What jobs have the biggest and smallest freelance gender pay gap?

Women's rights have come a long way in the last half-century. But we need to do (much) more, especially when it comes to equal pay for the sexes. Figures from the US Census Bureau reveal female workers are still earning 17% less than their male counterparts.

And going freelance won't help women break through the corporate glass ceiling. A survey by FreshBooks found that male freelancers out-earn women by 28%.

ZenBusiness decided to do a deep dive into the freelance gender pay gap. Using data from freelance platform Upwork and other sources, it created several charts showing which industries have the biggest and smallest freelance gender pay gap.

And it put together a seven-step guide to help women set higher rates and earn more.

How much do freelancers charge?

According to the research from ZenBusiness, the average male freelancer makes $68.58 p/h (pay per hour), while a female freelancer picks up just $46.30 p/h.

That's a per-hour pay gap of $22.28 p/h, which equates to around 48%. In other words, men earn almost half as much more for doing the same freelance jobs and gigs.

The largest freelance pay gap

After crunching the numbers, ZenBusiness researchers found that the freelance accounting and consulting industry has the largest gender pay gap. Overall, men offering these types of freelance services charge (and get paid) an extra $33 p/h.

The widest pay gaps in specific job roles are in accounting and business analysis, where men make over $20 more p/h.

Thankfully, there's far more pay parity in some of the other accounting and consulting roles ZenBuiness looked at. The gender pay gap in bookkeeping and management consulting is less than $5 p/h. And females working as freelance HR Admin consultants actually earn more than men.

The widest gender pay discrepancy

DevOps engineers are highly skilled IT professionals who work with software developers, system operators, and other production IT staff to oversee code releases and new pieces of software.

It's a complex and challenging role. And it's always in high demand. DevOps are the most recruited people on LinkedIn.

The most skilled and experienced DevOps professionals can expect to earn well over $100 p/h - as long as they are men. The average p/h rate for female DevOps specialists is just $30. Shocking. That $70 pay gap is the biggest gender pay discrepancy of any single role in the study.

Things aren't much better for women trying to make a freelance career in IT systems administration. They earn over $50 p/h. It sounds pretty impressive, but they're still making over $40 less p/h than the male freelance system administrators.

The freelance industry where men and women (almost) earn the same

A look at freelance pay in the creative industries paints a much fairer picture. In the 12 creative freelance roles that ZenBuiness looked at, the widest gender pay disparities are in presentation design ($10.44 p/h) and interior graphics ($10.61.)

It's less than $5 p/h in audio editing, brand identity design, and 3D modeling roles.

And there are several creative freelance roles where women can expect to make more than men, including motion graphics, video and image editing, and graphic design.

Near perfect pay parity

Things are (almost) perfectly equal in the world of freelance UX/UI design. The gender pay gap in this new and exciting industry is just $0.03. And that's weighted in favor of the girls.

Female desktop software developers working freelance are close to earning salaries reflecting their true value. They need to take home less than $1 p/h more to be on par with the men doing similar roles.

Unfortunately, we can't say the same for most of the other freelance software development and data science roles. And there's lots of work to be done to ensure women have the same opportunities to succeed in these highly paid tech roles. Currently, nearly 80% of computer programmers or coders are men.

Girls Who Code is one of the many nonprofit organizations looking to address this worrying gender imbalance. It's helping to increase the number of women in computer science by equipping young women with the computing skills and confidence to write code and write their own futures.

Freelance rate in sales and marketing

LinkedIn data shows that women account for 60% of all freelance sales and marketing roles. But they're still lagging behind the men in terms of pay.

Male freelancers command higher hourly rates for content strategy, lead generation, marketing automation, and search engine optimization. On average, men freelancing in these roles make between $15-25 p/h more than women.

But the biggest pay gap is in freelance email marketing, where men make $130 p/h. Women earn $69.70 p/h.

Search engine marketing is the only freelance role in the study where women make significantly more than men. On average, female freelance SEO marketers earn $87.50 p/h; the men make over $20 less p/h ($66.95.)

Writing and translation

There's a definite glass ceiling for female freelancers in business writing. They earn $67.72 p/h. Compared to the $91.33 p/h rate that male freelancers charge, female business writers are underpaid by over $20 p/h.

The other writing and translation gigs included in the study are far more equitable regarding gender pay. Many have near equal pay between men and women. The gender pay gap in creative, technical, and content writing is under $1.

Earning what you deserve

So what can women do to close the pay gap and earn what they deserve?

ZenBuiness put together seven tips on how to set the proper freelance rates for your skill level. They are:

• Know your market
• Understand your clients
• Factor in expenses
• Account for days off
• NEVER undersell yourself
• Get comfortable talking about money
• Be flexible

Everybody should be judged (and paid) on their merits and abilities. So check out the seven tips in more detail below and use them to start earning what you're really worth.

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by Irfan Ahmad via Digital Information World

Gen Z is the most likely to ditch a brand, study reveals

Loyalty from a consumer to a brand is the most important thing for brands in these unpredictable times. With the economy reaching new depths and taxes on the people rising, loyalty to their favorite brands is not exactly what is on citizens’ minds.

According to a survey conducted with 4000 people from different generations and presented in a study by PwC, Gen Z is the one that is most likely to try different and emerging brands as 39% say that they would do so in contrast with the 35% of millennials and 31% of Generation X.

Certainly, 32% Gen Z respondents stopped buying or using a company’s products in the last year and with them, 27% of millennials and Gen Xers dumped a company. Overall in the past year, 26% of consumers have stopped using products from different brands. Only boomers seem to be sticking to the old ways as 19% of the older generation said that they were likely to try out an undiscovered brand and as another step forward 23% of Boomers did stop belittling a brand for any reason at all.

In the end, it all comes down to the category as to where the product belongs. 44% of customers are the most likely to switch to a new restaurant, also for Consumer Goods (38%) and supermarkets (36%). In addition to this 52% of consumers say that they would be less loyal to any of the businesses belonging to any of the above-mentioned sectors if their online experience was not in the same way enjoyable as the in-person one.

On a brighter note, 82% of customers said that they would gladly give up their data if it meant that it will result in better consumer service for them. Adding to this 87% of consumers are looking for a personalized experience and 53% of them say that the pricing of the brand (which can sometimes be overpriced but sometimes rightly so) is the reason why they patronize a brand.

Now there is the question of why consumers are starting to leave brands that they have been loyal to for years. Well the answer is here, and most consumers say that they leave brands because:

• They had a bad experience with one or a few of their products, say 37%
• 32% say that they had a sort of history with the brand’s consumer service
• 18% say that they left the brand to support some issues that they feel have importance in society
• Because prices went up and discounts stopped coming, say 17%
• The quality of their service went down-17%
• 15% like their time with another brand better
• Another brand had better prices that were in my budget, say 11%
• They weren’t available everywhere-10%
• 7% of consumers said that they don’t trust that brand with their data
• And lastly, through Friend/Social media another brand was introduced to me

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Most of the machinery that is hacked is from America and China

Machinery is the backbone of almost any sort of work done whether it is domestic or commercial rate. Machinery is a very important aspect of commercial work as it speeds things up and helps reduce the amount of manpower that would be required to do those things.

As we all know China is the hub of inventions and manufacturing and most of the machines and tech that we use comes from China.

We also know that China isn't the only superpower in the world, it shares that title with America and it makes sense that those two countries have the most amount of Machines and it makes even more sense that they are in the lead most times machines have been hacked in one country, according to research by Nozomi Networks.

The company named the two countries as the most attacking countries but also added that with so many technological advancements being made every day, it is hard to tell where the attack may originate from. So all we know is an attack on a machine in Los Angeles might have come from any corner of the world or vice-versa. (no offense to anyone from or living in LA)

It further went on to say that there is no need for a direct connection between the place that was attacked or was attacking because any server in the world can be used and manipulated to attack any sort of machine in the world.

Instead, it somehow seems like both America and China might be victims of their success in the tech field because hacking into one of the world’s best systems is quite a thing to be able to brag about.

The research by Nozomi also revealed that there are some specific credentials that hackers use to get access to the files. The list of credentials included “admin” and “root” but the most used one was “nproc”. Using this stock name over 12,000 URLs were targeted in the six months that this report covered.

H/T: CN

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Influencer marketing is on the rise and here is all you need to know about it

Social media plays a huge role in the overall branding of a company no matter how big or small. Whenever a social media influencer is chosen to endorse a new product, their review of it reaches hundreds of fans. Then, when those fans see that video or post of their favorite content creator checking out a new product and giving their review they instantly are attracted to it and most likely buy or consider buying this product, with the mentality that it makes them more like their favorite content creator.

A new report on the state of Business to Business and influencer marketing shared quite a lot of insights on business opportunities coming in the second half of this year and beyond that also. According to the report, Influencer marketing has been going in the right direction for most marketing people.

A new study from Lee Odden’s TopRank Marketing blog found that 86% of Business to Business (aka businesses that use other businesses as their middle man) have been successful with influencer marketing. By using influencer marketing most brands have started boosting their brand awareness and with its reputation as well. All this has led to sales increasing if not by a tremendous amount but increasing all the same.

Almost a third of businesses have said that their revenues have gone up ever since they got their products marketed by a social media influencer and 85% of people have the belief that the interest rates one has to pay while working with influencers will increase in the upcoming year because of Inflation, rising housing prices and much more.

The report answers the questions many people have about influencer marketing and also gives some solid advice on what are the factors to consider when picking an influencer to market your brand, so let’s dive in.

First things first, we need to know what B2B marketing is and how it involves Influencers. This specific type of marketing starts as a one-time deal but after checking the outcomes of this deal, most marketers are thinking of making it into a long-term deal based on the result and the performance of that specific influencer. The study surveyed marketing professionals and experts on their experience with Influencer Marketing and here are the results:-

• 86% of respondents said that it was either remotely or very successful for their company,

• 72% said that it helped them increase their brand’s reputation,

• 70% said that it helped in increasing awareness about their brand,

• 56% said that it helped them with creating new leads,

• 33% said that it was a direct source of revenue for their company.

Now arises the question of finding an influencer trustworthy enough to become a B2B partner with them. In this case, you need to see beyond basic things like followers and reach, according to the report.

According to professionals, when thinking of going into Influencer Marketing, you need to look above vain qualities like followers/subscribers and start thinking about relevance because audience size does not matter as much as audience relevance

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google Is Attempting To Add Larger Favicons And Website Text To Its Search Results, Testing These Features Out Across Smartphones

Google is currently testing out larger favicons and site names for Search results and Discover on mobile phones.

So, let’s talk about favicons: they’re essentially small graphics that depict a website, and show up on a browser tab. For example, if you go to the Instagram website via a desktop, the tab harboring it will display the platform’s trademark camera icon. Favicons are just a little bit of visual flavor that allows someone to identify a website at first glance without taking a look at the relevant names and all. They can also (occasionally) help separate phishing websites from their real-life alternatives, as the former lack favicons sometimes. However, with cybercriminals having become exceedingly efficient at their work, this is no longer always the case. In a nutshell, stay safe kids, and don’t hand off private information to strangers.

Favicons aren’t just limited to desktops nowadays: Google has added them to the Chrome version of smartphones for quite a while now. They’re not only a part of tabs but also accompany websites that are displayed on Search results and Google Discovery recommendations. The latter two, however, are not given any such treatment for Google desktop. The platform attempted to rectify this a while back and added favicons to desktop Search results; however, the result ended up making each result look more like an advertisement since Ads are also announced with a similar favicon. Google ultimately scrapped the idea and decided to further consider both need and placement.

Now, Google’s on a mission to make favicons more visible on the one platform where they were well received: mobile smartphones. The tech company has already started testing these out, accompanying larger favicons with larger text for website names on Search results as well on a limited number of Android phones. While more visible, the extra largeness might prove to be a detriment, as smartphone resolutions are increasingly sharp nowadays, and the favicons will only end up looking pixelated.

H/T: 9to5google
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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

DuckDuckGo Responds To Its Major Backlash With The Launch Of Microsoft Blockers

DuckDuckGo is trying everything in its power to try and diffuse the situation that first began in June of this year. In case you’re not aware, a number of researchers saw how the company's browser on smartphones had given Microsoft the green signal to track users.

As shocking as that may sound, it was the truth. And seeing a firm of this stature allowing trackers to operate definitely had DuckDuckGo receiving negative publicity. Remember, researchers also noted how trackers by Facebook and tech giant Google had been blocked by the company, leaving so many questions on people’s minds.

Thanks to a blog post that was published this week, the firm’s CEO tried hard to clear the air and any form of confusion regarding the matter and how the company wished to backtrack and improve its position today.

The blog post highlighted some changes that the firm was busy making that would assist in redeeming itself. And this included a special mention of how it was now blocking all types of third parties from tracking user data scripts and would also be prevented from entering all apps seen across the browser.

This included both iOS and Android as well as any type of browser extensions like Firefox, Opera, Safari, Edge, and Chrome too.

DuckDuckGo is labeling the bold move as 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection that would go on blocking specified tracking scripts across various apps and firms and even third-party sites with no exceptions made whatsoever.

Gabriel Weinberg took out a moment to further highlight how the firm had been limited in terms of applying for protection against third parties that were linked with Microsoft. This had to do with a discrepancy in the policy linked to the company’s use of Bing which assisted in providing search results.

For now, after much backlash, the company says it has since then ditched the clauses outlined and is glad to reveal that it has introduced blockers for Microsoft as well. DuckDuckGo boldly affirms that they are not bound and will not be bound to such endeavors ever again.

Meanwhile, a separate email shared with media outlet TechRadar revealed how the firm feels the issue was not such a huge deal as much as it was blown way out of proportion.

The firm’s CEO mentioned that data scripts from Microsoft were never a part of their search engine or any of the applications that are affiliated with them, that don’t track users. Instead, it’s these web pages that end up adding such scripts to gain their own benefits. And in the end, the company is forced to deal with the aftermath, despite being never informed in the first place of what’s going on.

DuckDuckGo also refuted all claims that speak about how it had allowed Microsoft’s third parties to read data scripts and carry out tracking attempts through them was definitely not accurate.

The company concluded by mentioning that even before this update was generated, DuckDuckGo was already busy blocking most Microsoft parties from reading and loading users’ scripts.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

TikTok Partners Up With Ticketmaster For An In-App Feature To Buy Tickets For Happening Events

TikTok has recently collaborated with Ticketmaster to help give users an exclusive and innovative means through which they can discover the most happening events and also purchase tickets along the way.

The partnership brings forward an in-app functionality that we’re sure fans of the popular video app are going to love, not only for being unique but for also adding convenience to their lives.

Now, the app says you don’t need to buy tickets from the event venue directly. Instead, just resort to your TikTok account and make the purchase on the app itself. How’s that for extra convenience?

Creators will also adore the feature of getting on board with a relevant search that helps them find all the happening events in a place near to them, thanks to Ticketmaster. This way, users can even incorporate a link to their desired destination on their video too.

For now, Ticketmaster says the new venture is only available to a handful of selected content creators on the app but it surely does plan on moving forward with more users in due time.

If you are eligible, then you will get the chance to pick a new option called ‘Add Link’ which would be visible to you after you tap into the new option by Ticketmaster on the app. This is just before publishing your video content.

Once shared, users will get a chance to see the link to the event that’s displayed across the video’s bottom left-hand corner. Now, those who view the video will be given an opportunity to press on the link and buy tickets through the app’s browser, if they’re willing to do so.

Ticketmaster mentioned recently how it hopes the new feature would encourage more fans across these platforms to come forward and buy tickets conveniently. It also hopes the move would assist in reaching target audiences that use social media apps the most and according to them, TikTok fans are first in line.

Not only is the project unique, but it’s also never been done before as it helps event organizers and apps to work seamlessly together. And believe it or not, we’re already seeing leading celebs, artists, and influencers sign up to avail of the great opportunity.

After all, what could be better than having your own mini-app that revolves around ticketing? Common names worth a mention include OneRepublic, WWE, Demi Lovato, and Usher. But that’s just the beginning, Ticketmaster confirmed.

News about the unique partnership comes to us just a few months after Ticketmaster revealed how it would be giving Snapchat users the chance to explore happening events near them through the app.

This functionality would work by matching user accounts with relative events that they could possibly be interested in, depending on various preferences.

For instance, if you’ve signed up for something, you can see if your friends are similar in the same thing and vice versa. Once you agree, you get redirected to the webpage of Ticketmaster and are allowed to buy your tickets.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World