthusiastic and loyal. He keeps his word and he fights for his people. And they don’t forget.

In the freelancing world, if you can be a good person, an honest person, and a loyal person, if you follow through and do what you say you’ll do, if you’re reliable and you perform well, then you will get hired again and again.

And people will say nice things about you to other potential clients.

Master Vince’s attitude

Sure, he’s rich, beautiful, and has more charisma than a box full of puppies.

But he also has an amazing attitude: It’s all good, it’s all easy, it’ll all work out.

He’s surrounded himself with people he trusts — no matter what. They’ve got his back . . . and that gives him a sense of safety that oozes off of him. People like him, they want to work with him, they want to be around him.

I think this is the most important point on the list. If you sit around sunk in doom and gloom, 1) no one will want to be around you, 2) you won’t have the energy or inspiration to change your situation, and 3) well, you know all the things they say go along with a bad attitude. High blood pressure, heart disease, acne, swine flu, leprosy, you name it. It’s bad news.

Buck up, fake it till you make it, be the change you want to see in your inbox — and all those other clichés.

And, maybe — just maybe — the clients, jobs, and opportunities will be on you like . . . well, like an entourage on a star.

About the Author: Lover of butter, wordplayer, marketing writer, ghostwriter, Julie Roads is the owner/founder of Writing Roads. Follow her on Twitter @writingroads.

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What Entourage Can Teach You About Successful Freelancing

Since the very first blog, written around an ancient campfire somewhere in the moist foothills of Seattle, content has been crowned the undisputed king.

The king ruled over all that was written, be they blogs, articles, ads, fiction, or a killer love letter. All that was copy sat at the feet of the king.

Nothing succeeded without content. Writing without it was cast from the kingdom, banished as self-serving junk mail and the much-loathed “interruption marketing.”

But the king is dead.

Okay, not exactly dead, just appointed Prime Minister. Content still rules, but it’s from a more evolved perspective.

Long live the new king: context.

Because nothing sells, nothing works, without it.

The inherent power that is context

At the center of every effective piece of content is an agenda, an implied pitch residing at the heart of the content.

Content is the license, if you will, to move forward with the pitch. Valuable content gives you the right to go on to sell or promote something. It’s the embodiment of a noble premise — to receive you must first give.

You give with the hope that the prospect will stick around and finally buy something. And that is the context behind content marketing.

A commercial context doesn’t diminish the value of strong content. In fact, acknowledging your agenda can be a very smart strategy. It’s like saying, Here, I have a gift for you. Stick around. Because there’s even more where that came from.

Content creates value, and value builds trust. From trust springs the willingness to part with dollars in return for even more value.

The universal nature of context

Of course, context isn’t something we only find in commercial transactions. It’s the empowering juice of fiction, as well.

In the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s current flick, Inglorious Basterds, we see what would otherwise be an overly long, annoyingly irrelevant conversation between a Nazi officer and a terrified farmer.

Why is the farmer terrified? Why is the viewer hooked? Because of the context of the scene. Beneath every seemingly innocent line is a foreboding sense of dread.

Idle chit-chat about milk and neighbors form the content. Fear and unthinkable consequences form the context. Without the context, all you have is a rather dull conversation.

We know something really dramatic and truly horrifying is about to happen. Right after Tarantino teases and torments us into a frenzy of anticipation.

How does he do that? He has mastered the art of context in his scenes.

We copywriters should take note.

Context as strategy

Effective context doesn’t happen by accident. We need to consciously create it.

Context comes from the writer’s clarity about her goals, juxtaposed against the expectations and tolerances of the audience.

In the context of content marketing, first we deliver valuable content, free and clear. As a gift. As a solution. As narrative bricks and mortar. And in doing so we earn the reader’s trust.

Once we’re trusted, we are now able to expand on our own agenda. We get to talk more about the intended outcome of the piece. That outcome might be a sale, a subscription, or even conversion to a new idea.

In a blog, we set out to deliver value. In an ad, we pitch solutions and overcome objections. In fiction, we infuse scenes with anticipation and emotion.

And in each case, when we understand the context we’re working in, we achieve our goal.

And so, too, does the reader. Because their context isn’t what you’re selling, but what they’re seeking to take away from what you’ve written.

Long live the new king.

About the Author: Larry Brooks is a bestselling novelist and the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional site for fiction writers and those who love them.

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Why Content is No Longer King (And Who’s Taking His Place)

You are reading this article probably because you have a flash website and you need it to be ranked well. First of all, you should re-consider using Flash on your web site. Keep in mind that many visitors still use slow dial-up connections (Such people are becoming less and less but still, we can’t rule out the chances. Who knows, maybe they would be your possible customers) to access web pages. They don’t like to wait 1-2 minutes only to see your company logo fancy animated. Your Flash movies must carry invaluable information to the visitors, otherwise they will be disappointed.

Consider this case. You have a company providing broadband services. One advantage you can put the flash website to is to make the viewer feel the PAIN for having to wait for long, for the website to load on the person’s pathetic dial up connection. Yes, “IF” they come over to your main page they would surely be interested in your service. Don’t neglect the stress on the point “IF” they make it your website home page at all. Why? Well, ask yourself whether you will wait 3-5 minutes just to enter a website you didn’t even know existed? Personally I wouldn’t. So aside from the business part, let us focus on more important aspects. Entry pages that only show your company logo are becoming more and more annoying to users. Using web pages like company brochures only show that your company didn’t get the whole Internet idea.

Keep in mind that not everyone has installed the Flash player. Always add a link to a web page that contains the same important information as found in the Flash movie in plain text. Try to get your coder to wrap up a code which automatically detects the flash player version installed and if it is not installed or is an outdated version which wont probably run your website properly , direct the user to install one. It is not always a wise idea to embed the text like “Flash player needed to view the website properly. Download here.” People would end up downloading it even if it is already installed in their system. Some people skip the website just because they feel lazy to download the software and install it.

For these reasons, not using Flash or building a duplicate site without Flash are the easiest ways to make sure that your web site visitors and the search engines can access your web site.

Giving a visual introduction of a site is loved a lot by a majority of users. But even an interested visitor if not given a proper option of moving out would feel irritated (Remember to include the skip introduction button in case you have a long video or something which will help re visiting users not get bored by being forced to view your videos again and again each time they visit). Same is the case for the web crawlers. Web crawlers or spiders in more familiar words, somewhat behave like living users and expertise in static websites or being clear, for HTML sites. Google advises on its webmaster guidelines page: “If fancy features such as [...] Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.”

Indexing a flash site that is creating a rank for the sites with flash movies was a big question quite some time before, thanks to the advancement in technologies which has now made it well within the capabilities of the web spiders to index the flash websites. Search engines can now see the flash websites by way of replacement contents. In more clear words or for better understanding the flash sites are not ranked but their static contents are ranked which are more readable by the crawlers. The design trick has become quite famous and accepted by the web developers which is even accepted by the Google and recommended.

The designers can now leverage the opportunity to optimize the flash site for better rankings on the engine by using the replacement method in which, messages containing highly searched and tagged key words get an edge. Anyone planning to use flash in the website for greater attraction should make it a point to construct it in a manner which is readable to the web spider and going one step further, not just readable to web spider but should have content relativity with the searched subjects. The replacement content for the flash site should have links which have been provided in the flash content for the better readability and credibility in the search .To explain better ,if the flash content of the site has links to some parts of the site then that should also be featured in the replacement text of the site also.

It’s a brilliant approach to impure the Flash content with keyword rich messages that can be replaced in the text form by the smart crawlers.

Industry wise recommendations are for SWFObject 2 for flash programming, as it detects whether or not the browser supports flash objects and then serves accordingly with the appropriate version of the site (Flash or HTML).The major advantage of SWFObject 2 is that it quenches the thirst of the crawlers as the users. SWFObject 2 bolsters a site’s keyword density and crawler’s value by introducing keyword-targeted messages into the site’s flash content which can be replaced, crawled and indexed in text form. Keyword-based messages which drive the traffic are a must for the seo optimization of a site. To supplement the site with targeted keywords, which the consumer market is searching for is a primary way to obtain a better rank in the search page.

Language emphasis should get a priority over images and videos. It should be borne in mind that an image cannot be transformed into a text message which is the primary foundation for the crawlers to initiate the search for the query placed. Minimize the use of images in the flash content and main focus should be kept on contents in text form which can be replaced as well as recognized by crawlers. Flash videos with textual content which can be replaced as text gets an added edge when judged by the crawlers. Videos with dialogue must also have a readable means to qualify for a better ranking on a search site.

Spamming should be avoided in the text replacement as the former reduces the credibility of the flash website .As far as Google’s technology is concerned it can easily break .swf files and extract its contents to find whether it’s a spam linking.

The text in the anchored link is also among the key factors which decides the placement of one’s site on the search page, so utmost care should be taken to optimize the links with better explanation about the destination page and it’s materials .The keyword within the are important and targeted keywords, so if a link is applied to the flash content or a flash file, care should be taken so that the targeted keywords are read by the crawlers. For images alt attributes are used and is a good practice to provide explanation there too. The use of sIFR for designer text is also a good idea for attractive look and at the same time it being easily crawl able by the spider gains extra point for ranking on the site. The advantage of using sIFR is that it is easily searched by the spider as it’s a text and on the other hand also give beautiful look to the text .sIFR happens to be light weight and acceptance is also wider in the search engines like Google and same types.

The flash content of the site should be optimized by matching the name and description in the accessibility panel with that of the HTML title and Meta description in the HTML page. Avoiding vector graphics and bit maps in the flash contents help making the deal better; replacing the same with text is the best option for superior optimization. Applying accessibility panel to the clips or buttons after converting all the photo images and videos into movie clips or buttons is another appreciated way of generating a better ranking for the search pages. Each of which should have a unique description and descriptive name. The search engine robots or the crawlers do not select from pull down menus or fill forms, so reaching that corner is tough for the agent. To answer this concern a standard type link can be provided to the entire flash movie page.