We’re looking for New Virtual Assistants and Transcriptionists
Things are getting busy here at Transcription City! If you are an experienced secretary, transcriptionist or virtual assistant who, is both reliable and can handle strict deadlines, send us your CV today! Provided you have all of the relevant skills and experience required, we will contact you, to see if you are willing to take an audio typing test. If successful, we will add you to our virtual assistant and transcription cover list and start sending you work as and when you are available.
Here are some of the things we are looking for in our transcriptionists and virtual assistants:
Reliability – Are you able to deliver on a tight deadline and see difficult audio files through to the end?
Accuracy – Do you pride yourself in carefully transcribed, spell checked and thoroughly proofread documents?
Experience – Do you have at least 5 years experience in a relevant industry, sector or work placement?
Good Research Skills – Are you willing to do your research as and when it is required, when working on a transcript or fact finding for a client?
Fast Typing Speed– Are you able to type at least 50 words per minute?
Can Do Attitude– Are you willing to think on your feet and use your common sense to solve any problems that may arise?
In addition, it also helps to have a good working knowledge of Microsoft office packages, be a quick learner and a fast and reliable broadband connection.
Joining the team at Transcription City can give you the freedom to work from home and be totally in control of your own schedule. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Top Five Mistakes When Recording Audio For Transcription
Making a Recording in Restaurant, Café or Busy Public Area
When setting up an interview, one of the first things you may consider is how to make your interviewee comfortable, as well as how to make a good impression on him or her. Bearing these things in mind, you may arrange to have a discussion over drinks, or even dinner. This will be fine if you’re looking to just do some personal note taking but will most likely be disastrous in terms of making a high quality audio recording to send to a transcription company. Typing service companies can clean audio, but only to a certain level, and it can be painstakingly difficult to decipher a speaker who is surrounded by endless background noise, slurping and cluttering of cups and plates! Conducting a meeting in this fashion will likely lead to a poor quality (and more expensive) interview transcript.
Making a Multiple Speaker Recording from your iPhone, iPad or Smartphone
Phones nowadays are multi-functional, all encompassing devices that many cannot live without. You can use them to find directions, surf the web, send emails, take photos and even switch your house lights on and off! So surely you can use your phone for your interview transcription purposes. Well, sort of! Dictaction software on phones nowadays is brilliant, easy and of a high quality. You can even conduct a quiet interview on your phone and hopefully have good sound, but multi-speaker interviews and focus group recordings require microphones and superior quality recording equipment for things not to be missed. Transcription companies are not miracle workers – we can accept audio sent straight from your phone, in whichever format you choose to record in and we can even clean your sound. However, we can only type audio that we can hear and the microphone on a mobile phone will not pick up audio from 2 speakers who are 15 feet away, and being shouted over!
Recording a telephone conversation on a speakerphone
It’s very easy to find software and hardware to record telephone conversations. In fact, on many mobile phones nowadays, voice recorders come as standard and can be used from your phone to record conversations. It’s no secret that when we play back sound recorded from a conversation, it’s not as clear to hear what is said. The same goes for the sound emitted by a speaker phone. Often that sound is compromised and as audio recording is never perfect, in this scenario, it’s a double whammy against your chances of a good interview transcript! Proper software will record the sound that is passed to your phone, not the sound coming out of it – and it’s well worth every penny.
Secret Recordings
It’s quite well known that it’s illegal to record a conversation without the other party’s consent. If you have audio you want to send to a transcription company but have not had the recording agreed to by the other speaker, you may want to save your money as legally you will be unable to use the transcript for whatever purpose you intended and may get into a hell of a lot of trouble!
Forgetting your Manners
Whether you are holding a focus group to be transcribed or conducting a one-to-one interview yourself, be sure to warn against over speaking. Over speaking makes hearing a speaker very difficult and also can make a transcript hard to read, with broken sentences. Put yourself in the place of the transcriptionist – can you hear and fully take in the words and meanings of every speaker? If not, how is your typist supposed to? Keep your conversation etiquette in check and you will be rewarded with a far superior transcript from your chosen transcription company.
Virtual Assistance for Document Amendments and Changes
If you regularly deal with documents, reports, contracts or projects that need updating, amending, reformatting or even rewriting, we can help. However, if you want the best results, it helps if you can provide as much information as possible, as clearly as possible. With that in mind, we thought we’d offer some tips on how to manage your document amendments to ensure the maximum productivity with minimum effort.
The Original Document
If you have a hard copy of any documents that need to be amended, it can help tremendously if your virtual assistant has something to give them an idea of the layout, formatting and fonts that you want to use for your new, amended document. The original document can also be used to provide direction as to where you need changes; for example, you could number each section that needs changing and then instead of writing changes on to the document, you could dictate the changes using the numbers as a reference.
Dictating Changes
Document amendments and dictation can work really well together when compared to handwritten notes. This is because the virtual assistant or transcriptionist doesn’t have to try to read handwriting that has been squashed into a tiny space on the original document and can also work a lot more quickly than if they have to copy type any changes. Please ensure that any dictations are clear, precise and concise. It can also be an idea to provide your virtual assistant with a list of technical terms as well as company or individual names. Not only does this make things a lot easier for your virtual assistant, but it also provides a useful reference for future work and speeds things up significantly, as needless research takes time!
Your New Document
If you want your new document have a different layout, it can save time and hassle if you either have a ready made template for your virtual assistant or have clear instructions of how you would like your finished document to look. If you are not sure of what you want, most virtual assistants will be more than happy to design a template for you.
Future Changes
We often find that many clients have documents or projects that constantly need updating and because of this, we recommend working with the same virtual assistant on a regular basis. That way they will have all of the knowledge, skills and resources to complete your work quickly, efficiently and easily every time.
If you are interested in our virtual assistant or transcription services, why not get in touch with us today? We are always happy to help.
A Guide to Using our Transcription Services for the First Time
If you have decided to use a transcription service for the first time, there may be confusion about how to send your files, what you information your chosen transcription company needs from you and how the whole process works. We thought we’d clarify how the cost of transcription is calculated and how to send your files to us if using our transcription services for the first time.
Calculating the Cost of Transcription
The price of transcription can vary greatly depending on the type of audio or video file that you send and the style of transcription you require. When shopping around for a quote, it is important that you provide details of the type of file you have (mp3, mp4, DVD or online link, etc.) as this can affect both the price and the turnaround of your transcript. For example, uploading an mp3 file containing simple dictation, is going to be a lot cheaper and faster to turnaround than posting us a DVD of a focus group. Providing the right information to transcription companies avoids any nasty surprises when it comes to pricing and turnaround. Add on’s such as time-codes, discourse analysis, files containing strong accents, needing a sound file clean up and requiring a fast turnaround are all going to affect the cost of your transcript.
Sending Your Files For Transcription
We ask that all new clients complete our new client registration form before sending us any files for transcription. Once we have received your details, there are a few different options you can take when sending over your files to be transcribed, depending on the type of file you have. Hard copies of files (such as cassette tapes, DVD’s, CD’s, handwritten documents or USB sticks) can either be couriered or posted to us. Alternatively, you can convert these files into digital formats and then send them online (details of how to do this our available on our website or contact us for more details). If you already have digital copies of your files on your computer, you can either upload them directly to us or email them to us (provided they are small enough). We also accept links such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox and similar.
If you would like more information about our transcription services or would like us to provide you with a quote, why not get in touch with us today? We provide fast turnaround times, experienced transcriptionists and accept a wide variety of file formats.
Here at Transcription City, the bulk of the workload that comes in (unsurprisingly), is in the form of interview transcription. Online transcription is one of those things, it’s invaluable when you need it, saving you time, money and stress, but many professionals on a day-to-day basis will overlook how useful transcription services can be, especially when conducting interviews. So for this blog, we’ve compiled a list of the key functions of interview transcription.
Interview Transcription for Research
Research companies in all different sectors including financial, medical, market research and education, amongst others, often commission transcripts of their interviews. Interview transcription is important when carrying out research because data in the form of text is much easier to collate that data in audio or video format. Research companies, and even individuals carrying out research will be able to quickly allocate crucial sections of their interviews by using an easy ‘find’ function in their word processing software rather than having to sift through hours of audio and as we all know, the research industry moves pretty fast. Especially when carrying out medical and financial research, the early bird catches the worm, and typing services can really speed up the process of getting your research to print!
Tip: Interview transcription for research is generally requested as Intelligent Verbatim and if you don’t have an urgent deadline to publish or share your conclusions, you can save money even more money by agreeing to a longer turnaround for your completed interview transcript.
Interview Transcription for Reference
Students and journalists are perhaps the most common clients in the field of interview transcription for reference. If you have conducted numerous interviews and are looking to easily search and pull up the necessary quotes you need for your writing, a typing services company can transcribe your interviews for you and save you a lot of time and hassle.
Tip: Be sure to provide your transcription service company with any correct spellings of any words that are unusual, as well as any names, etc. This way, searching by these key words will be easier as the spellings will be correct!
Interview Transcription for Evidence
Court interviews, witness statements and judgements are often transcribed when cases go through the Court of Appeal and are used as evidence. There is a Tape Transcription Panel for tapes that come from Court, but police tapes are often also transcribed and used as evidence. When using transcription for legal purposes, it’s important to order your transcripts as Verbatim, so that everything is covered and everything that is said is typed precisely and accurately.
Tip: If you are looking for purchase legal transcription services to type up your legal interviews, you may need a company that can convert your cassette tape audio into digital format for transcription. This can be costly so be sure to shop around for the best price for audio format conversion.
Interview Transcription for Media purposes and Circulation
Journalists and media companies often need interviews transcribed for quotes, but also transcripts are sometimes published ‘as is’ for circulation. For example, a company conference may be transcribed and then sent out to the necessary staff for reading. When using transcription services to type out your dictations, interviews, conferences, etc, for media purposes, be sure to ask for Intelligent Verbatim as it will save you editing time and make your documents easy and enjoyable to read.
Tip: If you are ordering typing services for media transcription, time is often of the essence so check your transcription company’s turnaround times and prices, to get your work published as soon as possible.
Interview Transcription for Accessibility, Subtitles and Closed Captioning
Audio and video can be transcribed to make your videos accessible to the deaf by providing subtitles and closed captioning. Subtitle services are not so commonly used as other transcription services but subtitles can be invaluable for SEO, especially to companies who share YouTube and Vimeo videos online to promote their services.
Tip: If you are ordering subtitle services, be sure to find a company that quotes for everything you will need as one package. For example, use a company that will convert your audio or video into the a digital format, provide your subtitles in an applicable format, (such as .srt) and burn them onto your video for you. This will save you tremendous time, money, and hassle juggling work with different companies.
Whatever reason you have for getting your interviews transcribed, get in touch with us and we should be able to meet your needs! We specialize in all types of interview transcription, so email us at info @transcriptioncity.co.uk, call us on 0208 816 8584 or chat with us online.
Here at Transcription City we love transcribing interviews, videos, focus groups and Podcasts, do you want to know why? Because they are so diverse, they can be about anything, from research, to crime, celebrity to medical. This is why, when you are selecting a transcription company you should always put some consideration into choosing a transcription service that has the right expertise in your industry or sector. To help you choose between transcription companies, we’ve put together a check list of thing that can help you get the best experience and best result from your chosen transcription service.
Choose a Transcription Company with Experienced Staff
An Experienced, fast and accurate transcriptionist will have knowledge in your industry or sector, will be willing to do their research on any technical terms, will always proofread their work thoroughly and will meet your deadline with time to spare.
An experienced transcriptionist will also be capable of working with document amendments through cross referencing and dictations. They should also be happy to either create new templates for documents depending on your specific needs or work with your existing templates.
We strongly recommend that if you intend on using a transcription company on a regular basis, that you should be paired with your own transcriptionist or virtual assistant. The reason for this is that not only will you be able to build a good working relationship, but using the same secretary for all work will ensure consistency since they will become familiar with the way you like things done. This will help speed up work turnaround and prevent confusion when it comes to tasks such as reading handwritten notes, composing documents and doing any industry related research.
When selecting a transcription company, take time to ask questions; do they have transcriptionists with experience in your field? How fast can they turn your files around? Do they proofread their work? Are they happy to make amendments if needed? Take your time to thing about the service you want and ask if they can deliver.
A good, experienced transcriptionist will not only make your work life a lot easier, but they will also save you time and money.
If you would like more information about our online secretarial, virtual assistant and transcription services, why not get in touch with us today? We have an efficient and friendly team who are available 7 days a week to help and we look forward to connecting with you.
If you regularly need documents transcribed, copy typed or amended, at Transcription City, we are happy to help. However, there are a number of things that you can do to ensure that you get the most from your chosen secretarial service.
Dictations
When dictating documents to a transcriptionist, there are a number of things that you can do to help things run as smoothly as possible. First of all, it is important to record your dictations in a quiet environment and keep your recording device close at all times to ensure high quality audio. Secondly, it’s also a good idea to include any obscure spellings such as unusual first or second names, product names, company names, abbreviation and so on. It can also be extremely helpful to give reference to your company website (if applicable), so your typist can procure any necessary additional information or cross-check references.
Document Amendments
Amending documents can require different skills as it often combines a number of factors such as formatting, proofreading, editing, copy typing (from typed or written amendments), referencing, research and audio typing. For this reason, it is always best to provide your online secretary or virtual assistant with as much information as possible. For example, it can be extremely helpful to have a list of any names or products and the name of any websites that can be used for research.If you have added handwritten amendments to a printed document, it is important to ensure that your handwriting is legible.
A good solution to those whose handwriting could be clearer; it can be a good idea to simply number points in the document that need correction and then simply dictate the changes.
With regards to formatting, having a template to work from can be really useful.
Reducing the Cost of your Virtual Assistant or Online Secretary
Providing your virtual assistant with as much information as possible not only ensures that your work is as accurate as possible, but it also helps to reduce costs of their services. This makes life easier for both parties, as it means that your virtual assistant has all the information needed to do a good job within a short time frame, without spending hours trying to read dodgy handwriting or doing fruitless research on the internet, meaning a faster turnaround at a lower cost.
If you are interested in our virtual assistant, secretarial services or transcription services, why not get in touch today? We have a great team of secretaries and virtual assistants who have experience in your industry or sector and are always happy to help.
It’s important to do your research when selecting the right transcription company for your needs. When looking at different transcription companies, you should consider what industries they specialise in and also what other services they may offer, such as data entry, proofreading, editing or subtitling for video. Below are just some of the transcription services that we can provide for you or your company.
Journalism Transcription
In the journalism sector, one of the most sought after traits in a transcription company is the ability to turn around work as fast as possible. Offering urgent interview transcription is something many transcription companies can do, but the prices vary considerably, as do reliability. When choosing a company to carry out your journalism interviews or dictations, be sure to look through testimonials of happy clients within your sector to be sure you will be provided with an adequate service. Also, as you know, interviews in the media sector often take place in cafes, bars or outside areas where the interviewee can feel relaxed. This may make for a pleasant environment for an interview to take place but it’s not ideal for sound quality so be sure of any extra prices your typing services company charges for poor sound quality, and that they have the software and experienced typists to cope with any tougher audio or video files you may have.
Financial and Corporate Transcription
Transcription for the financial and corporate sector is less common than in the medical, legal and property sectors but it does still exist. Most financial audio to be transcribed is in the form of conferences, meetings and executive phone calls. Be sure when outsourcing typing work that you check prices thoroughly for conferences, interviews and meetings. Many typing companies will charge extra for multiple speaker transcription and you don’t want to be caught out unexpectedly with a high bill!
Video Transcription
Most online companies have online videos of some form or another, and it is a legal requirement nowadays that all media be in a format that is accessible to everyone. For this reason, every video needs to come with a transcript so the deaf are able to access the information. Prices vary greatly between Transcription Company to Transcription Company on video transcription, as do delivery methods. Be sure to find a company that can transcribe your YouTube and Vimeo files directly through a link to save you uploading time. This will save you heaps of time and hassle. Also, try to outsource to a typing services company that can also provide time coded transcriptions, subtitles and closed captions in different formats, such as .srt. This will mean if you later decide to use subtitles for your videos, you won’t need to pay twice.
Radio and Television Transcription
Radio and television transcription, like journalistic transcription, is often of an urgent nature. When looking for a transcription company, check prices for urgent turnaround as well as capacity. Some transcription companies will also offer a service (for an extra charge) not only to transcribe but to tape the audio or video for you (if you provide the broadcast time). Though this will come an at extra cost, it is a brilliant time saver!
Focus Group and Research Transcription
Having the right data for your company can mean the difference between a product or project success or failure. One of the best ways of obtaining the information that you need is to conduct consumer research and although questionnaires can be useful, one of the best and most accurate ways of getting the information you need is to conduct focus groups or group interviews. This type of research allows you to gain a much more personal insight into what people want when compared to other means of collecting data. Using the right transcription company for transcribing your group sessions is essential if you want to get an accurate transcript of your focus groups. Focus group transcription is a very specialist form of transcription, as the transcriptionist must be capable of distinguishing between several different speakers and transcribe over speaking and interjection.
If you are interested in using our transcription services for your interviews, videos, focus groups or dictations, why not get in touch today? We have a friendly and experienced team who are always happy to help.
When looking to outsource your audio and video to a transcription company, it’s important to be sure that the company you choose is suitable for all of your needs. Here’s some hints on how to find the perfect transcription and online secretarial company for all of your dictations, interviews, reports and focus group transcriptions.
Medical Transcription
If you are a surgery or medical centre looking to outsource your medical dictations to a typing services company, the first thing you need to be sure of is that whoever you choose is registered with the Data Protection Act. Patient files and letters are often of a highly sensitive and personal nature, and security and confidentiality should be of paramount importance when choosing a company with whom to outsource your work. For medical research transcription, confidentiality is also important, and along with this, you will need to consider making sure that the secretary or transcriptionist that carries out your work will be able to keep up with medical developments in your field of specialism in order to assure high and consistent levels of accuracy in your medical transcriptions. It’s preferential when working in the medical sector to have highly qualified experienced secretaries working on your medical dictations, and many typing service companies will offer the chance for you to handpick your secretary by offering CVs for your perusal.
Legal Transcription
Legal transcriptions, like medical files, are often of a highly sensitive nature so once again, confidentiality will be paramount in this sector. Make sure your chosen transcription company is registered with the Data Protection Act and uses a safe and secure file transfer system for work upload and download. Legal companies looking to outsource typing services will need to find a company that has suitably qualified and experienced typists. Also, court hearings and many legal interviews are still recorded on cassette tape, so you will need to consider any costs involved in converting your audio into digital format and finding a typing services company that is local to you if you are looking to transport your tapes via the safest method available: courier.
Property Transcription
In the property sector, homebuyer’s reports, surveys and other property dictations are often required to be typed into specific formats within a given template. For property transcription, it’s crucial to check that your transcription company can type your dictations into your required template and to find a company that hires suitably qualified, experienced staff to type your work. Many companies offer clients the chance to choose their typist by offering anonymised CVs for perusal and this is well worth looking into.
Academic Transcription
Another very popular transcription service that we provide is Academic Transcription. This form of transcription can cover a vast number of topics and subjects and so means that you should ensure that the transcription company that you select has the expertise and knowledge to transcribe your files accurately, by doing the proper research and having the right knowledge to back it up with. It may also be worth checking when choosing between transcription companies if they can offer other services that may be of use to you, such as proofreading and light editing to ensure that your finished project is as perfect as possible.
If you would like more information about our transcription services or would like to obtain a quote, why not contact us today? We have a team of experienced transcriptionists who are available 7 days a week and are always happy to help!
So you’ve got the knowledge, you’ve got the experience, you’ve got the qualifications and you’re thinking of working for a transcription company. So what next? Here are some of the most useful or essential pieces of computer software to help with your interview transcription, copy typing, dictation, data entry or other secretarial undertakings.
Microsoft Office
99% of the transcripts requested from clients will need to be typed into a Microsoft Word document and the vast majority of spreadsheet population will be in Microsoft Excel, and presentation production in PowerPoint. As a typing services professional, it is preferable to have the most up to date Microsoft Office suite with full functionality. Starter versions are not usually sufficient as there can be complications in checking files for accessibility, inserting contents and hyperlinks and using other functions.
Adobe Acrobat
Most copy typing documents will be sent to typing service companies in the .pdf format. To read documents, and to consequently type them, typists will need Adobe Acrobat. Also, clients may request their typed transcripts, interview scripts, books or dictations to be saved as a ‘read only’ PDF. Although Microsoft Word can save in this format without the user having the Adobe software, it’s always useful to double check the quality of your work by opening your final document.
Express Scribe
Audio transcription and video transcription can be a long-winded task even for the speediest of typists. If you’re looking to move into typing services work, to get the most bang for your buck, you’ll need good transcription software and we recommend NCH’ Express Scribe. Whilst being compatible with transcription pedals is the most crucial element of the software, it also has other useful functions such for cleaning the sound quality on poor audio and speeding up, slowing down, etc, of files. The system wide keys option is also invaluable when completed time coded transcriptions and subtitles. Similarly, Inq Scribe can be just as invaluable for those wishing to write and produce subtitles.
Pedable
Pedable is a free software which allows the programming of transcription pedals as short cut keys. For instance, if you are doing some contract copy typing, for instance, and you need to repeatedly type a complicated word or name, for example, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ you can copy the word and programme one of your pedals as Ctrl+V to paste that word every time you put your foot down. This shortcut is fantastic for completing urgent transcripts, as well as urgent documents and data entry.
Prism Converter or Aimersoft
A transcription company can receive audio and video in a range of different formats, and as a transcriptionist, you need to be adaptable and able to accept files in a range of different formats. Prism Converter or Aimersoft are invaluable for transcription and typing of interviews, focus groups or conferences that are sent in perhaps more obscure formats.
Sound Recorder
When a typist is unable to download a video or audio directly to PC when carrying out YouTube transcription or subtitles, for instance, he or she will need to record the sound streamed off of the internet. Windows 7 and later have Sound Recorder which can perform this function and Hi-Q Recorder is another option for those with earlier versions of Windows.
If you are looking to move into the transcription business or have some ideas on other software that is useful for transcription companies or individuals working in transcription, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@transcriptioncity.co.uk. Alternatively you can chat to us online or connect with us via YouTube, Google Plus, Facebook or Twitter.
If you have decided to use a transcription service to type up your audio or video files, it is worth noting that there are many different variations on a standard intelligent verbatim transcript. To help you decide what style of transcription will work best for you, we have written a handy guide to the different types of transcript you can order and some of the advantages they hold, depending on your needs.
Standard Intelligent Verbatim Transcription
This style of transcript is the one that is most often requested from our clients. Intelligent verbatim transcripts include everything that has been said in the audio or video file that you have sent to us, minus the fillers (“erm”, “um”, “you know”, “kind of” and “sort of”) which are all omitted. The advantage of having your transcript written in this style is that it is easier to read, without changing the meaning or tone of what has been said.
Verbatim Transcription
Verbatim Transcription is very similar to intelligent verbatim. The only difference is that verbatim transcription includes every utterance, word for word. This includes false starts, repetition and all fillers. This type of transcription is particularly popular within legal and some medical sectors, where it is important to include absolutely everything that has been spoken.
Edited Transcription
Edited transcription is a form of transcript where the dialogue is changed (or edited) to make for easier reading. When typing an edited transcript, the transcriptionist may change the order of the words for ease of reading, omitting certain sentences as well as getting rid of all irrelevant dialogue. This type of transcription is particularly useful for blogs, articles, books, ebooks and novels.
Discourse Analysis Transcription
Discourse analysis transcription is like verbatim transcription only taken up a gear. Not only is every utterance transcribed, but tone, voice level, pauses and sometimes even background noise is included. Discourse analysis is particularly popular for those involved in research and can be transcribed using several different conventions.
Time Coded Transcription.
Time coded transcription can be typed using any style, but includes time stamps. Time coded or time stamped transcription is often used in video transcription for editing or subtitling purposes. The time stamps or time codes on this type of transcript can be added at various intervals including every minute, every 30 seconds, every 10 seconds or most often at every speaker change.
Transcription For Subtitles
As web videos are becoming more and more popular, so are online subtitles. Subtitle files in .srt and .ssa format are often used for popular video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. Not only are online subtitles great for those who are hard of hearing, but they are also invaluable when it comes to making your videos search engine friendly, therefore getting your videos to rank higher in the search results. It is also a legal requirement to include online subtitles with any video that has previously been broadcast on television.
Hopefully our guide to transcription styles will help you make the best choice when it comes to ordering your transcripts. If you would like more information about our virtual assistant or transcription services, why not contact us via email, telephone or instant message today? We will always do our very best to help and look forward to hearing from you.
My name is Hayley. I am a mum, working for Transcription City. I am 29 years old and have an English Literature degree along with six years subtitle writing experience. I have always been a very self motivated individual and loved my full time job providing transcription for a production company but my dream was always to be a stay at home mum. Sadly, this isn’t always possible in today’s economy so here is an example of how I schedule my day, looking after my five month old whilst also bringing in that much needed cash!
7:30am – James wakes for a feed. We play on his entertainment centre and read a book before he goes back down for a nap at around 9:30-10am.
10am – While James sleeps, I check my emails to see if any medical dictation work has come in from my regular client. If I have some, I make a start; if not, I email my boss at Transcription City to let her know I’m available to provide typing services and get on with the laundry or other household chores.
11:30am- James wakes and we have some time practising language skills on the sofa, singing and having pretend ‘babble’ conversations. He eats lunch at around 12pm and after, he has some more playtime and we go for a short walk for some fresh air (depending on the weather).
2:00pm – James is parched and goes back down for another nap. I get on the PC and check my work allocation. If I have medical dictation from earlier, I finish it as my medical client usually sends urgent transcriptions with short turnaround times. Otherwise, I begin on the work that has been sent my way. I specialise in subtitle transcription and subtitle production work but I also have experience in the medical field, so a range of different work may be available to me. Most days, I will do interview transcription as this seems to be the nature of the majority of work that comes into transcription companies.
4:00pm – James wakes up for a feed and again, we have playtime. I make my husband dinner ready for his return home.
6:00pm – Family and dinner time. We keep James awake, though much of this is quiet time, or bath time to keep him relaxed, gearing up for bed.
8:00pm – James is tucked in and out like a light. This is time for the hard work. I can usually fit in around 30 audio minutes of video transcription or subtitle production work in this time, which means I’m working till around 9:30pm.
9:30pm – Watch TV with my husband either downstairs or in bed.
10:30pm – Off to sleep, ready for a repeat of the same routine tomorrow.
So there it is, a solid hard day’s work but well worth it to be at home with my little one. Working for a typing services and transcription company is perfect for me because I can fit subtitling, dictation, interview typing and proofreading work in around my day as best suits me. It might not quite be my dream of being a 100% stay at home housewife, but it’s definitely damn close!!
If you have at least five years experience as a secretary or transcriptionist and have the experience and skill to provide accurate, timely and professional transcription services, send your CV info @transcriptioncity.co.uk today!
Here at Transcription City, you will find that we can accept a vast range of different file types and formats. Just in case you would like to know more about what type of files we can transcribe and how you can send your files, we thought we’d write a blog to help clarify things for you.
Digital Audio Files for Transcription
Our favourite files are small ones! This is because they take up less space and so are much faster to upload and download, meaning less hassle for everyone and faster turnaround times. Files such as .mp3 and .wma are probably the smallest sound files and probably also the most widely used! However, don’t despair if your files have been recorded in a different format, we also accept .wav, .aiff, .ogg, .gsm, .flac, .au, .vox, .raw, .trm, .rm, .aac, ,atrac, .dss, .msv, .dvf and more!
Hard Copy Audio Files for Transcription
We are happy to accept hard copies of your audio for transcription. This includes cassette tapes, video cassette tapes, DVD’s, CD’s and USB Memory sticks. As these can’t be uploaded directly to our website, they will obviously have to be posted to us which will impact the turnaround time of your transcripts.
Digital Video Files for transcription
As well as accepting a wide range of files and formats for audio transcription, we also accept a wide variety of video formats. As mentioned earlier, the smaller the file, the easier it is to download and upload for transcription. Our preferred formats are small .mp4 formats, which we are happy for you to either upload directly to us, or to send us links for download such as YouTube, Vimeo or your own FTP server. We also accept .mov (Quicktime), .avi, .mpeg, .3gp, .asf, divx, .flv, .m4v, .mkv, .mpe, .mpg, .vob, .wmv and more!
As you can see, we accept a wide variety of video and audio files and formats for transcription!
If you have any questions about the types of files that we can accept for transcription or would simply like to know more about our transcription services, why not get in touch today via email, telephone or instant message? We have a team of experienced, efficient and friendly online secretaries who are happy to help you.
If you have decided to record an audio or video file that you would like to have transcribed there are a vast number of advantages to making your audio as clear and easy to understand as possible. There are a quite a few good reasons for sending your chosen transcription company a high quality audio recording, so we thought we’d share some of them with you to ensure that you get the best experience when using a transcription service.
Good Recordings Reduce the Cost of Transcription
Audio and Video recordings that are of a lower quality cost more per audio or video minute to transcribe. The reason for this is that the transcriptionist has to spend double or even triple the time listening to your file in order to pick up everything that has been said, even after the audio has been cleaned up.
Increase the Accuracy of your Transcripts
Even if your transcription company has spent hours listening and proofreading your transcripts, if you submit a bad quality audio file, you will find that you are left with number of unclear chunks of speech within your transcript.
Faster Transcription Turnaround Times
Clear audio and video files can be completed within a much faster time frame than low quality audio files. So if you are in a hurry to get your transcripts completed, it is especially important to ensure the sound is clear.
With that in mind, here are some simple tips to help you produce high quality, clear audio recordings.
Record your audio or video files with minimal background noise.
Make sure that you use high quality recording equipment.
Check that you are using enough microphones and that all speakers are close enough to the microphones to be heard clearly.
Minimise cross talking and over speaking during group interviews and focus groups.
Making a good quality recording just takes a little planning and preparation, but it can really improve the quality, price and turnaround times of your transcripts. If you would like more information about how to make a good quality audio recording or would like to obtain a quote for our transcription services, why not get in touch today via email, instant message or telephone? We are always happy to help and look forward to hearing from you.
Discourse Analysis: What it means and who needs it.
Transcription comes in many different forms. There’s verbatim transcription, intelligent verbatim, time coded, transcription with visual description, and discourse analysis, amongst many others. Most clients will order either intelligent verbatim or verbatim transcripts from transcription companies, but what about discourse analysis? What does it mean and who needs it?
What is Discourse Analysis?
Discourse analysis is concerned with the analysis of the way language is used to communicate ideas. For transcription companies, discourse analysis transcripts include changes in intonation and description of laughs, pauses and responses in high detail. They can also include syntax, style and other aspects of discourse that can be overlooked when simply transcribing what is actually said.
For example, an intelligent verbatim transcript may depict the following:
I: So, where were you the night Julie was murdered?
R: I was at the golf course, working late.
A verbatim transcript would be as follows:
I: So, where were you the night Julie was murdered?
R: Erm, I was at the golf course, working late.
Discourse analysis may read as follows:
I: So, where were you the night Julie was murdered?
R: Erm, [...] I was at the golf course, [high tone] working late. (the dots indicate number of seconds in a pause).
How does discourse analysis look?
Discourse analysis comes in many different forms. Whichever a client chooses, their transcript should come with a key for them to identify any codes or symbols and what they mean. Without a key, discourse analysis symbols and descriptions can be very difficult to understand and interpret. Discourse analysis transcripts will include significant changes in intonation, gestures, syntax, style and meanings, amongst other things and these additions will mean a less easily read transcript, but one with far more insight into what is really meant or implied by a speaker’s comments.
Who needs Discourse Analysis?
Discourse analysis can add an extra dimension of meaning to what is said. It is mostly helpful in interview transcription when the reader or listener wishes to analyse further meaning from what is being said. For this reason, it can be used for a number of purposes, including psychological research or possibly police and legal interviews. If you think discourse analysis may provide further insight into your interview transcriptions, it may be best to talk first with your transcription company for guidance on what they can offer you to best suit your needs.
What’s the price of Discourse Analysis?
Discourse analysis transcription is very time consuming and for this reason, transcription companies will charge a higher rate than for standard intelligent verbatim, or even verbatim transcription to cover typist’ fees.
If you have a transcript you want typed but aren’t sure which format is best for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your needs. You can visit our website for a live chat, call us on 020 8 816 8584 or email us direct.
Top Five Reasons Hiring a Virtual Assistant Will Save You Money
Hiring a virtual assistant to help out with your business gives you a number of advantages over the competition, not to mention providing additional benefits such as saving you time and money. To give you an example of some of the reasons hiring a virtual assistant makes perfect sense financially, we’ve made a list for you!
You Pay only for Work Completed
Unlike in house staff, a virtual assistant will only charge for the work that has been completed. Not only does this work out significantly cheaper than paying onsite staff for an entire day, but it also means that the your virtual assistant has plenty of motivation to complete the tasks you give them quickly and efficiently, as he or she does not get paid to sit around doing nothing.
No Equipment Costs
If you hire in house staff, you need to provide and pay for any equipment needed to complete the work you give them. This includes furniture, computers, telephones, printers and software. Then there’s the hidden costs such as heating, electricity, office space and telephone bills. A virtual assistant comes complete with all their own equipment, meaning that you make significant savings on expenses.
No Holiday or Sick Pay
In house permanent and part time employees require time off, whether this is due to annual leave or sick pay, this costs money. Virtual assistants only charge for the work they do for you, meaning you don’t have to worry about paying for any time off. Virtual assistants can also prove invaluable when it comes to finding cover during staff absences.
No Training Costs
A virtual assistant is responsible for keeping up to date with the latest technology and pays for their own training. This means that you don’t have to worry about forking out for expensive training courses or qualifications. In fact, with competition being high for virtual assistants, you will often find that your virtual assistant will have knowledge and training above and beyond what is required to do a good job.
No Overtime Costs
Many virtual assistants offer their services around the clock, without charging over time rates. There are many virtual assistants who are happy to complete work during evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Not only does this mean that they are able to complete work well within tight deadlines, but it also means that you can stay ahead of the competition without breaking the bank.
So there you have it! Five great reasons a virtual assistant will save you money.
If you would like to know more about some of the transcription services, virtual assistance or subtitling services that we offer, why not get in touch today? We are available during evenings, weekends and bank holidays. We will always match you with an online secretary or virtual assistant whose knowledge and experience are perfectly matched to your individual requirements. We look forward to connecting with you!
Transcription and Secretarial Cover For The Holidays
With Easter nearly upon us, chances are that you are looking forward to a few days off. However, depending on how demanding your work load is, you may find yourself wondering whether you can afford the time off and how you’ll get everything done.
This is where Transcription City can help. We have a vast range of secretarial, virtual assistant and transcription services available throughout the holidays to ensure that you stay ahead of the competition, while you take a much needed break.
Virtual Assistant Services
Whether your full time staff are on holiday or you simply need some extra assistance to help you cope through the busy periods, we can help. Our virtual assistant services offer everything from email correspondence, proofreading, diary management, data entry, PowerPoint/Keynote presentations and everything in between. We also offer great discount packages if you decide to use our services on a regular basis. Either way we think you’ll be astounded by the quality of our work and the substantial savings you can make when compared to hiring a full time personal assistant!
Transcription Services
We provide reliable, accurate and affordable transcription services throughout the year, covering a range of sectors and industries to cater to your specific needs and requirements. We also offer additional services such as four hour turnarounds, time coded transcripts (with or without visual cues) and .srt files (which are great for Search Engine Optimisation). We are happy to work from any template and can transcribe from almost any media file.
Copy Editing and Copy Writing Services
Alongside our other services, we are also offer both copy editing and copy writing services. Not only are we able to proofread and edit your letters, emails and promotional material, we can also compose well researched articles and blog posts from scratch – providing your clients with useful information and boosting your SEO at the same time!
If you find yourself in need of secretarial assistance during the holiday period, why not give us a call, email or instant message? We are always happy to help and look forward to connecting with you.
We only use the most experienced, hard working and reliable online secretaries, transcriptionists and virtual assistants available. Would you like to know more? This week we meet one of our most valued and talented online assistants – Carole Hunter!
Carole Hunter – Transcriber, Copy Typist and Virtual Assistant
Speciality:
Transcription / Audio Typing – focus groups, depths, market research, conferences, research in medical and financial sectors.
Qualifications:
RSA stage 1 & 2 in Business Studies, 5 O’levels.
Experience:
Self- employed transcriber since February 2002, worked for many different agencies over the years, completing hundreds of different types of documents.
Interests/Hobbies:
My family, reading, walking, crocheting, knitting, socializing
Why did you decide to join Transcription City?
I work for three other agencies, but decided to sign up with Transcription City to give me a greater choice of work.
What do you enjoy about working for Transcription City?
The variety of different types of work, the professionalism of Samantha but also the fact she is very friendly and appreciative of the work we all do for her. I hope to be with her for many years to come.
Want to know more about the our Virtual Assistant and Transcription Services?
We offer a variety of secretarial, virtual assistant and transcription services here at Transcription City. If you are looking for a transcription company that offers fast turnarounds, accurate transcripts and experienced transcriptionists, then you have come to the right place!
Hiring an online virtual assistant or transcription company can save you and your business time and money, leaving you with the freedom to get on with more important tasks – like running your business or spending more time with your family!
Please feel free to contact us at any time for more information or a quote – we can be reached via email, telephone or instant message and are always happy to help and look forward to connecting with you.
Did you know that it is the law to have captions to accompany web videos that have previously been aired on TV?
Closed captions, open captions and subtitles can be used not only to cater to viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, but they can also be translated into virtually any language to ensure that your videos appeal to all viewers wherever they are, no matter what language they speak.
Having subtitles to accompany your online videos can really give your company the edge when it comes to reaching a wider and more diverse audience. Not only that, it’s great for SEO, helping you to rise way above the competition in terms of rankings.
Whether you are a client looking to have subtitles added to you videos or are simply looking expand your audience through the use of subtitles and captions, there are some key facts you may need to consider.
Costs of Subtitles for Clients
Costs for subtitles and closed caption transcription are higher than general video transcription, due to the time required and the specialist nature of the work.
Subtitle Quality for Clients
Clients can order samples of both .srt and .ssa files from transcription companies to ensure the work is of a high standard and the subtitles are perfectly in sync with the video.
Subtitle Suitability and House Styles for Clients
When ordering subtitles, you will need to know exactly what is best for your videos. You can request certain colours to designate a change of speaker, or define maximum number of characters per line or frame for your subtitles or closed captions. For closed captions, you can also give your transcription company pointers about the level of detail and description you would prefer. For instance, you may require simple subtitles for translation purposes or detailed captioning, for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Video and Subtitle Formats for Clients
Transcription City are able to work with a wide range of video and subtitle formats. Most formats are supported. Clients should research which format they would best like, to suit their requirements before ordering subtitle services or closed captioning services.
If you are interested in getting your videos transcribed, you need professional subtitling or captioning service or would like more information about some of the transcription services that we provide, why not contact us today? We are always happy to help!
The Top Five Transcription Outsourcing Mistakes (By Clients)
If you are thinking about outsourcing to a transcription service company and want to make sure things don’t go awry, perhaps it’s time for you to make sure you avoid these common transcription client pitfalls.
Bending The Truth
This one might seem self explanatory, but it’s amazing how many clients do this. Some will downplay the length of the audio required for transcription in order to get a promise of a quicker turnaround. Others may hold back information on the poor quality of their audio to get a lower quote. The truth is the best way to get what you want and for the best price is to be honest and accurate from the start. As a customer, you expect to get what you pay for, and transcription companies in turn, expect you to pay for what you send! So if your audio quality does turn out to be terrible after all, you will have to pay that additional charge. And if it turns out you sent five hours instead of two, you may have to wait longer to get your transcript that hope for a super speedy turnaround may not stick. Honesty is always the best policy, that way we all know where we stand!
Breaking Promises
This mistake mostly comes up when dealing with turnaround times. If you, as a client, ask for a 24 hour service and promise to send audio or video for completion by 4pm the following day, send the files within the time required. Many a time, clients may request a 24 hour turnaround but assume that that time starts from the moment they receive a quote back with confirmation of availability. Turnaround times on transcription services start from receipt of the files for typing. Transcription companies can promise a four hour turnaround for completion by 5pm if you keep your promise of sending your file quickly enough (by 1pm) to allow for those four hours; otherwise what you are asking for is actually a two or three hour turnaround. Lead by example: keep your promises and your typing service company will keep theirs.
Not Knowing What You Want
As a client, you need to be sure of what it is you need from your transcript. A transcription company will follow your orders. If you have a conference you need typed and you ask for Verbatim transcription, because you want everything to be included, make sure you are aware that ‘erms, ahs,’ and ‘ums’ will be included. Similarly, if you order a transcript, but forget to ask for a time coded document, you will need to pay for the time stamps to be added separately, which may work out more expensive. Amendments can sometimes be made by transcription companies to documents for free, but will often be at an additional charge if the customer is at fault, so be sure to know exactly what you want.
Being Cheap
Everybody loves a bargain and transcription service prices can vary greatly. Be sure not to compromise quality for the sake of price. Outsourcing to a foreign country where workers are in turn paid low salaries may seem like a big cost saver but in the long run, it can cost you more money in time spent amending any errors made by under-qualified, under-educated, under-motivated and under-paid workers.
Not Doing Your Homework
Most typing services companies offer sample transcripts but it’s amazing how little clients take advantage of these offers. Sample transcripts not only allow you to sample quality, but they can also give you an idea of what you need. For instance, if you’re unsure of whether you’ll be needing Intelligent Verbatim transcription or Verbatim transcription, you can ask for a sample of both to help you make the right choice. Doing your homework can also mean asking for recommendations from friends, or looking for reviews on websites or forums.
The secretarial and transcription team at Transcription City consists of experienced, hard working individuals, dedicated to providing you with a service that is fast, efficient and accurate. With this in mind, we thought you might like to know more about them!
Transcriptionist and Virtual Assistant – Rebekah Thornton
Name:
Rebekah Thornton.
Job Title:
Transcriptionist / Virtual Assistant
Speciality:
Legal – Industrial Disease, Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence Radio & Television transcripts and Verbatim, Copy Typing. Qualifications:
RSA I Experience:
5 years as a Legal Secretary and transcribing conferences Interests/Hobbies:
Knitting, crocheting, spinning from fleece, Archaeology, genealogy and reading. Why did you decide to join Transcription City?
I am studying for a history degree with an aim to move into Archaeology, I found working for Transcription City fit in with my studies and meant I am able to keep up with my typing skills. What do you enjoy about working for Transcription City?
The variety of transcripts I get to work on, the professionalism of the firm and how friendly the team are. I really enjoy working with the other Transcriptionists on large files.
BA in English/History. Experience:
25 plus years. Interests/Hobbies:
Reading, Scrabble, Boggle, Internet Research, swimming. My grandchildren most of all. Why did you decide to join Transcription City?
Well, it was more that Transcription City decided to take me on, but they’re easy to work for and not too formal, while still being very professional.
What do you enjoy about working for Transcription City?
A professional company with lots of variety and most of all they pay on time.
Want To Know More About Our Services?
If you are interested in knowing more about some of the services that we provide or would like to obtain a quote for our transcription services, secretarial services or virtual assistant services, please get in touch via email, telephone or instant message. We’re always happy to help!
Transcription City offers a comprehensive video transcription services for clients looking to have their videos transcribed. Video transcription can be useful for subtitles, closed captioning, reports and SEO. Here are some useful facts about the different video transcription processes and what transcription companies can provide.
Time Coded Video Transcription, Subtitles and Closed Captioning
Time coded video transcription can be useful if you want to be able to easily locate quotes and sections on your videos whilst reading your transcript. Basic time coded transcripts are most useful for reference purposes.
Subtitles and Closed Caption Transcription Services
Subtitles and closed captions need to be time coded and formatted to be in SRT or SRA format in order to work correctly. The formatting and typing work that transcription companies put into writing SRT or SRA files for use as subtitles is extensive and the pricing reflects this. Closed captioning is also offered but at a slightly higher rate as it will include other aspects of the video, not just the dialogue and hence, is even more time consuming.
Video Transcription with Visual Descriptions
Transcription companies can also provide services that include visual descriptions as well as dialogue. These services can be useful for research purposes, and can help bring context to more complex videos. For instance, if within a transcript, a speaker states, ‘Can you pass me that?’ Without a visual description, they could refer to a biscuit or a gun – anything you could imagine! But the visual description of ‘Speaker points to a cup of tea of the table’ really puts things into context.
Video Transcription for SEO
Video transcription services can be invaluable for SEO. Putting a video on YouTube or Vimeo can help with SEO by giving you extra links, and even likes from viewers of your videos, but having your video transcribed means that Google can recognise your key words and this is essential for getting to that coveted page 1 spot!
Accessible Video Transcription
You may be using transcription services in order to make information in your video available to those who are hard of hearing, or blind. If this is the case, we can ensure that your finished document is fully accessible to disabled readers. For instance, a portion of your video may contain graphs or visual data that within a transcript, would need to be readable by the blind. We can provide a service that will guarantee your video information is accessible to every possible reader or viewer.
Video Transcription Delivery
You may have a copy of your video on your PC that you can send over via our online file transfer system, or via WeTransfer, YouSendIt or DropBox, etc. Alternatively, you may have a copy of your video already posted to YouTube or Vimeo which you can simply send us the link to. However, if the only copy of your video you have is on DVD and either for reasons of large file size or security, you are happier to send us a copy in the post, this is absolutely fine. For an extra charge, we can transcribe files from DVD, CD or USB and post them straight back to you upon completion.
If you have a video that you would like to have transcribed or would like further information on our video transcription services, don’t hesitate to contact us either by email at info@transcriptioncity.co.uk, telephone on 0208 816 8584 or alternatively, via our live web chat service. We look forward to working with you on your videos!
Virtual Assistant, Secretarial and Transcription Services
Here at Transcription City we love providing our clients with expert transcription services. However, what you may not realise is that we also provide a number of other virtual assistant, secretarial and typing services that can be either used alone or in conjunction with each other.
Transcription Services
We love providing our clients with professional, accurate and timely transcription services. We have a range of transcription styles to choose from and are happy to provide transcription from a number of different media, from secure uploads via our website, to cassette tapes, DVD’s, online video links and more. In fact we are confident that whatever form your source material is in, we can transcribe it for you. We also have a number of videos available on our website, to help you convert your hard copies yourself, if you are looking to save money.
Typing Services
Alongside our transcription services, we are also able to provide copy typing services from documents (typed or handwritten), webpages or even photos. These include letters, contracts, notes, emails, texts and more. Simply contact us with your required turnaround time and we’ll get started!
Subtitling Services for Videos
As well as providing accurately time-stamped transcripts, we are also able to provide .srt and .ssa files for your videos. We can even burn permanent subtitles into your web videos if you wish to include translations. Contact us today for more details.
Proofreading Services
We are proofreading experts. We have a team of qualified proof-readers, not only for quality control on our transcripts, but also for client need to make sure that their important documents, (manuscripts, scripts, emails, letters, articles and webpages -the list goes on!) are immaculate. We also provide all corrections with tracked changes, so that you can see exactly where we have made amendments.
Copy Editing Services
Copy Editing is often required alongside our proofreading services. When you receive your amended document, we will also provide tracked changes and a tick list of areas for possible improvement. We feel that this helps writers to make positive progress with their writing style – and also saves money on future copy editing services.
Copy Writing Services
We have a number of experienced, UK based writers, who can compose original, captivating and well researched copy. Contact us today for services such as ghost writing, blog writing, article writing, letter writing and more!
Ebook Services
Whether you are a budding new writer or seasoned veteran, self publishing, can mean more freedom and more profits. We can format your Ebook to your exact specifications. Contact us for more details.
WordPress Website Design
Having your own WordPress website gives you the freedom to update your website as much or as little as you want, without having to hire an expert. We can provide a number of different layouts for your new website and give you instructions on how to add photos, pages, blog posts and videos as and when you please.
Data Entry
Data entry can be extremely tedious and time consuming if you decide to do it yourself. We offer fast, accurate and reliable data entry services. Contact us today for a quote.
Virtual Assistant Services
Finally, we also offer Virtual Assistant services, such as diary management, call answering and travel arrangements. Call for details of our virtual assistant packages.
If you would like more details on any of our services, please get in touch.
Running a business can be hard work and hiring new staff is not always practical or affordable, especially if you only require help during busy periods or while permanent staff absent due to annual leave or sickness. If you find yourself getting stressed out and overrun with work, maybe it’s time to consider hiring a virtual assistant to help. Here is an overview of just some of the professional services that are available to businesses that need a little extra help.
Transcription Services
Using an online transcription company can save both time and money when it comes to tasks such as dictation of letters, notes and formal documents. Transcription services can also help with marketing your business. Transcribing and posting articles, brochures and blog posts on to your website is great for search engine optimisation. Transcription services that include blog and article writing can also help to keep your visitors up to date with any important information about your business.
Secretarial Services
Online secretaries can do pretty much anything an onsite secretary can do (apart from making the tea!) This includes tasks such as making travel arrangements, bookkeeping, preparing and editing PowerPoint presentations, document formatting and diary management. The only difference is that you only pay for an online secretary as and when you need them, meaning no extra costs are involved other than hours worked.
Proofreading and Copy Editing Services
When you are in business, it’s important to maintain a high level of professionalism at all times and that means ensuring that your documents are always spelt correctly, with perfect grammar and proper formatting. Online proofreading and editing services will ensure that you avoid potentially embarrassing mistakes in your writing and transcription services can also provide important feedback for future documents.
Data Entry
Data entry is not always the most exciting task but can be extremely time consuming. Using an online data entry service will mean that you have the time to get on with more specialist tasks as well as provide you with the data you need, without the headache of having to enter it yourself.
Writing Services
Copy writing services can be invaluable when it comes to your business. Copy writing can be used for marketing your business through article, blog and brochure writing, but it can also be used for composing professional business letters and emails.
One of the main advantages of using an online virtual assistant is that you will only pay for the work that is done, so no sick pay, holiday pay or even lunch break to worry about. You also save on the cost of extra office space, recruitment costs or specialist equipment.
If you would like to know more about the services that Transcription City can offer you or your business, why not get in touch? We only use highly experienced secretaries, virtual assistants and transcriptionists. We are open 7 days a week and are always happy to help.
Transcription Companies and Extra Secretarial Services
Using a transcription service to transcribe your dictation, interviews or focus groups can save you a great deal of time and money. However, you may be surprised to find that many transcription companies also offer other useful services. Here are some of the services that transcription companies often offer in addition to basic transcription services.
Proofreading Services
Transcription companies use proofreaders for their transcripts on a regular basis to ensure quality control and also to provide their transcriptionists with feedback and training. Not only can you ask your chosen transcription service to carry out a second proofread on your transcript, but many transcription companies will also offer Proofreading service for dissertations, articles, blogs, novels, ebooks, contracts and letters using experienced and qualified proofreaders.
Editing Services
Transcription Companies work with words on a regular basis, so alongside proofreading your documents they can often include light editing services, giving constructive feedback on sentence structure, grammar and punctuation errors, helping you to both improve your writing skills and avoid any potentially embarrassing mistakes.
Time coded Transcripts and Subtitling Services
Films, Television program’s and videos need to be transcribed and time coded in order to be formatted for subtitles. You may find that some transcription companies are able to carry out the entire process for you, which often works out cheaper and faster. It’s also worth mentioning that many transcription companies also offer translation services for multi lingual subtitles.
Writing Services
Transcription companies hire typists, secretaries, writers and transcribers with high levels of experience in working with words. Some transcription companies, for this reason, can offer blog and article writing services. These services can be invaluable, especially if the article you plan on writing is based on an interview, conference, film or dictation that you have also had transcribed.
Virtual Assistance
Many transcription companies also employ online personal assistants and secretaries who can provide call answering, diary management and typing services. Online virtual assistance can save companies a considerable amount of time and money when compared to hiring permanent or temporary members of staff to take on work.
If you are interested in obtaining a quote for our transcription services or would like some additional information please feel free to contact us at any time, we are always happy to help.
It is the law that all video programming distributors include closed captioning for their broadcasts and that all television receivers with a screen of 13 inches or more must have the nessecary decoder circuitry built in to display closed captioning. The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 also states that all online videos previously aired on television should include captions.
You may have noticed when watching your favourite TV show, that the symbols CC are displayed during the beginning of the programme in the top right hand corner of your television screen. This stands for ‘closed captioning’. But what is closed captioning and what is the difference between closed captions and subtitles?
Closed captions, (as opposed to open captions which are burned into the video) give the viewer the option to either display or hide the captions, as required. While it is true that closed captions and subtitles are very similar (in fact, in some countries they are considered the same thing) closed captions are designed for viewers who are either hard of hearing or deaf and include not only the dialogue of the programme, but also any relevant background noises such as a telephone ringing, a gunshot or a doorbell. This information, although taken for granted by most viewers, is often an important part of the viewing experience and therefore crucial to include for viewers who are unable to hear. Subtitles on the other hand, simply display the dialogue of the video.
Both subtitles and captions are extremely useful to include with your videos, not only for the deaf or hard of hearing, but also for viewers who wish to learn a foreign language. They are also useful for public viewing areas which are displaying a number of different programmes simultaneously and for those who simply prefer to sit quietly and read the dialogue to their favourite programmes.
Transcription City can offer you a range of services for your subtitling and captioning needs, including general transcription services, time-coded transcription (including time in and time out), .srt and .ssa subtitling services.
If you would like to know more about the transcription services we provide or would like to receive a quote, why not contact us today? We have a fast, friendly and reliable team who are always happy to help.
Here at Transcription City, we provide a transcription service for a number of radio stations including Absolute Radio and LBC 97.3. If you are a journalist looking to have radio interviews transcribed, here is some information that may help clarify our processes for you.
Turnaround Times. We offer a range of turnaround times at different prices depending on the urgency of your audio transcription. The fastest turnaround we officially offer is 4 hours but where we have capacity, within reason, this turnaround time can be negotiable – sometimes lowering to as little as one hour turnaround for very short files.
File Delivery Methods. At Transcription City, we always work hard to keep up-to-date with developments in technology. For this reason, we are always happy to arrange receipt of your files by whatever method most suits your needs. We can accept files via email, upload to our website, YouTube and Vimeo links, direct from an iPad or iPhone app, or via websites such as YouSendIt or Dropbox.
Accuracy. To ensure accuracy of spelling in transcripts, we carry out research for correct spelling of names, companies, etc, mentioned within your audio. However, if you are looking for a transcript to be turned around super urgently and are aware there are a number of names or words to be researched, you may like to email a list over with your transcription request, just to save time.
Reliability. We strive to return your radio transcriptions within your given deadline and are proud of our reputation in achieving this. We understand reliability is one of the key factors in establishing long term working relationships and when we promise, we always deliver.
Cost. We offer very competitive prices on our audio transcription services and for regular clients, we can sometimes arrange discounted rates. Contact us for further details.
It’s been an exciting week at Transcription City. This Tuesday I was lucky enough to be invited to the studios of Absolute Radio in Golden Square London, for a tour of the station and to meet their news team.
I’m a big fan of Absolute Radio and I always enjoy the excitement of receiving their celebrity interviews from various festivals, sports events and most recently the BAFTAs to transcribe. So when I was invited for a tour of the station I jumped at the chance.
Sam with the News Team at Absolute Radio
During my visit, I got to see where the legendary Ian Wright records his Rock’N'Roll Football show on Saturday afternoons, the booth where Chris O’Connell records his breakfast show and the studio where Frank Skinner entertains his listeners every Saturday morning.
After all this excitement, I had a cracking cup of tea, courtesy of the radio stations very own Greg Burke and was introduced to one of the best news teams around – Tania Snuggs, Andrew Bailey, Cat Macdonald and Jonny Silver, who very kindly posed for a big group photo with me. It was a brilliant experience – a lot of fun and it was lovely to meet such a friendly and talented bunch of people.
We love working with absolute radio, not only are their interviews always extremely entertaining and informative to transcribe, but we also get to hear some of the most cutting edge news stories before anyone else! They also regularly record live and exclusive music sessions and interviews with some of the best musicians around.
If you are interested in using our transcription services, why not get in touch via email, telephone or instant message? We are always happy to help.
How to Plan the Perfect Interview for Transcription
When having an interview transcribed, for the highest level of accuracy, the initial audio needs to be of a suitable quality. Here are some tips on how to ensure the highest quality raw material for you transcription company to work with.
The Right Time
Arrange to conduct your interview at a time that is both quiet and convenient. The last thing you need in the middle of your audio file is an interruption consisting of irrelevant or unnecessary conversation. Plan a time when you can have full attention on the task at hand.
The Right Place
Be sure to conduct your video or audio interview in a quiet place where there will be little or no distractions and/or background noise. Poor quality audio is harder to transcribe and will often cost you more money. Although we can clean up audio to a certain extent, it is never as good as making a clear recording in the first place.
The Right Questions
Plan your questions beforehand so when conducting your interview, you don’t waste time with unnecessary silence and you don’t forget any key points that need to be covered. This is especially useful when conducting interviews with numerous respondents as it will make it easier for you to search through your data later on. Time coded transcripts can also be a useful tool when looking for specific data in your transcript.
The Right Respondent
The appropriate respondent for your interview is key, for obvious reasons. Where possible, when choosing respondents for market research, try to choose a speaker who does not have a strong accent, and talks at an easily audible volume. You should give pointers if you are struggling to hear or understand what is said. You may feel rude asking your respondent to speak up or speak more clearly but if you cannot hear what is being said, it will only be harder to pick up in your audio or video. It can also be worth repeating any important points that may have been inaudible to the listener.
The Right Attitude
Remember, the purpose of your interview is to hear your respondent’s ideas, experiences, thoughts or feelings. Do not over-speak as it will make it hard for a transcriptionist to pick up what your respondent has said, and after all, that is what matters most. The key is to let your respondent convey their thoughts ideas and feedback without irrelevant digression.
If you would like any more tips on planning your interview to attain the best audio possible, or are interested in our interview transcription services and are looking to have your audio or video interviews transcribed, feel free to contact us, we are always happy to hear from you!
If you are thinking about using a transcription service for the first time, there are a number of steps that you can take to reduce the cost of your transcripts. In this post, I’ll go through some of the easiest ways you can save money on the cost of your transcripts.
Tighten those purse strings!
Compact Files. Hard copies of audio or video such as cassette tapes, CD’s, DVD’s, VHS and flash drives will work out more expensive (and slower) to transcribe that if you send your sound or video files online. This is because most transcription companies will have to convert and compress your files before beginning transcription. If you have a hard copy of your sound or video and want it transcribed, you may find that it works out a lot cheaper if you can convert and compress the files yourself. In fact we have a number of videos and articles available on our website, showing how to do this and if you can’t find the information, feel free to email or call us for further details.
Removing redundant audio. If you have a large chunk of silence within your audio or video file, be sure to make a note of the time and either remove it or make the transcription service you are using aware of what times you wish for them to start and stop transcription. All this will help to reduce the cost of your final transcript.
Transcript Style. Transcripts that are typed in verbatim or using time codes are more expensive that transcripts typed using intelligent verbatim. Unless there is a particular need for you to have a verbatim transcript (usually legal documents) or a time coded transcript (often used for video transcription) we recommend opting for the intelligent verbatim style of transcript, which is often also easier to read.
Special Offers. You will find that many transcription companies frequently have special offers available, especially for new clients. A lot of transcription service providers also offer discounts for referring friends and colleagues. When in doubt, simply scan through there website or better still just contact them and ask.
There you have it, my top tips for getting the best value for money when using a transcription service. If you have any other suggestions or tips, feel free to leave your comments below.
If you are interested in using our transcription services, why not contact us today?
Five Reasons To Have Your Online Videos Transcribed
Online videos are a great way to share information about you or your business. If you are running a business or are in charge of marketing, online videos are one of the best ways to establish you brand, while building trust with your clients. With that in mind, let’s look at the top five reasons to have your videos transcribed.
Video Transcription
Reason One – Those three little words that mean so much; search engine optimization! One of the most effective methods of getting to the top of Google is through producing high quality, informative content. Unfortunately, videos cannot be read by search engines such as Google and Yahoo, so even if you have regularly produced hundreds of high quality videos, there’s still a good chance that they could become lost amongst the millions of videos online available on YouTube alone. Although coming up with the best video title and description certainly helps search engines to find you, having a full video transcript to go with your video gives you hundreds if not thousands of words (including your chosen keywords) making it much more likely that you will be found by the right viewer and build a solid and loyal client base.
Reason Two – Building a diverse audience for you videos is the key to success and infinitely increases the chances of your videos going viral. Adding subtitles to your videos more than doubles your potential audience, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing and those who prefer to read. To supercharge the effect, why not add the option of foreign subtitles to your videos?
Reason Three – Blogs, articles and ebooks are all effective marketing tools that can augment the power of your videos. Cleverly written articles and blog posted can be quickly and almost effortless produced using transcripts from your videos, that have been carefully edited to read perfectly whilst seamlessly integrating your target keywords, giving real bang for you buck!
Reason Four – Videos can be difficult to share with friends or work colleagues on the go. Having a transcript to accompany your video means that your content more readily available. For instance, the developments and ideas discussed during an important business Webinar can be read almost anywhere or even converted into minutes, to include important highlights.
Reason Five – Some people just prefer to read! Reading a transcript is faster and often more easily absorbed than watching a video. Many people simple prefer the convenience of scanning a transcript. Transcripts from academic videos also make it a lot easier for students to study and make notes from than a video. PDF formats can even be downloaded to reader devices such as ibooks and kindle, meaning video series can be stored in order and referred back to as needed.
So there’s our top five reasons to have your videos transcribed. Can you think if any more? If so we’d love to hear your thoughts, feel free to leave your comments below.
If you would like to know more about our video transcription services, feel free to contact us at anytime for a quote or to place your order.
With the huge popularity of blogging, Ebooks and article writing, the web is full of talented writers. Whether being an author is your full time job, a hobby or a part of your online marketing strategy there are a number of online resources that can help you improve you writing skills and minimize the amount of time that you are sat at your keyboard typing. Using an online transcription service to transcribe your dictation and thoughts means that you have more time to come up with great ideas or spend time with loved ones, while maintaining or even increasing your productivity!
Transcription
The great thing about transcription is that it can provide you with the basic framework for your finished product and it’s not all about recording simple dictation. For example, blog posts, articles or even entire novels can be based around transcripts produced from interviews, video transcripts or even simply recording your ideas as and when you have them. Being able to read through an organized transcript allows for easier editing, note making and brainstorming. In fact, why not give it a try yourself by compiling the majority of the content for your next article or blog post from the transcript of an interesting interview or conversation you have taken part in?
Proofreading
You will find that many transcription companies will also offer additional services such as proofreading and sometimes even editing services. If they don’t it’s highly likely that they will work with other companies that do provide these kinds of services. Having your work professionally proofread and edited can often mean the difference between a successful piece of writing and a complete failure, as readers are often agitated by spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar, especially if they have paid for your work.
Editing
Editing services are also a good way of improving your writing skills by providing constructive feedback on your writing style or grammatical errors. We strongly suggest that you ask for tracked changes on the work you wish to have edited, as this ensures that you can see exactly what has been changed and decide yourself whether you are happy with the changes or would like to rewrite them yourself. The use of tracked changes also makes it a lot easier for you to pinpoint exactly where you are making errors in your writing, such as mixing tenses, changing writing styles or the general flow of your work.
If you are an author who is interested in using our proofreading, editing or transcription services, why not contact us today for more information or suggestions on how we can help, we look forward to hearing from you!
Methods Of Sending Your Files To Us For Transcription
When having audio or video typed up using an online transcription service, one of the first things to consider is file delivery. You may know that you want to send your interview or focus group transcription to Transcription City but what is the best way to get it there? In this blog, we’ll look at the pros and cons of different methods of file transfer.
DropBox, YouSend it and other File Transfer Protocols (ftp).
You may be happiest using an ftp you are comfortable with. If you use YouSendIt or DropBox on a regular basis, it may be best to stick with what you know and you can arrange for different file size limits depending on how much you pay. It’s important when using these sites that you discuss your transcription with the typing services company beforehand so they can expect and monitor for safe delivery. After all, you don’t want the delivery confirmation ending up unnoticed in a spam folder.
In-House File Sharing (System or Affiliated Site).
This is the most reliable method you can choose. The downside may be your unfamiliarity with the system, but if you have any problems with your upload, you can call Transcription City for technical help. Our file sharing system (MyDocsOnline) is trusted, protected and secure. Also, there are no file size limits imposed on you and rather than your paying for data allowance (such as with YouSendIt, etc.), we foot the bill!
On-the-go Transfer using an iPhone, Android or Blackberry app.
This method is perfect for urgent transcripts, allowing you to send audio immediately to Transcription City, even if you’re not in the office! The downside to this method is more in audio quality. Dictation into a phone is fine for single speaker dictation or at most, one-to-one interviews in a quiet location but is not suitable for busy conferences, focus groups or interviews taking place in a noisy environment.
Encrypted Email.
For smaller sized audio and video files, you may feel more comfortable simply using email. Remember, however, emails can be less secure than other file transfer methods so it’s best not to use email for sensitive, confidential information.
Post.
This method can be used for audio or video that is in a format that cannot be transferred online due to size or type of media. This method is less than favourable due to the post services’ lack of security and reliability. It is also more expensive for the client as conversion charges will apply from the transcription company and is not suitable for urgent work for obvious reasons.
Courier.
This is a method by which we are happy to accept work, but it is not ideal. Often, work is couriered if it is considered too large for easy online transfer. You may think getting files sent direct in this manner will mean a faster turnaround. However, online typists work remotely so the transcription city will need to convert the files to a usable size. This will merit an extra conversion charge and take time that renders it a less favourable option for urgent work.
Public Sites such as YouTube or Vimeo.
This method is ideal if your audio or video is already online as you can simply send a link for video transcription. You can put your video online in this way to give access to your chosen transcription company but it does make your video public if you do not choose to password protect it. This is a good perfect option for companies looking to advertise as having online videos transcribed is invaluable for SEO, killing two birds with one stone, as it were.
So to sum up, for urgent files, the best, fastest and cheapest method of file transfer is online. At Transcription City, we accept many different methods of audio file and video file delivery for typing but undeniably, the best, fastest, cheapest and most reliable method of file transfer is online.
If you are looking to have your dictations, interviews or conferences typed up and have any concerns or would like to discuss how best to get your files to us, don’t hesitate to call on 0208 816 8557, email at info@ transcriptioncity.co.uk or simply chat with us online.
Transcription City offers one of the fastest transcription services available, we offer speedy delivery to a variety of industries, including media, television, film and radio. I is important however to be aware that there are several things that can slow your transcript turnaround times, so if you needed your transcripts four hours ago, we have some tips and tricks that can help to ensure that you speed up the process and never miss a deadline.
Here are some things to consider if you require an urgent transcript
Transcribing Large Files
Large video files can cause major problems when it comes to a fast turnaround. Not only can they take hours to upload and download, but they can also be expensive for the client. This is due to the extra time it takes your transcription company to convert or compress your files in order to speed things up. One of the best solutions to this problem is to either record your videos in mp4 format or to convert them before you send them. This can save you a lot of time and money and mean that your transcripts are delivered in a timely manner, without the stress of worrying about missing your deadline. Video and audio file conversion software is readily available online including programs such as Handbrake (which is free ) for video conversion and iTunes (also free) which can be used to convert large sound files to mp3. If you are looking for something with a few more features, we would recommend either Prism from NCH or Aimersoft, which allows you to convert virtually any video format. For more information on how to use these programs visit our YouTube channel ( see sidebar), where you can find a number of useful and informative tutorials to help you get the most from our service.
Transcribing Hard Copies
It goes without saying that any form of hard copy, be it DVD, CD, Cassette Tape, Dictaphone or USB, will slow down the transcription process considerably. Not only will you have to take the time to deliver these hard copies to us, but we will also have to convert your files to a digital format – which can also take a considerable amount of time. Once again, visit our YouTube channel for tutorials on how to convert your cassette tapes and hard copies into digital files.
Online Video Transcription
If you want us to transcribe your online videos, it is essential that we are able to download them! Both YouTube and Vimeo require both a username and password in order to download videos, so if you intend to send us a lot of videos to transcribe it may be worth setting up a channel purely for transcription, and send us the login details. The only alternative we have to transcribe online videos without login details is to record the videos via screen or sound recorders, which takes time and will impact on your transcript delivery.
Live TV and Radio Transcription
If you require urgent transcripts of live TV and Radio shows, it is a good idea to either break up and email small audio files over so that they can be split up between several typists or to ask your transcription company if they can record the live shows themselves. Again, any video or audio files that you send over should be in the smallest file format possible in order to ensure that we are able to upload and download your files as quickly as possible.
If you have any questions about our urgent transcription services or would like a quote, please get in touch, we available around the clock and are always happy to help.
The World Wide Web is a big place where competition for the top spot on Google is fierce and this means that businesses and individuals are constantly under pressure to produce interesting, informative and entertaining content for their websites and blogs. This can be tough if you also have a business to run or a family to look after – simply put, life happens and coming up with new and original content can become a real chore.
If you have spent your time or your money producing great content for your readers, it can be infuriating to find that same content has been stolen and is being used by someone else! Not only is duplicate content bad for your SEO (search engine optimisation), but is also disrespectful to the original writer; who incidentally can actually be wrongly penalized for having duplicate content on their site.
How to find out if someone has copied your content.
One of the best ways to find out if someone has copied your content is to run it through CopyScape, this is free and easy to use. Simply paste the url of the blog post or page that you have written and it will check the web to ensure that nobody has copied your content, it even has a traffic light system, so that you can see if someone has partially copied something that you have written. They also offer various paid for services if you wish to have your website or blog scanned on a regular basis.
What to do if someone has copied your content.
If you are unlucky enough to find that someone has copied your content, stay calm, there are some things you can do.
Find out the details of who owns the offending site. Most websites will have some kind of contact details available. If you cannot find their details, you can contact their ISP (Internet Service Provider) and ask them to take appropriate action. Sites such as “Alexa” or “Whois”, can help you find the details you need.
Write to the owner of the site. We fully understand that you are probably feeling pretty angry – but remain professional! Provide them with a link to your original page, informing them that you own the content and that they have infringed on your copywrite without your permission. It is also a good idea to outline a strict deadline in regards how long they have to remove offending material (we recommend at least a few of days). If practical you can also obtain advice from your lawyer, get them to write an email or cc them in on the email you send. I have found that this usually works and no more action needs to be taken.
Make sure that you keep details of all correspondence, take screen shots of the offending website and also collect any proof you can that you are the owner of the original content (e.g. word documents with the date of creation), sites such as “Way Back Machine” can be a useful tool to document when your page was first created.
Send a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice. This is an extremely effective method and can get them removed from Google search results, but it does take time.
Contact a Copyright Lawyer. This option can be taken if all else fails, however remember you decide to take this route, but can be expensive, stressful and drawn out. That said, remember that the law is on your side when it comes to copyright theft!
Preventing Copyright Theft.
Copyright theft is becoming more and more prevalent so be alert. We recommend that you regularly run your content through Copyscape and take advantage of their free banner which acts as an extremely effective deterrent. If you decide to outsource your content writing to an outside company, check their work too and make sure you choose a reputable company. Transcription City uses experienced, professional writers who will provide you with original, well thought out content that is great for SEO and your profits. For more information about our copy writing or virtual assistant services please contact us via email, instant message or telephone.
In the meantime here is a video from CopyScape -
Have you been a victim of copyright fraud? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
No matter what industry you’re in, outsourcing work over the internet is undeniably becoming increasingly more popular nowadays. There are perhaps hundreds of transcription companies to choose from to take on your audio typing, video transcription and secretarial work, but why has online transcription become so popular? Is it really favourable to use an online transcription company instead of having documents transcribed in-house? At Transcription City, and here are our top five reasons why….
Value for Money
Outsourcing your transcription work will likely save you a lot of money! Transcription companies charge for typing per audio minute, so you will only pay for work that is done. Remember, if you hire a permanent member of staff to take on typing work for you, you will need to pay holiday pay, sick pay and other benefits. Even if you hire a temp to take on your transcription projects, you will still be paying out time for them to use the bathroom, make cups of tea and take breaks, etc. Think – with a transcription company, as you pay for work by audio minute, every penny on your money translates into solid typing time!
Speed
When you have urgent interviews or dictations that need typing, a transcription company will definitely be the best way to go. Consider, when you look to members of staff to type urgent work for you, they may have other responsibilities and will need to prioritise, leaving you waiting. Transcription companies can often split audio and video files for a quick turnaround if it is required and some will have hundreds of typists on hand to take on work, each within a given specialism. In an office, you will likely have a lot less staff to choose from. Also, remember, even if your staff can get work back for urgent turnaround quickly, using a typing services company will mean you can send your file and relax, stress free, leaving them the task of ensuring the work is back on time rather than you having to manage and chase typists yourself.
Flexibility
So you have a dictation that needs to be typed up. The trouble is it’s over an hour long and you need it for tomorrow morning. You finish dictating at 4:58pm and the office closes at 5pm! Your office staff are heading home and you don’t want to be left to do the task yourself. So what do you do? Typing service companies often work 24/7, providing audio transcription and video transcription around the clock. Many will hire staff overseas as well, so even if you need something typed out urgently in the middle of the night, they should be able to help. This is a major benefit to online transcription as opposed to using staff onsite.
Quality
Online transcription companies often require references from typists with high standards of qualifications and experience. Work will be proofread and always of a high standard, and if not, amendments can often be made within a certain timeframe at no extra cost. Remember, online typists are mostly self employed and so have a vested interest in doing a good job time and time again, whereas permanent staff sadly (but truthfully), can become ‘too comfortable’ in a typing role.
Stress Free
Outsourcing your dictation, interview transcription, conference transcription, or whatever it may be, to a typing company is a great idea because it gives you more time to get on with other work tasks, or just kick back and enjoy some free time. Transcription is incredibly time consuming and delegating typing work can be stressful in itself. By using a transcription services company, you can avoid unnecessary stress, and relax safe in the knowledge that your work is being done and will be returned to you on time and at a high standard.
So there you have it, our top five reasons to use online transcription services for your typing needs. If you have any audio or video that needs to be typed, or would like to enquire about our secretarial, data entry, proofreading or transcription services, please don’t hesitate to visit our website, contact us via email or give us a call today.
Online Virtual Assistant and Transcription Careers
So you’re looking to ditch your nine-to-five and start a career online. You know where to find work and what the job entails; you have the qualifications and experience, but what else does it take to succeed online and what are virtual assistant and transcription companies really looking for? So here is a comprehensive list of the personal attributes you will need to have:
Reliability
To make a successful career as a transcriptionist or online secretary, you need to be reliable. Online work is competitive and if you are reliable and get work back on time, you will ne rewarded with more work. Reputation is highly important – if a company considers you to be unreliable, there are countless other online contractors to take the job!
Fast Typing Speed
To make a decent wage out of online transcription services, you will need a reasonably fast typing speed. Many secretaries make the mistake of believing they can get away with having a slow typing speed or even not touch typing when working online as their employers cannot observe their speed but can only observe whether work is back on time. The truth is typing speed is not important to transcription companies (aside from returning audio dictations or interviews requiring quick turnarounds). Transcription service work is paid on a ‘per audio minute’ basis and if your typing speed is slow, you will quickly grow tired of feeling as if you are working hours on end for little reward! Type fast and the money is good!
Accurate Typing Skills
Once you find work typing audio or video, you need to make sure your standards of grammar and spelling, and the accuracy of what you type is high. Most transcription companies do proofreading spot checks on typists and if your work is found to be lacking in quality, you may not be offered more work. Proofreaders are expensive to transcription companies, and typists are expected to be of a standard that they check and ensure the accuracy of their own work.
The Right Work Ethic
The biggest mistake online secretaries and transcriptionists make is believing that they can pick and choose their work. All audio typists want the good quality audio files without accents, and very few (if any) want to take the low quality files. However, contracting work is give and take, and although your employer is online, you still need to build a relationship that demonstrates your work. If you are willing to take on poor quality work that is difficult to allocate, your transcription company is more likely to return the favour by allowing you to ‘pick and choose’ sometimes in order to keep you happy.
If you are appropriately experienced, qualified and fulfil all the above criteria, and are looking for work as an online secretary typist or transcriptionist, you can contact us via our website submission form, have an online chat or email us at info@transcriptioncity.co.uk.
If you are having problems coming up with ideas on how you can market your business to new clients, we have a few ideas that can help.
Having an online presence is becoming more and more important for businesses and with the growing popularity of smart phones and mobile devices, more and more people are searching for goods and services using the internet, even when they’re not sat at their PC. Here’s our guide to getting ahead of the competition online and of course we can always help if you’re struggling!
Websites. Having your own website is an important part of any business these days. Even if you are a small local business, such as a convenience store or café, it helps if you can showcase your business online. Not only can having a web presence help you to be found by new customers or clients, but it also allows people to find out what goods or services you offer. If you are looking for someone to design a site for you, get them to show you how to add to and edit the pages, once they have finished (something we are now offering). This way you don’t have to pay extra every time you want to add a new page.
Online Videos. We think that every business should have some kind of video presence. Having online videos means that you can introduce your business to potential clients on a more personal level, helping to build trust, create a brand and provide any useful information about your products and services. Setting up a YouTube account is free! To increase viewers (and cater to audiences that are hard of hearing) why not have your videos transcribed? Video transcription allows you to target specific keywords and therefore rank much higher in the Search engine results for the terms you want to optimize for.
Regular Blog Posts. So you have got a website, but you haven’t had many visitors. Maybe it’s time to start blogging! By writing a blog each week, the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing can see that you are adding to your website, that it is active and relevant and this all helps to push you further up the results pages in the long run.
Social Media. It’s a great idea to augment your blogs with a company Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus page. By updating your social media pages regularly with useful and relevant content you will quickly find a network of people willing to sing your praises to other potential customers.
EBooks.EBooks are a great way of marketing your business, especially if you provide some kind of services. Not only can an eBook help to give your clients or potential clients useful information about your industry, they can also help to establish you as an expert in your field as well as building trust for your business.
Transcription City can help!
Transcription City now offers basic WordPress website design, online video transcription and blog wring services. We are also now offering a range of eBook services, including proofreading, editing, formatting and transcription for authors.
If you would like more information about how Transcription City can help to market your business or you would like a quote for one of our services please get in touch, we are always happy to help.
We accept a variety of video and audio formats for transcription
So you’re looking to have your interviews, conferences or dictations transcribed. You have everything organised and have chosen the most suitable typing services company to take on the work – so what is the next thing you need to consider? One of the most easily forgotten but biggest time saving elements of having audio and video transcribed is the format that your files are saved in. So here are some tips to help you make sure your audio and video files are as compact and easy to work with as possible
Memory Space
The first thing to consider is the size of your audio or video file. Large files can be easily opened by you, but remember when outsourcing work to transcription services, files will need to be uploaded or sent online, and with larger files, this can be highly time consuming for you. There are two solutions to this problem. The first is to record in a format that takes up less space . We recommend MP3 or WAV for audio files, and MP4 or AVI for video files. However, if you are unable to record in these formats, you can always make a zip file and upload which will take up less space.
Compatibility
It is highly important that if you are recording in a more obscure or less popular audio or video file format, you make sure your transcription company accepts that type of file. Alternatively, you can download a file converter programme online to convert the video or audio yourself prior to sending to your chosen company. We recommend Prism Video Converter and Aimersoft file converter software, which both offer a free trial period.
Price
Many transcription companies and typing services offer an option to send cassette tapes, DVDs or CDs via the post and have them transcribed. As this service comes at a higher cost, we recommend you consider converting your own audio into a digitally usable format. For information on how to do this and other useful tips and tricks, visit our YouTube channel (located in the sidebar).
At Transcription City, we aim to make it as easy and quick as possible for you to get your audio and video files to us, whatever file format you are using and we accept a wide range of audio and video file formats. No matter what size or format your file is in, we should have an upload or delivery option that suits you. If you are having any issues with our secure upload facility, we can also accept files directly via email or other file sharing services such as YouSendIt and Dropbox (great for iPhone, Android or iPad users) or we even accept cassette tapes, DVD’s and VHS.
As technology progresses, speech recognition software is improving and with apps like Siri for the iPhone, it is becoming both cheaper and more widely available. With this in mind, we thought we’d write a quick guide to the pros and cons of using speech recognition software, including what it is and isn’t suitable for.
First off, it is important to realise that speech recognition software is pretty much useless for more than one speaker, and so is totally unsuitable for one to one interview transcription, focus group transcription and conference transcription, always use a transcription service for this type of transcription.
Dictation. The truth is, speech recognition software is not as accurate as a human transcriptionist (and is unlikely to be for a good long while yet). However, with higher end software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, you are able to ‘train’ your software to recognize your voice by proofreading your work and then updating your software. The problem is, however, that if you are using speech recognition for anything other than personal notes or emails, you will always have to proofread what has been written thoroughly before using it – especially if you are either a medical or legal professional. If you don’t do this, you will likely find that some of your corrections just never sink in.
Proofreading. Proofreading a document written using speech recognition software means having a keen eye for mistakes, as unlike human transcriptionists, errors made by computer software will not be simple spelling mistakes, but are often words that are totally out of context and do not belong in your documents.
Background Noise. It is especially important to reduce background noise when using speech recognition software as it is prone to picking up background noise and interpreting it as words. One of the best ways around this is (obviously) to record in a quiet environment or to buy a noise cancelling microphone.
Layout. Although some software does allow you to build templates, this can be complicated and does not always work according to plan.
Speed. It is a good idea to speak slowly and pronounce your words as correctly as possible. It’s also worth thinking about what you want to say in advance in order to avoid having to edit out any ‘er’s’, ‘um’s’ or redundant speech.
Technical Assistance. If you use speech recognition software for work, it is extremely important that you choose a company that offers great customer care and technical assistance in case something goes wrong; otherwise there is a good chance you’ll end up with a backlog of work with a long wait to fix it.
We think that speech recognition software still has a way to go before it can compete with a human transcriptionist and therefore we strongly recommend that you ensure that your documents are always thoroughly proofread before any kind of professional use or distribution.
If you would like more information about our proofreading, editing or transcription services, why not contact us today?
Here is an example of a simple dictation recorded using speech recognition technology (including tracked changes):
